Grammar
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Grammar is the study of the rules governing the use of a given natural language, and, as such, is a field of linguistics. Traditionally, grammar included morphology and syntax; in modern linguistics these subfields are complemented by phonetics, phonology, semantics, and pragmatics. Each language has its own distinct grammar. "English grammar" (uncountable) refers to the rules of the English language itself, while "an English grammar" (countable) refers to a specific study or analysis of these rules. A fully explicit grammar exhaustively describing the grammatical constructions of a language is called a descriptive grammar. Specific types of grammars, or approaches to constructing them, are known as grammatical frameworks. The standard framework of generative grammar is the transformational grammar model developed by Noam Chomsky in the 1950s to 1980s.
A reference book that attempts a comprehensive description of the grammar of a language may be called "a grammar" or "a reference grammar".
Contents |
[edit] Etymology
The word "grammar" derives from Greek γραμματική τέχνη (grammatike techne), "art of letters", from γράμμα (gramma), "letter" and that from γράφειν (graphein), "to draw, to write"[1].
[edit] History
- Further information: History of linguistics
The first systematic grammars originate in Iron Age India, with Panini (4th c. BC) and his commentators Pingala (ca. 200 BC), Katyayana and Patanjali (2nd c. BC). In the West, grammar emerges as a discipline in Hellenism from the 3rd c. BC with authors like Rhyanus and Aristarchus of Samothrace, the oldest extant work being the Art of Grammar (Τέχνη Γραμματική) attributed to Dionysius Thrax (ca. 100 BC). Latin grammar developed following Greek models from the 1st century BC with authors such as Orbilius Pupillus, Remmius Palaemon, Marcus Valerius Probus, Verrius Flaccus, Aemilius Asper.
Tamil grammatical tradition also began around the 1st century BC with the Tolkāppiyam.
A grammar of Irish originated in the 7th century with the Auraicept na n-Éces.
Arabic grammar emerges from the 8th century with the work of Ibn Abi Ishaq and his students.
Belonging to the trivium of the seven liberal arts, grammar was taught as a core discipline throughout the Middle Ages, following authors of Late Antiquity like Priscian. Treatment of vernaculars begins gradually from the High Middle Ages, with isolated works such as the First Grammatical Treatise, but becomes influential only from the Renaissance and Baroque periods. In 1486, Antonio de Nebrija published Las introduciones Latinas contrapuesto el romance al Latin, and in 1492 the first Spanish grammar, Gramática de la lengua castellana . In the 16th century Italian Renaissance, the Questione della lingua was the discussion on the status and ideal form of the Italian language, initiated by Dante's de vulgari eloquentia (Pietro Bembo, Prose della volgar lingua Venice 1525).
Grammars of non-European languages began to be compiled from the 16th century for the purpose of evangelization and Bible translation from the 16th century, such as Grammatica o Arte de la Lengua General de los Indios de los Reynos del Perú (1560), a Quechua grammar by Fray Domingo de Santo Tomás. In 1643 appeared Ivan Uzhevych's Grammatica sclavonica, in 1762 the Short Introduction to English Grammar of Robert Lowth. The Grammatisch-Kritisches Wörterbuch der hochdeutschen Mundart, a High German grammar in five volumes by Johann Christoph Adelung, appeared from 1774.
From the later 18th century, grammar came to be understood as a subfield of the emerging subject of modern linguistics. The Serbian grammar by Vuk Stefanović Karadžić appeared in 1814. The Deutsche Grammatik of the Brothers Grimm appeared from 1818. The Comparative Grammar of Franz Bopp, starting point of modern comparative linguistics, in 1833.
In the USA, the Society for the Promotion of Good Grammar has designated March 4, 2008 as National Grammar Day.[2]
[edit] Development of grammars
Grammars evolve through usage and also of human population separations. With the advent of written representations, formal rules about language usage tend to appear also. Formal grammars are codifications of usage that are developed by observation. As the rules become established and developed, the prescriptive concept of grammatical correctness can arise. This often creates a gulf between contemporary usage and that which is accepted as correct. Linguists normally consider that prescriptive grammars do not have any justification beyond their authors' aesthetic tastes; however, prescriptions are considered in sociolinguistics as part of the explanation for why some people say "I didn't do nothing", some say "I didn't do anything", and some say one or the other depending on social context.
The formal study of grammar is an important part of education from a young age through advanced learning, though the rules taught in schools are not a "grammar" in the sense most linguists use the term, as they are often prescriptive rather than descriptive.
Constructed languages (also called planned languages or conlangs) are more common in the modern day. Many have been designed to aid human communication (for example, naturalistic Interlingua, schematic Esperanto, and the highly logic-compatible artificial language Lojban). Each of these languages has its own grammar.
No clear line can be drawn between syntax and morphology. Analytic languages use syntax to convey information that is encoded via inflection in synthetic languages. In other words, word order is not significant and morphology is highly significant in a purely synthetic language, whereas morphology is not significant and syntax is highly significant in an analytic language. Chinese and Afrikaans, for example, are highly analytic and meaning is therefore very context dependent. (Both do have some inflections, and had more in the past; thus, they are becoming even less synthetic and more "purely" analytic over time.) Latin, which is highly synthetic, uses affixes and inflections to convey the same information that Chinese does with syntax. Because Latin words are quite (though not completely) self-contained, an intelligible Latin sentence can be made from elements placed in largely arbitrary order. Latin has a complex affixation and a simple syntax, while Chinese has the opposite.
[edit] Grammar frameworks
Various "grammar frameworks" have been developed in theoretical linguistics since the mid 20th century, in particular under the influence of the idea of a "Universal grammar" in the USA. Of these, the main divisions are:
- Transformational grammar (TG))
- Principles and Parameters Theory (P&P)
- Lexical-functional Grammar (LFG)
- Generalized Phrase Structure Grammar (GPSG)
- Head-Driven Phrase Structure Grammar (HPSG)
- Dependency grammars (DG)
- Role and reference grammar (RRG)
[edit] See also
- Category:Grammars of specific languages
- Ambiguous grammar
- Fremdsprachen und Hochschule
- Government and binding
- Higher-order grammar
- Linguistic typology
- Systemic functional grammar
- Universal grammar
[edit] Notes and references
- American Academic Press, The (ed.). William Strunk, Jr., et al. The Classics of Style: The Fundamentals of Language Style From Our American Craftsmen. Cleveland: The American Academic Press, 2006. ISBN 0978728203.
- Rundle, Bede. Grammar in Philosophy. Oxford: Clarendon Press; New York: Oxford University Press, 1979. ISBN 0198246129.
[edit] External links
- English Grammar (Gramática da Língua Inglesa), wikibook in English and Portuguese
- Online Grammar Practice
- Grammar and Language Message Board A free online grammar community featuring Q&A, ESL, and other forums for anyone with an interest in or questions about grammar.
