The Prevailing Approach of Abdul-Qahir al-Jurjani and Fadil Saleh al-Samarra'i's Studies: From Formalism to Structuralism

Al-Jurjani and al-Samarra'i are two linguists. The former lived in the fifth century, while the latter lives in the present. They focused their research on the linguistic approach, drawing on elements and methods from which modern approaches are based. Both shared similarities in their linguistic discussions, with al-Samarra'i relying heavily on al-Jurjani's research, despite differences in their studies due to the difference in their eras and the development of science during al-Samarra'i's time. The article examines the prevailing approach of Al-Jurjani and Al-Samarrai through their famous books, which are based on the descriptive and analytical approach, to conclude that they relied in their research on linguistic approaches. However, Al-Jurjani’s prevailing approach is formalism, as he studied the aesthetics of the words themselves in terms of rhetoric and the meaning of the meaning, an aesthetic and formal study in the structure of the sentence in which the word occurred, more than studying the relationships of the words to each other, without referring to the examples of the world outside of linguistics. He made the word the origin and the structure of the sentence itself a branch and a means to study the word and reveal its meaning. Al-Samarra'i's prevailing approach is structuralism, whereby he studies words within the structure of the text, the entire surah, or the structure of other sentences, in addition to the structure of the sentence in which the word occurs within the context of speech, more than studying the words themselves. He studies the semantic comprehensiveness of the word and its semantic expansion, and refers to examples in the extralinguistic world, such as cultural relations, and to other texts, such as the hadiths, to uncover the intended meaning of a Quranic word in some cases. He thus made the general structure of the text the basis for uncovering the intended meaning of words. His research is grammatical, relying more on the general context, than rhetorical. He relies on Al-Radhi's "Sharh Al-Radi 'ala Al-Kafiya," Ibn Hisham's "Mughni Al-Labib," and grammatical and rhetorical exegetical books such as Al-Bahr Al-Muhit by Al-Andalusi and Ruh Al-Ma'ani by Al-Alusi. Al-Jurjani’s approach is closer to the formalist approach, while Al-Samarra’i’s approach is closer to the structuralist approach, even though both formalist and structuralist approaches coexist in their approaches.
Keywords: Abdul-Qaher Al-Jurjani; Fadhel Saleh Al-Samarra'i; formalism; structuralism; context.
 
Introduction
There are other different approaches in literary studies. Some approaches study literature and its texts from outside the text, regardless of the text and its elements, such as historical, sociological, and psychological approaches. Other approaches study literature and literary texts from within the text, focusing on the text itself and its elements, regardless of extratextual elements such as the author, sociology, and history. Approaches that focus on the text and its elements without considering extratextual elements are the most prevalent linguistic approaches. The linguistic approach in Arabic and Western studies, from ancient times to the present, has been a dominant approach. Formalism, structuralism, and postmodern approaches all focus on language and the text itself. They have paid less attention to all extratextual elements, or have expelled them excessively, as postmodern approaches do. Moreover, the studies of Arab scholars such as Ibn Qutaybah, al-Jahiz, and al-Jurjani are formal linguistic studies, to the extent that contemporary critics have termed ancient Arabic studies "formal studies," focusing more on morphological, syntactic, and rhetorical forms than on structure, although they also focus somewhat on structure. The question we are exploring is whether, despite the predominance of the formal approach, al-Jurjani and al-Samarra'i shared the dominant and most relevant approach in their linguistic studies.
 
Matherials & Methods
This article uses a descriptive and analytical approach to examine the prevailing approach in the studies of al-Jurjani and al-Samarra'i, to answer the following two questions:

What is the prevailing approach in al-Jurjani's linguistic studies, drawing on his two famous books and their analyses?
What is the prevailing approach in al-Samarra'i's linguistic studies, drawing on his books and analyses?

 
Discussion & Result
Al-Jurjani examined words through a formal aesthetic study, based on his critical aesthetic appreciation of rhetoric and semantics. He focused on the harmony of words and meanings, which he considers the study of this harmony and harmony between the elements of something, a characteristic of aesthetics, a fundamental focus of formalism. He also focused on studying rhetorical embellishments, the study of which is essential for revealing the aesthetics of a text. He focused on studying these rhetorical embellishments to reveal the aesthetics of a text, a characteristic of formalism. Al-Samarra'i deals with the word, taking a word from the Qur'an and studying the context and structure of all the verses of the surah, or the many verses that precede or follow the studied sentence in which the word occurs, to uncover the intended meaning. He made the general structure of the text the origin for uncovering the intended meaning of the words. Or he compares the different words in similar verses and explains their semantic differences and the reason for the difference in their employment, relying on the context. He was interested in it in the semantic relationships, comprehensiveness and semantic expansion of words and in studying synonyms, semantic contrasts and semantic differences.
 
Conclousion
Al-Jurjani's approach is closer to the formalist approach, while al-Samarra'i's approach is closer to the structuralist approach, despite the fact that both formalists and structuralists coexist in their approaches. This is because: 1- Al-Jurjani examined words through a formal aesthetic study, based on his critical aesthetic appreciation of rhetoric and semantics. He focused on the harmony of words and meanings, which he considers the study of this harmony and harmony between the elements of something, a characteristic of aesthetics, a fundamental focus of formalism. He also focused on studying rhetorical embellishments, the study of which is essential for revealing the aesthetics of a text. He focused on studying these rhetorical embellishments to reveal the aesthetics of a text, a characteristic of formalism. He focused on studying the structure of the sentence in which the studied word or words occurred, without addressing the larger overall structure of the text in which the studied sentence occurred. He deserves to be considered a formalist aesthetic critic. He made the word the origin and mechanism for highlighting beauty, and he made the structure of the sentence itself a branch and a means for studying the word and uncovering its meaning. For al-Jurjani, what is most important is the phrase, the words themselves, their rhetorical embellishments, and uncovering the beauty within them through the proportion and harmony between the words and meanings. Just as what is most important for the formalists is the language, the text itself, and the aesthetics of the text through proportion, harmony, and consistency.
2- Al-Samarra'i deals with the word, taking a word from the Qur'an and studying the context and structure of all the verses of the surah, or the many verses that precede or follow the studied sentence in which the word occurs, to uncover the intended meaning. He made the general structure of the text the origin for uncovering the intended meaning of the words. Or he compares the different words in similar verses and explains their semantic differences and the reason for the difference in their employment, relying on the context. He was interested in it in the semantic relationships, comprehensiveness and semantic expansion of words and in studying synonyms, semantic contrasts and semantic differences. He also studied in the book “Rhetorical Touches in Texts from the Revelation” semantic similarities and differences between the surahs of the Qur’an. He studied the expansion and comprehensiveness of meaning and the expression of meanings in different ways in the book “The Arabic Sentence and Meaning” and in the book “Meanings of Grammar” in all grammatical rules. He also studied the structures of Qur’anic words in the book “Secrets of Qur’anic Expression” and the exchange of vocabulary in the book “The Rhetoric of the Word in Qur’anic Expression.” He was also interested in his studies in cultural relations in revealing the intended meaning of the verses and their words, referring to cultural issues outside of linguistics and dealing with analysis. Structuralism of literary texts focuses on the extralinguistic cultural, historical, and social contexts of literary influences. It attempts to study grammatical and rhetorical concepts within the cultural context of society, highlighting the role of social factors in shaping literary arts. It also consults other texts from other books to uncover the meaning of a word or sentence. In some of its books, it is noted that it also refers to the books of Prophetic hadiths to uncover the meaning of a word from the Holy Quran. For it, the most important aspect is structure and context in uncovering the meaning of phrases in its semantic research. It is thus worthy of being considered a structuralist critic. Thus, al-Jurjani's prevailing approach is the formalist approach, while al-Samarra'i's prevailing approach is the structuralist approach, although both formalism and structuralism coexist in the approaches of both great critics.