Benefit in Arabic syntax in the light of Relevance Theory: A Cognitive Approach

Abstract

This paper is entitled as « Benefit in Arabic syntax in the light of Relevance Theory: A Cognitive Approach ». Relevance is a basic principle in linguistic communication, and linguistic currents have differed in their implications. The paper aims to study the benefit in light of cognitive linguistics and consider the possibility of the presence of cognitive perception in Arabic syntax.

It consists of two axes: the first considers the relevance from a cognitive-linguistic perspective, whether at the level of the speaker as he is performing an ostensive-inferential process, or at the level of the listener as he performs a process of inferential comprehension. The second axis examines the cognitive backgrounds of ancient Arab grammarians, in their theorization about relevance as well as examines the similarities between the two approaches.

The paper adopted the descriptive analytical approach, and start from the cognitive linguistic approach to linguistic communication. He aspires to clarify the cognitive backgrounds of ancient Arabic grammatical thinking while researching the relevance question. This is done by insistent the importance of relevance as one of the basic conditions for the benefit of speech.

Keywords: Benefit, Relevance, Cognitive linguistics, Hypothese, Ostensive-inferential communication.