test
Search publications, data, projects and authors

Book

French

ID: <

10670/1.lhqzmm

>

Where these data come from
“And Allah teaches Adam all names...” (Cor. 2, 31). The origin of language in Islamic thinking’

Abstract

International audience The question of the origin of language is one of the most famous pages of what should be called Islamic "theolinguistics". It is indeed conditioned by Q. 2:31 "And he [i.e. Allah] taught Adam all the names." This verse determines the Islamic alternative which is very different from the Greek one: rather than by institution (thései) or by nature (phusei), the origin of the language is only by institution, the alternative being divine or human origin. Following Suyūṭī’s (d. 911/1505) Muzhir, we first present the "theological thesis", exposed by Ibn Fāris (d. 395/1004) in the Ṣāhibī. Called tawqīf (divine "fixation"), it is based on the literal interpretation of Q. 2:31. It is opposed to the thesis of iṣṭilāḥ (human "convention"), attributed to Mu‘tazilites. We next show that the Mu‘tazilite grammarian Ibn Ǧinnī (d. 392/1002) actually "hesitates" between these two positions, rallying to an intermediate position and not excluding the naturalistic hypothesis. Finally, we suggest that the question of the origin of language, by focusing on the idea of institution, can be at the origin of the scholastic discipline of ‘ilm al-waḍ‘, which is a true semiotics.

Your Feedback

Please give us your feedback and help us make GoTriple better.
Fill in our satisfaction questionnaire and tell us what you like about GoTriple!