75743 - Arabic Language and Literature 4 (LM)

Learning outcomes

Through the completion of this course, the student acquires a higher level of proficiency in the language and a good knowledge of Arabic literature. He/she also strengthens his/herability to independently approach the most complex texts in the original language, by critically and independently making bibliographic and documentary research. He/She acquires the ability to progress autonomously in research.

Course contents

Sacred "sciences" in the Medieval World, an excursus on language.

Arabic Language conveys a plethora of deep meanings intertwined with the Islamic religion, of which it is the "official language". For this reason the study of the language is not only a very efficient way of understanding its internal mechanisms, but it certainly takes new philosophical and teological facets. 

In the first part of the course, a general presentation of medieval linguistics will be provided starting from an historical excursus and  then the major exponents will be presented along with their theories.

In particular, text from Sibawayhi and Ibn Hisham will be presented and some excerpts will be translated in class, so to problematize the approach to the programme's topic. 

Lastly, the course will focus on the use of the language in a specific context, i.e. Alchemy, and, more specificly the Jabirian corpus. The discourse will be mediated by the science of the letters, the 'ilm al-huruf. The study of this pseudo-scientific discipline will allow the students to problematize the use of the techical lexicon and the processes of semantic extension, calque, loan and, more widely, the linguistic strategies applied to a very specific area of study. 

This will give the student the possibility to learn a new approach to the study of the Arabic Language, combining grammar, history and teology. 

The Course will therefore pursue the following principal goals:

1) on the linguistic side: give the student the possibility of strenghten and reinforce their competences in the translation oftexts from Classical Arabic, with a particular attention on the grammatical, philosophical and alchemical lexicon;

2) analize the pricipal historical, linguistical and epistemological topics of the "technical" terminology of the Alchemical jargon;

3) illustrate the principal historiographical questions linked to the reconstruction of a specific dimension of the cultural history of the Arabic and Islamic world, taking into consideration the questions of auctoritas, language and plausibility linked to the jabirian corpus;

4) illustrate the principal interpretations in the present historiographical debate on the figure of Jabir Ibn Hayyan, taking in consideration the different positions and problematizing the approaches.

Readings/Bibliography

Attending students:

Arabic Language - suggested reference book:

Veccia Vaglieri L , Avino M., Grammatica teorico-pratica della lingua araba, Istituto per l’Oriente, Napoli 2011 (volume I, tomi I e II)

History of Arabic Literature:

General References:

• Bohas, G., Guillaume, J.-P., Kouloughli, D.E., The Arabic Linguistic Tradition, Gerogetown University Press, 1990; (pp. 1-99 and 119-136)
• Lory, P, La science des lettres en Islam, Dervy, 2004, (pp. 37-58). 
• Lory, P., Alchimie et mystique en terre d’Islam, Gallimard Folio, 1989 

Primary sources - handout material provided by the teacher :

• Ibn Hisham, Risāla(t) fī i‘rāb lā ilàha illā Allàh, ed. Hassan Mūsà al-Šāʽir, Medina.
• Jabir Ibn Hayyan (Ed. Lory, P). L’élaboration de l’Elixir Suprême - Quatorze traités de Jâbir ibn Hayyân sur le Grand Œuvre alchimique. Damascus : Publications de l’Institut Français d’Études Arabes
• Kraus, P. Jābir Ibn "ayyān. Mukhtār Rasā’il, Essai sur l’histoire des idées scientifiques dans l’Islam. Tome I et II. Paris - le Caire , 1935.
• Haq, S.N. Names, Nature and Things. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1994.

Studies on the course's main topic:

• Versteegh, K.M.C., The notion of 'Underlying Levels' tn the Arabic grammatical tradition, Historiographia Linguistica, Vol. 21:3 (1994), pp. 271–296
• Jabir Ibn Hayyan (Lory, P. Ed), Dix traités d’alchimie, Sindbad, 1996 ;(pp. 11-95 e 241-283)
• Lancioni, G., La terminologia grammaticale del corpus giabiriano. Rivista di Studi Orientali, n. LXXII, (pp. 1-14) 1997
• Cicola, I., Il corpus giabiriano, una visione d'insieme tra passato e futuro, in Miscellanea Arabica 2012 (pp.28-45), La Sapienza Edizioni;

N.B. In case of lack of understanding one of the two foreing languages in the Bibliography, students may ask for an alternative bibliography to the professor.

Non-attending students: 

Arabic Language - suggested reference book

Veccia Vaglieri L , Avino M., Grammatica teorico-pratica della lingua araba, Istituto per l’Oriente, Napoli 2011 (volume I, tomi I e II)

History of Arabic Literature:

General References:

• Bohas, G., Guillaume, J.-P., Kouloughli, D.E., The Arabic Linguistic Tradition, Gerogetown University Press, 1990; (pp. 1-99 and 119-136)
• Versteegh, K.M.C, The Arabic Language, Edimburgh University Press, 1996. Pp. 37-92.
• Corbin, H., Storia della filosofia islamica, Adelphi, 1973 (Pp. 86-114 e 138-143).
• Lory, P, La science des lettres en Islam, Dervy, 2004, (pp. 37-58).
• Lory, P., Alchimie et mystique en terre d’Islam, Gallimard Folio, 1989.

Primary sources - handout material provided by the teacher:

• Ibn Hisham, Risāla(t) fī i‘rāb lā ilàha illā Allàh, ed. Hassan Mūsà al-Šāʽir, Medina.
• Jabir Ibn Hayyan (Ed. Lory, P). L’élaboration de l’Elixir Suprême - Quatorze traités de Jâbir ibn Hayyân sur le Grand Œuvre alchimique. Damascus : Publications de l’Institut Français d’Études Arabes
• Kraus, P. Jābir Ibn Hayyān. Muhtār Rasā’il, Essai sur l’histoire des idées scientifiques dans l’Islam. Tome I et II. Paris - le Caire , 1935.
• Haq, S.N. Names, Nature and Things. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1994.

Studies on the course's main topic:

• Levin, A., The fundamental principles of the Arab grammarians’ theory of ‘amal, in:«JSAI», 19 (1995), pp. 214-235.
• Versteegh, K.M.C., The notion of 'Underlying Levels' tn the Arabic grammatical tradition, Historiographia Linguistica, Vol. 21:3 (1994), pp. 271–296
• Jabir Ibn Hayyan (Lory, P. Ed), Dix traités d’alchimie, Sindbad, 1996 ; limitatamente alle pagine 11-95 e 241-283
• Lancioni, G., La terminologia grammaticale del corpus giabiriano. Rivista di Studi Orientali, n. LXXII, (pp. 1-14) 1997
• Cicola, I., Il corpus giabiriano, una visione d'insieme tra passato e futuro, in Miscellanea Arabica 2012 (pp.28-45), La Sapienza Edizioni;

N.B. In case of lack of understanding one of the two foreing languages in the Bibliography, students may ask for an alternative bibliography to the professor.

Teaching methods

Language

Following the teaching method starded in the Bachelor Degree, a syncrasis between the two most spread strategy in L2 learning will be used:

1) The grammatical approach, the "traditional method" used in academic teaching of Arabic language: the student will develop passive skills in written communication (translation from Arabic into Italian)

2)the inductive and mimetic approach proposed by the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (Learning / Teaching / Assessment).This approach will be adapted to the specific needs of the course and to the subject, i.e. Arabic, so to allow the student to activly produce small texts and dialogues.

The operational methodology will be further developed on the basis of a thorough “context analysis”, aimed at identifying the special needs of the students of this specific course.

History of Literature

The teacher's lectures will include the analysis and the translation of texts of the historical period studied within the course.

Assessment methods

Final Exam Structure

The final exam consists of one test: an oral interview to which activities that students will carry out during the course (either in class or individually) will be added as an evaluation method and they will matter for the formation of the final judgment.

The oral exam

The oral exam will assess the student's command of the material studied in the course. The oral exam includes two different moments: i) a linguistic and historical commentary on selected texts among those analysed by the teacher during the course and ii) questions, where his/her ability to summarise and critically discuss topics raised in the course, making use of the exam bibliography and the course tools provided will be assested.

The assessment will thus consider the student's:
- competence in commenting on the selected texts, i.e. in identifying, translating and contextualizing them;
- knowledge and understanding of the topics covered;
- ability to summarise and analyse themes and concepts;
- familiarity with the terminology associated with the subject and his ability to use it effectively.

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

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).

Office hours

See the website of Ilaria Cicola