Theme 2 - Languages and Epigraphy of Islam and the Ancient Near East

Contributors: Philippe Cassuto †, Frédéric Imbert, Pierre Larcher, Remo Mugnaoni, Fanny Rauwel

The research carried out in the field of Semitology deals with the study of Ancient and Modern Semitic languages and their socio-cultural context. For Ancient languages, specific focus is given to the comparative linguistics of these languages and their writing systems. This is an opportunity to revisit Semitic language classification, thanks to recent discoveries, and to question some of the analytical criteria used in linguistics, such as roots and cases. As for modern languages, research in this field centers around the sociocultural and sociolinguistic aspects of Bible translations. This research is also carried out as part of projects in collaboration with the INALCO (HAAH project: Hebrew Arabic-Arabic Hebrew) and EA ALITHILA (Literary Analysis and the History of Language) at University of Lille 3.

In Arabic Epigraphy, the research is conducted alongside archaeology fieldwork that has led to some important discoveries, particularly in Saudi Arabia and in Jordan. This includes Graffitology (analysis of the corpus of Arabic graffiti, not only from a linguistic and paleographic standpoint, but also in terms of historical and religious anthropology), Paleography (the study of the appearance and development of diacritic symbols in Ancient Kufic Arabic and their use in late Ayyubid and Mamluk texts), monumental and funerary Epigraphy, and Onomastics.