English 319 Section 750 & 751 www.csub.edu/~ecase Quiz True or False? Grammar sucks!!! Quiz True - If you look at grammar prescriptively False – If you look at grammar descriptively Language Prescriptive grammarians tell people how they should speak and write Descriptive grammarians simply document how people actually speak and write Language Descriptive grammarians see language as an interesting puzzle that can be solved As an example, take a look at the following two sentences: Language 1) We arrived in Denver after a breathtaking flight that ended in a smooth touchdown. 2) The administration denied all the requests that the students made. In which of these two sentences can the word “that” be deleted? Language 1) We arrived in Denver after a breathtaking flight that ended in a smooth touchdown. 2) The administration denied all the requests (that) the students made. Why? Language It turns out the answer is fairly simple Each of the two sentences is actually derived from two other sentences Thus: Language 1) We arrived in Denver after a breathtaking flight that ended in a smooth touchdown. Is derived from We arrived in Denver after a breathtaking flight The flight ended in a smooth touchdown Language In this example, “that” replaces “The flight,” which serves as the subject of the underlying sentence “that” is called a “relative pronoun” Now look at the other example Language 2) The administration denied all the requests (that) the students made. Is derived from The administration denied all the requests The students made the requests Language In this example, “that” replaces “the requests,” which serves as the object of the underlying sentence The general rule? Relative pronouns that replace subjects cannot be deleted Relative pronouns that replace objects can be deleted Language Incidentally, this also helps to explain the “who” versus “whom” distinction (both who and whom can serve as relative pronouns) “who” replaces subjects “whom” replaces objects Language Police psychologists calmed the terrorist who had threatened some female hostages. Police psychologists calmed the terrorists The terrorists had threatened some female hostages Language The female hostages whom the terrorists had threatened escaped before the shootout. The female hostages escaped before the shootout The terrorists had threatened some female hostages Language Why are we in this class? Why are we studying something that we have had mastery over since roughly the age of five? Why do most people cringe when the hear the word “grammar”? Language A little history of “grammar” Language “belongs” to all of us Therefore, we all seem to have a strong opinion about it Our ideas about language are usually based on the variety of our place of upbringing, however Language Or on the group of people that raised us So, very often, those strong opinions differ greatly Historically, this led to something called Prescriptivism Language Prescriptivism is the view that one variety of language has an inherently higher value than others That this variety ought to be imposed on the whole of the speech community This view is especially propounded in relation to grammar and vocabulary Language Prescriptivism has a long an varied history One of the most influential grammars of the 18th Century was Bishop Robert Lowth’s Short Introduction to English Grammar (1762) (Lowth lived from 1710 to 1787) Language Lowth’s approach was strictly prescriptive That is, he meant to improve and correct, not describe He judged correctness by his own rules (mostly derived from Latin) which frequently went against established usage Language In America, Lowth’s approach inspired Lindley Murray’s widely used English Grammar (1794) (Murray lived from 1745 to 1826) Language Both Lowth’s and Murray’s grammars went through 20 editions each over several decades Murray’s book had an enormous influence on school practice and popular attitudes in the U.S. (that is still there!!!) Language Some examples of his axioms: ‘You should write or say It is I and not It is me’ (The reasoning: in Latin, the verb be is followed by the nominative case, not the accusative) Language ‘Two negatives, in English, destroy one another, or are equivalent to an affirmative’ (The reasoning: based on logic and mathematics) Language (Of course, this is not true; two negatives in fact just make a more emphatic negative) “I ain’t done nothin’” Language There are several reasons why language was studied prescriptively over the centuries (Crystal, 1997: The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language) Language 1) Grammarians wanted to point out what they felt to be common “errors” in order to improve the language. 2) They wanted a means of settling disputes over usage. In other words, they wanted to provide a standard. Language 3) They wanted to codify the principles of their languages (standards), to show that there was a system beneath the apparent chaos of usage. 4) A standard allows a speaker to be understood by the greatest possible number of individuals (and also over time). Language 5) A set of standard rules is necessary for students learning English (or any other language) as a second language. 6) Existence of prescriptive rules allows a speaker of a nonstandard variety to learn the rules of a”standard” variety and employ that variety in appropriate settings. Language In this view, usage was either right or wrong This attitude is obviously still with us The alternative viewpoint (which this class espouses) is less concerned with standards Language More concerned with facts of linguistic usage In other words, the intent of modern linguistics is to describe, not prescribe But as a future teacher, this view may cause you problems Language We need to find a balance – the more you know about language, the better (more informed) your decisions about usage and teaching will be IOW, it is usage, not logic, that must determine the descriptive rules of a language Language As my old linguistics teacher, David Marshall, used to say: “You don’t have to know how to fix an engine to drive in the Indy 500 . .. But you do have to know how to fix an engine to be in the pit crew.” You are all, henceforth, grammar mechanics Language So what parts of the engine (aspects of language) do you know? One of the aspects of language in which you have competence is phonetics Phonetics is the part of linguistic competence that has to do with your knowledge of the sounds of a language Language Let’s look at the t sound in two words: top vs. stop Did you know that there is a difference between them? In spite of the fact that these two sounds are different, you know how to produce them without thinking about them Language Another of the aspects of language in which you have competence is phonology Not only can you physically produce and perceive the sounds of your language, you know how these sounds work together as a system Language Let’s look at the sequence of letters in: g-i-s-n-t In this sequence of letters, there are 5 x 4 x 3 x 2 x 1 = 120 possible combinations Language Let’s try another one: yutiervins 10x9x8x7x6x5x4x3x2x1 = 3,628,800 Language Another of the aspects of language in which you have competence is morphology For the most part, speech consists of a continuous stream of sound with few pauses between words However, you have little trouble breaking your utterances down into the words that make them up Language How about these words: balloon rearming re+arm+ing Antidisestablishmentarianism Anti + dis + establish + ment + ari + an + ism Language Another of the aspects of language in which you have competence is syntax At the same time that you are doing all of the above, you also recognize well-formed (that is grammatical) sentences: Language a. b. c. d. you up pick at o’clock will eight I will picks you up at eight o’clock I will pick you up at eight o’clock At eight o’clock, I will pick you up Language a. b. Another of the aspects of language in which you have competence is semantics You can also distinguish between grammatical acceptability and meaning acceptability: contented little cats purr loudly colorless green ideas sleep furiously Language So part of your linguistic competence has to do with your ability to determine the meaning of sentences For example, you understand the ambiguity in the following sentences: I saw her duck Visiting relatives can be dreadful Language The chickens are too hot to eat Students hate annoying professors Drunk gets nine months in violin case Kids make nutritious snacks Grandmother of eight makes hole in one Language Another of the aspects of language in which you have competence is what we will call pragmatics You understand how the context of utterances influences their meaning: Its rather cold in here You make a better door than a window Language Part of your pragmatic competence is understanding discourse You can understand the contexts or situations in which different styles of language may be used Discourse can vary in pronunciation, vocabulary, and syntax, among other things Language Thus, you know that saying: “How’s trick, your Majesty?” when waiting in line to shake Queen Elizabeth’s hand is probably not a good idea Language This class will focus on the first four competencies: Phonetics Phonology Morphology Syntax Language www.csub.edu/~ecase Click on “syllabi”
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