Grammar,Meaning,LanguageFunction,andLanguage Learners'Needs.

Alllanguageinusecanbeanalyzedateachofthesefourlevels:text,sentence, word,andsound.Thesearetheformsthatlanguagetakes.Thestudyofgrammar consists,inpart,oflookingatthewaytheseformsarearrangedandpatterned. Grammarispartlythestudyofwhatforms,orstructures,arepossiblyinalanguage. Grammarisdescriptionoftherulesthatgovernhowalanguage'ssentencesare formed.Grammarexplainswhythesentencesareacceptable.Theorderofwordsin asentenceiscalledsyntax.Theformationofwordsiscalledmorphology.Grammaris thestudyofthesyntaxandmorphologyofsentences.Itisthestudyoflinguistic chainsandslots.Thewaywordsarechainedtogetherinaparticularorder,andof whatkindsofwordscanslotintoanyonelinkinthechain.Thesetwokindsof relationarevertical,andhorizontal;paradigmatic,andsyntagmatic.Theorderof elementsonthehorizontalaxisisfairlyfixed.Theconstraintsonhowsentence elementsarechainedandonhowsentenceslotsarefilledthatmakeagood grammar. Theabilitytorecognizeandproducewellformedsentencesisessential.There areanumberofproblemsregardingthisability: 1 Howthisabilityisbestdeveloped. 2 What'wellformed'reallymeans. 3 Anexclusivefocusonsentences,ratherthanontextsoronwords,risks underequippingthelearnerforreallanguageuse. Textsandwordsalsohavegrammar,inthesensethattherearerulesgoverning howbothtextsandwordsareorganized. Thereareconventionalwaysofdoingthingswithlanguagesuchasmaking requests.Butthisstilldoesnothelpsolvetheproblemofknowingwhen(Doyou drink?)means(Wouldyoulikeadrink?)orsomethingelse.Finally,inorderto successfullymatchformandfunction,itisnecessarytobeabletoreadcluesfrom thecontexttounderstandthespeaker'smeaning. Grammarispartlythestudyofwhatformsarepossible.Anotherfeatureof grammarisitsmeaningmakingpotential.Itcommunicatesmeanings.Meaningsofa veryprecisekind.Vocabularyalsocommunicatesmeanings.Situationalfactorsmean thatthelanguagedoesnothavetoworkveryhardtomakethemeaningclear, becauseitiscenteredinthehereandnow.Itisgenerallynotdifficulttointerpret. Adultlanguageisoftenpareddown,operatingonalexicallevel.i.e.withoutmuch grammar.Wecanformulatearuleofthumb:themorecontext,thelessgrammar. Grammarisaprocessformakingaspeaker'sorwriter'smeaningclearwhen contextualinformationislacking,buttheresooncomesatimewhenwewantto expressmeaningsforwhichsimplewordsarenotenough.Todothisweemploy

rulesofsyntaxandrulesofmorphologyandmaptheseontothemeaningcarrying words. Languagelearnershavetomakedowithaperiodofbabyliketalkandreliance oncontextualcues,untiltheyhaveenoughgrammartoexpressandunderstanda greatervarietyofmeanings.Thelearner'sattentionneedstobefocusednotonlyon theformsofthelanguage,butonthemeaningstheseformsconvey.Butwhat meaningsdothesegrammaticalformsconvey?Thereareatleasttwokindsof meaningandthesereflecttwomainpurposesoflanguage.Thefirstistorepresent theworldasweexperienceit,andthesecondistoinfluencehowthingshappenin theworld,specificallyinourrelationswithotherpeople.Thesepurposesarecalled language'srepresentationalandinterpersonalfunctions. Initsrepresentationalrole,languagereflectsthewayweperceivetheworld.The secondmainroleoflanguageitsinterpersonalroleistypicallyreflectedintheway weusegrammartoeasethetaskofgettingthingsdone.Pleaseisonewayalexical wayforsofteningtheforceofacommand.Asimilareffectcanbeachievedby usingmodalverbs.Modality,then,isagrammaticalmeansbywhichinterpersonal meaningcanbeconveyed.Thegrammaticalcategories,e.g.subjects,adverbials, tense,aspectandmodalityarejustsomeofthewaysinwhichgrammarisusedto finetunethemeaningswewishtoexpress,andforwhichwordsontheirownare barelyadequate. Learnersneedtoseehowtheformsofthelanguagematchtherangeofmeanings bothrepresentationalandinterpersonalthattheyneedtoexpressand understand. Wetalkedaboutmeaningasifthemeaningofasentencewassimplyacaseof unpackingitswordsanditsgrammar.Misunderstandingthespeaker'squestion, misconstruingarequestforinformationasanofferdoesnotcomefromthewords orthegrammarorboth.Whatanaddresseemisunderstandsisthespeaker's intendedmeaning.HemisunderstandsthefunctionofthequestionDoyoudrink? Thereismorethanonemeaningtothequestion.Thereistheliteralmeaningand thereisthemeaningthatthequestioncanhaveincertaincontextsthatofanoffer ofadrink.Wearealsotryingtoinferthespeaker'sorwriter'sintention,or,toputit inananotherway,thefunctionofwhattheyaresayingorwriting. Therelationbetweengrammarandfunctionmovestheemphasisawayfromthe learningofgrammaticalstructuresindependentoftheiruse,andontolearninghow tofunctioninalanguage,howtocommunicate,tomatchformswiththeirfunctions. Certainformfunctionmatchesarefairlyeasilyidentifiable.However,onefunction canbeexpressedbyseveraldifferentforms,andoneformcanexpressavarietyof functions,e.g.theformIf_______,_____will_______.canexpressawiderangeof functions.Therefore,thereisalackofonetoonematchbetweenformand functioninEnglish.

References: 1 Englishsyntax:Anintroduction.ByAndrewRadford.Cambridge UniversityPress.2004. 2 TeachingLanguage:FromGrammartoGrammaring.ByDianeLarsen Freeman.ThomsonHeinle.2003. 3 ATeachers'Grammar:TheCentralProblemsofEnglish.ByR.A.Close. ThomsonHeinle.1992. 4 AReferenceGrammarforStudentsofEnglish.ByR.A.Close. Longman.1981. PreparedByMr.HassanKhafaga