Les discussions des grammairiens arabes à propos du sens des marques d'I՟rab

Abstract

abstract : Owing to its basically forma- listic approach to morpho syntax, the Arabic grammatical tradition began to show interest in the semantic value of case-markers only at a rather late period and in a sporadic way. The few texts which deal with the subject are nevertheless interesting, insofar as they emphasize the evolution of the conceptions of meaning and the existence of several levels of grammatical discourse. One can oppose a first period (from the end of the 9th century to the middle of the 11th century) characterized by an intuitive and psychologizing approach to the question of meaning, and a turning point marked by the contribution of d'al-Gurgânï (d. 1078). By admitting as a principle that any grammatical category is also a semantic one, he is the first grammarian to enquire into the specific meaning of each case marker ; however, his solution, since it is based on a polemical topos which developed in « ideological » discussions about the status of the Arabic language, seems hardly consistent with some of the basic theoretical tenets of the tradition. After it was « popularized » by al-Zamah§ari (d. 1143), it was strongly criticized by Radï al-Din al-Astaràbâdï (d. 1283) : his own analysis reconciles al- Gurgânï's intuitions about grammatical semantics and the requirements of standard grammatical theory. But it had no posterity : after the 13th century, the grammatical treaties tend to come back to a more practical, less speculative approach and seem to lose interest in the question.