The Foundations of Grammar

An introduction to medieval Arabic grammatical theory

Jonathan Owens | University of Bayreuth

Hardbound – Available

ISBN 9789027245281 | EUR 125.00 | USD 188.00

e-Book –

ISBN 9789027278630 | EUR 125.00 | USD 188.00

The Arabic grammatical tradition is one of the great traditions in the history of linguistics, yet it is also one that is comparatively unknown to modern western linguistics. The purpose of the present book is to provide an introduction to this grammatical tradition not merely by summarizing it, but by putting it into a perspective that will make it accessible to any linguist trained in the western tradition. The reader should not by put off by the word ‘medieval’: Arabic grammatical theory shares a number of fundamental similarities with modern linguistic theory. Indeed, one might argue that one reason Arabic theory has gone unappreciated for so long is that nothing like it existed in the West at the time of its ‘discovery’ by Europeans in the 19th century, when the European orientalist tradition was formed, and that it it only with the development of a Saussurean and Bloomfieldian structural tradition that a better perspective has become possible.

[Studies in the History of the Language Sciences, 45] 1988. xii, 371 pp.

Publishing status:

https://doi.org/10.1075/sihols.45

Table of Contents

Symbols and conventions | p. x

Preface | p. xi

1. Introduction | p. 1

1.1 What the work does and does not do
1.2 Who were the Arabic grammarians?
1.3 Arabic grammatical work
1.4 The data
1.5 The descriptive technique
1.6 Western linguistic principles
1.7 Language diversity and language change
1.8 Organization of grammars

2. Structure, function, class and dependency | p. 31

2.1 Structure and function
2.2 Terms for sentence, kalâm and jumla
2.3 Governance/dependency, cAmal
2.4 Six explanations for case form
2.5 The function of inflection
2.6 Uninflected words
2.7 Class
2.8 Non-dependency relations and dependency
2.9 Constituency in Arabic theory
2.10 Complementary distribution
2.11 Morphological structure in Arabic theory
2.12 The structural nature of Arabic theory

3. Morphology | p. 89

3.1 The linguistic sign: Kalâm, Kalima, and Lafḍh
3.2 Three preliminary remarks
3.3 Taṣrîf
3.4 'Ishtiqâq “Derivation”
3.5 Morphemes and added sounds
3.6 The Taṣrîf of a root
3.7 Arabic morphemic theory
3.8 Morphology as a generative system
3.9 Compounding (tarkîb)
3.10 Summary

4. Word classes | p. 125

4.1 Phonological
4.2 Morphological
4.3 Syntactic
4.4 Semantic
4.5 Problems in the criteria
4.6 Sub-classes
4.7 The circumstance (ḍharf)
4.8 The active participle
4.9 The ‘verb’ of exclamation

5. The ‘noun phrase‘ | p. 148

5.1 What is a noun phrase and what does it do?
5.2 The noun phrase components in Arabic theory
5.3 Noun-noun relations
5.4 The noun phrase as a unit
5.5 Summary

6. Transitivity | p. 167

6.1 Types of objects
6.2 More objects
6.3 Optionality
6.4 Causative
6.5 Voice and verb derivation
6.6 The passive

7. Ellipsis | p. 186

7.1 Contextual
7.2 Structural
7.3 Non-deletion
7.4 Ibn Hishâm's summary
7.5 Extension of function ('ittisâc)
7.6 The status of deletion
7.7 Kufan-Basran arguments
7.8 Not all implicit relations are due to deletion
7.9 Comparison with deletions in transformational grammar

8. Markedness in Arabic theory | p. 199

8.1 What is markedness?
8.2 An aside for terminology
8.3 Markedness in Arabic theory: Sîbawaih
8.4 Examples from later grammarians
8.5 Two interpretations of Anbârî's markedness schema
8.6 Anbârî's schema exemplified
8.7 Sequence
8.8 The 'Aṣl-Farc distinction as one of markedness
8.9 Comparison with transformational-generative grammar

9. Syntax, semantics and pragmatics | p. 227

9.1 Semantic observations
9.2 Syntax and semantics
9.3 A separate semantic level?
9.4 Arabic grammar and transformational theory
9.5 Jurjânî, language and communication
9.6 Jurjânî and the Arabic linguistic tradition
9.7 Word order
9.8 Epilogue

Notes | p. 265

Appendix I List of Arabic linguists whose works are cited | p. 313

Appendix II Brief summary of grammatical constructions | p. 315

Appendix III Original Arabic quotes | p. 327

Index of names | p. 359

Subject index | p. 363

Index of Arabic grammatical terms | p. 369

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[no author supplied]

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