Seminar 1

Theoretical questions to be discussed

1. Why did early English grammars meet a negative reaction?

2. How are modern grammar rules set up?

3. What are the periods in the history of English grammar? Define historical, comparative and general grammars.

4. What is scientific grammar?

5. Speak on the objects and tasks of grammar.

6. What are the main branches of grammar?

7. Grammatical meaning. Grammatical category.

8. Grammatical form. Types of grammatical forms.

9. Grammatical morpheme. Grammeme.

1. Early English grammars often faced negative reactions for several reasons:

Prescriptivism vs. Descriptivism: Many early English grammars were prescriptive in nature, meaning they prescribed rules for "correct" language usage rather than describing how language was actually used. This approach could be seen as overly rigid and elitist, particularly if it imposed arbitrary rules or standards.

Social and Political Context: The context in which early English grammars emerged often reflected societal power dynamics. These grammars were sometimes associated with attempts to standardize language usage, which could be perceived as imposing the linguistic norms of certain social or political elites onto broader populations. This could lead to resistance from those who felt marginalized or oppressed by such norms.

Linguistic Diversity: Early English grammars often failed to account for the linguistic diversity present in English-speaking communities. They tended to prioritize certain dialects or varieties of English over others, neglecting regional, social, or ethnic variations in language usage. This exclusionary approach could alienate speakers of non-standard forms of English.

Methodological Issues: Some early English grammars were criticized for their methodology, which might have been based on inadequate linguistic analysis or biased observations. This could lead to inaccuracies or inconsistencies in their descriptions of language usage, further undermining their credibility.

2. Modern grammar rules are typically established through a combination of descriptive and prescriptive approaches, with an emphasis on descriptive linguistics. Here's how modern grammar rules are generally set up:

Descriptive Linguistics: Modern grammar rules are primarily informed by descriptive linguistics, which seeks to describe how language is actually used by speakers in real-world contexts. Linguists analyze language data from various sources, such as spoken and written texts, to identify patterns of usage and underlying grammatical structures. These observations form the basis for understanding the grammar of a language.

Corpora and Data-driven Analysis: Linguists often rely on large corpora (collections of written and spoken texts) and data-driven analysis to study language usage comprehensively. By analyzing vast amounts of language data, researchers can identify prevalent grammatical patterns, variations, and changes over time. This empirical approach helps to ensure that modern grammar rules are grounded in evidence rather than arbitrary conventions.

Standardization and Prescriptive Elements: While descriptive linguistics forms the foundation of modern grammar rules, there is still a place for standardization and prescriptive elements, particularly in formal writing and educational contexts. Standardized grammar conventions are established to facilitate clear communication and ensure mutual understanding among speakers of a language. However, these conventions are typically based on descriptive principles and are subject to revision as language usage evolves.

Guidelines and Flexibility: Modern grammar rules are often presented as guidelines rather than strict dictates. They recognize the inherent flexibility and variability of language, allowing for variations in usage based on factors such as register, context, and audience. While certain grammatical principles are upheld as standard, there is also acknowledgment of legitimate variation and stylistic preferences in language usage.

Accessibility and Education: Efforts are made to ensure that modern grammar rules are accessible and understandable to a wide audience, including students, language learners, and the general public. Grammar education focuses not only on teaching rules but also on fostering linguistic awareness, critical thinking, and effective communication skills.

3. The history of English grammar can be divided into several periods, each characterized by linguistic developments and changes in grammar rules:

1. Old English (c. 450-1150): This period covers the earliest form of the English language, with grammar heavily influenced by Germanic languages. It featured inflectional endings and a complex grammatical system.

2. Middle English (c. 1150-1500): Middle English saw significant changes due to the Norman Conquest, resulting in the infusion of French vocabulary and changes in grammar. The grammar became more simplified compared to Old English.

3. Early Modern English (c. 1500-1800): This period marks the transition to modern English, characterized by the standardization of grammar rules and the rise of printing. Grammar books began to be published, establishing norms for spelling, punctuation, and grammar.

4. Modern English (c. 1800-present): Modern English is the stage we are currently in. It has undergone further standardization and has seen the influence of technological advancements and globalization on its grammar, vocabulary, and usage.

1. Historical Grammar: Historical grammar refers to the study of how a language, such as English, has evolved over time. It focuses on tracing the development of grammar rules, vocabulary, phonology, and syntax from earlier stages to the present. Historical grammarians analyze written texts, manuscripts, and linguistic evidence to understand how languages change and adapt.

2. Comparative Grammar: Comparative grammar involves comparing the grammatical structures and features of different languages to identify similarities and differences. Linguists use comparative grammar to establish language families, reconstruct proto-languages, and understand the historical relationships between languages. For example, by comparing the grammar of English with that of other Germanic languages like German and Dutch, linguists can uncover shared linguistic traits and evolutionary paths.

3. General Grammar: General grammar, also known as theoretical grammar or universal grammar, focuses on identifying and describing the fundamental principles and rules that govern all languages. It seeks to uncover the universal aspects of language structure and organization that are common to all human languages. General grammar explores concepts such as syntax, morphology, phonology, and semantics, aiming to formulate theories that apply across diverse linguistic systems. Linguists like Noam Chomsky have contributed significantly to the study of general grammar by proposing theories such as Universal Grammar, which suggests that humans are born with an innate understanding of language principles.

4. Scientific grammar, also known as theoretical grammar or linguistic theory, refers to the systematic study and analysis of language structure and organization using rigorous scientific methods. It aims to uncover the underlying principles and rules that govern how languages are structured, how they function, and how they are acquired and used by speakers.

Key aspects of scientific grammar include:

1. Empirical observation: Scientific grammar relies on empirical evidence gathered from linguistic data, which can come from spoken language, written texts, or experimental studies. Linguists observe patterns in language use and analyze them to formulate hypotheses about linguistic structure and behavior.

2. Hypothesis testing: Linguistic theories and hypotheses are subjected to rigorous testing against empirical data. This testing can involve quantitative analysis, experimental methods, or comparative studies across languages to evaluate the validity and robustness of linguistic claims.

3. Formalization: Scientific grammar often involves formalizing linguistic theories using precise notation and mathematical models. Formal frameworks such as generative grammar, dependency grammar, and cognitive grammar provide structured ways to represent linguistic structures and processes, facilitating the development of testable predictions and explanations.

4. Descriptive and explanatory power: Scientific grammar aims to provide both descriptive accounts of observed linguistic phenomena and explanatory frameworks that elucidate the underlying mechanisms driving language structure and use. Linguistic theories seek to capture the complexity and variability of natural language while also offering coherent explanations for linguistic patterns and regularities.

5. Interdisciplinary perspective: Scientific grammar draws on insights and methodologies from various disciplines, including linguistics, psychology, cognitive science, computer science, and anthropology. This interdisciplinary approach allows for a more comprehensive understanding of language as a cognitive, social, and cultural phenomenon.

5. Objects of Grammar:

a. Language Units: Grammar deals with various units of language, including sounds (phonology), words (morphology), phrases, clauses, and sentences (syntax). These units form the building blocks of language structure and organization.

b. Language Functions: Grammar also examines how language functions to convey meaning and express thoughts, ideas, and intentions. This includes semantic aspects such as word meanings and relationships between words, as well as pragmatic aspects such as how language is used in different social contexts.

c. Language Variation: Grammar considers the diversity and variation that exist within languages, including dialectal variations, sociolects, registers, and stylistic variations. Understanding these variations helps linguists describe and analyze language use across different contexts and communities.

Tasks of Grammar:

a. Description: One of the primary tasks of grammar is to describe the structure, rules, and patterns of a language. This involves identifying and categorizing linguistic elements, such as parts of speech, grammatical categories, and sentence structures. Descriptive grammar aims to provide an accurate account of how language is actually used by speakers, rather than prescribing how it should be used.

b. Explanation: Grammar seeks to explain the principles and mechanisms underlying language structure and use. This involves uncovering the rules and constraints that govern the formation of grammatical structures, the interpretation of linguistic expressions, and the communicative functions of language.

c. Prescription: While descriptive grammar describes language as it is used, prescriptive grammar prescribes norms and standards for "correct" language usage. This includes rules for spelling, punctuation, grammar, and style that are often codified in language manuals, style guides, and dictionaries. Prescriptive grammar serves as a guide for language learners and users, providing norms for formal communication and written expression.

d. Analysis and Comparison: Grammar analyzes and compares different languages and language varieties to identify similarities, differences, and relationships between them. Comparative grammar investigates the historical development and genetic relationships among languages, while contrastive grammar examines differences between languages to aid language learners and translators.

e. Pedagogy: Grammar plays a crucial role in language teaching and learning. Grammar instruction helps learners develop proficiency in the target language by providing systematic explanations of language structure and rules, practicing language skills through exercises and drills, and fostering communicative competence in real-world contexts.

6.

Phonology: Phonology is the branch of grammar that deals with the study of sounds in language. It focuses on the systematic organization of speech sounds, including their production, distribution, and patterns of occurrence. Phonology examines phonemes (distinctive sound units), phonetic features, phonological rules, and processes such as assimilation, deletion, and insertion.

Morphology: Morphology is concerned with the structure and formation of words. It analyzes the internal structure of words, including morphemes (the smallest units of meaning), morphological processes such as affixation, derivation, and inflection, as well as word formation patterns and morphological rules.

Syntax: Syntax is the branch of grammar that studies the structure of sentences and the rules governing the combination of words to form meaningful phrases and sentences. It examines sentence structure, word order, grammatical relations, syntactic categories (such as nouns, verbs, adjectives), syntactic functions (such as subject, object, predicate), and syntactic rules.

Semantics: Semantics focuses on the study of meaning in language. It investigates how words, phrases, and sentences convey meaning, including lexical semantics (the meanings of words and their relationships), compositional semantics (the meaning of sentences derived from the meanings of their parts), and pragmatics (the study of language use in context and the interpretation of meaning in communication).

Pragmatics: Pragmatics is concerned with the study of language use in context and the interpretation of meaning in communication. It examines how language is used to achieve communicative goals, including speech acts (such as requests, commands, promises), implicature (the implied meaning conveyed through context), deixis (the use of words and expressions that depend on the context of utterance), and conversational principles.

7. Grammatical Meaning:

Grammatical meaning refers to the meaning conveyed by the grammatical structure and organization of language, as opposed to the lexical meaning carried by individual words. It encompasses the ways in which grammatical elements such as words, phrases, and sentences contribute to the overall meaning and interpretation of linguistic expressions.

Grammatical meaning can include:

Syntactic Relations: The grammatical structure of a sentence indicates the relationships between its constituent parts, such as subjects, objects, and predicates. For example, in the sentence "The cat chased the mouse," the word order and grammatical roles of "cat," "chased," and "mouse" convey the relationship between the agent (cat) and the action (chased).

Grammatical Categories: Grammatical categories convey information about features such as tense, aspect, mood, number, gender, case, and person. These categories help to specify the grammatical properties of words and phrases and their roles within sentences. For instance, in the sentence "She is singing," the grammatical category of tense (present progressive) indicates the temporal relation between the action (singing) and the present moment.

Sentence Structure: The grammatical structure of a sentence determines its meaning by organizing words into meaningful units and specifying their syntactic roles and functions. Sentence structure includes elements such as word order, phrase structure, clause structure, and sentence types (declarative, interrogative, imperative, exclamatory).

Overall, grammatical meaning plays a crucial role in conveying the relationships, functions, and interpretations of linguistic expressions, allowing speakers to communicate effectively and convey precise meanings.

Grammatical Category:

A grammatical category, also known as a grammatical feature or grammatical property, is a linguistic element that classifies words and phrases according to shared grammatical characteristics. Grammatical categories provide a systematic way to describe and analyze the structure and behavior of linguistic units within a language.

Some common grammatical categories include:

Number: The distinction between singular and plural forms of nouns, pronouns, and verbs (e.g., "cat" vs. "cats").

Gender: The classification of nouns and pronouns into masculine, feminine, or neuter gender categories (e.g., "he," "she," "it").

Tense: The specification of temporal relations between events or states, indicating when an action or state occurred relative to the present, past, or future (e.g., present tense, past tense, future tense).

Aspect: The expression of the internal temporal structure of events, indicating whether an action is ongoing, completed, or repeated (e.g., progressive aspect, perfect aspect).

Mood: The expression of the speaker's attitude, intention, or modality regarding the proposition expressed in a sentence (e.g., indicative mood, subjunctive mood).

Case: The grammatical marking of nouns, pronouns, and adjectives to indicate their syntactic roles and functions in a sentence (e.g., nominative case, accusative case, genitive case).

Person: The indication of the speaker, addressee, or referent involved in an action or state, typically expressed through pronouns and verb inflections (e.g., first person, second person, third person).

8. Inflectional Forms:

Inflections: These are changes made to the base or root form of a word to indicate grammatical features such as tense, aspect, mood, number, gender, and case. Inflectional forms typically involve adding suffixes, prefixes, or other morphemes to the base word. For example, in English, adding "-ed" to the verb "walk" produces the past tense form "walked," indicating that the action occurred in the past.

Derivational Forms:

Derivational Affixes: These are prefixes or suffixes added to a base word to create a new word with a different meaning or grammatical category. Derivational forms often change the lexical category or meaning of the base word. For instance, adding the suffix "-ly" to the adjective "quick" forms the adverb "quickly," changing the word's grammatical function from describing a noun to modifying a verb.

Analytic Forms:

Periphrasis: Analytic forms involve using auxiliary verbs or additional words to express grammatical meanings rather than inflecting the base word itself. Analytic forms are common in languages with relatively few inflections or where word order plays a significant role in conveying grammatical information. For example, in English, the future tense can be expressed analytically using the auxiliary verb "will" (e.g., "I will go") instead of inflecting the main verb.

Synthetic Forms:

Agglutination: Synthetic forms involve combining multiple morphemes or affixes into a single word to express complex grammatical meanings. Synthetic languages often use extensive inflectional and derivational morphology to encode grammatical information within words. For example, in Turkish, the suffix "-iyor" indicates the present continuous tense (e.g., "geliyor," meaning "he/she/it is coming").

Zero Forms:

Zero Morphemes: Zero forms, also known as null morphemes, represent instances where grammatical information is conveyed through the absence of overt morphological marking rather than through the presence of affixes or additional words. Zero forms are common in languages with relatively simple inflectional systems or where grammatical features are determined by context or word order rather than by explicit marking.

9. Grammatical Morpheme:

A grammatical morpheme is the smallest unit of language that carries grammatical meaning or function. Unlike lexical morphemes, which convey lexical or content meaning (such as nouns, verbs, adjectives), grammatical morphemes serve to indicate aspects of the grammatical structure and organization of language. Grammatical morphemes often include inflections, suffixes, prefixes, and other bound morphemes that modify or qualify the meaning of words and phrases.

Examples of grammatical morphemes include:

Plural marker: In English, the "-s" suffix added to nouns to indicate plurality, as in "cat" (singular) vs. "cats" (plural).

Past tense marker: The "-ed" suffix used to indicate past tense in English verbs, as in "walk" (present) vs. "walked" (past).

Possessive marker: The "'s" suffix indicating possession or ownership in English, as in "dog" vs. "dog's."

Comparative marker: The "-er" suffix used to form comparative adjectives in English, as in "fast" (positive) vs. "faster" (comparative).

Infinitive marker: The "to" particle used to mark infinitive verbs in English, as in "to walk."

Grammatical morphemes play a crucial role in conveying grammatical relationships, categories, and functions within sentences, allowing speakers to express precise meanings and communicate effectively.

Grammeme:

A grammeme is a theoretical concept used in linguistic analysis to represent a minimal unit of grammatical meaning or feature. Grammemes are abstract entities that serve as the building blocks for describing and analyzing grammatical structure and variation across languages. They represent specific grammatical categories, distinctions, or values that can be realized through various morphological or syntactic forms.

Grammemes are often used in linguistic typology and comparative grammar to compare and contrast grammatical systems across different languages and language families. By identifying grammatical features and their corresponding grammemes, linguists can analyze patterns of variation and universality in language structure and organization.

For example, in the domain of tense marking, grammemes could include distinctions such as present vs. past vs. future, each representing a different temporal category. Similarly, in the domain of number marking, grammemes could include singular vs. plural vs. dual, each representing a different quantity distinction.

Exercises