Grammar: a Historical Survey
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Load more
Recommended publications
-
Traditional Grammar
Traditional Grammar Traditional grammar refers to the type of grammar study Continuing with this tradition, grammarians in done prior to the beginnings of modern linguistics. the eighteenth century studied English, along with many Grammar, in this traditional sense, is the study of the other European languages, by using the prescriptive structure and formation of words and sentences, usually approach in traditional grammar; during this time alone, without much reference to sound and meaning. In the over 270 grammars of English were published. During more modern linguistic sense, grammar is the study of the most of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, grammar entire interrelated system of structures— sounds, words, was viewed as the art or science of correct language in meanings, sentences—within a language. both speech and writing. By pointing out common Traditional grammar can be traced back over mistakes in usage, these early grammarians created 2,000 years and includes grammars from the classical grammars and dictionaries to help settle usage arguments period of Greece, India, and Rome; the Middle Ages; the and to encourage the improvement of English. Renaissance; the eighteenth and nineteenth century; and One of the most influential grammars of the more modern times. The grammars created in this eighteenth century was Lindley Murray’s English tradition reflect the prescriptive view that one dialect or grammar (1794), which was updated in new editions for variety of a language is to be valued more highly than decades. Murray’s rules were taught for many years others and should be the norm for all speakers of the throughout school systems in England and the United language. -
Structuralism 1. the Nature of Meaning Or Understanding
Structuralism 1. The nature of meaning or understanding. A. The role of structure as the system of relationships Something can only be understood (i.e., a meaning can be constructed) within a certain system of relationships (or structure). For example, a word which is a linguistic sign (something that stands for something else) can only be understood within a certain conventional system of signs, which is language, and not by itself (cf. the word / sound and “shark” in English and Arabic). A particular relationship within a شرق combination society (e.g., between a male offspring and his maternal uncle) can only be understood in the context of the whole system of kinship (e.g., matrilineal or patrilineal). Structuralism holds that, according to the human way of understanding things, particular elements have no absolute meaning or value: their meaning or value is relative to other elements. Everything makes sense only in relation to something else. An element cannot be perceived by itself. In order to understand a particular element we need to study the whole system of relationships or structure (this approach is also exactly the same as Malinowski’s: one cannot understand particular elements of culture out of the context of that culture). A particular element can only be studied as part of a greater structure. In fact, the only thing that can be studied is not particular elements or objects but relationships within a system. Our human world, so to speak, is made up of relationships, which make up permanent structures of the human mind. B. The role of oppositions / pairs of binary oppositions Structuralism holds that understanding can only happen if clearly defined or “significant” (= essential) differences are present which are called oppositions (or binary oppositions since they come in pairs). -
Linguistic Determinism and Mutability: the Sapir-Whorf "Hypothesis" and Intercultural Communication
DOCUMENT RESUME ED 403 761 FL 024 384 AUTHOR van Troyer, Gene TITLE Linguistic Determinism and Mutability: The Sapir-Whorf "Hypothesis" and Intercultural Communication. PUB DATE Dec 94 NOTE 18p. PUB TYPE Reports Evaluative/Feasibility (142) Journal Articles (080) JOURNAL CIT JALT Journal; v16 n2 p163-78 Dec 1994 EDRS PRICE MFO1 /PCO1 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS Foreign Countries; *Intercultural Communication; *Language Research; *Linguistic Theory; Research Methodology; Scientific Methodology IDENTIFIERS *Sapir (Edward); Whorf (Benjamin Lee); *Whorfian Hypothesis ABSTRACT The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis, long considered a factor in intercultural communication, is discussed. Empirical studies that have tended to validate the hypothesis are reviewed, and the hypothesis is then considered from the standpoint of empirical and scientific research requirements. It is shown that the hypothesis has never been formally defined for testing, and therefore does not exist as a scientifically testable thesis. As a result, all studies that have attempted to interpret empirical data accorded to the hypothesis are either flawed or invalid because they have tested something other than the hypothesis. It is concluded that the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis exists only as a notion, and has no meaningful relation to intercultural communication. Includes an abstract in Japanese. Contains 22 references. (Author/MSE) *********************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. *********************************************************************** U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of Educational Research and Improvement PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION AND CENTER (ERIC) DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL This document has been reproduced as HAS BE N GRANTEDBY ceived from the person or organization originating it. Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality. -
TRADITIONAL GRAMMAR REVIEW I. Parts of Speech Traditional
Traditional Grammar Review Page 1 of 15 TRADITIONAL GRAMMAR REVIEW I. Parts of Speech Traditional grammar recognizes eight parts of speech: Part of Definition Example Speech noun A noun is the name of a person, place, or thing. John bought the book. verb A verb is a word which expresses action or state of being. Ralph hit the ball hard. Janice is pretty. adjective An adjective describes or modifies a noun. The big, red barn burned down yesterday. adverb An adverb describes or modifies a verb, adjective, or He quickly left the another adverb. room. She fell down hard. pronoun A pronoun takes the place of a noun. She picked someone up today conjunction A conjunction connects words or groups of words. Bob and Jerry are going. Either Sam or I will win. preposition A preposition is a word that introduces a phrase showing a The dog with the relation between the noun or pronoun in the phrase and shaggy coat some other word in the sentence. He went past the gate. He gave the book to her. interjection An interjection is a word that expresses strong feeling. Wow! Gee! Whew! (and other four letter words.) Traditional Grammar Review Page 2 of 15 II. Phrases A phrase is a group of related words that does not contain a subject and a verb in combination. Generally, a phrase is used in the sentence as a single part of speech. In this section we will be concerned with prepositional phrases, gerund phrases, participial phrases, and infinitive phrases. Prepositional Phrases The preposition is a single (usually small) word or a cluster of words that show relationship between the object of the preposition and some other word in the sentence. -
Edward Sapir J 1884-1939
EDWARD SAPIR J 1884-1939 1 Hew shall we approach Sapir in an lecture? There is really no need nowadays for an introduction to this important anthropological linguist. The student has all the materials readily to hand, or so it would seem. There is first of all his original famous work, entitled Language, in 1921 (refer red to by his memorialists quite frequently as his only real book, as opposed to papers and monographs). Then there is that compend iouswork of riety, the Selected Writings, collected by David G. Mandelbaum (1949). 2 Its 617 pages largely fill the gap between his 'real book' and his life's output - even this volume does not contain the exhaustively complete works. Then there is the centenary volume, Eaward Sapir: AppraisaZs of his Life and Work~ edited by Konrad Koerner of the University of Ottawa and published (1984). This latter is what in English Depart- ments would be called the 'Critical Heritage'. It contains nine obituaries and memorials, dated 1939-52, reviews, mostly early, of language (1921) and of the monograph Time Perspective in Aboriginal American Culture (1916), several reviews of the Selected Writings (1949), and finally various re-reappraisals dated 1956-198 O. One begins to. expect the centennial volume to be in the centennial volume by some version of the Russellian paradox! We may add to all of this a small paperback of selections from the Selected Writings (Mandelbaum 1956), the early memorial volume edited by Spier and others in 1941, and many more. There is, 1 Delivered in the series General Linguistics for the of Linguistics, Oxford University, May 1987. -
Edward Sapir and the Origin of Language
EDWARD SAPIR AND THE ORIGIN OF LANGUAGE ALBERT F. H. NACCACHE Archaeology Department, Lebanese University, (ret.) Beirut, Lebanon [email protected] The field of Language Evolution is at a stage where its speed of growth and diversification is blurring the image of the origin of language, the “prime problem” at its heart. To help focus on this central issue, we take a step back in time and look at the logical analysis of it that Edward Sapir presented nearly a century ago. Starting with Sapir’s early involvement with the problem of language origin, we establish that his analysis of language is still congruent with today’s thinking, and then show that his insights into the origin of language still carry diagnostic and heuristic value today. 1. Introduction The origin of language is a challenging problem to focus upon. Language, like mind and intelligence, is a phenomenon that “we find intuitive but hard to define” (Floridi, 2013, p. 601), and a century of progress in Linguistics has only heightened our awareness of the protean nature of language while exacerbating the fuzziness of its definition. Meanwhile, research in the field of Language Evolution is blooming and the sheer variety of available approaches, though highly promising, has blurred, momentarily at least, our perception of the issue at the core of the field: the origin of language. We do not propose a solution to this problem, just an attempt to put it in perspective by looking at it through the writings of a researcher who had nearly no data with which to tackle the issue and could only rely on his analytical abilities. -
On Sapir's Notion of Form/Pattern and Its Aesthetic Background
Chapter 3 On Sapir’s notion of form/pattern and its aesthetic background Jean-Michel Fortis cnrs, Université Paris Diderot “I find that what I most care for is beauty of form, whether in substance or, perhaps even more keenly, in spirit. A perfect style, a well-balanced system of philos- ophy, a perfect bit of music, the beauty of mathematical relations — these are some of the things that, in the sphere of the immaterial, have most deeply stirred me.” Sapir, letter to Lowie, 29 Septem- ber 1916 (cited in Silverstein 1986: 79) On Sapir’s view, units of cultural behaviour (such as linguistic units) can only be identified through the relations they maintain to other elements of the samekind. This set of interrelations is what Sapir calls a “pattern”, or refers to simply as “form”. The chapter begins by examining Sapir’s notion of pattern in his analysis ofphono- logical systems. It is shown that, to a certain extent, Sapir conflated the notion of pattern with that of Gestalt, yet his own conception was idiosyncratic insofar as it placed much emphasis on the purely formal potency of patterns, understood as aesthetic configurations existing for form’s sake and independent from functional motivations. The second part of the chapter is devoted to Sapir’s description of how patternsare formed and grasped. Complex interrelations are not laid bare in ordinary conscious Jean-Michel Fortis. 2019. On Sapir’s notion of form/pattern and its aesthetic background. In James McElvenny (ed.), Form and formalism in linguistics, 59– 88. Berlin: Language Science Press. -
Linguistics in the Preparation of Modern Foreign Language Teachers
71 - 74-39 EDDY, Peter Armes, 1941- LINGUISTICS IN THE PREPARATION OF MODERN FOREIGN LANGUAGE TEACHERS. The Ohio State University, Ph.D., 1970 Language and Literature, linguistics University Microfilms, A XEROX Company, Ann Arbor, Michigan © 1971 Peter Armes Eddy ALL RIGHTS RESERVED LINGUISTICS i n t h e preparation OP ITODBRN FOREIGN LANGUAGE TEACHERS DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of the Ohio State University , By Peter aC Eddy, B.A, M.A. ****** + *** The Ohio State University 1970 Approved by Adviser College of Education ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The writer's interest was first attracted to linguistics by work in phonetics done with Andre Mal^cot at Middlebury College. At Ohio State, an introductory course with Charles J. Fillmore served to rekindle this interest and to persuade the writer to pursue further linguistic studies. During the writing of this dissertation, the en couragement and aid of friends and colleagues were a constant source of stimulation. Although their many contributions could not be measured in so short a space, two individuals, Terrence J. QuinJi and George M.Landon, were particularly generous with their time and personal resources. The writer is greatly indebted to A. Bruce Gaarder, of the United States Office of Education, who permitted him access to the records of NDEA institutes. Chapter II of the dissertation could not have been written without this information. Finally, this brief mention cannot sufficiently acknowledge the support, both financial and moral, given by Edward D. Allen, the writer's major adviser, and by Paul Pimsleur, Director of the Listening Center. -
Approaches to Grammar. Minnesota Univ., Minneapais
DOCUMENT RESUME ED 027 325 24 TE 001 272 Unit 903: Approaches to Grammar. Minnesota Univ., Minneapais. Center forCurriculum Development in English. Spons Agency-Office of Education (DHEW),Washington, O.C. Bureau of Research. Bureau No-BR-5-0658 Pub Date 68 Contract OEC-SAE -3- 10-010 Note- 68p. EDRS Price MF-$0.50 HC-S3.50 Descriptors-*Curriculum Guides, DiachronicLinguistics, English, English Curriculum, *English Inttruction,*Grade 9, *Grammar, InstructionalMaterials, *Language, Linguistics,Linguistic Theory, Secondary Education, Structural Grammar, Teaching Methods,Traditional Grammar, Transformation Theory(Langua9e) Identifiers-Minnesota Center Curriculum Developmentin English, *Project English This unit is intended fagive ninth-grade studentsa brief survey of the changes in the .study of language from thetime of the Greeks to the present. Organizedto proceed from the teacher'sintroduction of a subject to classexamination and discussion ofan excerpt from a grammarian's work, the unit focuseson the belief that a grammarian's methods,values, symbols, and classifications reflectthe age in which he lives and* thepurposes for which he works. Thesurvey begins by examining excerpts frorn Aristotle and Dionysius Thraxto show the Greek grammarian'sconcern for logic and rhetorical6nalysis. Next, the 18th-century desirefor the purification and preservation of languageis revealed by excerpts from Dr. Johnson,Robert Lowth, and others.Nineteenth-century historical andcomparative studies, are represented by excerpts from T. R.Lounsbury and Fitzedward Hall, whilethe concern of the Victorian middleclasses for "proper usage"is illustrated, by excerpts from "McGuffey's Readers." Currentinterest in transformational theoryis discussed with references to the work of Robert S.Wachal and Noam Chomsky. Anappendix includes a review sheet and culminating activities for theunit. -
A Logical Reconstruction of Leonard Bloomfield's Linguistic Theory
A logical Reconstruction of Leonard Bloomfield’s Linguistic Theory Thomas Meier Draft, October 2012 Abstract In this work we present a logical reconstruction of Leonard Bloom- field’s theory of structural linguistics. First, the central notions of this theory are analyzed and discussed. In the following section, a recon- struction with the so-called structuralist approach in the philosophy of science is presented. After defining the general framework of Bloom- field’s theory, questions of lawlikeness and theoretical terms will be discussed. In a further step, this work aims to contribute to the dis- cussion of theory change and scientific realism, applied to linguistic theory. After the reconstruction of further theories of linguistics, it can be studied whether certain inter theoretical relations hold. It aims to be a contribution to the discussion on the foundations of linguistics. structural linguistics - structuralist approach - lawlikeness - theoretical terms - theory change 1 1 Introduction The aim of this work is to provide a logical reconstruction of Leonard Bloom- field’s linguistic theory. Only few work has been done so far in the philosophy of linguistics, concerning logical reconstructions of linguistic theories. By the application of the methodological framework of the so-called structural- ist approach (see Balzer, et.al. 1987), we reconstruct Bloomfield’s theory. The reconstruction will provide new insights as it shows how the notions of Bloomfield’s theory are interrelated. Furthermore, the issues of lawlikeness and theoretical terms in Bloomfield’s theory will be addressed. A logical reconstruction of Bloomfield’s theory also opens a way for future work on intertheoretical relations between linguistic theories and, in a broader philo- sophical sense, can be seen as an important fundamental contribution that can be used in the discussion on theory change and scientific realism, applied to linguistics. -
Applying the Principle of Simplicity to the Preparation of Effective English Materials for Students in Iranian High Schools
APPLYING THE PRINCIPLE OF SIMPLICITY TO THE PREPARATION OF EFFECTIVE ENGLISH MATERIALS FOR STUDENTS IN IRANIAN HIGH SCHOOLS By MOHAMMAD ALI FARNIA A DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE COUNCIL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 1980 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank Professor Arthur J. Lewis, my advisor and chairperson of my dissertation committee, for his valuable guidance, not only in regard to this project, but during my past two years at the Uni- versity of Florida. I believe that without his help and extraordinary patience this project would never have been completed, I am also grateful to Professor Jayne C. Harder, my co-chairperson, for the invaluable guidance and assistance I received from her. I am greatly indebted to her for her keen and insightful comments, for her humane treatment, and, above all, for the confidence and motivation that she created in me in the course of writing this dissertation. I owe many thanks to the members of my doctoral committee. Pro- fessors Robert Wright, Vincent McGuire, and Eugene A. Todd, for their careful reading of this dissertation and constructive criticism. I would like to express my sincere gratitude and appreciation to my younger brother Aziz Farnia, whose financial support made my graduate studies in the United States possible. My personal appreciation goes to Miss Sofia Kohli ("Superfish") for typing the final version of this dissertation. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS , LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ^ ABSTRACT ^ii CHAPTER I I INTRODUCTION The Problem Statement 3 The Need for the Study 4 Problems of Iranian Students 7 Definition of Terms 11 Delimitations of the Study 17 Organization of the Dissertation 17 II REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE 19 Learning Theories 19 Innateness Universal s in Language and Language Learning .. -
An Examination of Diathesis and Its Didactic Practices in Latin Grammars from Late Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages
Provided by the author(s) and NUI Galway in accordance with publisher policies. Please cite the published version when available. Title An examination of diathesis and its didactic practices in Latin grammars from late antiquity to the early Middle Ages Author(s) O'Rorke, Jason Publication Date 2016-12-21 Item record http://hdl.handle.net/10379/6772 Downloaded 2021-09-29T21:56:48Z Some rights reserved. For more information, please see the item record link above. An examination of diathesis and its didactic practices in Latin grammars from Late Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages A Thesis by Jason O’Rorke In Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor Philosophiae Classics School of Languages, Literatures and Cultures College of Arts, Social Sciences and Celtic Studies National University of Ireland, Galway December 2016 Research Supervisor: Dr. Jacopo Bisagni Head of Discipline: Prof. Michael Clarke Table of Contents Table of Contents Declaration Regarding the Work ........................................................................... iv Abstract .................................................................................................................... v Acknowledgements ................................................................................................ vi Translator’s Notes ................................................................................................ vii List of Abbreviations ........................................................................................... viii Chapter