Faculty of Philology, University of Belgrade

English Department

LINGUISTIC DICTIONARY AND GRAMMAR BOOK DEFINITIONS OF

GRAMMAR

Student: Marko Radi

Lecturer: Jelisaveta Milojevi, MA, PhD Subject: Morphology

INTRODUCTION

DEFINITIONS FROM LINGUISTIC DICTIONARIES

Originally, grammar designated the ancient study of the letters of the alphabet and in the
middle ages of the entirety of Latin language, stylistics, and rhetoric. The term grammar is
presently used to refer to various areas of study:
1. Grammar as the knowledge and study of the morphological and syntactic regularities of a
natural language. In this traditional sense, grammar caters to the formal aspects of language,
excluding phonetics, phonology and semantics as specialized areas of linguistics.
2. Grammar as a system of structural rules fundamental to all processes of linguistic
production and comprehension.
3. Grammar as language theory, and in transformational grammar as a model representing
linguistic competence.
4. Systematic description of the formal regularities of a natural language in the form of a
reference work or textbook.

Due to the numerous interpretations of the term grammar, scientific criteria for its classification
overlap. The following aspects of grammar are relevant for the typological classification of the
concept of grammar:

(a) Object of study: depending on the particular focus of study, one can cite competence
grammar, belonging to the notion of grammar as a language theory whereby a model provides
an explanation of the sub- (or non-) conscious linguistic rule apparatus. This can be distinguished
from a corpus grammar, which seeks a comprehensive description of observed regularities of a
language or of a representative sample of that language.

(b) Depending upon theoretical precepts, one can distinguish between grammatical descriptions
of individual languages and those seeking to describe linguistic universals upon which individual
language-specific properties are based.
(c) According to methodological premises, one can distinguish between descriptive grammars
which objectively elucidate synchronically observed properties of a language and normative
grammars. The latter seek to teach proper or standardized language. Distributional grammars
serve to classify surface structure elements according to distributional criteria whereas
operational grammars concentrate on the process of devising rules.

(d) Language view or philosophy: depending on linguistic theories expounded by researchers,

other grammars exist, in part opposing one another, such as general grammar, dependency
grammar, functional grammar, content-based grammar, case grammar, structural
grammar, generative transformational grammar, and valence grammar.

General grammar (also philosophical grammar, universal grammar) the attempt to develop a
general model of grammar, based on logical principles and from which the structures and
regularities of all languages can be derived.

The main concern of dependency grammar is the description of dependency structures of

sentences, i.e. the structure of dependency relations between the elements of a sentence. In this it
is assumed that in a syntactic connection between two elements one is the governing and the
other the dependent element. When a governing element is dependent on another governing
element, a complex hierarchical dependency order results. Dependency grammar represents these
structures with tree diagrams whose central node represents the absolute governer of a linguistic
structure (in sentences this is the verb).

The basic assumption of functional grammar is that linguistic phenomena cannot be explained
without examining their function. The following functions are generally investigated: topic vs
comment, theme vs rheme, definiteness or animacy (animate vs. inanimate) of a noun phrase, the
semantic roles or syntactic functions of the expressions in question.

(e) The distinction is made between scientific and pedagogical grammars in view of the various
uses to which each is put, e.g. reference use by native speakers vs. language learners ( contrastive
analysis) (Bussmann, 1996: 482-483).
Grammar - a central term in linguistics, but one which covers a wide range of phenomena, being
used both in mass noun and count noun senses (as grammar in general and a grammar in
particular). Several types of grammar can be distinguished.
(1) A descriptive grammar is, in the first instance, a systematic description of a language as
found in a sample of speech or writing (e.g. in a corpus of material, or as elicited from native-
speakers). Depending on ones theoretical background, it may go beyond this and make
statements about the language as a whole, and in so far as these statements are explicit and
predictive of the speakers competence the grammar can be said to be descriptively adequate
and generative. In the older tradition, descriptive is in contrast to the prescriptive or normative
approach of grammarians who attempted to establish rules for the socially or stylistically correct
use of language. Comprehensive descriptions of the syntax and morphology of a language are
known as reference grammars or grammatical handbooks (such as those produced in the
twentieth century by the North European grammarians, e.g. the Dane, Otto Jespersen (1860
1943), and more recently by Randolph Quirk et al. (see Quirk grammar).
(2) A theoretical grammar goes beyond the study of individual languages, using linguistic data as
a means of developing theoretical insights into the nature of language as such, and into the
categories and processes needed for successful linguistic analysis. Such insights include the
distinction between deep grammar and surface grammar, the notion of grammatical
categories and grammatical meaning, and the study of grammatical relations (the relationship
between a verb and its dependents, such as subject of, direct object of). In so far as grammar
concentrates on the study of linguistic forms (their structure, distribution, etc.), it may be referred
to as formal grammar (as opposed to notional grammar); but formal grammar also refers to the
use of the formalized techniques of logic and mathematics in the analysis of language.
(3) Other general notions include the distinction between diachronic and synchronic grammars,
based on whether or not grammars introduce a historical dimension into their analysis.
Comparative grammar, which compares the forms of languages (or states of a language), relies
on a combination of theoretical and descriptive methods. A pedagogical or teaching grammar is a
grammar designed specifically for the purposes of teaching or learning a (foreign) language, or
for developing ones awareness of the mother-tongue.
(4) The phrase traditional grammar is an attempt to summarize the range of attitudes and methods
found in the prelinguistic era of grammatical study. The term traditional, accordingly, is found
with reference to many periods, such as the Roman and Greek grammarians, Renaissance
grammars, and (especially) the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century school grammars, in Europe
and America. It is usually used with a critical (non-scientific) implication, despite the fact that
many antecedents of modern linguistics can be found in early grammars. Criticism is directed
primarily at the prescriptive and proscriptive recommendations of authors, as opposed to the
descriptive emphasis of linguistic studies.
(5) In a restricted sense (the traditional sense in linguistics, and the usual popular interpretation of
the term), grammar refers to a level of structural organization which can be studied independently
of phonology and semantics, and generally divided into the branches of syntax and morphology.
In this sense, grammar is the study of the way words, and their component parts, combine to form
sentences. It is to be contrasted with a general conception of the subject, where grammar is seen
as the entire system of structural relationships in a language, as in such titles as stratificational
grammar, systemic grammar and (especially) generative grammar. Here, grammar subsumes
phonology and semantics as well as syntax, traditionally regarded as separate linguistic levels. A
grammar, in this sense, is a device for generating a finite specification of the sentences of a
language. In so far as a grammar defines the total set of rules possessed by a speaker, it is a
grammar of the speakers competence (competence grammar). In so far as a grammar is capable
of accounting for only the sentences a speaker has actually used (as found in a sample of output,
or corpus), it is a performance grammar. The study of performance grammars, in a
psycholinguistic context, goes beyond this, however, attempting to define the various
psychological, neurological and physiological stages which enter into the production and
perception of speech. Investigations which go beyond the study of an individual language,
attempting to establish the defining (universal) characteristics of human language in general, have
as their goal a universal grammar (Crystal, 1985: 217-218).
Grammar1 - a description of the structure of a language and the way in which linguistic units
such as words and phrases are combined to produce sentences in the language. It usually takes
into account the meanings and functions these sentences have in the overall system of the
language. It may or may not include the description of the sounds of a language.
Grammar2 (in GENERATIVE GRAMMAR) a grammar which describes the speakers
knowledge of the language. It looks at language in relation to how it may be structured in the
speakers mind, and which principles and parameters are available to the speaker when producing
the language.
descriptive grammar
a grammar which describes how a language is actually spoken and /or written, and does not state
or prescribe how it ought to be spoken or written. If a descriptive grammar of a non-prestige
variety of English were written, it might show, for example, that speakers of this variety
sometimes said:
I seen im. instead of I saw him.
im n me done it. instead of He and I did it.
prescriptive grammar
a grammar which states rules for what is considered the best or most correct usage. Prescriptive
grammars are often based not on descriptions of actual usage but rather on the grammarians
views of what is best. Many traditionalgrammars are of this kind.
normative grammar
a grammar which contains rules for what is considered to be correct or appropriate usage. The
rules may be based on classical literary works or the speech of those people who are considered
as models for others to copy. In a nation in which many different dialects are spoken, a national
language may be developed and a normative grammar and dictionary produced.
universal grammar (also UG)
a theory which claims to account for the grammatical competence of every adult no matter what
language he or she speaks. It claims that every speaker knows a set of principles which apply to
all languages and also a set of parameters that can vary from one language to another, but only
within certain limits.
case grammar
an approach to grammar developed in the 1970s which stresses the semantic relationships in a
sentence. Parts of case grammar have been incorporated into more recent versions of generative
grammar
dependency grammar n
a grammatical theory in which the verb is considered to be the central and most important unit.
Verbs are classified according to the number of noun phrases they require to complete a sentence.
This number is called the valency of the verb. The English verb blush, for instance, would have a
valency of one:

DEFINITIONS FROM GRAMMAR BOOKS

Grammar the rules that show how words are combined, arranged or changed to show certain
kinds of meaning (Swan, 2005:19)
Grammar central term in linguistics
- grammar describes a system of particular language
- language system consists of the following levels: phonological (basic unit is a phoneme),
morphological (basic unit is a morpheme), syntactic (deals with words, phrases, clauses and
sentences), semantic (basic unit is a sememe), pragmatic
- grammar deals with forms and the structure of words (morphology) and with their customary
arrangement in phrases and sentences (syntax)
- types of grammar: descriptive grammar, prescriptive grammar, theoretical grammar, (formal
grammar), comparative grammar, pedagogical grammar (Vuji