General Linguistics
(5th year)
Colloquium 4-5:
GRAMMAR
Comparative Historical Comparative
grammar
grammar
Synchronic Synchronic Diachronic
grammar grammar grammar
Practical grammar Theoretical grammar
Linguocentric grammar Anthropocentric grammar
Competence grammar Performance grammar
Formal grammar Semantic grammar Functional grammar
Broad sense grammar Narrow sense
Morphology and Syntax
Grammatical category
Grammatical meaning
Formal means of representing grammatical meaning
Types of grammatical categories
Grammatical categories of different languages
Morphology Syntax
Grammatical word Formal syntax
Morphemics Syntax of a phrase
Derivational morphology Syntax of a sentence
Part-of-speech system Semantic syntax
Communicative syntax
Typology of languages
Syntactic types of languages
Analytic languages
Synthetic languages
Incorporating languages
Morphological types of languages
Root languages
Agglutinative languages
Inflectional languages
Grammar
Grammar in its broad sense is a systematic analysis of the structure of a language at its different levels (phonological, morphological, lexical, syntactic). It is the analysis of linguistic patterns with regard to their form, meaning, and function. Respectively, grammar can be formal, notional, and functional.
Formal grammar concentrates on the study of linguistic forms; it may apply formalized techniques of logic and mathematics. Notional, or semantic, grammar studies the meaning of linguistic patterns; it assumes the existence of extralinguistic categories in order to define grammatical units.
Formal and notional grammars are competence grammars that center on the speaker’s knowledge of language (the rules the speaker must know to use the language properly). Competence grammar contrasts with performance, or functional, grammar which studies the use of linguistic patterns in speech and writing. Competence grammars are primarily linguocentric; they study the language per se, without its relation to the speakers and the situation of speech. Performance grammars are mostly anthropocentric; they consider the linguistic patterns used in speech and influenced by the characteristics of the speakers and the communicative situations.
Lingocentric and anthropocentric grammars can be practical and theoretical. Practical, or normative, grammars are prescriptive; they attempt to establish rules for the correct use of language in society. The speakers of language use practical grammars as reference books. Theoretical grammars are descriptive; they provide a precise account of language in its actual usage. A theoretical grammar may go beyond the study of individual languages, in which case it uses linguistic data as a means of developing insights into the nature of language as such, and into the categories and processes needed for linguistic analysis.
Theoretical grammars describing the linguistic patterns of a particular period of time are called synchronic grammars. Synchronic grammars comparing the systems of two or more languages are called comparative grammars. Along with synchronic grammars, there are diachronic, or historical, grammars that describe the change of linguistic patterns through time. Historical comparative grammars provide a parallel account of historical changes exposed in the systems of two or more languages.
Grammar in its narrow sense is a level of structural organization which can be studied independently of phonology and lexicology. In this case, grammar is generally divided into morphology and syntax.
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