Linguistic Heritage and Orientalism: KAIS FRESTAICH as an Example

Abstract

This paper aims at uncovering some of the Orientalist attempts to study Arab linguistic thought, on the one hand, and at examining the views Orientalists have adopted in their studies of the Orient, on the other. Orientalists have always claimed that their discourse on the Orient is objective، based on actual facts، and unbiased, but, as this paper shows, this discourse has proved to be a typical embodiment of a deep-rooted ideological system that is based on firm bias, pretended superiority, and unfair disavowal of the others’ contributions to human civilization. Such system of thought, exemplified in this investigation by the work of the Dutch Orientalist KAIS FRESTAICH whose writings, especially his book Greek Elements in Arab Linguistic Thought, have had a considerable influence on the study of linguistic thought—such system strips the age-old linguistic order of Arabic civilization of all claims to authenticity and originality, especially when it comes to syntax، making it look like a mere shadow of another linguistic order, namely that of Greece. These ideas, and others, are subjected to close scrutiny in this paper, the aim being the revelation of the falseness of such claims and, ultimately, the disclosure of the implications of such ideas on both the theoretical and practical levels.