THE LINGUISTIC REFORMS OF ABUL ASWAD AD-DUALI AND HIS FUNDAMENTAL CONTRIBUTION TO THE SCIENCE OF NAHV IN THE FORMATION OF CLASSICAL ARABIC LINGUISTICS

Abstract

This scientific research article presents an in-depth analysis of the life and the sociopolitical and scholarly activity of Abul Aswad ad-Duali, the great thinker and scholar who laid the foundation of classical Arabic linguistics. Drawing on historical sources, the article examines the reforms carried out by the scholar to prevent the linguistic deformations that arose as a result of the expansion of the Islamic Caliphate, in particular the problem of ‘lahn’ (grammatical errors). The article provides a detailed analysis of Abul Aswad ad-Duali’s fundamental contributions to the systematization of Arabic grammar (the science of Nahv): the rules for dividing speech into the categories of noun, verb, and particle, the introduction of the i‘rab (syntactic flexion) system, his discovery of a phonetic-diacritical system using colored dots, and the initial structural foundations of the amil-ma’mul theory. The study also reveals the methodological significance of the principles laid down by the scholar for the formation of the Basra and Kufa schools of Nahv.