The Semantic Foundations of Linguistic Correction in Ibn Qutaybah’s Adab al-Kātib: A Case Study of the Chapter “Knowledge of What People Put in Its Improper Place”

Abstract

This study examines the semantic foundations of linguistic correction in Ibn Qutaybah’s Adab al-Kātib, focusing on one chapter as its applied corpus. To achieve this objective, this chapter is considered not merely a collection of scattered linguistic notes, but an applied semantic practice concerned with governing the relationship between words and their use in context. The study adopts a descriptive-analytical method to produce a semantic analysis of the linguistic usages criticized by Ibn Qutaybah, based on defined procedures for delimiting the corpus, identifying the unit of analysis and specifying the criteria for selecting examples. The chapter is treated as a limited corpus, comprising thirty-three lexical entries and analyzed at two levels: a detailed analysis of twenty-four entries and a concise analysis of the remaining nine entries, in order to identify the semantic foundations and usage patterns. The findings showed that Ibn Qutaybah’s acceptance or rejection of usage is based on linguistic and etymological origin, usage context, Arab linguistic convention and textual and linguistic evidence. The findings further revealed Ibn Qutaybah’s tendency to restrict synonymy by identifying semantic distinctions among closely related words, while accepting certain forms of semantic extension when they remain connected to a valid original meaning.