@sibawayhi.bsky.social
I see Steven Pinker has a new popsci book out. Carl Hiaasen also has a new book out. Based on previous research, I’m gonna guess the latter is more scientific.
November 17, 2025 at 8:07 PM
I see Steven Pinker has a new popsci book out. Carl Hiaasen also has a new book out. Based on previous research, I’m gonna guess the latter is more scientific.
Question for real historians: what is the earliest documented claim that the divine message was revealed in the language of the Arabs? Excluding the Quran itself I mean. Sībawayhi is very explicit about this. Prior evidence?
November 15, 2025 at 9:44 PM
Question for real historians: what is the earliest documented claim that the divine message was revealed in the language of the Arabs? Excluding the Quran itself I mean. Sībawayhi is very explicit about this. Prior evidence?
“postcolonial lenses”? Where can I get me some? I’m not seeing anything on Warby Parker.
November 15, 2025 at 9:34 PM
“postcolonial lenses”? Where can I get me some? I’m not seeing anything on Warby Parker.
“premodern blackface performance” is a phrase that was actually written in this. What does it mean? Like the Trinity, it’s a mystery.
November 15, 2025 at 9:31 PM
“premodern blackface performance” is a phrase that was actually written in this. What does it mean? Like the Trinity, it’s a mystery.
How do you translate ما أنت إلّا سيرَ البريد سيرَ البريد ? Sib. ch. 70. “Going postal”?
November 15, 2025 at 5:26 PM
How do you translate ما أنت إلّا سيرَ البريد سيرَ البريد ? Sib. ch. 70. “Going postal”?
Fuck. I guess I’m gonna have to learn a little Hebrew. (I’m too old for this shit!) At the very least I need to learn the letters. What’s the best (free) online resource for this?
November 13, 2025 at 10:42 PM
Fuck. I guess I’m gonna have to learn a little Hebrew. (I’m too old for this shit!) At the very least I need to learn the letters. What’s the best (free) online resource for this?
Sībawayhi is incredibly irenic in general but I think he must have been a little cantankerous. He doesn’t mind saying that this or that expression is ugly, vile, disgusting etc. even when he’s talking about Al-Khalīl. Also explains lots of insults. Ch. 75: إنّما أنت شُرْبَ الإبل “you drink like a camel”
November 13, 2025 at 7:07 PM
Sībawayhi is incredibly irenic in general but I think he must have been a little cantankerous. He doesn’t mind saying that this or that expression is ugly, vile, disgusting etc. even when he’s talking about Al-Khalīl. Also explains lots of insults. Ch. 75: إنّما أنت شُرْبَ الإبل “you drink like a camel”
Fun fact: after discussing eg مررتُ به فإذا له صوتٌ صوتَ الأسد Sibby discusses له علمٌ علمُ الفقهاء He then says إنما فُرِق بين هذا وبين الصوت لأنّ الصوت علاج وأنَّ العلمَ صار عندهم بمنزلة اليد والرِّجل
November 12, 2025 at 8:20 PM
Fun fact: after discussing eg مررتُ به فإذا له صوتٌ صوتَ الأسد Sibby discusses له علمٌ علمُ الفقهاء He then says إنما فُرِق بين هذا وبين الصوت لأنّ الصوت علاج وأنَّ العلمَ صار عندهم بمنزلة اليد والرِّجل
100 years from now the historical challenge will be to explain how a charlatan like Chomsky managed to hoodwink so many intelligent people.
November 10, 2025 at 8:38 PM
100 years from now the historical challenge will be to explain how a charlatan like Chomsky managed to hoodwink so many intelligent people.
Question for scholars of early Islam: what’s the story wrt memorization of the Quran? How common was it? What were the social expectations for scholars (or others), in particular grammarians? Could you even discuss the Quran without it? If you had to rely on writing would you be taken seriously?
November 10, 2025 at 7:02 PM
Question for scholars of early Islam: what’s the story wrt memorization of the Quran? How common was it? What were the social expectations for scholars (or others), in particular grammarians? Could you even discuss the Quran without it? If you had to rely on writing would you be taken seriously?
Announcement: The Hellas Myass Award, to be bestowed on occasion to the most egregiously stupid attempt to credit the Greeks for Arab/Islamic achievements. Think “Razzies”. You might think the day for this has passed, but you would be wrong.
November 9, 2025 at 8:15 PM
Announcement: The Hellas Myass Award, to be bestowed on occasion to the most egregiously stupid attempt to credit the Greeks for Arab/Islamic achievements. Think “Razzies”. You might think the day for this has passed, but you would be wrong.
Sumerian, Akkadian, etc. were thousands of years old when the Greeks showed up. And we have lots of documentary evidence (cuneiform tablets etc) But so far as I know (not much) no grammars or other docs expressing metalinguistic reflection. Isn’t that weird?
November 8, 2025 at 6:57 PM
Sumerian, Akkadian, etc. were thousands of years old when the Greeks showed up. And we have lots of documentary evidence (cuneiform tablets etc) But so far as I know (not much) no grammars or other docs expressing metalinguistic reflection. Isn’t that weird?
Hypothesis: all intellectual “progress” is based on metalinguistic reflection. Thinking about your language in your language lays the foundation of fancier speculation. Try to imagine Plato etc. in the absence of literary training, which is a species of metalinguistic reflection.
November 6, 2025 at 8:01 PM
Hypothesis: all intellectual “progress” is based on metalinguistic reflection. Thinking about your language in your language lays the foundation of fancier speculation. Try to imagine Plato etc. in the absence of literary training, which is a species of metalinguistic reflection.
Translation check: in chapter 70 Sībawayhi discusses eg إنّما أنت سَيْرًا سَيْرًا and ما أنت إلّا الضَّرْبَ الضربَ . Meaning something like “you’re always doing X” maybe expressing exasperation? Like “Dude, what’s with the ‘strike strike’ all the time?!” Whaddya think?
November 6, 2025 at 7:04 PM
Translation check: in chapter 70 Sībawayhi discusses eg إنّما أنت سَيْرًا سَيْرًا and ما أنت إلّا الضَّرْبَ الضربَ . Meaning something like “you’re always doing X” maybe expressing exasperation? Like “Dude, what’s with the ‘strike strike’ all the time?!” Whaddya think?
More weirdness from Sībawayhi ch. 68: المنصوب الذي أنت في حال ذكرِك إيّاه تَعملُ في إثباته وتزجيته repeated verbatim several times, contrasted with eg وَيلٌ لك and سقيا ورعبا.
November 6, 2025 at 6:37 PM
More weirdness from Sībawayhi ch. 68: المنصوب الذي أنت في حال ذكرِك إيّاه تَعملُ في إثباته وتزجيته repeated verbatim several times, contrasted with eg وَيلٌ لك and سقيا ورعبا.
That’s a hoot! Obviously it should be ذي لاين THEE line, the one and only!
Least important part but I always thought it typical of the whole thing that The Line had an official Arabic name of ذا لاين - a phonetic rendition of the English (“tha layn”) but meaningless in Arabic. Whereas Arabic has perfectly good words الخط (al khat) meaning “the line”. Everything’s fake.
Really good to see the media prepared to tell the truth about Neom. I wrote as long ago as July 2023 that it was more hype than reality - it wasn't going to happen then, it isn't happening now.
1/2
open.substack.com/pub/arthursn...
1/2
open.substack.com/pub/arthursn...
November 6, 2025 at 6:11 PM
That’s a hoot! Obviously it should be ذي لاين THEE line, the one and only!
“Literacy” inescapably implies (written) letter forms. Was Sībawayhi literate? Probably, he did write. But did his concept of language depend on notions of writing? I don’t think so.
November 5, 2025 at 9:05 PM
“Literacy” inescapably implies (written) letter forms. Was Sībawayhi literate? Probably, he did write. But did his concept of language depend on notions of writing? I don’t think so.
Kitāb updates: 61-66 (accusatives):
61 سَقْيًا وَرَعْيًا (masdars)
62 تُرْبًا وَجَنْدَلًا (nouns)
63 هَنِيْئًا مَرِيْئًا (adjectives)
64 وَيْلَكَ ووَيْحَكَ (muḍāf maṣdars)
65 حَمْدًا وَشُكْرًا لَا كُفْرًا وَعَجَبًا
66 سُبْحَاْنَ اللهِ وَمَعَاْذَ اللهِ وَرَيْحَاْنَهُ
www.sibawayhi.org/updates-61-6...
61 سَقْيًا وَرَعْيًا (masdars)
62 تُرْبًا وَجَنْدَلًا (nouns)
63 هَنِيْئًا مَرِيْئًا (adjectives)
64 وَيْلَكَ ووَيْحَكَ (muḍāf maṣdars)
65 حَمْدًا وَشُكْرًا لَا كُفْرًا وَعَجَبًا
66 سُبْحَاْنَ اللهِ وَمَعَاْذَ اللهِ وَرَيْحَاْنَهُ
www.sibawayhi.org/updates-61-6...
Updates: 61-66 (maṣdar manṣūb)
These articles cover the "accusative" case of the maṣdars (and some nouns and adjectives):
61 سَقْيًا وَرَعْيًا
62 تُرْبًا وَجَنْدَلًا (nouns)
63 هَنِيْئًا مَرِيْئًا (adjectives)
64 وَ
www.sibawayhi.org
November 5, 2025 at 5:31 PM
Kitāb updates: 61-66 (accusatives):
61 سَقْيًا وَرَعْيًا (masdars)
62 تُرْبًا وَجَنْدَلًا (nouns)
63 هَنِيْئًا مَرِيْئًا (adjectives)
64 وَيْلَكَ ووَيْحَكَ (muḍāf maṣdars)
65 حَمْدًا وَشُكْرًا لَا كُفْرًا وَعَجَبًا
66 سُبْحَاْنَ اللهِ وَمَعَاْذَ اللهِ وَرَيْحَاْنَهُ
www.sibawayhi.org/updates-61-6...
61 سَقْيًا وَرَعْيًا (masdars)
62 تُرْبًا وَجَنْدَلًا (nouns)
63 هَنِيْئًا مَرِيْئًا (adjectives)
64 وَيْلَكَ ووَيْحَكَ (muḍāf maṣdars)
65 حَمْدًا وَشُكْرًا لَا كُفْرًا وَعَجَبًا
66 سُبْحَاْنَ اللهِ وَمَعَاْذَ اللهِ وَرَيْحَاْنَهُ
www.sibawayhi.org/updates-61-6...
Memo to scholars who need to write multilingual texts: emacs. Full stop.
November 4, 2025 at 9:53 PM
Memo to scholars who need to write multilingual texts: emacs. Full stop.
What does “grammar” even mean? You can go with Chomsky, or Wittgenstein, or Priscillian, or Dionysius Thrax etc. My take: essentially meaningless.
November 4, 2025 at 9:18 PM
What does “grammar” even mean? You can go with Chomsky, or Wittgenstein, or Priscillian, or Dionysius Thrax etc. My take: essentially meaningless.
The only figure remotely like Sībawayhi, as far as I can tell, is Panini. Anybody read them both? Sībawayhi was resolutely focused on actual speech practice, going so far as to record in great detail many speech idiosyncrasies. Did Panini do this?
November 4, 2025 at 7:25 PM
The only figure remotely like Sībawayhi, as far as I can tell, is Panini. Anybody read them both? Sībawayhi was resolutely focused on actual speech practice, going so far as to record in great detail many speech idiosyncrasies. Did Panini do this?
Conspicuously absent from Palmer’s “Mood and Modality” (2nd ed.): any account of “nominal modals” (for lack of a better term.) like Arabic لَيْتَ and لَعَلَّ etc. Which do NOT express “propositional attitude”! E.g. لعلّ زيدا ذاهبٌ should not be parsed as “maybe [Zayd is going]” but as…
November 4, 2025 at 6:44 PM
Conspicuously absent from Palmer’s “Mood and Modality” (2nd ed.): any account of “nominal modals” (for lack of a better term.) like Arabic لَيْتَ and لَعَلَّ etc. Which do NOT express “propositional attitude”! E.g. لعلّ زيدا ذاهبٌ should not be parsed as “maybe [Zayd is going]” but as…
Updates to chapters 502-503 (phonology of pronominal suffixes) www.sibawayhi.org/updates-502-...
Updates: 502-503 (-hu, -hi, etc.)
Just uploaded revised revisions (tashkīl and color-coded smart typesetting only, no translation) of
502 هٰذَا بَاْبُ ثَبَاْتِ الْيَاْءِ وَالْوَاْوِ فِي الْهَاْءِ الَّتِي هِيَ عَلَاْمَةُ الْ
www.sibawayhi.org
November 4, 2025 at 4:42 PM
Updates to chapters 502-503 (phonology of pronominal suffixes) www.sibawayhi.org/updates-502-...
Required reading: “The problem of Speech Genres” by Mikhail Bakhtin. If you haven’t read this you have no business talking about language. I’m looking at you, Noam!
November 3, 2025 at 9:51 PM
Required reading: “The problem of Speech Genres” by Mikhail Bakhtin. If you haven’t read this you have no business talking about language. I’m looking at you, Noam!
Haven’t read this, but the obvious question is “why would you think language is in the business of ‘representing’ reality (whatever that is)”?
Language shapes how we think, remember, and reason. But does it help us to uncover the fundamental nature of reality? | https://iai.tv/video/how-words-warp-reality
Join Nick Enfield, as he explores why language excels at persuasion but falters at faithfully representing reality.
#langsky
Join Nick Enfield, as he explores why language excels at persuasion but falters at faithfully representing reality.
#langsky
How words warp reality
Language shapes how we think, remember, and reason. But does it help us to uncover the fundamental nature of reality? Join the author of Language vs. Reality and linguistic anthropologist, Nick Enfiel...
iai.tv
November 3, 2025 at 9:13 PM
Haven’t read this, but the obvious question is “why would you think language is in the business of ‘representing’ reality (whatever that is)”?