The Rhetorical Strategies In The Arabic Commentaries On The Hippocratic Aphorisms

284 Pages·2017·1.92 MB·English

The Rhetorical Strategies In The Arabic Commentaries On The
Hippocratic Aphorisms
An Exploration Of Metadiscourse In Medieval Medical Arabic
A thesis submitted to The University of Manchester for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy

in the Faculty of Humanities
2016
Elaine van Dalen
School of Arts, Languages and Cultures
Table of Contents
Table of Contents 2
List of Manuscripts 7
Abstract 8
Declaration 9
Copyright Statement 10
Notes on Transliteration, Dates, and Translations 11
Acknowledgment 12
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION 13
1.1 Thesis Statement 13
1.2 Research Setting 14
1.3 Research Background: The Corpus 14
1.4 Research Questions 16
1.5 Theoretical Background: Style, Register, and Genre 17
1.6 Literature Review 20
1.7 Chapter Outline 23
CHAPTER II SUBJECTIVITY 25
2.1 Introduction 25
2.1.1 Theoretical Framework 27
2.1.2 Scope 32
2.2 Ḥunayn Ibn ʾIshāq versus Galen 34
2.3 Subjectivity in Ḥunayn’s Translation 40
2.3.1 Endophoric markers: Category B 42
2.3.2 Frame markers: Category C 44
2.3.3 Stance: Category A 46
2.3.4 Verbs of Personal Experience: Category D 48
2.3.5 Impersonal Verbs: Category E 50
2.3.6 Conclusion 52
2.4 Subjectivity in the Corpus 53
2.4.1 Ibn ʾAbī Ṣādiq 56
2.4.2 Ibn al-Quff 59
2.4.3 Al-Manāwī 64
2.4.4 As-Siwāsī 68
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2.4.5 As-Sinǧārī 70
2.4.6 Al-Baġdādī 75
2.4.7 An-Nīlī 79
2.5 Discussion 80
CHAPTER III THE READER 84
3.1 Introduction 84
3.1.1 Literature Review 84
3.1.2 Scope of Chapter 86
3.1.3 Method 86
3.2 Identifying the Reader 88
3.2.1 Ḥunayn Ibn ʾIsḥāq 89
3.2.2 Ibn ʾAbī Ṣādiq 92
3.2.3 As-Sinǧārī 93
3.2.4 Al-Baġdādī 94
3.2.5 Ibn al-Quff 95
3.2.6 An-Nīlī 96
3.3 The Form and Function of ‘You-forms’ in the Corpus 97
3.3.1 Ḥunayn Ibn ʾIsḥāq 98
3.3.2 Ibn ʾAbī Ṣādiq 104
3.3.3 Al-Manāwī 106
3.3.4 Al-Baġdādī 107
3.3.5 Ibn al-Quff 109
3.3.6 As-Sinǧārī 110
3.3.7 As-Siwāsī 112
3.4 Conclusion 114
CHAPTER IV EPISTEMIC MODALITY AND HEDGES: EXPRESSIONS OF
CERTAINTY AND UNCERTAINTY 117
4.1 Introduction 117
4.1.1 Literature Review 117
4.1.2 Epistemic Modality 118
4.1.3 Method 119
4.2 Epistemic Markers in the Corpus 119
4.3 Uncertainty Markers 122
4.3.1 {fa-yumkinu + ʾan} 123
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4.3.2 {yaǧūzu + ʾan} 126
4.3.3 {fa-ḫalīq + ʾan} 128
4.3.4 {wa-yušbihu + ʾan} 129
4.3.5 laʿalla 131
4.3.6 {wa-yuḥtamalu + ʾan} 133
4.4 Certainty Markers 134
4.4.1 wa-lā šakk 135
4.4.2 {wa-min + al-bayyini} 137
4.4.3 {wa-min + al-maʿlūm + ʾan} 141
4.4.4 {yaẓhuru + ʾan} 141
4.4.5 {ẓāhirun + ʾan} 142
4.4.6 {wa-ẓāhiru + l-ḥāl + ʾan} 143
4.4.7 {al-ẓāhiru + ʾan} 143
4.4.8 {wa-ẓāhiru + l-ʾamru + ʾan} 144
4.5 Conclusion 144
CHAPTER V COHESION PART I: DISCOURSE MARKERS 146
5.1 Introduction 146
5.1.1 Theoretical Background 147
5.1.2 Arabic Connectives 150
5.2 The Conjunctions wa- and fa- 155
5.3 Conjunction in Ḥunayn’s Translation 158
5.3.1 Additive Markers 160
5.3.2 Elaborative Markers in Ḥunayn’s Translation 164
5.3.3 Causal Markers in Ḥunayn’s Translation 170
5.3.4 Comparative Markers in Ḥunayn’s Translation 172
5.3.5 Contrastive Markers in Ḥunayn’s Translation 177
5.4 Conjunction in the Corpus 179
5.4.1 Additive Markers in the Corpus 180
5.4.2 Causal Markers in the Corpus 183
5.4.3 Elaborative Markers in the Corpus 187
5.4.4 Contrastive Markers in the Corpus 193
5.4.5 Comparative Markers in the Corpus 194
5.5 Conclusion 197
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CHAPTER VI COHESION PART II: FRAME MARKERS AND ENDOPHORIC
REFERENCE 199
6.1 Introduction 199
6.1.1 Theoretical Framework 200
6.2 Introductions within the Corpus 201
6.2.1 Introductions by Author 201
6.2.2 The Eight ‘Headings’ 205
6.2.3 Comparison 207
6.3 Frame Markers 209
6.3.1 Openings of Comment Sections 209
6.3.2 Macro-level Text Structuring within Comments 210
6.3.3 Endings of Comments, Chapters, and Commentaries 215
6.4 Endophoric References 219
6.4.1 Searching for Endophoric References 220
6.4.2 Endophoric References in Ḥunayn’s Translation 225
6.4.3 Endophoric References in the Corpus 227
6.5 Conclusion 230
CHAPTER VII CONDITIONALS AND TEMPORALS 232
7.1 Introduction 232
7.1.1 Theoretical Background: Conditionals and Temporals 233
7.1.2 Classical Arabic Conditionals 235
7.2 Conditionals in Galen’s Commentary 236
7.2.1 Simple Present and Past Conditional Sentences 237
7.2.2 General Truth Statements 238
7.2.3 Unreal Conditions 240
7.2.4 More vivid future 243
7.2.5 Emotive Future 244
7.2.6 Less Vivid Future 245
7.2.7 Summary Conditionals 246
7.3 Temporals 249
7.3.1 Ὅταν 249
7.3.2 Ἐπεί 250
7.3.3 Ἐπήν 251
7.3.4 Ἐπειδή 252
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7.3.5 Ἐπειδάν 252
7.3.6 Ὅκου 253
7.3.7 Ἡνίκα 254
7.4 Other Conditionals Sentences in Ḥunayn’s Translation 254
7.4.1 ʾiḏā 255
7.4.2 matā 258
7.4.3 ʾin 260
7.4.4 law 260
7.4.5 kullamā 262
7.5 Conditional Sentences in the Corpus 263
7.5.1 ʾiḏā 263
7.5.2 ʾin 264
7.5.3 matā 265
7.5.4 law 266
7.6 Conclusion 268
CHAPTER VIII CONCLUSION 271
8.1 Ḥunayn’s Translation Technique 271
8.2 Genre 273
8.3 Individual Styles 275
8.4 Future Research and Recommendations 276
Cited Works 277
Word Count: 79,937
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List of Manuscripts
E5 Madrid, Escorial, MS árabe 789
E7 Madrid, Escorial, MS árabe 791
E10 Madrid, Escorial, MS árabe 878
J1 Beirut, Saint-Joseph, MS 280
K1 Istanbul, Köprülü-Fazil Ahmet Paşa, MS Köprülü-Fazil Ahmet Paşa 885/1
L5 London, British Library, MS Or. 1348 Suppl.
Ox1 Oxford, Bodleian, MS. Huntingdon 359, folios 1b-30a
P1 Paris, Bibliothèque National de France, BnF MS 2837
S4 Istanbul, Süleymaniye, Şehid Alī Paşa MS 2045/1
Y Istanbul, Yeni Camii, MS Yeni Camii 919
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Abstract
This thesis offers an analysis of the Arabic Commentaries on the Hippocratic Aphorisms
(9th-15th centuries AD) on three levels, (i) translation, (ii) individual styles and (iii) genre. It
particularly examines meta-discursive features such as cohesion, subjectivity, hedges, the
addressing of readership, and the formulation of truth statements. The analysis of these
features reveals rhetorical conventions in the corpus that indicate a discursive unity of the
genre of the medieval medical commentary. Yet, this study also shows considerable stylistic
variation between the individual commentators which, besides its intrinsic value, is crucial for
the identification of these authors’ texts.
Moreover, this research examines how the rhetorical features of the later commentaries
have developed after the fashion of Ḥunayn Ibn Isḥāq’s 9th-century translation of Galen’s
2nd-century Greek commentary. This study highlights significant differences between
Ḥunayn’s rhetorical strategies and those in the later Arabic commentaries. Thus, this work
demonstrates discontinuities between Greek and Arabic medical discourses, despite the huge
influence of Ḥunayn’s translation.
This thesis uses an innovative quantitative methodology combining both close reading and
distant reading techniques to study Ḥunayn’s translation technique, and compare Ḥunayn’s
style with that of the later commentators. Furthermore, this study advances the understanding
of the ways of writing in scientific medieval Arabic. Finally, the separate studies in this thesis
contribute knowledge regarding grammatical phenomena such as modals, conjunctions, and
conditionals in Classical Arabic.
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Declaration
No portion of the work referred to in the thesis has been submitted in
support of an application for another degree or qualification of this or any
other university or other institute of learning.
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Copyright Statement
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University of Manchester certain rights to use such Copyright, including for
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