Arabic Rhetoric
The Pragmatics of Deviation from Linguistic Norms
Basil Hatim
American University of Sharjah, UAE
The rhetorical traditions of a nation are an important part of the linguistic and thought processes which characterize the intellectual make-up of its people. This has perhaps never been more evident than in the case of the Arabic language and those who speak it. Such an interrelationship between language and thinking has been at the heart of serious misunderstandings of the perceptions and attitudes of the Arabs on the part of those who interact with them via culture, trade and more recently politics.
The aim of Arabic Rhetoric: Norms & Deviations is thus to provide a core text on Arabic Rhetoric (balagha) for semi-specialist and generalist readers with professional interest in the Arabic language and culture. In an accessible manner, the reader is presented with a comprehensive, albeit brief, account of the salient features of Arab rhetorical thinking. Such accounts aim to familiarize the reader with the major themes, what these mean to the modern user of Arabic in fields such as translation and how they compare and contrast with recent trends in modern text linguistics. The focus of the book is not so much on the chronology and historical ramifications as on the conceptual map which highlights milestones in the development of Arabic rhetorical thought.
ISBN 9783929075731. LINCOM Studies in Communicaton 04. 271pp. 2009.
