Kitab Sibawayhi: Syntax and Pragmatics

CONTENTS
Acknowledgements ............................................................................ ix
Preface .................................................................................................. xi
Chapter One Historical Background ........................................... 1
1. Life .................................................................................................. 4
2. Cultural and Social Milieu .......................................................... 7
2.1. Al-H?ira: a Synoptic View .................................................... 7
2.2. Population ............................................................................. 11
2.3. Cultural history .................................................................... 15
2.4. Kufa-Basr? a Dichotomy ........................................................ 19
2.5. The Nah?wiyyun .................................................................... 22
3. The Kitab ....................................................................................... 27
3.1. Sources of the Kitab ............................................................ 30
3.1.1. Qur?an ......................................................................... 30
3.1.2. H?adit ? (Prophetic Tradition) ................................... 33
3.1.3. Poetry ......................................................................... 34
3.2. Status of the Kitab ................................................................ 35
3.2.1. Arab Grammarians .................................................. 37
3.2.1.1. az-Zajjaji (d. 337/949) ............................... 38
3.2.1.2. as-Sirafi (d. 368/979) ................................. 39
3.2.1.3. ar-Rummani (d. 384/994) ......................... 39
3.2.1.4. Ibn Jinni (d. 392/1002) ............................. 39
3.2.1.5. Ibn al-?Anbari (d. 577/1181) .................... 40
3.2.1.6. Ibn Hisam (d. 761/1360) .......................... 40
3.2.2. Western Scholars ...................................................... 40
Summary ............................................................................................. 44
Chapter Two Complementarity .................................................... 47
1. Utterance Tuning Parameters ..................................................... 49
2. Complementarism ........................................................................ 55
2.1. Communication act as an event ........................................ 61
2.2. Istiqama, Grammaticality and the Speaker's Intention ... 74
2.3. Negotiability and Motivation ............................................. 79
2.3.1. Negotiability in Sibawayhi ...................................... 81
2.3.2. Motivated Use of Case Endings ............................. 82
2.3.3. Motivated Reduction ............................................... 84
2.4. Conventionality .................................................................... 88
2.4.1. Absolute Conventionality ....................................... 89
2.4.2. Motivated Conventionality ..................................... 91
Summary ............................................................................................. 94
Chapter Three Definiteness and Identifiability .......................... 95
1. Preliminary Observations ........................................................... 96
2. Definiteness in the Kitab ............................................................. 99
2.1. Criteria of Adjectival Qualifiability .................................. 104
2.2. Proper Nouns ....................................................................... 108
2.3. Hierarchy of Definiteness ................................................... 117
3. Definiteness and Non-Arbitrariness of Word Order .............. 123
3.1. Word Order in Arabic Nominal Sentences ..................... 125
3.1.1. Indefinite Nouns and the Initial Position ............ 130
3.1.2. Kana and its Sisters 'Kana wa 'Ah?awatuha' .......... 136
3.2. Verbs and the Initial Position ............................................ 143
Summary ............................................................................................. 148
Chapter Four Mubtada?, Topic and Theme ................................ 151
1. Introductory Remarks ................................................................. 152
2. Three Structural-Functional Theories ....................................... 157
2.1. Dik's Functional Grammar ................................................. 157
2.2. Information Structure and Role and Reference
Grammar ............................................................................... 160
2.3. Systemic Functional Grammar .......................................... 164
2.3.1. Downing's view on Topic, Theme and the 'Initial'
Position ...................................................................... 167
2.3.2. Participant's Role in Identifying Topics ................ 171
3. Mubtada? and Ibtida?: an Alternative Approach to an Old
Problem .......................................................................................... 178
3.1. Inverted Nominal Sentence and Types of H?abars .......... 183
3.2. Reversibility of the Three Types of H?abars ..................... 191
3.3. ?Inna and its Related Particles ........................................... 193
Summary ............................................................................................. 200
Chapter Five Conclusion ............................................................... 203
Bibliography ........................................................................................ 217
Index .................................................................................................... 229