Ilm al-Lugha al-Arabiya

Ilm al-Lugha al-Arabiya (Arabic Linguistics) is a study of Arabic linguistics by the Egyptian linguist Mahmoud Fahmi Hijazi (d. 1441 AH / 2020 CE), subtitled Madkhal Ta'rikhi Muqaran fi Daw' al-Turath wa-l-Lughat al-Samiyya (A Historical and Comparative Introduction in Light of Heritage and Semitic Languages) Ilm al-Lugha al-Arabiya+1.

Purpose and Scope

The book serves as an introduction to the general foundations of historical and comparative research in the Arabic language Ilm al-Lugha al-Arabiya. It synthesizes the general theoretical framework and methodologies developed in nineteenth- and twentieth-century modern linguistics with the classical Arabic linguistic heritage and comparative Semitic grammar Ilm al-Lugha al-Arabiya. The author designed the work to provide students and researchers with a focused overview of linguistic theory, Semitic language classification, the history of Arabic scholarship, and the historical spread of the Arabic language Ilm al-Lugha al-Arabiya.

Structure and Contents

The work opens with an introduction and is arranged into fifteen chapters, concluded by two bibliographies Ilm al-Lugha al-Arabiya+1:

• Chapters 1–2: Cover the nature and social functions of language, definitions of language according to both classical scholars—such as Ibn Jinni—and modern linguists, followed by the branches of modern linguistics (comparative, descriptive, historical, contrastive, and general), their terminology, and their connections to psychology, sociology, and language pedagogy Ilm al-Lugha al-Arabiya+1.
• Chapters 3–6: Address the language sciences within the classical Arabic heritage, distinguishing between grammar (nahw), philology (fiqh al-lugha), and linguistic sciences (ilm al-lisan) Ilm al-Lugha al-Arabiya. They survey classical biographical and bibliographical literature—including al-Fihrist of Ibn al-Nadim and tabaqat works—and examine key grammatical and lexicographical texts, covering the Basran and Kufan schools, pedagogical manuals, encyclopedic commentaries, phonetic and alphabetical dictionaries, thematic lexicons, morphological treatises, and works on common linguistic errors (lahn al-amma) Ilm al-Lugha al-Arabiya+1.
• Chapters 7–11: Introduce the comparative method and language classification, charting the relationship of Semitic languages to the Afroasiatic family, ancient Egyptian, and ancient Libyan Ilm al-Lugha al-Arabiya. They outline shared Semitic phonetic, morphological, syntactic, and lexical characteristics, map the geographical and historical branches (Akkadian, Canaanite, Aramaic, South Arabian, and Ethiopic Semitic), and analyze Arabic phonology, pronouns, biliteral nouns, verbal roots, cognates, and loanwords in light of Proto-Semitic Ilm al-Lugha al-Arabiya+1.
• Chapters 12–15: Trace the history of Arabic from ancient pre-Islamic inscriptions and regional dialects in the Arabian Peninsula to historical waves of Arabization across the Asian East (the Mashriq)—drawing on observations by figures such as al-Jahiz, al-Hamdani, and al-Maqdisi—and across the African continent (Egypt, Nubia, Sudan, and the Maghreb) Ilm al-Lugha al-Arabiya. The final chapter analyzes historical trends of structural change and lexical growth in the language Ilm al-Lugha al-Arabiya.

The text concludes with a selected bibliography of Arabic linguistic studies and a selected bibliography of European works in general linguistics, Semitic linguistics, and Arabic linguistics Ilm al-Lugha al-Arabiya+1.

Publication

The book was published in Kuwait by Wikalat al-Matbu'at in 1973 CE Tadakhul al-Usul al-Lugha….