Abstract

The problem of deduction in the science of principles of syntax has a great role in the argument of the syntactical issues in the process of construction of rules of language. Principles of syntax consist of hearing, deduction, consensus and intellectual association and dominate the science of syntax in the domain of Arabic linguistics. Deduction as the second source of the principles of syntax, after hearing (i.e. consideration of the heard and its induction) has been taken into account by the grammarians since time immemorial. Deductive approach or argument by deduction represents the reason based effort for legalization of the syntactical problems. The contributions of the great Iranian and non-Iranian grammarians to this problem as well as the efforts of two great scholars of syntax including Ibn Anbari (b. 577 A.H.) who has been himself the pioneer of the division of deduction into the deduction of cause, deduction by analogy and deduction by refutation in his Lumah Al-Adillah inspired us to engage in a descriptive-analytic study using the extant linguistic sources and data to assay and analyze a number of parallel syntactical discussions in Ibn Anbari’s Asrar Al-Arabyyah and Ibn Yayish of Mosul’s Sharh Al-Mufasal Zamakhshari (b. 643 A.H.). The findings of this study suggest that both scholars of syntax have explained the syntactical rules by way of deduction though Ibn Anbari despite of his being the inventor of the classification of deduction has almost used the deduction by analogy in his book which is of a lesser scientific value in the explanation of syntactical rules as compared to the deduction by cause. But Ibn Yayish has made use of the deduction by cause in his explanations and arguments and in a more powerful way. It needs to be mentioned that neither Ibn Anbari nor Ibn Yayish has noted the type of the deduction used. The author of the present essay has classified the ideas and debates of these two scholars based on different forms of deduction and preferred Ibn Yayish’s approach in view of its use of deduction by cause given its argumentative power in the explanation of syntactical rules over against Ibn Anbari’s deduction by analogy.
Keywords: Science of Principles of Syntax, Deduction, Types of Cause (Cause, Analogy, Refutation), Ibn Anbari, Asrar Al Arabyah, Ibn Yayish, Sharh Al Mufasal

Assessment and Analysis of Types of Causes in Deduction (Cause, Analogy and Refutation) A Case Study of the Syntactical Views of Ibn Anbari in Asrar Al-Arabyah (Secrets of Arabic) and Ibn Yayish in Sharh Al Mufasal (Unabridged Commentary)
Abstract
The problem of deduction in the science of principles of syntax has a great role in the argument of the syntactical issues in the process of construction of rules of language. Principles of syntax consist of hearing, deduction, consensus and intellectual association and dominate the science of syntax in the domain of Arabic linguistics. Deduction as the second source of the principles of syntax, after hearing (i.e. consideration of the heard and its induction) has been taken into account by the grammarians since time immemorial. Deductive approach or argument by deduction represents the reason based effort for legalization of the syntactical problems. The contributions of the great Iranian and non-Iranian grammarians to this problem as well as the efforts of two great scholars of syntax including Ibn Anbari (b. 577 A.H.) who has been himself the pioneer of the division of deduction into the deduction of cause, deduction by analogy and deduction by refutation in his Lumah Al-Adillah inspired us to engage in a descriptive-analytic study using the extant linguistic sources and data to assay and analyze a number of parallel syntactical discussions in Ibn Anbari’s Asrar Al-Arabyyah and Ibn Yayish of Mosul’s Sharh Al-Mufasal Zamakhshari (b. 643 A.H.). The findings of this study suggest that both scholars of syntax have explained the syntactical rules by way of deduction though Ibn Anbari despite of his being the inventor of the classification of deduction has almost used the deduction by analogy in his book which is of a lesser scientific value in the explanation of syntactical rules as compared to the deduction by cause. But Ibn Yayish has made use of the deduction by cause in his explanations and arguments and in a more powerful way. It needs to be mentioned that neither Ibn Anbari nor Ibn Yayish has noted the type of the deduction used. The author of the present essay has classified the ideas and debates of these two scholars based on different forms of deduction and preferred Ibn Yayish’s approach in view of its use of deduction by cause given its argumentative power in the explanation of syntactical rules over against Ibn Anbari’s deduction by analogy.
Keywords: Science of Principles of Syntax, Deduction, Types of Cause (Cause, Analogy, Refutation), Ibn Anbari, Asrar Al Arabyah, Ibn Yayish, Sharh Al Mufasal