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The Historian on Language: Ibn Khaldun and the Communicative Learning Approach

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 March 2016

Ghada Osman
Ghada Osman*
Affiliation:
San Diego State University
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Extract

Long regarded as a landmark historian, sociologist and philosopher, Ibn Khaldun has entered Islamic tradition as a giant figure of learning. His Muqaddimah marked the earliest attempt by any historian to build a framework to explain the political and social structure of civilization. While much has been written about his views on history and society, very little recognition has been granted to his writings on the Arabic language. Ibn Khaldun dedicated the last third of his Muqaddimah to the study of language, yet this portion of his work has been barely examined by scholars. This is all the more unfortunate since an examination of his work reveals a remarkable depth of knowledge and learning. A study of Ibn Khaldun's views on language exposes a “cutting-edge” approach, one that is in line with the most current thought on contemporary second language acquisition. Rather than promoting language learning through grammar, Ibn Khaldun projected a vision embraced by linguists today. Advocating learning language through conversation, Ibn Khaldun was one of the earliest supporters of communicative language learning.

Type
Essays and MESA 2002
Information
Review of Middle East Studies , Volume 37 , Issue 1 , Summer 2003 , pp. 50 - 57
Copyright
Copyright © Middle East Studies Association of North America 2003

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References

1 See for example Schmidt, Nathaniel, Ibn Khaldun: Historian, Sociologist and Philosopher (New York: Arms Press, 1967).Google Scholar

2 Dawood, N.J., “Introduction,” in Ibn Khaldun, The Muqaddimah (abridged edition), trans. Rosenthal, Franz (New York: Bollingen Paperback Press, 1967), pp. vii-ix.Google Scholar

3 See Irving, T.B., “A Fourteenth-Century View of Language,” in Kritzeck, James & Winder, R. Bayly, eds., The Word of Islam: Studies in Honour of Philip K. Hitti(New York: St Martin’s Press, 1959), 185-192.Google Scholar

4 Khaldun, Ibn, The Muqaddimah(2nd edition), trans. Rosenthal, Franz (New York: Bollingen Foundation, 1967), 3:301.Google Scholar

5 Ibid., 3:301–2.

6 Ibid., 302.

7 Ibid.

8 Ibid, 3:357,364. Ibn Khaldun also believed that Spaniards had a firmer grasp of the Arabic language since their non-Arabic speakers were recent immigrants to the region (366).

9 Ibid, 3:363.

10 Mandi, Muhsin, Ibn Khaldun’s Philosophy of History(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1964), p. 114.Google Scholar

11 Khaldun, Ibn, Muqaddimah, 3:354-5.Google Scholar

12 Ibid, 3:357.

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14 Alosh, M. Mandi, “Designing a Proficiency-Oriented Syllabus for Modern Standard Arabic as a Foreign Language,” in Rouchdy, Aleya, ed., The Arabic Language in America (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1992), p. 253.Google Scholar

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16 Ibn Khaldun, 3:357.

17 Ibid, 3:363.

18 Alosh, , “Designing a Syllabus,” pp. 255, 259.Google Scholar

19 See, for example, Khaldun, Ibn, Muqaddimah, 3:321, 363Google Scholar, as well as Al-Azmeh, Aziz, Ibn Khaldun: An Essay in Reinterpretation (London: Frank Cass and Company, 1982), p. 121.Google Scholar

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21 Khaldun, Ibn, Muqaddimah, 3:300.Google Scholar

22 Kenny, Dallas, “Arab Americans Learning Arabic,” in Rouchdy, , Arabic, p. 134.Google Scholar

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24 Ibid., p. 203.

25 Khaldun, Ibn, Muqaddimah, 3:304, 345.Google Scholar

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27 Ibid, 3:357.

28 Ibid, 3:353.

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30 N J. Dawood in Muqaddimah (abridged), p. vii.