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.