Eighth Century Iraqi Grammar

Arabic grammatical thinking provides one of the richest and most significant contributions of medieval Islamic sciences to the history of human civilization. For the first time, this book traces down its formation during the second century of Islam (eighth century A.D.)

The last decades have witnessed a major resurgence of interest in the Arabic grammatical tradition. Many of the issues on which previous scholarship focused - for example, foreign influences on the beginnings of grammatical activity, and the existence of grammatical "schools" - have been revisited, and new areas of research have been opened up, particularly in relation to terminology, the analytical methods of the grammarians, and the interrelatedness between grammar and other fields such as the study of the Qur'an, exegesis and logic. As a result, not only has the centrality of the Arabic grammatical tradition to Arab culture as a whole become an established fact, but also the fields of general and historical linguistics have finally come to realize the importance of Arabic grammar as one of the major linguistic traditions of the world. The sixteen studies included in this volume have been chosen to highlight the themes which occupy modern scholarship and the problems which face it; while the introductory essay analyses these themes within the wider context of early Islamic activity in philology as well as related areas of religious studies and philosophy.

The articles in this volume are dedicated to Professor Ahmad Mahdavi Damghani for the breadth and depth of his interests and his influence on those interests. They attest to the fact that his fervor and rigorously surgical attention to detail have found fertile ground in a wide variety of disciplines, including (among others) Persian literature and philology; Islamic history and historiography; Arabic literature and philology; and Islamic philosophy and jurisprudence. The volume has brought together some of the most respected scholars in the fields of Islamic studies and Islamic literatures, all his prior students, to contribute with articles that touch on the fields Professor Mahdavi Damghani has so permanently touched with his astonishing scholarship and attention to detail.

In the third edition of A Grammar of Akkadian, changes have been made in the section on the nom i n al morpheme -ån (§20.2) and the sections on the meaning of the D stem (§24.3) and the Gt stem (§33.1(b)); these revisions reflect recent scholarship in Akkadian grammar. Other changes include minor revisions in wording in the presentation of the grammar in a few other sections; a number of new notes to some of the readings; additions to the glosses of a small number of words in the lesson vocabularies (and the Glossary and English–Akkadian word list); and updates of the resources available for the study of Akkadian, and of the bibliography. A new appendix (F) has been added, giving Hebrew and other Semitic cognates of the Akkadian words in the lesson vocabularies. The pagination of the first and second editions has for the most part been retained, apart from the insertion of the new appendix and a few minor deviations elsewhere.

Professor Huehnergard's key to his extensive Akkadian Grammar will be welcomed by teacher and student alike. Please note that this third edition of the key is a revision that complements the third edition of the Grammar, incorporating a number of corrections.

Jacob of Edessa is considered the most learned Christian of the early days of Islam. Exactly 1300 years after his death in 708, fifteen articles written by prominent specialists sketch a fascinating picture of his life and times.

Until about 60 years ago, linguistic research on the Arabic language in the West was restricted to inquiries on Classical Arabic and the Classical tradition, and spoken Arabic dialects, with historical studies embedded within the broader field of Semitic languages. This situation is changing quickly, not only through the continuation of older research traditions, but also with the integration of new research fields and perspectives. With this expansion comes the danger of specialists in Arabic losing an overview of the field, and of leaving non-specialists without basic resources for evaluating domains of research which they may be interested in for comparative purposes. The Oxford Handbook of Arabic Linguistics will confront this problem by combining state-of-the-art overviews with essays on issues of perspective, controversy, and point of view. In twenty-four chapters, leading experts from around the world will lay out their own stances on controversial issues. The book not only evaluates ways in which questions and theories established in general linguistics and its sub-fields elucidate Arabic, but also challenges approaches which might result in accommodating Arabic to "non-Arabic" interpretations, and brings out the Arabic specificity of individual problems. The Handbook, in one compact volume, gives critical expression to a language which covers large populations and geographical areas, has a long written tradition, and has been the locus of major intellectual fervor and debate.

This book is a comprehensive study of SAbawayhi's methodological concepts and methods. It analyzes a wide range of the KitAba (TM)s passages, demonstrates the coherency of its authora (TM)s system of grammatical analysis, and highlights its huge influence on the grammatical tradition.