Relevance of the Arabic Grammar Tradition to Modern Linguistics: A Case Study of Subjunctive Mood

Abstract

The Arabic grammar tradition is one of the most important linguistic schools in history- a school whose achievements in many cases are as important as the achievements of the modern linguistic studies. The present study, by explaining the conformity of the threefold divisions of the verbal mood (declarative, subjunctive, and imperative) with the triple subdivision of the verbs into marfu’, mansub and majzum in Arabic grammar, attempts to explain how the Arabic language grammarians have described the functions of subjunctive mood through the elements they have referred to. The results of this study indicate that Sibawayhi, the leader of the school of Basra and the writer of the oldest book on the Arabic grammar, has been aware of the role of realis/irrealis distinction in the uses of the mansub (subjunctive) and marfu’ (declarative). Moreover, through some of his comments, it is possible to derive the importance of the speaker’s view in determining whether or not the proposition is definite. On the other hand, the study reveals how al-Farra, the most prominent grammarian of the Kufa School, has emphasized the role of time and temporal implications in explaining the applications of the subjunctive mood. Subsequent grammarians, following their syntactic views, have supplemented this discussion and, for instance, have mentioned the distinction between absolute time and relative time to determine temporal implications of the present subjunctive mood. Currently, linguists without having access to the findings of this tradition, have discovered the importance of these two components in the applications of the subjunctive mood; On the basis of the findings of the present study, such an achievement can be traced its origin back to more than a thousand years ago in the books of Arabic grammarians.

Keywords

• subjunctive mood
• realis/irrealis
• sibawayhi
• al-farra
• arabic grammar history