1,721,004 research outputs found
Multilingualism from the perspective of the medieval Islamic vision of language
Full text linkArabic holds a cardinal position within Islamic civilisation, where it enjoys the status of sacred language for its direct connection to the Revelation and for the role attributed to it by the Revelation itself. However, not only does the Qur’an mention the existence of other languages and put them in relation with different divine messages, but also the providential nature of language diversity is explicitly maintained by the Holy Book of Islam. This theology of multilingualism represented the theoretical and symbolic framework within which the premodern Islamic world conceptualized language diversity. By looking at the works of philosophers, historians, poets, and religious masters from different parts of the Islamic world, we will try to understand how premodern authors viewed multilingualism, explained the existence of different languages, and accordingly engaged in plurilingual practices. Plurilingual practices provided the fertile ground on which various vernaculars, often bereft of any former written tradition (let alone literary prestige), could be transformed into full-fledged literary languages and become part of the wide Islamic language family. This process of incorporation of the multiple languages, encountered by the Islamic civilisation in its expansion, gave rise, throughout the Islamic world, to complex multilingual societies where individuals were frequently plurilingual and able to accommodate language diversity in flexible, creative, and, as reflected in literary productions, even aesthetic ways. In some cases, like the Andalusian context, such linguistic incorporation even involved romance vernaculars with significant consequences for their destiny as future modern European literary languages
Polysemy as Hermeneutic Key in Ibn ʿArabī’s Fuṣūṣ al-Ḥikam
Full text linkThe present contribution discusses the role of polysemy within Ibn ʿArabī’s hermeneutic approach in the Fuṣūṣ al-Ḥikam. It argues that the Andalusian master’s conception of polysemy bears implications that stretch far beyond the field of Arabic linguistics, strictly understood, and that are tightly related to his vision of the polysemous and pansemiotic nature of existence. Thus, when investigated in the light of his metaphysical views, Ibn ʿArabī’s hermeneutic use of word polysemy, as arbitrary as it might appear at first sight, results perfectly consistent with his conception of the descent of language through multiple states of being and of the conjunction of form and meaning in the world of imagination. These metaphysical premises provide the epistemological foundations for Ibn ʿArabī’s linguistic and hermeneutic practices and build up one the finest and most complete metaphysical conceptions of language elaborated within the broader context of what might be defined the domain of ‘Islamic linguistics’
A Digitally Assisted Model of Integration of Standard and Colloquial Arabic Based on the Common European Framework
No full textParetymologies in the fuṣūṣ al-Ḥikam in the light of ibn ʿarabī’s hermeneutic principles
Full text linkIn the Fuṣūṣ al-Ḥikam Ibn ʿArabī presents us with several linguistic explanations about the meanings of specific words and expressions (mostly Koranic occurrences). From a contemporary linguistic perspective, many of those explanations would be classified within the category of paretymologies or folk etymologies. In the present contribution we will examine the paretymologies in Ibn ʿArabī’s Fuṣūṣ al-Ḥikam against some aspects of the Islamic linguistic thought, as specifically developed by Ibn ʿArabī, and try to make explicit the epistemological and theoretical framework standing behind those disputable etymologies. In so doing we will attempt to show how, far from simply being the product of popular fantasy or fanciful speculations, Ibn ʿArabī’s semantic explanations appear as highly sophisticated hermeneutic practices, grounded in a thorough knowledge of various language-related branches of Islamic science, and consistent with the metaphysical vision of language emerging from the Andalusian master’s speculations on the nature of the sacred text and on the linguistic structure of revelation
The designing of Virtual Learning Environments for authentic proficiency enhancement in Arabic
No full textThe Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) conceives language proficiency as the ability to cope with different tasks referring to real-life situations in ways that emulate native speakers' behavior. In the case of Arabic the accomplishment of those tasks by native speakers may require the resort to Standard Arabic (SA) alone, to Colloquial Arabic (CA) alone, or to a mixture of SA and CA.
Our contribution illustrates how this complex linguistic reality can be reproduced inside the classroom by creating a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) that enables authentic proficiency enhancement and assessment in Arabic and ultimately allows the application of CEFR guidelines to the Teaching of Arabic as a Foreign Language (TAFL)
Lightcurve and Rotation Period Determination for 5318 Dientzenhofer and 9083 Ramboehm
No full textPhotometric observations of the main-belt asteroids 5318 Dientzenhofer and 9083 Ramboehm were made in 2016 March and 2015 December, respectively. Analysis of the data found a bimodal lightcurve with a synodic rotation period of 8.062 ± 0.002 h for 5318 Dientzenhofer. A trimodal lightcurve with synodic period of 10.199 ± 0.004 h for 9083 Ramboehm was found to be the most likely solution
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