The Term fāʾida in Pragmatic and Rhetorical Discussions by Arab Grammarians

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Abstract

Fāʾida lit. “benefit/usefulness” is an important and complex term in medieval Arabic grammatical theory. It is used by the grammarians to refer to the “value” of sentences, syntactical constructions, or single words, and in various contexts can be understood to mean “communicative value,” “message” or “meaning.” This article studies two uses of the term fāʾida and its derivatives: fāʾida as an informative value of certain sentence constituents (with the related terminology sometimes coming close to the modern term “rheme”) and fāʾida as an addition to the message. The examples discussed in the article shed light on Arab grammarians’ insights into pragmatics and rhetoric.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publication“Carrying a Torch to Distant Mountains”
EditorsYoram Cohen, Amir Gilan, Letizia Cerqueglini, Beata Sheyhatovitch
Place of PublicationLeiden, The Netherlands
PublisherBrill
Chapter14
Pages380-413
Number of pages34
ISBN (Electronic)9789004499140
ISBN (Print)9789004499133
DOIs
StatePublished - 2021

Publication series

NameThe IOS Annual
Volume21
ISSN (Print)2772-784X

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