الاشتقاق: بين النظريّة اللغويّة والغريزة اللغويّة

Abstract

This study explores the relationship between modern linguistic theory and the language instinct, linking these perspectives to the contributions of early Arab linguists such as Al-Khalīl ibn Aḥmad al-Farāhīdī and Ibn Jinnī. It shows that Arabic is not merely an arbitrary conventional system but a language with an innate internal structure, reflected in phenomena such as major and greater derivation, root permutation, and letter alternation, revealing a deep linguistic awareness among early Arabs. The work of classical lexicographers in tracing and permuting roots shows that their efforts were grounded in an innate linguistic faculty and a refined phonetic and semantic intuition. Comparing these insights with Chomsky’s Universal Grammar (UG) and the Minimalist Program further demonstrates that Arab scholars anticipated concepts such as linguistic innateness, deep and surface structures, and the contextual shaping of meaning. This study also examines Saussure’s ideas on the signifier, the signified, and arbitrariness, demonstrating that Arabic blends social convention with natural sound. The meaning-relationship is evident in greater derivation and phonetic proximity.

Furthermore, the study emphasises the role of linguistic reasoning among Arab grammarians, grounded in analogy, transmitted usage, and linguistic taste, as an early form of modern linguistic thought. It affirms the principle of language economy, as seen in deletion and assimilation, which aligns with the Minimalist Program. Within this framework, Jenkins Lyle reinforces the biological view of language, arguing that linguistic ability is a natural, biologically rooted phenomenon embedded in the human brain, with generative grammar serving as strong evidence for this innate endowment. As such, Arabic possesses an internal language instinct, a powerful derivational system, and a coherent phonetic and semantic structure, all of which can be traced from Arabic linguistic heritage to modern linguistic theories.