Frank Weigelt: Learning Arabic like the Arabs do?

Katedra Blízkého východu FF UK a Ústav srovnávací jazykovědy FF UK vás srdečně zvou na přednášku dr. Franka Weigelta s názvem Learning Arabic like the Arabs do? Benefits and limitations of traditional Arabic grammar. Přednáška se bude konat ve čtvrtek, 25. 4. 2019, v 12:30 v místnosti 238 na Celetné 20. Těšíme se na Vás!

Abstrakt:

The traditional Arabic grammar method differs fundamentally from the Western approach we use in our language classes. It aims at teaching native speakers of Arabic how to correctly use their own language. For this purpose, the medieval grammarians have developed a highly formalistic system, which is in use until today. In language lessons all over the Arabic world, from primary school to university level, a great deal of time is  usually spent on practicing the stereotype
patterns of syntactical analysis that should enable the students to convert their native dialectal speech into «correct» Arabic. As a consequence, traditional Arabic grammar has a major impact on the Arabs‘ view of their own language.
What can we learn from this approach? Can it help us to better understand the Arabs‘ relation with their language? Is it probably the only way for us to really understand the Arabic language? Or is it rather a major reason for confusion and stagnation in the field of Arabic linguistics? The lecture will give an introduction to traditional Arabic grammatical thinking and try to answer these questions.