Cultural specific phenomena in classical Arabic phraseology : a case study on the works of Ibn al-Khaṭīb

Abstract

The thesis is a study on classical Arabic phraseology on the basis of prose works by Lisān ad-Dīn Ibn al-Khaṭīb (d. 776/1374). It reinvestigates the linguistic concept of a phraseme from a theoretical perspective and adopts the approach of cultural analysis to a selected corpus of classical Arabic phasemes. The results indicate that classical Arabic phrasemes, whether referential or communicative, have four main source domains: historical references, nature, material culture and habitus, and Islamic religious motivations (with either religious or non-religious target domains). The cultural phenomenon that motivates most of them is cultural modelling, although it does not contribute to their fixedness. Two other cultural phenomena – cultural symbolism and quotation – were found to have the strongest impact on phrasemes’ fixedness levels, albeit with some exceptions.