Summa Grammatica (John of Dacia)

The Summa Grammatica (Latin for Overview of Grammar; c. AD 1280) or Speculative Grammar (Grammatica Speculativa)[1] was a work by the medieval Modist philosopher John of Dacia.

John calls grammar the "idiom of philosophers" and analyzes the modes using Aristotle's Metaphysics.[1][2] He distinguished the vocal sign from the signifying value, called with the Latin expression ratio significandi.[3]

  1. ^ a b Murphy (1974), p. 155.
  2. ^ Aristotle, Metaphysics, I.3.
  3. ^ Giulio C. Lepschy (2014). History of Linguistics Volume II: Classical and Medieval Linguistics. Longman Linguistics Library. Routledge. p. 311. ISBN 9781317895282.