Georgian and Arab Romantics about Literary Language

Abstract

Among the Georgian romantics, Grigol Orbeliani and Aleksandre Orbeliani express the most interesting and insightful views on the Georgian language and related problems.

In general, the literary and aesthetic views of the Georgian romantics have been forming since the 1930s. Since there were no printed publications in Georgia at that time, where they could have recorded their theoretical views, most of them did not have the living conditions (e.g. Nikoloz Barathishvili), did not have time, etc., and they were poets and did not have the necessary in-depth theoretical education, so their literary and aesthetic views can be read mainly in their poems and personal letters.

According to Grigol Orbeliani, language is the foundation of a nation's glory, the main basis for its formation and development. And not caring about it will inevitably lead to the downfall of the nation and the country (see the poem "The Answer of the Sons").

Alexander Orbeliani distinguishes three languages ​​in Georgian: church (religious), middle, and peasant. Based on the analysis, he comes to the conclusion that the middle language should be chosen as the Georgian literary language, as it is understandable and acceptable to everyone, the language in which "Visramiani", "Sibredzne-sotsruisa" and, most importantly, "Pepkhistkaosani" were written. At the same time, he was such a progressive-minded person that he was actually the first to raise the issue of the necessity of criticism (the same issue would be raised by Mamia Guriel, and later by Ilia Chavchavadze), as well as the need to collect and transcribe Georgian folk poems.

The article discusses Gibran's views on the essence of language in general, on what factors the future of the Arabic language depends, the influence of European civilization and the Western spirit on Arab countries and, accordingly, on the Arabic language, the impact of modern political events on the language, the problems of teaching Arabic in high and secondary schools, whether all subjects are taught in the native language and what impact this has on the spiritual and cultural development of the nation, the impact of dialects on literary Arabic, what is the best way to revive the Arabic language, the role of the poet and the imitator in the development of the Arabic language, etc. In parallel, Gibran talks to us about the formation and development of a nation, the positive and negative sides of the relationship between the West and the East, etc.