Conditional sentences within the Arab grammatical tradition

Abstract

The subject of this study ' conditional sentences within the Arab grammatical tradition' is probably one of the more difficult areas of Classical Arabic grammar since it has all the imperfections and shortcomings of Classical Arabic grammar. The study involves a linguistic analysis; investiga theorizing and evaluating the majority of the Arab grammarians' views on the topic concerned throughout thirteen centuries. This work consists of five chapters. The first chapter is concerned with examining and evaluating several treatments (of conditional sentences) represented by three different linguistic approaches considered representative of important trends. The second chapter will be devoted to certain fundamental assumptions made by the grammaria concerning the category 'condition' as well as other relevant categories. The details of the syntactic analysis of each individual element of conditional sentences will given, together with other relevant topics, in chapter three. Chapter four classifies and enumerates the most important semantic types and uses of Classical Arabic conditional constructions. It points out also the relevant syntactic features which determine the acceptability of various semantic types of conditional sentences. Chapter five will be confined to general remarks and conclusions