The syntactic structure of language, like the phonological,
morphological and semantic systems, undergoes varying degrees of
change (codification) in the process of standardization. While
dictionaries codify the orthographic, orthoepic, morphological
and semantic structure of the lexicon, grammar books contribute
to the codification of the overall structure, including syntax.
Kurdish lexicography predates grammatical description by
approximately three centuries (cf. 8.4.4). The first grammatical
description of Kurdish is limited to a few examples employed by
Ali Taramakhi (17th century) in his Arabic grammar taught in the
mosque schools of Kurmanji speaking parts of Kurdistan (cf.
4.2.2). If we disregard European grammatical studies (e.g.,
Garzoni 1787) which did not affect the standardization process,
the first monographic work written by native speakers is
Muqeddimet ul-'ilfan (Introduction to 'irfan 'knowledge, etc.')
which deals with the "grammatical rules of the Kurdish
language.' The book was published