Nel primo cerchio della grammatica: i tipi di frase oltre le dichiarative

The paper presents some observations concerning the treatment of sentence types (i.e. declarative, interrogative, imperative sentences) in a series of grammars of the Italian language up to the second half of the 19th century. Sentence type is used here as equivalent to sentence mood and does not involve other dimensions of grammatical structure. The works considered are characterized both by the doctrine of the moods as it had been outlined in the Grammaire de Port Royal and by the Classical conception, which over the centuries had been assimilated largely thanks to Boethius. Some grammars offer a series of considerations that show attempts to develop the available models in new directions.