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Early Medieval Arabic: Studies on Al-Khalil ibn Ahmad (Arabic Language Linguistics History of Science)

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This four essay collection provides a detailed look at the life and work of the father of the Arabic linguistic tradition. Al-Khalil created the first Arabic lexicon, the "Kitaab al-'ayn", was a sought after teacher, phonologist, and musicologist. The essays in this book describe all of these facets. In particular, Ramzi Baalbaki's analysis of the Kitaab with the Jamharat al-lugha is excellent and worth the price of the book alone. Carter's essay on al-Khalil the Man is also excellent. Eckhard Neubauer's essay on al-Khalil's analysis of traditional Arabic music is somewhat less interesting, though I read the book with an eye to the linguistic not the musical. Finally Karin Ryding's analysis of his work on the genitive construction is interesting but quite technical and really of interest only those who also care about this particular area of Arabic grammar.

With the exception of Michael Carter's essay, this collection is not for someone without a background in Arabic linguistics: the papers assume you know who al-Khalil was and what his accomplishments were. This is not a detriment, of course, given the audience who would buy this.

The book is marred by shoddy typography and a modicum of typographical errors. Compared to the care that goes into the production of some linguistic works (such as those published by Moutin De Gruyter or John Benjamins) it was a bit of a let down. However, the content is there and well worth owning.