The linguistics of French grammars published in Spain in the first half of the 19th century

In this paper, the author examines a corpus of thirteen grammars for the teaching of French to Spaniards published during the first half of the 19th century. In this transversal analysis account is taken of: (1) the sources cited by these grammarians; (2) how they define grammar and how many parts of speech they identify; (3) how they define the noun (with or without the canonical schema of declension and particular declensional classes); (4) how they define the verb (with or without the canonical categories); and (5) how syntax is dealt with. The object of the present investigation is to determine the explicit and implicit linguistics of these school grammars, at a time when the French 'grammaire generale' tradition was penetrating Spanish mother-tongue grammars in Spain and exercises in logical and grammatical analysis were being introduced.