Violence-Related Grammatical Examples in al-Kitāb: Naḥw Function, Semantic Residue, Cross-Cultural Reception
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15408/bat.v32i2.51141Keywords:
al-Kitāb, Sibawayhi, naḥw, semantic residue, Arabic language pedagogyAbstract
Purpose
This article aims to examine violence-related grammatical examples in Sibawayhi’s al-Kitāb through three analytical layers: naḥw function, lexical-semantic residue, and the horizon of cross-cultural reception.
Method
This research employs a qualitative library-based method. The primary source is al-Kitāb, edited by ʿAbd al-Salām Muḥammad Hārūn. The data were collected through textual reading of grammatical examples containing verbs of violent action and analyzed through an intellectual-historical examination of the naḥw tradition, discourse analysis, and an ethical-receptional approach.This study employs a qualitative library-based method with textual, intellectual-historical, and limited reception-hermeneutical approaches. The primary source is al-Kitāb, edited by ʿAbd al-Salām Muḥammad Hārūn. The main data include iḍrib, uqtul, ḍaraba ʿAbdullāhu Zaydan, ḍarabtu Zaydan, and qatalta Zaydan. Supporting sources include classical adab-naḥw literature, modern studies on Sibawayhi, semantics, Arabic language pedagogy, and discourse and multicultural theories used as auxiliary concepts rather than as a single methodological framework.
Results/findings
The article finds that these examples primarily function as technical devices for explaining verbal forms, agent-object relations, and transitive structures. However, this technical function does not entirely erase lexical meanings such as “to strike” and “to kill.” Anecdotes and satire in the adab-naḥw tradition are better understood as metalinguistic humor and criticism of pedagogical formalism rather than direct moral protests against violence.
Conclusion
The article concludes that classical grammatical examples should be read by preserving their naḥw legitimacy, recognizing their semantic residue, and allowing pedagogical contextualization without claiming empirical data on contemporary reception.
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