Professor Frank Weigelt will outline the central functional principles of the system of Arabic politeness formulas and explore the religious and cultural foundations on which it rests. His analysis will focus on the dialect of Damascus.
About the seminar:
Everyday speech in the Arabic dialects is marked by a rich variety of conventionally fixed expressions and verbal exchanges, which constitute the backbone of many conversations. Many of these expressions come from a religious background and include wishes for blessings, health, protection, and God’s mercy. Others have cultural roots and reflect values such as generosity, hospitality, compassion, and honor. Their appropriate use falls within the realm of linguistic politeness. A distinctive feature of this system in Arabic is that there are considerably more situations than in most European languages that call for specific conventional utterances—for example, when purchasing new clothing, after a visit to the hairdresser, when inquiring about the price of an item, when mentioning a deceased person, or upon returning from a journey, among many others. Moreover, the established formulas are employed with remarkable flexibility, allowing for new combinations to emerge in response to the conversational context. As a result, the repertoire of polite expressions remains open-ended and dynamic.
Frank Weigelt is Professor of Arabic Language at Friedrich Schiller University Jena (Germany). His current research focuses on Arabic politeness, the grammar of the Damascene dialect, concepts for teaching regional and cultural studies, as well as the grammar of Classical Arabic. He studied Arabic Studies, Semitic Studies, and Protestant Theology in Leipzig, Berlin, Jerusalem, and Damascus. From 2012 to 2018 he worked at the university of Bergen, receiving his doctorate in 2015 with a dissertation entitled “The Arabic Commentary on the Book of Genesis by the Samaritan Sadaka ibn Munajja”. His publications include an introduction to the Arabic grammatical tradition and a cultural-historical introduction to the history of the Arabic language.
Time and place: June 13, 2025 12:15 PM – 2:00 PM, Eilert Sundts hus, A-blokka Auditorium 4
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