From Description to Prescription: The exceptive in Arabic grammatical theory
HanaZabarah
Georgetown University in Qatar
Once the need to learn a language arises, grammatical instructional manuals evolve from descriptive grammars of that language. Language description involves the uncovering of the rules of the language from collected data, and teaching those rules is the reason grammatical manuals exist. The most comprehensive descriptive grammar of Arabic is Sībawayhi’s Kitāb (d. ca.161–94 AH/777–810 A.D.). He includes the rules of Arabic as he deduced them from the language of the Arabs. As time passed and the need to learn Arabic increased, many grammarians started to write grammatical manuals for beginners. Sībawayhi’s monumental work was too speculative and highly theoretical for this task and was never suitable for instruction. The descriptiveness of Sībawayhi’s Kitāb needed to morph into a more approachable grammar. Zağğāğī’s Ğumal (d. ca.337–340/948–951) and Ibn Bābašāḏ’s Muqaddima (d.469/1077) are two instructional manuals that are concise and more suitable for beginners. This study examines how pedagogy in Zağğāğī’s Ğumal and Ibn Bābašāḏ’s Muqaddima evolved from the descriptive rules of Sībawayhi’s Kitāb through a careful analysis of istiṯnā’ “exception” rules presented by each grammarian in this study. Although the rules are essentially the same in all three books, presentation and description or lack thereof are sufficiently different illustrating their distinct objectives.
The most famous scholarly work on Arabic grammatical theory is Sībawayhi’s al-Kitāb (d. 161–94 AH/777-810 A.D.), which has been an object of examination by scholars from the time it was written, long before it became an authoritative source, to the present. Al-Kitāb is of a descriptive nature and is an examination of the Arabic language as it was used in the 2nd/8th century. Sībawayhi’s deductions were exploratory in nature, often ambiguous and vague. However, the prescriptive nature of an instructional manual does not require more than pedagogical explanations; therefore, teaching brief and concise material becomes more effective. Comparing instructional manuals such as al-Zaǧǧāǧī’s Ǧumal (d.337–340/948–951) and Ibn Bābašāḏ’s Muqaddima (d.469/1077) to Sībawayhi’s Kitāb, consequently, does not do justice to either type. How did these instructional manuals evolve? In what way do they differ, and where are they similar to al-Kitāb? What makes one more accessible to learners? These are some of the questions this study aims to answer through a careful examination of selected chapters from each type.
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