Wednesday, January 7, 2009

SS Course 2009: The Arabic Linguistic Tradition

Course 252
Date: 26–30 January
Time: 8.00 pm
Full Price: R270,00 Staff: R135,00 Reduced: R70,00

The Arabic Linguistic Tradition
Presented by Ameenullah Abderoef, lecturer in Arabic, and Dr Sulaiman Nordien, researcher of classical Arabic dictionaries

Islam, Arabs and the Muslim world are seldom absent from the daily news, but few know how Arab petro-dollars have triggered a huge expansion in the educational systems of Muslim countries from Morocco to Indonesia. Trained expertise has facilitated the retrieval and the publication of Islaam’s classical heritage from the world’s libraries, museums and mosques.
The Arabic language started its history as Islaam’s religious, liturgical, intellectual and international medium, over 1 400 years ago. From the Arabian Peninsula it was cultivated in cities like Basra, Kufa, Damascus, Baghdad and Cairo. Who were the scholars who wrought this desert language into such a rich linguistic vehicle? What were its special features?

This course will introduce the history and personalities of the Arabic linguistic tradition, spanning 13 centuries of research and production. It will interest the student of Islaam and of Islamic literature, as well as anyone wishing to know more about this aspect of world history, culture and general linguistics. No knowledge of Arabic will be assumed.

LECTURE TITLES
  1. An overview of Arabic pioneers.
  2. Systematisers: versifiers of rhymed rules and thesauruses.
  3. Language purists: critics, simplifiers, puritans.
  4. Broader literature: linguistic monographs and language theories.
  5. Jumbo compendia: the Alfiyya’s commentaries and Taajul Aroos.

Recommended reading
  • Versteegh, K. The Arabic Language. Edinburgh University Press, 2001.
  • Haywood, J. Arabic Lexicography. Brill, 1959 (2nd revised edition, 1965).
  • Chejne, A.G. The Arabic Language, its Role in History. University of Minnesota Press, 1969.

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