Quest for the Origin of Language—From De vulgari eloquentia to the Paradiso

2021 ◽  
pp. 218-220
Author(s):  
William Franke
Keyword(s):  
Origin Of Language ◽  
De Vulgari Eloquentia

scholarly journals Language Origin and the Nature of Language: A Linguistic Interpretation of Dante's De Vulgari Eloquentia

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Margaret Stong-Jensen
Keyword(s):  
Negative Answer ◽  
Species Specificity ◽  
Basic Relation ◽  
General Nature ◽  
Language Origin ◽  
Original Language ◽  
Sociological Factors ◽  
Origin Of Language ◽  
Unique Nature ◽  
De Vulgari Eloquentia

This interpretation of the De Vulgari Eloquentia is limited to Chapters I-VIII of Book One, which deal with language origin and the nature of language. I discuss four topics: (1) the species-specificity of language, (2) the possibility that thought may occur without language, (3) the form of language, and (4) the origin of language. In section (1), I show that Dante bases the species-specificity theme on the claim that man has a unique nature. I describe Dante's comparison of Man to the other beings in creation, the angels and the beasts. Dante concludes that Man shares reason with the angels, and emotions with the beasts, and differs from both in possessing individual differences. The implications that I draw for language concern semantic creativity, inter-translatability, and the basic relation between meaning and sound. A negative answer to (2), i.e., a conclusion that thought must take place by means of language, would imply that all thoughts can be expressed by language. Although I discuss this problem, I can draw no conclusions from the De Vulgari. In section (3), I discuss the three entities considered under form: names, semantic order, and syntactic order. I interpret Dante as saying that sociological factors are extra-linguistic, and that dialect differences are a result of social differences. Two interpretations emerge in my discussion of the origin of language. First, I give evidence that Dante presents the original language as equal in complexity to modern languages. Second, he implies that all languages have a common origin. Dante's De Vulgari Eloquentia treats of many ideas about language that are still problems for modern linguists. Since several of these concepts are couched in mythological terms, careful interpretation is required to make them explicit. In this paper I limit my discussion to Chapters I-VIII of Book One, which examine language origin and the general nature of language. While many of the ideas brought out in these chapters were also advanced by the contemporaries and predecessors of Dante, it is beyond the scope of this paper to trace these relationships.

The Philological Endeavours of the Early Arabic Linguists: Theological Implications of the tawqīf-iṣṭilāḥ Antithesis and the majāz Controversy – Part I

1999 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mustafa Shah
Keyword(s):  
Opposing View ◽  
Religious Doctrine ◽  
Origin Of Language ◽  
The Way

This article examines a number of issues relating to discussions of the origin of language and related topics among early Arabic linguists. A number of these discussions treated the topic of the ‘revelationist’ view of language (tawqīf), and the opposing view that language had developed as a result of human convention (iṣṭilāḥ). It has been suggested that religious doctrine hampered the development of the linguistic tradition, as theologically motivated views increasingly governed the way in which linguists were able to articulate their positions on this and related subjects. We contend that the evidence does not altogether support this view, and that there was a subtle interplay between theological views and linguistic theories. Individual linguists, whom tradition identifies as having certain theological tendencies, are found to have followed lines of linguistic thinking at odds with what is assumed to have been the religious doctrine to which they subscribed. An increasingly sophisticated tradition of scholarship refined and reassessed arguments based on the Qur'an and earlier thought, with a concern for the theological implications of issues such as ishtiqāq, tarāduf and addād.

The Philological Endeavours of the Early Arabic Linguists: Theological Implications of the tawqīf-iṡṫilāh Antithesis and the majāz Controversy (Part II)

2000 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-66 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mustafa Shah
Keyword(s):  
Figurative Language ◽  
Arabic Language ◽  
Metaphorical Language ◽  
Islamic Tradition ◽  
Religious Significance ◽  
Origin Of Language ◽  
Ibn Taymiyya ◽  
The Aesthetic

The concluding part of the article pursues the theoretical arguments which relate to the tawqīf-işṭilāḥ debate on the origin of language and the intricate link with the concept of majāz. The article attempts to show how the question of the origin of language was imported into the controversy relating to the resort to metaphor and figurative language in the exegesis of the Qur'an and Prophetic dicta. Moreover, there was concern in some quarters that religious doctrines were being articulated through a veneer of metaphorical language. Some theologians had, in presenting a hypothesis for the existence of tropical expressions in the idiom of Arabic, referred to the concept of işṭilāḥ to justify their arguments, whilst tawqīf al-lugha was adduced to counter such reasoning. The religious significance of the issue is highlighted by Ibn Taymiyya who advances the thesis that the evolved concept of majāz was expressly formulated at a posterior juncture in the development of the Islamic tradition. He vociferously argues that a developed concept of majāz was insidiously exploited by those with preconceived theological motives. The article shows why Ibn Taymiyya had to discard the perceived sacrosanct doctrine of tawqīfal-lugha in order to refute theoretically the concept of majāz. This also meant that for scholars of the same view as Ibn Taymiyya, the aesthetic features associated with the device of majāz were summarily disregarded. Nevertheless, a concept of majāz was explicitly endorsed as an indisputable feature of the Arabic language by a majority of scholars.

scholarly journals Cursus in Dante Alighieri’s prose books De vulgari eloquentia, De Monarchia and Convivio

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 105-120
Author(s):  
Annika Mikkel
Keyword(s):  
Statistical Analysis ◽  
Medieval Latin ◽  
Word Stress ◽  
Comparative Statistical Analysis ◽  
Prose Rhythm ◽  
De Vulgari Eloquentia

This paper examines the prose rhythm in Dante’s Latin and Italian prose. The samples of Dante’s Latin books De vulgari eloquentia and De Monarchia and the Italian book Convivio are analysed with the purpose of finding the incidence and patterns of prose rhythm. The method used in this paper is comparative-statistical analysis. The rhythm of classic prose was based on the quantity of syllables, while the medieval Latin prose rhythm was based on word stress and called cursus. Although the use of cursus was more popular in Latin prose, it can also be found elsewhere, including Italian prose. The analysis reveals that rhythmical sentences endings have a role in Dante’s prose and that the cursus appear in his Latin works, as well as in his works in vernacular.

scholarly journals Dating the Origin of Language Using Phonemic Diversity

PLoS ONE ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. e35289 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles Perreault ◽  
Sarah Mathew
Keyword(s):  
Origin Of Language
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