The Syntactic Function of Demonstrative Pronouns as Kāna According to Arab Grammarians: An Analytical Study of Texts, Evidence, and Grammatical Reasoning

Abstract

This study examines a grammatical phenomenon known among the Kufan grammarians as al-Taqrīb (approximation), namely, the view that demonstrative pronouns may function syntactically like the defective verb Kāna in specific constructions, based on a shared semantic meaning between demonstratives and the defective verbs. Examples of such constructions include: hādhā Zaydun qāʾiman (“This is Zayd standing”), hādhihi al-shamsu ṭāliʿatan (“Here is the sun rising”), and hādhā al-asadu muqbilān (“Here is the lion approaching”). The grammarians differed in their description and analysis of this phenomenon. The majority of Basran grammarians maintained that the demonstrative remains in accordance with its original syntactic function. Although the term al-Taqrīb (approximation) occurs in the works of some of their grammarians, such as Sībawayh, they did not use the term to indicate that the demonstrative functions syntactically like Kāna, as maintained by the Kufans. Rather, they intended its lexical meaning, namely, approximation or bringing something near. Accordingly, the noun following the demonstrative is parsed either as an appositive (badal) or as an explicative apposition (ʿaṭf bayān), while the accusative element following it is parsed as a circumstantial accusative (ḥāl). A group of Kufan grammarians, on the other hand, maintained that the demonstrative carries the semantic meaning of proximity and presence, which, in their view, gives it sufficient syntactic force to govern the elements that follow it: it assigns the nominative case to the subject and the accusative case to the predicate. The researcher seeks to investigate the origins of this issue in the works of the early Arab grammarians, identify the nature of the disagreement between the two grammatical schools, and analyze the textual and poetic evidence cited by proponents of the al-Taqrīb theory, as well as the Basran responses to such evidence. The study also seeks to demonstrate the influence of the Basran theory of grammatical governance (ʿāmil) on the formulation of grammatical judgments and on their rejection of the view that demonstrative pronouns can function as grammatical governors.