The Impact of Syntactic Choice on Building Contextual Meaning and Textual Coherence: A Study of Abu Ali al-Farisi’s al-Idah and al-Takmilah

Abstract

This study approaches Arabic grammar as a discipline that goes beyond the mere regulation of word endings to the disclosure of intended meaning in light of context. It draws on the perspective of early grammarians who viewed variation in syntactic analyses as a semantic, not merely formal, difference. Abū ʿAlī al-Fārisī stands out as a clear representative of this approach through his works al-Īḍāḥ al-ʿUḍudī and al-Takmila, in which his keen attention to linking syntactic parsing with context and meaning reflects the maturity of the later Basran grammatical tradition. The research problem centers on clarifying the nature of the relationship between syntactic choice and contextual semantics in al-Fārisī’s thought, and on determining the extent to which context influences the preference of one syntactic analysis over another. The study aims to elucidate the concept of syntactic choice, analyze the impact of linguistic context on meaning construction, and present an applied perspective of al-Fārisī’s methodology that can be utilized in teaching and linguistic research. Adopting a descriptive-analytical approach in examining texts from al-Īḍāḥ al-ʿUḍudī, the findings show that syntax for al-Fārisī functions as a semantic tool that reveals grammatical relations and serves the overall meaning, and that multiple syntactic possibilities are employed to highlight subtle semantic distinctions within a coherent network of grammatical and phonological relations. The study recommends teaching grammar through meaning and context, emphasizing its role as a means of understanding discourse rather than as a purely formal system, in line with the principle established by Abū ʿAlī al-Fārisī.