A Discourse Analysis of Texts written during the Nahḍa: A Case Study of al-Jinān

Arabic grammar was a central theme during the nahḍa (the Arab nineteenth century awakening). The call for reforms to the Arabic language, and specifically Arabic grammar, appeared in newspapers, periodicals, articles, lectures and in new grammar books. While previous studies have examined attitudes toward reforms of the Arabic language during the nahḍa, there is scant research on the linguistic features of Arabic during this period. This article examines the stylistic-linguistic features characterizing Salīm al-Bustānī's writings in the periodical al-Jinān. We apply a linguistic discourse analysis approach that considers the relationships between grammatical features and contextual functions, within sentences, across sentences and paragraphs. The analysis reveals three uses of linguistic features, all of which are related to forms of discourse organization in the nahḍa: the use of the particle wa to connect or disassociate thematic units, the use of the particle ʾammā (fa) as a topic marker, and the use of the demonstrative pronoun dhālika as an anaphoric pronoun.