The Intersection of Stylistics and Pragmatics in Contemporary Arabic Critical Studies: A Reading in Saber Al-Habasha’s Project

Abstract

Modern Western stylistics, with its various approaches, has had a significant presence in contemporary Arabic linguistic, rhetorical, and critical studies. Arab scholars have engaged with stylistics in diverse ways—ranging from introducing its theoretical foundations and methodological principles to employing its terminological system, either wholly or partially, in the analysis of creative works, whether classical or modern. This engagement has evolved to include comparative approaches that aim to define the nature of the relationship between stylistics and several modern linguistic and rhetorical disciplines, most notably rhetoric, linguistics, literary criticism, functional grammar, and pragmatics. In this context, the present study aims—through description, analysis, comparison, and deduction—to examine the contemporary Arabic critical and linguistic output, shedding light on the comparative dimension between stylistics and some of the emerging linguistic fields, with particular focus on the relationship between stylistics and pragmatics. This is carried out by examining the work of the scholar Saber Mahmoud Al-Habasha, in an effort to answer the central question: What is the nature of the relationship between stylistics and pragmatics in contemporary Arabic studies—and how did Saber Mahmoud Al-Habasha conceptualize it?