Studies on Arabic Language and Literature

Abstract   This study aims at examining the morphological and syntactic bases of Arabic spelling rules. It describes the state of Arabic script before the authorization of the present dictation rules and the resulting state of Arabic spelling after the rules were laid down . It also aims at investigating the attempts writing and spelling experts make to establish specific writing forms which accord with both morphological or grammatical features and properties of the items. The study concludes that many spelling rules have been established because the experts have considered the morphological and grammatical of the words concerned. The article also provides textual examples in all cases.

Abstract   Most books of Arabic syntax and morphology refer only to 15 metrical types of emphatic adjectives derived only from three-letter verbs. They judge any formation of adjectives from other types of verbs as ungrammatical constructions. However, a study of Arabic texts and dictionary shows that Arab speakers, because of their communicative need for emphatic constructions derived from intransitive verbs, form useful emphatic constructions from such verbs similar to making compound comparative forms and exclamatory forms, i.e., they use an emphatic word (“many”, “much”, “intensive”) the infinitive of the intended verb. This construction, which is frequently used in traditional and modern Arabic texts, has been neglected by traditional and contemporary syntacticians. This article presents evidence for the existence of such emphatic forms and considers them of two types: basic and derivative. The basic forms are confined to 10 to 15 metrical types and are not rule governed. The derivative forms are made by family resemblance from almost any infinitive. The author of this article believes that the conditions for constructing emphatic forms, comparative adjectives and exclamatory forms – whether basic or derivative—are quite the same.

Abstract   Qudameh Ben Jaffar, the prominent critic of Abbasid period, caused a revolution in Arabic literary criticism as he was the first one who decided to create harmony and integration among poetry and thought. He tried to revolutionize subjective criticism and replace it with a criticism which was based on scientific principles and ideas including artistic criticism on the one hand and philosophical and logical criteria on the other hand. Qudameh tried to took into account the principles of literary criticism moreover, he respected critical and aesthetic terms that are nowadays frequently used in theoretical criticism. This paper aims to examine the critical viewpoints of Qudameh and identify the criteria that he established in the area of poetry criticism. His arguments centred on such elements of poetry as sentence, word, meter, rhyme and meaning. Thus, he specified an ranking order for the poetry as follows: 1. absolutely good, when all of the composing elements of poetry are at their peak of perfection, 2.absolutely bad, when all of the composing elements of poetry are weak, and 3.intermediate, neither good nor bad, when the bad and good properties of poetry are at the same level.

Abstract Synonymy is a universal property of language ​​and Arabic is no exception. Our argument in this article concerns the usage and meanings the two words, "ajr and thawab" in the Holy Quran.  We explore the different semantic and grammatical dimensions and characteristics of these two words in order to specify their different meanings.  Phonological and semantic examples are provided to evidence how beauty of voice and meanings can impact emotions. Our discussion of the two words is based on various interpretations and many linguistic and literary books. We conclude that the two words "ajr” and “thawab" cannot be not synonymous terms of meaning. In fact, they refer to two different dimensions: a worldly dimension and an otherworldly dimension.

Abstract   This research is analyzes the study done by Gheibah on Ibn-Fadlan’s treatise. Gheibah regards the treatise as a text which emphasizes the incapacity and failure of Arab Islamic civilization. The most important point of the article is that Gheibah’ text reveals the change of Ibn-Fadlan from the glorious political and religious strength Abbasids to a state of defeat and alienation. According to Ibn-Fadlan treatise, the Islamic character undergoes changes to be empty of the original identity, reforms into a western subject, and is overpowered by the success in the west, and become naturalized and baptized into the social texture of the western society. He also reveals the idea on which Crichton built his novel to create doubt about the merits of eastern civilization by forcing the traveler, Ibn-Fadlan, to be overwhelmed by the west and create an imaginary picture of the contact between the two civilizations: the Islamic Arab world and the pagan Viking world, while the victory belongs to the latter. In this way, the two civilizations are misrepresented in the treatise under study.

Abstract This research examines the background of the linguistic expression and the constructions in the poetry of Jammah. It concludes that studying the poetic renewal movements has led him to move away from ready-made expressions and traditional cliché, so that the use of new linguistic constructions reflects the spirit of his time. His stylistic techniques and tools include repetition, synonymy, substitution, pronouns, and the narrative (internal monologue). However, his language includes cliché words from dictionaries, and suffers from some crude prose. His poetry shows his inclination to use strong and tangible words and reveals his emotional occupation with patriotism (prison and freedom) and nature and immortality.

Abstract   This article deals with mythology and its functions in Abdul Wahab Al-Bayati’s divan. It outlines the concept literally and functionally and touches on the motives for using mythology by this poet which are of two types: the subjective motives or are the personal orientations and inclinations of the poet and the technical motives, which are related to the nature of poetry. This article elaborates on how Al-Bayati used mythology in literature for political and social purposes and for the expression of human worries ، fears and suffering. It also mention that the poet also has used this mode of expression aesthetically to enrich the poetic text and add another aesthetic dimension to his work, thus making mythology play its original basic role, which is connecting far-fetched myths to likely realities.