| Ibn Abi Ishaq |
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(Died CE 735) The primordial Arabic grammarian who compiled a prescriptive grammar based on Bedouin usage — this dialect was chosen because it was believed to be the purest. His two most important students were Isa ibn Umar al-Thaqafi and Abu Amr ibn al-Ala. Al-Thaqafi was a prescriptivist, whereas the latter was more of a descriptivist. Their differences, perhaps, led to the later bifurcation of Arabic grammar into the Kufa and Basra schools. |
