The Concept of Dialogic Allusion in Arabic Heritage (Ibn al-Athir as a Case Study)

Abstract

The study of pragmatic thought within the linguistic heritage of early

 Arab scholars should not be understood as an attempt to impose modern or contemporary theories upon classical Arabic texts. Rather, it constitutes a scholarly effort to investigate the foundational concepts and intellectual continuities that may exist between Arab and Western epistemological traditions. This article seeks to trace the origins of pragmatic inquiry in the Arabic linguistic tradition, highlighting the extent to which classical Arab scholars anticipated core concerns of contemporary pragmatics.

The field of pragmatics, by its nature, transcends cultural and linguistic boundaries. The Arab intellectual tradition, in particular, offers a wealth of insights that align with the objectives of modern pragmatic theory, especially in its attention to the contextual and non-linguistic dimensions of meaning. Classical Arab linguists demonstrated a keen awareness of semantic nuances and the interpretive role of context, speaker intention, and listener reception in the analysis of discourse. They rejected the isolation of linguistic phenomena from their communicative contexts, emphasizing instead the interdependence between language and its situational use.

The early manifestations of pragmatic awareness in Arabic linguistic thought are thus not coincidental. Rather, they stem from the serious engagement of grammarians, rhetoricians, jurists, and philosophers of language with key Arabic texts—most notably the Qur’an, Hadith, poetry, and prose. Their non-conventional approach to discourse, with attention to its production and reception, reveals a pragmatic sensitivity that is deeply embedded in Arabic linguistic sciences. This study contends that such contributions constitute an early and original form of pragmatic analysis, deserving of critical re-examination within contemporary linguistic frameworks