Gramáticas y Ortografías Españolas Preacadémicas en el Siglo xviii

Studies on the history of Spanish grammar generally pay less attention to the period that follows the works of Gonzalo Correas and ends with the publication of the grammar of the Spanish Royal Academy (i.e., 1640–1770) than to both what precedes and what follows this period. Focusing specifically on the 18th century, the importance of the publication of the first grammar of the Royal Academy (1771) diminished interest in authors who published works on grammar during the preceding seven decades. That part of the 18th century that, from a grammatical perspective, may be called ‘preacademic’, is usually considered uninteresting, particularly when compared with the grammatical achievements of the 16th and 17th centuries. The most important Spanish grammarian of this period, Benito de San Pedro (1723–1801), stands out for anticipating the adoption of rationalist positions taken from French grammatical studies; his work of 1769 is in contrast with that of Benito Martinez Gayoso (c.1710–1787) of 1743, which represents a less interesting traditional approach to grammar. In this article these two opposing approaches are studied; they parallel better studied contrasts among other Spanish grammarians. It also presents the circumstances that allow for the establishment of a relationship between the publication of the treatises of Martinez Gayoso and San Pedro. It shows that some of the innovations attributed to Benito de San Pedro, such as the classification of the so-called indefinite articles, was discussed earlier, and in a clearer manner, by Martinez Gayoso. However, it is in a more modest and later pre-academic grammar, that of Salvador Puig (1719–1793) of 1770, where one finds the best and the most exhaustive treatment of the subject. This is only one of many interesting proposals of solutions to grammatical problems that one finds in the works of this period, including differences in approaches to orthography, before and even after the publication of the grammar and the orthography of the Royal Academy.