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Arabic Scholarship: State of Affairs The starting point for the discussion about Anti-Thesis Arabic as the academic use of Arabic and other lan- a scholarly guages of the MENA regions at the Center for Near and Middle Eastern Studies was language? twofold. On the one hand, there are some initiatives at universities in Germany that Pitfalls of encourage Arabists to use Arabic for scholarly purposes: the ongoing seminar multilingualism Ḥalqa ʿarabiyya in Marburg (Centrum für Nah- und Mittelost-Studien, “Wirtschafts­ in scholarship arabisch”) and the yearly conference “Kompetenzorientierung im Arabisch­ unterricht” at the University of Bamberg on the methodological and pedagogical challenges of teaching Arabic, which includes many talks in the Arabic lan- guage. On the other hand, it can be observed that the speakers of Middle Eastern and African languages obviously Michael Waltisberg, Vera Tsukanova form the minority at the conferences ded- icated to the respective languages, and Virtually all Arabists at some point ask reflect on the role of language in conduct- these languages are rarely used there for themselves whether they should take into ing research and exchanging ideas. academic talks. A regular conference on account specialized literature in Arabic, The authors of this article are both lin- the Arabic dialectology “AIDA” is an exam- whether to take part in conferences held guists specialized in Semitic languages; ple of a rather successful interaction in Arabic countries, and which language therefore, they concentrate on the prob- between Arabic and Western scholars and they should choose for publishing their lems of their field, although these should has Arabic as one of its working lan- work. In this paper, we try to review this be relevant to some extent also for the guages. Nevertheless, the program of question in a broader context of the lan- adjacent fields in the humanities. “AIDA-2019” includes 104 talks in English guage of scholarship. By adducing his- and French and only 11 talks in Arabic. Is torical and typological parallels, we Keywords: Arabic, Scholarship, Meta- this disparity a result of the politics and language, Education

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mentality of Orientalism, or are there other However, to our knowledge, there is a As for the humanities in the Arabic world, reasons? recent tendency in linguistics to engage we observe that, to a certain degree, they If we compare the situation of Arabic native speakers of these regions in are detached from and lack integration scholars and the Arabic academic lan- descriptive and theoretical work with their into the modern scholarship of North guage with that of other languages and vernaculars. It is obvious that one should America and Europe. In contrast to some countries, we will conclude that they support the idea of engaging native other historical situations when interna- occupy the middle position between speakers from countries with young schol- tional scientific contacts were impossible other languages with a long written tradi- arly traditions so that they become lin- due to geographic or political restrictions, tion, such as those of Eastern Europe and guists, to motivate them, to treat them as with Arabic scholarship, at least in certain Far Eastern Asia, on the one hand, and equals, and possibly even to give them fields, this restriction comes from within languages without written traditions, on quotas at conferences, considering that in Arab society itself and probably has an the other. Conferences dedicated to e.g. the past they were treated primarily as ideological character. A large role in this Russian or Chinese involve many native objects rather than subjects of research. ideology is played by the Arabic language, speakers and may be held partially or The situation of Arabic scholarship is dif- which many of its native speakers consider completely in those languages. See, for ferent. It would be wrong to call it young: radically different from other languages. example, the Annual Conference of the it has a long history that has been main- International Association of Chinese tained in the humanities but, unfortu- Difficulties for Western Scholars in Linguistics, with its mixed English-Chinese nately, interrupted for several centuries in Interacting with Today’s Arabic program (“About IACL”). To be sure, there the natural sciences. With the decline of Scholarship are discussions within the respective the Caliphate, the sciences in the Arab Before addressing the impact of isolation scholarly communities whether everyone world fell into decay and are still in crisis. on Arabic scholarship, let us discuss the should switch into English in their aca- They are taught in English or French at the differences between Arabic and Western demic work, but at least this is not the cur- universities of Arab countries, while receiv- scholarship in the academic language and rent situation. ing an education at Western universities is linguistic traditions. Conferences and publications dedicated considered more prestigious there. Kuwait A serious problem in the interaction with to languages with recent written and University may serve as an example: its Arabic scholars today is the lack of a scholarly traditions are carried out almost Guide of the University Faculties (dalīl shared terminology, not only in the completely in Western European lan- kulliyyāt al-jāmiʿa) for the academic year humanities, but in all likelihood in science guages; see as an example the 2018/2019 says that, in some faculties, like as well. Whereas Arabic in the course of International Conference on Swahili the Faculty of Sciences, the language of its history was a perfect vessel for scien- Language and Linguistics, held in English study is English. In Morocco, sciences are tific discussion and in its heyday overlap- (World Academy of Science, Engineering taught in French, see Sulaimani, this vol- ping with the Middle Ages in Europe pro- and Technology, “Cape Town Program”). ume. duced an immense body of academic

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literature in many fields, from grammar Semitic languages, despite their typologi- some polities, new words are discussed and lexicography to mathematics, astron- cal similarity. Nevertheless, the traditional and then either accepted or rejected by omy, geography and medicine, this terminology is very much alive and in use the institutions that play a role of authori- changed with the advent of modern sci- in Arabic countries, still determining the ties on vocabulary, such as the Académie ence and scholarship. way Arabic grammar is learnt and dis- française in France or the Academy of the The example of Arabic linguistics is typi- cussed. Hebrew Language in Israel. As for the cal: the tradition of Arabic grammar going If shared terminology simply does not Arab countries, they do not and cannot back to the work of the famous grammar- exist for a particular language, as is the have a common institution that would ian Sībawayhi (d. ca. 180 AH/796 AD) with case in many fields of Arabic scholarship, decide for every one of them on linguistic its own set of linguistic terms and modes then who should create it, foreign scholars issues. of grammatical explanations neither con- or native speakers of Arabic in their striv- In addition to the terminological prob- forms to modern linguistics nor is appli- ing for integration? We side with those lems, one can observe that Arab linguists cable to other languages. For example, in who favour the latter approach, not least and philologists frequently have interests the paradigm of past-tense verbs, the because we are keenly aware of many that are quite different from those of their Arabic tradition makes a distinction special problems inherent in creating European colleagues. Their approach to between 3rd-person singular feminine appropriate terminology for Arabic. One language history generally does not rely katab-at (she wrote) and 1st-person singu- conspicuous difficulty may be the struc- on comparative linguistics, which empha- lar katab-tu (I wrote): instead of treating ture of Arabic morphology. Creating terms sizes the necessity of using genetically them as members of a uniform paradigm, from existing roots according to a limited related languages for the purpose of they classify the first ending as a sort of number of Arabic patterns requires a reconstructing their common ancestor. nominal feminine morpheme (muʾannath), good, not to say perfect understanding The Arabic scholars are primarily inter- while the latter is treated as a 1st-person and knowledge of the language, because ested in the internal history of their own singular pronoun (ḍamīr) (Weigelt 54-55). the semantic interaction of a root and pat- language. Thus, the Doha Historical Furthermore, the term naṣb is used for tern is often not easy to predict. Borrowed Dictionary of Arabic does not supply both the nominal accusative ending -a(n), terminology, on the other hand, may seem external etymologies, but gives citations like kitāb-an (a book), al-kitāb-a (the book), alien, not forming part of the Arabic lan- from texts from various periods in the his- and the verbal subjunctive ending such as guage system. As for existing terms, they tory of Arabic (The Doha Dictionary). yaktub-a ((that) he writes), as if these two may have a different meaning in the Arabic Furthermore, they do not normally have a phenomena were not only phonetically tradition, and Arabic scholars would not predilection for describing dialects or dia- similar on the surface but also comparable want to change it. lectal history, but tend to be rather pre- syntactically (Weigelt 63). Idiosyncrasies But who will decide whether a given newly scriptive in the use of the standard literary such as these are not matched in the other created term is accepted by the scholarly variant. Nor do traditional Arab grammar- descriptive grammars, even those of other community in all the Arabic countries? In ians attribute any value to linguistic typol-

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ogy. All these ideological differences fre- These questions are valid not only for Kazimirski de Biberstein in French, quently complicate interaction between Arabic, and, furthermore, it seems that the Ahatanhel Krymsky in Russian, etc., Arab and Western scholars. answers depend on the person or entity although all these Arabists and who asks. For an individual scholar, it is Semitologists were polyglots and experts Multilingualism in Scholarship preferable to understand as many lan- in many languages of Europe and Asia The situation with using Arabic for aca- guages as possible, but to write in a lan- and could mostly read each other’s demic purposes is part of a more general guage that is comprehensible for the larg- research papers. At the same time, schol- discussion about multilingualism in schol- est part of the target audience. For a state arship in other parts of the world remained arship. Here, two competitive interests or nation, it is important to develop sci- isolated. In the course of the twentieth come into play: the value of universal sci- ence in its own language and to teach it at century, worldwide scientific interaction ence for the progress of humankind, on universities, although it can accept the use became gradually more intensive, and the the one hand, and national interests and of the most widely used language as a question of going back to the one-lan- anti-globalism, on the other hand. If we compromise in order to participate in guage model became critically acute, accept a need for academic multilingual- international programs. A first step may be resulting in the domination of English in ism, we face a number of questions, which the mandatory use of abstracts in Arabic many fields. are certainly rhetorical to some extent, in the case of an article in a European lan- History also shows us that this situation is because they do not have good answers: guage or vice versa. This could at least not a cause for alarm. The sociolinguistic Is there a list of languages that should be facilitate communication and exchange model in which different languages are used in scholarship, or are all the lan- among the scientific communities. used in different situations has been wide- guages spoken by scholars equally suit- Historically, several models of academic spread throughout history and time. able for scholarship? multilingualism are known to have existed Whether or not Charles V, Emperor of the How many languages should a scholar in various periods. Greek was the scholarly Holy Roman Empire, actually said: “I speak learn in order to understand issues that language par excellence in Antiquity, and Spanish with God, Italian to women, are relevant for his studies, and how much Latin fulfilled the same role in Europe in French to men and German to my horse” time should he invest in it in proportion to Middle Ages, while in the Middle East a (Braunmüller and Ferraresi 2), he was his research? comparable role was allotted to Arabic at familiar with all these languages and Should the science of language be differ- the same time. Since the 18th and espe- used them in different circumstances. An ent from other fields in which language is cially in the 19th century, following the interesting case of diglossia character- not the subject of study? standardization of European literary lan- ized the writings of the medieval Jews in Does a language that does not have all the guages, European scholars began to use Arab countries: Maimonides, the famous registers of speech, including scientific them in writing. Thus, William Wright philosopher and physician who lived in terminology and scholarly discourse run wrote in English, Carl Brockelmann and Egypt in the 12th century, used to write in the path toward being endangered? Theodor Nöldeke in German, Albert two different languages depending on

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Vera Tsukanova the subject of his paper: his medical In order to answer the first question, we History of Arabic Grammar. Unfortunately, works are in Arabic, but theological ones should refer to a historical parallel, namely, many Western scholars find the Arab theo- is a PhD student and research assistant are in Hebrew. The poet and philosopher to the results of the isolation of scholar- ries more interesting for the history of sci- at the Department of Semitic Studies of of Al-Andalus, Solomon ibn Gabirol, ship in the former USSR. In the Soviet ence than for the general theory. Thus, in the University of Marburg, CNMS. She wrote poetry in Hebrew and philosophy Union, most scholars were not permitted the Epilogue to his volume, J. Owens graduated from Russian State University in Arabic. There are, of course, similar to travel to capitalist countries and it was states: for the Humanities (Moscow) with a examples in Islamic countries as well, difficult, sometimes impossible, to access specialization in Theoretical and Applied among them Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī (d. foreign publications. Those scholars who In conclusion the question can be Linguistics and the Arabic language. Her 1209), who wrote various books both in were not able to overcome this obstacle posed whether the Arabic grammari- doctoral dissertation project is concerned Arabic and Persian. The list can be frequently remained unfamiliar to world ans achieved their stated aim, that of with the evolution of the derivational extended ad infinitum. scholarship, since their ideas were acces- accounting for and explaining all the verbal system of Arabic in its Semitic Therefore, accepting the value of multilin- sible only to a limited audience of their facts of the Arabic language... One has context. gualism in general does not preclude Soviet colleagues. For example, a Russian seen that at nearly all points in Arabic email: [email protected] insisting on a unique language or a and Soviet linguist and Arabist Nikolai theory there are loose ends, unresol- restricted set of languages for interna- Yushmanov, who died in 1946 before any ved disputes, disputes arbitrarily deci- tional academic interaction in those cases meaningful contacts with the outside ded in favor of one party or the other, when the scholarship from very different world became possible, is unknown interesting intimations whose conse- corners of the world should be brought despite his important research on Arabic quences were not adequately followed together. This also holds for the scholar- grammar. In contrast, his disciple, the through on, and components not fully ship of the twenty-first century. Assyriologist Igor Diakonoff, who was able integrated with each other. The frailties to publish his work in European languages of Arabic theory look decidedly mo- Isolation of Scholarship and interact with foreign colleagues since dern (263). Not only language has a potential to iso- the late 50’s, became widely known and late scholars from their colleagues from acknowledged abroad. This brings us back to the general ques- abroad; sometimes this can happen for The second question, namely the impact tion: can we talk about European, Western political or ideological reasons. One may of Arabic linguistic tradition on the gen- vs. local science? People talk about sci- ask a general question: can such isolation eral theory of language, was studied in ence beginning in connection with the be useful, that is, can it lead to the emer- Jonathan Owens’ work The foundations first civilizations: Mesopotamia, Egypt, gence and proliferation of independent of grammar: an introduction to medieval ancient Greece, India and China, see the scholarly ideas? In particular, has Arabic Arabic grammatical theory, Frank Weigelt’s volume dedicated to the ancient world in scholarship, being independent, gener- Einführung in die arabische Grammatik­ The Cambridge History of Science by ated theoretical ideas that can amplify tradition, or the series edited by K. Jones and Taub. Throughout further his- general linguistic theory? Versteegh, M.G. Carter Studies in the tory, there was an active process of infor-

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Michael Waltisberg mation exchange, which also affected the it with destruction. (…) 2. Intellectual that the effort considerably outweighs Middle East. Having taken advantage of freedom is essential to human socie- possible gains. Scholarship on the Arabic is Privatdozent at the department of the achievements of Greek civilization, ty — freedom to obtain and distribute language and the Arab countries should Semitic Studies in the CNMS of Marburg Arab medieval science made significant information, freedom for open-minded be free to use any meta-language. In the University. Having completed Islamic and progress and passed knowledge further and unfearing debate, and freedom end, it is the content that determines the Semitic studies in Basel and Munich, he to medieval Europe. In modern times, the from pressure by officialdom and pre- worth of research and scholarship, not the wrote his dissertation and Habilitation on exchange of knowledge became easier judices.” language it’s presented in. Classical Arabic and Neo-Aramaic Turoyo and tends to cross not only geographical, Using Arabic as a scholarly language may respectively. His other publications but also social barriers. International con- Summing up, despite a possibility of some be useful for the development of educa- include papers on various topics in ferences are organized for the exchange temporary benefit of isolation, the harm it tion in Arab countries and native linguistic Semitic linguistics, including comparative of opinions, ideas, and discoveries among can cause to scholarship is greater, terminology, but exporting the use of Semitics, typology and syntax of both scholars from different countries, while because it leads to stagnation, reinventing Arabic into the international context ancient and modern Semitic languages. open-access makes the publication acces- the wheel, and decline in the quality of results in the isolation of the Arab scholar- email: [email protected] sible for almost anyone. In the modern research and teaching. Therefore, it does ship from the mainstream science. For this world, the most widely accessible interna- not matter which language is used in reason, we do not see any necessity to use tional language is English. This is an scholarly or cultural endeavours; it is Arabic in publications on Arab culture or objective fact, irrespective of what one important that the idea is spread widely. Arabic literature on the world stage. thinks about why it happened and There is no national science; there is just whether it was good or bad. This is why a the international community of people publication written in English or a talk engaged in scholarly work. Arab politics conducted in English reaches nowadays and Arabic linguistics or literature may the maximum audience. therefore be discussed in any language. It A famous nuclear physicist, human rights is incomprehensible to us why it should be activist, and Nobel laureate, Andrei preferable to discuss problems of Arabic Sakharov, published in 1968 an article in Arabic. “Progress, Coexistence and Intellectual Freedom” (this article is now available Conclusion online), in which he discusses, among Considering the many and important other things, the freedom of scholarship. problems apparent in the use of Arabic as He formulated two main theses that con- a meta-language in scholarly publications, cern the topic under discussion: we do not quite see or comprehend the benefit gained. In addition to the argu- “1. The division of mankind threatens ments discussed above, overall, it seems

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Works Cited Kuwait University. “Guide Weigelt, Frank. Einführung of the University Faculties.” in die arabische Behzadi, Lale. portal.ku.edu.kw/manuals/ Grammatiktradition. “Kompetenzorientierung admission/ar/colleges_ Harrassowitz Verlag, 2017. im Arabischunterricht.” manual.pdf. Accessed 18 Otto-Friedrich-Universität Sept. 2019. World Academy of Science, Bamberg. Fachverband Engineering and Technology. Arabisch e.V. www.uni- Owens, Jonathan. The “Cape Town Program.” waset. bamberg.de/fileadmin/ foundations of grammar: org/conference/2018/11/ arabistik/Programm.pdf. an introduction to medieval cape-town/program. Accessed 18 Sept. 2019. Arabic grammatical theory. Accessed 18 Sept. 2019. John Benjamins Publishing, Braunmüller, Kurt, and Gisella 1988. Ferraresi, eds. Aspects of multilingualism in European The Andrei Sakharov language history. John Museum and Public Center. Benjamins Publishing, 2003. “Progress, Coexistence and Intellectual Freedom.” Centrum für Nah- und Sakharov Archives. Council Mittelost-Studien. of Europe Commissioner „Wissenschaftsarabisch.“ for Human Rights. www. Philipps-Universität Marburg. sakharov-center.ru/ www.uni-marburg.de/de/ asfconf2009/english/ cnms/wissenschaftsarabisch. node/20. Accessed 18 Sept. Accessed 18 Sept. 2019. 2019.

International Association of The Doha Historical Chinese Linguistics. “About Dictionary of Arabic. www. IACL.” iacl27kobe.net/. dohadictionary.org/. Accessed 18 Sept. 2019. Accessed 18 Sept. 2019.

Jones, Alexander, and Liba Versteegh, K., and M.G. Taub, editors. The Cambridge Carter, editors. Studies in the History of Science, vol. 1, History of Arabic Grammar. Cambridge UP, 2018. John Benjamins Publishing, 1985, 1990, 1995. 3 Vols. (CC BY 4.0)

ISSN: 2196-629X https://doi.org/10.17192/ meta.2019.13.8094

Middle East – Topics & Arguments # 13 –2019