grammar: an introduction definitions, historical overview, dynamic nature
TRANSCRIPT
Grammar: An Introduction
Definitions, historical overview, dynamic nature
Outcomes
Define grammar.
List reasons for studying grammar.
Define & contrast descriptive,
prescriptive, and innate grammars.
Define grammar
A description of the structure(s) of a
language
– “Metalanguage”—language we use to
talk about language
Define grammar
What’s wrong with these definitions?
– A description of a structure of a language
– A description of the structure of language
Why study grammar?
Helps with some aspects of writing (& speaking)– *Mike looked well in
his new suit.
– *The project was done by Sally and I.
Why study grammar?
Grammar checkers--
Need to know
grammar rules to
decide if suggestions
should be accepted
Why study grammar?
To have the vocabulary and concepts to
think and talk about language
– e.g., to watch for the use of tense in a
piece of literature
Because it’s a window into a part of the
brain
3 types of grammars
Prescriptive/pedagogical (usage)
Key words: should; right, & wrong; do &
do not; always & never; standard &
nonstandard
Types of grammars
Don’t: I ate the last piece of cake
before you had a chance to eat any.
Do: I had eaten the last piece of cake
before you had a chance to eat any.
Types of grammars
Descriptive (use)
Key words/phrases: “People say X.”
“In this part of the country, . . .”
How people are actually using the
language
Types of grammars
Innate (the grammar gene)
The built-in constraints on what
structures are possible in human
languages
Types of grammars
Innate grammar includes “principles”
(true of all languages) and “parameters”
(a setting from among a group of
choices)
– Parameter: Adjectives before or after
nouns
Outcomes check
Define grammar.
List reasons for studying grammar.
Define & contrast descriptive,
prescriptive, and innate grammars.
Next section: Outcomes
Trace grammars through history.
Define and provide examples of
ungrammatical and grammatical.
Define and provide examples of
standard and nonstandard usage.
Trace grammar historically
Middle Ages & beyond: “studying
grammar” meant studying Latin.
Traditional grammar is based on
Latin & Greek.
Traditional grammar
Provided names of the parts of speech,
names of types of sentences & phrases
– e.g., gerund, prepositional phrase,
antecedent
Specialized in prescriptions
Structural linguistics
Founder: Ferdinand
de Saussure, at
University of Geneva
from 1907 to 1911
Structural linguistics
Became popular in the US in the 1930s
Describes how people actually use a
language
Structural linguistics
Gave rise to descriptions of the
components of words, phrases, &
sentences & how they are arranged
– e.g., NP -> (DET) + (ADJ) + N + (PP)
– “The tallest person in our class”
Generative grammar, Universal Grammar
Founder: Noam
Chomsky, 1957,
Syntactic Structures,
MIT
Innate grammar
Generative/Universal Grammar
Uncover the rules that generate all the
possible “grammatical” sentences in a
language & no “ungrammatical”
sentences
Grammatical & ungrammatical
Grammatical (well formed): The
weather is warm today.
Ungrammatical (ill formed): Warm the
is today weather.
Ungrammatical = breaks the innate
rules as applied to that language
Grammatical & ungrammatical
Grammatical: Hand me the blue pen.
Ungrammatical: Pen the me hand blue.
Grammatical in Fijian:
– Past kiss the child the girl.
– Meaning: The girl kissed the child.
Linked to descriptive/innate
Standard & nonstandard usage
Usage: the set of standards that you follow
to speak and write “correctly” (the standard)
Prescriptive– Bad usage: I don’t got no use for
grammar.
– Good usage: I don’t have any use for grammar.
Outcomes check
Trace grammars through history
Define and provide examples of
ungrammatical and grammatical.
Define and provide examples of
standard and nonstandard usage.
Next section: Outcome
Explain & provide examples of the idea
that nonstandard dialects (both regional
& social) are rule-governed, systematic,
and equal in sophistication & complexity
to the standard dialect.
Dynamic nature of language (usage)
Shakespeare, 2 Henry IV:
– “There’s never none of these demure boys
come to any proof.”
– Meaning: Not one of these well-behaved
boys amounts to anything.
Dynamic nature of language (usage)
Chaucer, Canterbury Tales:
– “He that is irous and wrooth, he ne may not
well deme.”
– Meaning: He that is angry and wrathful, he
not may not judge well.
Dynamic nature of language
Like a lava lamp--not improving, but
always “morphing” into something
different
Systematic nature of nonstandard dialects
X did it _____.
1st person myself ourselves
2nd person yourself yourselves
3rd person Her/hisself theirselves
Systematic nature of nonstandard dialects
____ _____ to school.
Systematic nature of nonstandard dialects
____ _____ brain dead.
1st person I ain’t (am not) We aren’t
2nd person You aren’t You aren’t
3rd person He/she isn’t They aren’t
Outcome check
Explain & provide examples of the idea
that nonstandard dialects (both regional
& social) are rule-governed, systematic,
and equal in sophistication & complexity
to the standard dialect.
Goals for English majors
Level Three: Demonstrate that
language in general is an arbitrary
communication system.
Arbitrary = based on choice rather than
on reason
Course outcome
Discuss the place of nonstandard and
standard dialects (both regional and
social) in the educated English
speaker’s/writer’s language repertoire.