al-Mansub ala al-Taqrib

al-Mansub ala al-Taqrib (Arabic: المنصوب على التقريب, lit. 'The Accusative Governed by Demonstration') is a specialized grammatical treatise by the Saudi linguist Ibrahim bin Sulayman al-Buaymi, exploring the Kufan grammatical doctrine regarding the accusative of demonstration (al-taqrib) and contrasting it with the Basran grammatical framework al-Mansub ala al-Taqrib+1.

Background and Motivation

The idea for the study arose during a telephone conversation between al-Bu'aymi—then an assistant professor in the College of Arabic Language—and a colleague in his department regarding the term al-mansub ala al-taqrib among Kufan grammarians al-Mansub ala al-Taqrib. Recognizing that existing grammatical literature addressed the concept only briefly in a few pages and that many students of Arabic found the term obscure, al-Bu'aymi undertook an exhaustive examination of classical sources al-Mansub ala al-Taqrib. His investigation aimed to reconstruct the Kufan rules governing taqrib, derive its attestations from the Quran and early Arabic poetry, and weigh the Kufan arguments against the Basran school Majallat al-Jami'a al-Isl….

Subject Matter and Scope

In Kufan grammatical theory, al-mansub ala al-taqrib refers to treating demonstrative pronouns (asma al-ishara) as governing agents in nominal sentences analogous to kana, such that the initial noun is placed in the nominative as the noun of demonstration (ism al-taqrib) and the predicate is placed in the accusative as its predicate (khabar al-taqrib) al-Mansub ala al-Taqrib. The study demonstrates that taqrib constitutes a distinct grammatical category for the Kufans, separate from both the standard circumstantial accusative (hal) and severed accusative (qat), whereas the Basran school rejected the concept entirely, categorizing such constructions as instances of hal governed by an implied verb or pointing particle al-Mansub ala al-Taqrib+1.

Structure

The treatise is organized into an introduction and two main chapters subdivided into several sections:

• Chapter One: al-Taqrib According to the Kufans (al-Taqrib inda al-Kufiyyin): Divided into thirteen sections covering its definition, conditions of governance, interaction with the separating pronoun (damir al-fasl), medial positioning of the predicate (tawsit al-khabar—permitted by al-Kisa'i but barred by al-Farra'), preposing the predicate's complement, occurrence of the predicate as a definite noun or clause, the entry of verbal governors upon the demonstrative particle, the ruling of taqrib, analogical derivation (qiyas), which demonstrative nouns govern, and the distinction between taqrib, hal, and qat in Kufan doctrine and in the writings of al-Farra' al-Mansub ala al-Taqrib+1.
• Chapter Two: The Basrans and al-Taqrib (al-Basriyyun wa-l-Taqrib): Divided into four sections examining taqrib in the thought of Sibawayh, the Basran categorization of hal (clarifying vs. corroborating) and taqrib, the Basran verdict on al-qarib, and the implied governing agent of the circumstantial accusative (amil al-hal al-mudamman) al-Mansub ala al-Taqrib.

Findings and Assessment

Al-Bu'aymi concludes that the Basran grammatical framework ultimately prevailed among later grammarians because of the systematic consistency and structural strength of its foundational principles al-Mansub ala al-Taqrib. Despite the polemics of early Kufans such as Tha'lab—who criticized Sibawayh for supposedly failing to grasp taqrib—the Kufan theory failed to sustain broad adoption; even Tha'lab's own student, Ibn Shuqayr al-Baghdadi, omitted taqrib from his work al-Muhalla: Wujuh al-Nasb and treated such occurrences under the Basran category of hal Majallat al-Jami'a al-Isl….