The Treatment of Conditional Sentences by the Mediaeval Arabic Grammarians: Stability and Change in the History of Arabic Grammar

The article sheds some light on how the most famous representatives of mediaeval Arab grammarians treat questions of analysis relating to conditional sentences. The author pays special attention to changes in linguistic methods and attitudes of grammarians towards their data. These changes are reflected in the way they analyse sentences. This latter seems all the more important to investigate because in the past both Arab and European scholars had always been inclined to an ahistorical representation in studying the works of Arab grammarians