Get fulltext from our e-platform
The Foundations of Grammar
An introduction to medieval Arabic grammatical theory
Author
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: Available
Published online on 3 October 2011
Published online on 3 October 2011
© John Benjamins Publishing Company
Table of Contents
- Prelim pages | pp. i–vi
- Table of contents | pp. vii–ix
- Symbols and conventions | pp. x–10
- Preface | pp. xi–xii
- 1. Introduction | pp. 1–30
- 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 | pp. 31–88
- 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 | pp. 89–124
- 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 | pp. 125–147
- 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‘ | pp. 148–166
- 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 | pp. 167–185
- 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 | pp. 186–198
- 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 | pp. 199–226
- 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 | pp. 227–264
- 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 | pp. 265–312
- Appendix I List of Arabic linguists whose works are cited | pp. 313–314
- Appendix II Brief summary of grammatical constructions | pp. 315–326
- Appendix III Original Arabic quotes | pp. 327–344
- | pp. 345–358
- Index of names | pp. 359–362
- Subject index | pp. 363–368
- Index of Arabic grammatical terms | pp. 369–371
Cited by (41)
Cited by 41 other publications
Bagatin, Maurizio
Köse, İrfan
Matthiessen, Christian M.I.M., Isaac N. Mwinlaaru, Bo Wang & Yuanyi Ma
Al-Shoaibi, Muthanna M. Mokbel
Bardi, Mohamed Ali
Shahid, Sadiya
Abou‐Tabickh, Lilian
Dai, Zheyuan & Haitao Liu
Kasher, Almog
2023. Anachronistic bias in the study of Arabic grammatical tradition. Historiographia Linguistica 50:2-3 ► pp. 201 ff.
Halabi, Dana, Ebaa Fayyoumi & Arafat Awajan
Jarrah, Marwan & Nimer Abusalim
Ermers, Robert
Glinert, Lewis
Hudson, Richard
Mazziotta, Nicolas & András Imrényi
2020. Aspects of the theory and history of dependency grammar. In Chapters of Dependency Grammar [Studies in Language Companion Series, 212], ► pp. 1 ff.
Said-Ghanem, Nadia Ait
Sidarus, Adel Y.
Sidarus, Adel Y.
Wang, Yalan
JARRAH, MARWAN
Budman, Yulia D.
Khamray, O.
KHAMRAY, O.
Chatti, Saloua
Leezenberg, Michiel
Dukes, Kais, Eric Atwell & Nizar Habash
Cohen, Walter
LUCAS, CHRISTOPHER & ELLIOTT LASH
Hodges, Wilfrid
Sáenz-Badillos, Ángel
Diewald, Gabriele, Peter J. Enns, Anthony P. Grant, Anthony P. Grant, Joachim Grzega, Masataka Ishikawa, Alan S. Kaye, Alan S. Kaye, Donna L. Lillian, Solomon I. Sara, Yuri Tambovtsev, Yuri Tambovtsev, Edward J. Vajda, Edward J. Vajda, Edward J. Vajda, Elly van Gelderen, Elly van Gelderen, Kees Versteegh, Xinzhang Yang, Xinzhang Yang & Arne Ziegler
Owens, Jonathan
1995. The comparative study of medieval Arabic grammatical theory. Historiographia Linguistica 22:3 ► pp. 425 ff.
Owens, Jonathan
2024. Review of Sartori & Binaghi (2022): The foundations of Arab linguistics V. Kitāb Sībawayhi, The Critical Theory.. Historiographia Linguistica
Carter, Michael G.
Peeters, Bert, Patrick J. Duffley, Christopher M. Stevens, Raimo Anttila, Raimo Anttila, Alan S. Kaye, Alan S. Kaye, Alan S. Kaye, W. Wilfried Schuhmacher, W. Wilfried Schuhmacher, W. Wilfried Schuhmacher, Yuri Tambovtsev, Masataka Ishikawa, Georgios Giannakis & Saul Levin
Versteegh, Kees
1994. The Notion of ‘Underlying Levels’ in the Arabic Grammatical Tradition. Historiographia Linguistica 21:3 ► pp. 271 ff.
Kaye, Alan S.
Ryding, Karin C.
1992. Early Arabic Grammatical Theory: Heterogeneity and Standardization. By Jonathan Owens. Historiographia Linguistica 19:2-3 ► pp. 393 ff.
Suleiman, M.Y.I.H.
[no author supplied]
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 3 december 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.