31215 - Arab Philology 1

Learning outcomes

ChatGPT ha detto:

At the end of the course, the student will have knowledge of the fundamental aspects of the structure of the Arabic language, extended to include a comparison of linguistic phenomena in the same (Semitic) area, both in its diachronic and synchronic phases, with references to the culture of the region.

Course contents

This course offers an introduction to Arabic philology, tracing the evolution of linguistic thought in the Arabic-Islamic world from its classical origins to modern developments. Students will examine key texts and major figures in the Arabic grammatical, lexicographical, and literary traditions, exploring methods of linguistic analysis and the historical development of the Arabic language across the centuries. The course includes the study of texts related to grammar, literature, and literary criticism, focusing on the idea of the “word/kalima”. As part of the broader curriculum offered by the CdL, students will also receive an introduction to Arabic dialectology and diglossia, providing a foundation for further study in that field.

In addition to traditional philological tools, the course integrates digital methodologies, with a particular emphasis on the use of TEI (Text Encoding Initiative) for the digital editing of Arabic texts. Students will acquire hands-on experience in XML encoding of manuscripts and printed sources, learning how to represent textual variants, paratextual elements, and semantic structures. By combining classical philology with contemporary digital practices, the course equips students with the essential skills to critically analyze Arabic texts and actively contribute to the growing field of digital philology—an indispensable resource for the modern philologist.

Readings/Bibliography

First part of the course:

G. Mion, La Lingua Araba, Carocci, 2016

O. Durand, Dialettologia Araba, Carocci, 2009 (passi scelti)

G.Bohas, J.-P. Guillaume, D. Koulougli, The Arabic Linguistic Tradition, Georgetown University Press, 2006 (passi scelti)

G.Lancioni, L. Bettini (eds.), The word in arabic, Brill, 2011 (passi scelti)

Owens, J., The Foundations of Grammar: An Introduction to Medieval Arabic Grammatical Theory, Amsterdam/Philadephia, 1988 (passi scelti)

- Models for Interpreting the Development of Medieval Arabic Grammatical Theory, Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 111, No. 2 (Apr. - Jun., 1991), pp. 225-238 (https://doi.org/10.2307/604016)

- The Syntactic Basis of Arabic Word Classification, Brill, Arabica , Jul., 1989, T. 36, Fasc. 2 (Jul., 1989), pp. 211-234 (https://www.jstor.org/stable/4056796 )

S. Guth (ed.), Approaches to the Etymology of Arabic, JAIS, Vol. 17 (2017) (DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5617/jais.6121 )

D. Gutas, Greek Thought, Arabic Culture: The Graeco-Arabic Translation Movement in Baghdad and Early ʻAbbāsid Society (2nd-4th/8th-10th Centuries), London; New York: Routledge, 1998 (passi scelti)

Wadia T. al-Najim, Aristotle's book Corpus de Animalibus and al-Ǧāḥiẓ's book al-Ḥayawān, in Arabica, T.26 Fasc. 3, 1979, pp. 307-309, Brill-Leiden

Sherman Jackson, Al-Jahiz on translation, in Alif:Journal of Comparative Poetics, No.4, Intertextuality, 1984, pp.99-107;

Newman, D. The Arabic Literary Language : The Nahḍa (and beyond). In J. Owens, The Oxford Handbook of Arabic Linguistics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013

Newman, D. The European influence on Arabic during the Nahḍa lexical borrowing from European languages (ta'rīb) in 19th-Century Literature. Arabic Language and Literature (5), 1-32, 2002.

Avino, Camera D'Afflitto, Salem, Antologia della letteratura Araba contemporanea, Carocci pp.37-40 e 11-13

Second part of the course:

Patrick Sahle, “What Is a Scholarly Digital Edition (SDE)?”. In: Digital Scholarly Editing: Theory, Practice and Future Perspectives, ed. by Matthew Driscoll and Elena Pierazzo (Cambridge, UK: OBP, 2016), 19–39. Online: http://www.openbookpublishers.com//download/book/527 [http://www.openbookpublishers.com/download/book/527] , doi:10.11647/OBP.0095.

Lou Burnard, What is the Text Encoding Initiative?, Marseille: Open Edition Press, 2014. Online: https://books.openedition.org/oep/426 .

Nizar Y. Habash, Introduction to Arabic Natural Language Processing, Springer, 2010.

D. Fiormonte, “Pragmatica digitale. Paratesti, microtesti e <metatesti> nel web, in M. Dardano, G. Frenguelli, E. De Roberto, Testi brevi. Atti del convegno internazionale di studi, Università Roma Tre, 8-10 giugno 2006, Roma, Aracne, 2008, pp. 65-84.

Olivieri, S., Cicola, I., Pepe, I. Encoding Arabic RhetoricalRhetoric Structure. A methodology for the extraction of Arabic lexical information from TEI-encoded classical sources, in the 4^th International Colloquium on Information Science and Technology (IEEE – CIST’16) proceedings volume El Mojadir, M. et al. (Eds.)

I. Cicola, Do Alchemists dream of Electronic sheets?, in Book of Abstracts della 7° edizione del Convegno Nazionale dell'Associazione per l'Informatica Umanistica e la Cultura Digitale (7^th AIUCD 2018), Bari, 31st January – 2nd February 2018

I. Cicola, How to tame a disaster? Integrating Politics and Power Strategies into the Creation of a Disasters Database in Classical Arabic Sources JAIS, forthcoming.

Teaching methods

Frontal lectures and laboratory-style exercices in the classroom

Assessment methods

Students who attend at least 75% of the lessons are considered to be attending.

Final evaluation will take into account the participation during classes, laboratory work conducted by the student-and a final oral exam, which will cover the topics in class during the course.

In case of non-attending students or students from previous years, please contact the lecturer

Assestments will be awarded following this principles:

TOP MARKS

(28-30)

• the students can to provide a full-fledged linguistic and historical commentary of the selected texts
• the students shows an overall understanding of the topics discussed during the lectures
• the students displays a critical approach to the material and a confident and effective use of the appropriate terminology

AVERAGE MARKS

(24-27)

• the student has memorized the main points of the course material
• the students is able to summarise them satisfactorily and provide an effective critical commentary,
• the student displays an average command of the appropriate terminology

LOW MARKS

(18-23)

• the students knows very sparsely the exam material
• the students is able to summarise and provide a general critical commentary,
• the student displays a limited command of the appropriate terminology

FAILED EXAM

• the students displays significant errors in his understanding the exam material
• the student fails to grasp the overall outlines of the subject
• the student displays a poor command of the appropriate terminology

Every year six exam sessions are programmed: 2 in winter, 1 in spring, 2 in summer and 1 in autumn.

Teaching tools

Textbooks will be integrated with a wide range of other tools, mostly relying on Arabic sources (audiovisual, press, literary texts, as well as religious, legal, economic and political texts).

Students with learning disorders and\or temporary or permanent disabilities: please, contact the office responsible (https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en/for-students ) as soon as possible so that they can propose acceptable adjustments. The request for adaptation must be submitted in advance (15 days before the exam date) to the lecturer, who will assess the appropriateness of the adjustments, taking into account the teaching objectives

Office hours

See the website of Ilaria Cicola