Bayān, Gesture, and Genre: Self-Positioning in al-Jurjānī’s Introductions

This article examines the generic affiliations in the introductions to ʿAbd al-Qāhir al-Jurjānī’s (d. 471/1078 or 474/1081) Asrār al-balāgha and Dalāʾil al-iʿjāz, identifying their interlocutors, polemical purposes, and generic aspirations. Asrār al-balāgha aims to displace al-Jāḥiẓ (d. 255/868-9) a...

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Auteur principal: Miller, Jeannie (Auteur)
Type de support: Électronique Article
Langue:Anglais
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Publié: Brill 2018
Dans: Journal of Abbasid Studies
Année: 2018, Volume: 5, Numéro: 1/2, Pages: 58-104
Sujets non-standardisés:B ʿAbd al-Qāhir al-Jurjānī bayān ishāra language theory legal theory uṣūl al-fiqh
Accès en ligne: Volltext (Verlag)
Description
Résumé:This article examines the generic affiliations in the introductions to ʿAbd al-Qāhir al-Jurjānī’s (d. 471/1078 or 474/1081) Asrār al-balāgha and Dalāʾil al-iʿjāz, identifying their interlocutors, polemical purposes, and generic aspirations. Asrār al-balāgha aims to displace al-Jāḥiẓ (d. 255/868-9) as a theorist, while Dalāʾil al-iʿjāz addresses not only the Muʿtazilī theologian ʿAbd al-Jabbār (d. ca. 415/1024), but also a group espousing an instrumentalist language theory, whom I identify as legal theorists (uṣūlīs) of all stripes. Al-Jurjānī’s critique alerts us to a history of instrumentalist language theory, and allows for a richer reexamination of the multifarious afterlife of al-Jāḥiẓ’s theory of communication (bayān), and his concept of gesture (ishāra). His critique of the instrumentalist group reflects a concern among fifth/eleventh-century legal theorists to ground their discipline more deeply in philology, especially grammar.
ISSN:2214-2371
Contient:In: Journal of Abbasid Studies
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1163/22142371-12340038