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The Evolution of English Grammars

The Evolution of English Grammars - раздел Философия, Lecture 1 The Subject Matter of Grammar In The Development Of English Grammars There Have Been Several Grammars: P...

In the development of English grammars there have been several grammars: prescientific normative (from the XVI-th century till the beginning of the XX - th century) grammar; 2. scientific explanatory grammar. (from the turn-of-the century up to the middle of the 20th century) .

Prescriptive Normative grammars prescribed and proscribed. They prohibited wrong, improper constructions and forms. They set up (postulated) standards of correctness. They made use of the rules of ancient Latin grammars which served as a model for almost all European grammars. They used the same terminology and distinguished the same word classes: nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, etc.

1891 can be counted as the beginning of the classical scientific grammar, which is represented by the names of Henry Sweet and Otto Jespersen (1860-1943), The Great Dane. My Fair Lady, There is a motion-picture musical My Fair Lady about a linguist who wagers that he can transform the diction of a Cockney-accented flower seller to that of an upper-class lady, from the play Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw. Professor Henry Sweet served as the prototype for B. Shaw’s Professor Higgins . Scientific grammars did not proscribe anything. That was a new approach. This grammar defined general grammatical categories. It anticipated Ferdinand de Saussure’s synchronic approach. It proposed new techniques of linguistic description.

The epoch of these scholars is now called Traditional grammar.

The XX th Century Linguistic Schools

Traditional grammar is criticized by newer grammars for: 1. its obscuring (ignoring) language itself as an intra-linguistic phenomenon; 2.its focusing on logical and psychological (extra-linguistic) considerations; that is, for its being meaning-oriented; 3. its being atomistic.

Newer grammars of the XX century came to describe language as a system. This approach was initiated by Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913), a Swiss linguist, a pioneer in structuralism and semiotics. He profoundly contributed to the theoretical foundations of language studies. His great work “The General Course of Linguistics” (1916) is the starting point for the XX th century linguistics.

The most important structural and semiotic postulates which underlie the leading linguistic theories of the XX th century:

1. Language is a social phenomenon;

2. Language is a structured system of linguistic signs, which are interdependent and interconnected.

3. Language has two aspects: the system of language “la langue” and the actual linguistic behaviour or manifestation of this system “la parole” (speech). The system of language is a paradigmatic, vertical aspect. A paradigm is a vertical set of all possible forms of a word ( a girl, girls, a girl’s hat, girls’ hats). The relations between these forms are invariable. Speech is a horizontal linear syntagmatic aspect of language. A syntagm is a linear sequence of elements (He disliked the enthusiasms of American girls).. The relations wthin a syntagm are variable. Paradigmatic relations are based on substitution, syntagmatic relations are based on co-occurrence (совместная встречаемость.)

4. A study of language (la langue) can be diachronic or historical, focusing on historic change or synchronic (descriptive) treating language as a self-contained system at a given moment of its existence. F. De Saussure preferred the synchronic descriptive approach to the historic study of language.

5. A linguistic sign is bilateral, that is, it has two aspects: form and meaning. The relations between them are asymmetrical.

6. Language is a system, the elements of which are related by means of similarities and differences, i.e. (id est lat. – то есть) oppositions. We find oppositions on all linguistic levels. So, language can be studied on the basis of oppositions. On the phonological level: long vowels are opposed to short vowels, voiced consonants are opposed to voiceless consonants. On the morphological level: the plural number of nouns is opposed to the singular On the syntactical level: composite sentences are opposed to simple ones. On the lexico-semantic level words are opposed to each other: male:: female; man :: woman; God :: Satan, angel :: devil, etc.

F. de Saussure revolutionised linguistics. He introduced structuralism as a method of analysis which was broadly used in the XXth century humanities (linguistics, literary studies, sociology, philosophy), arts, etc.

The ideas of F. de Saussure affected highly the Prague linguistic school, which created functional linguistics. Under his influence American linguists introduced Structural descriptive grammar, Transformational and Transformational generative grammar.

Prague Linguistic School (Functional Linguistics)

The Prague school of linguistics is represented by the names of Vilem Mathesius, Roman Jakobson, Nikolai Trubetskoy, et al. The group favored the synchronic, or descriptive, approach to linguistics. The basic contributions of this linguistic school are 1. The theory of the phoneme, 2.The theory of oppositions and the oppositional method (N.Trubetskoy), 3. The functional sentence perspective (or the theory of communicative dynamism), 4. The theory of the asymmetry of a linguistic sign ( S. Karčevsky).

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Lecture 1 The Subject Matter of Grammar

The Subject Matter of Grammar... Grammar is the study of the structure of human language Grammar studies the formal properties of words and sentences It cosists of morphology and syntax Morphology describes how words are structured and...

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The Asymmetry of a Linguistic Sign
Under it we understand the absence of one-to-one relationship between meaning and form. One form can express several meanings, one meaning can be expressed by several forms. This asymmetry of the r

Transformational and Transformational Generative Grammar
There are two periods in the development of transformational grammar: Transformational Grammar and Transformational Generative Grammar. Transformational grammar (Zelic Harris

Semantic Syntax
Semantic Syntax is represented by the names of Charles McCawley, W. Chafe, Russian linguists O.I.Moskalskaya and V.V.Bogdanov. Semantic syntax describes sentences in terms of propositions,

The Oppositional Method
The oppositional method was developed by N.Trubetskoy to investigate phonology. Comparing vowels and consonants in Russian and English, we see that they are contrasted to each other as to th

The Distributional method
Distributional method describes environments of linguistic units ( morphemes, words, phrases), representing them symbolically: N – noun, A– adjective, T – article,V – verb, D – adverb. Dis

The Transformational Method
This method is based on the notions of a kernel , which is the simplest elementary subject-predicate structure with explicit grammatical relations, transformation which is a process o

The Method of Deep and Surface Structures
This method is primarily associated with the name of N. Chomsky. It is based on the notions of deep and surface structures. A surface structure is observable, while a deep structure is unobservable

The Componential Method
It a logico-linguistic method of decomposing the semantic content of a word or a grammatical form into the smallest units of sense (semantic components, semantic markers, semes, or SCs). A

The Contextual Method
This method is associated with the names of professors V.V. Vinogradov, I.V. Arnold, I.R. Galperin, N. Amosova, N.A. Shekhtman, M. Halliday. A context is an immediate environment of a ling

The Morphological Structure of ME
To understand what the morphological structure of a language is we are to know what a morphological type is. It is a set of prevalent features characterizing a group of languages. At present lingui

The Classifications of Morphemes
A morpheme is the smallest meaningful ultimate unit which can’t be further analyzed into immediate constituents. Morphologically words are monomorphic and polymorphic (table; un ] [gent ]

Paradigmatics and Syntagmatics
The domain of morphology is the paradigmatics of a word. Morphology studies the forms of words and their paradigms. A paradigm is a set of forms of a word (a boy-boys-a boy’s-boys’).T

Classifications of Parts of Speech.
Scholars believe that it is impossible to describe a language without describing word classes. As language is a structure, words are to be structurally organised. For centuries the writers of gramm

Notionals and Functionals
Both traditionalists and descriptivists divide parts of speech into notionals (major , autosemantic words, variables, semantically full words) and functionals (synsemantic words, invariables, seman

Heterogeneity
Parts of speech in traditional interpretation are heterogeneous. Nouns can be distinguished into those with a developed paradigm (the plural, the genitive case, articles, any function in a s

The Category of Gender.
In Slavic languages it is a full-fledged category which finds its expression in the inflexioned feminine, masculine and neuter. Inflexions are supported by sound interchange (старик:: старуха).In G

The Category of Number
The category of number is represented by the opposition of the singular and the plural (table:: tables). Paradigmatically the singular expresses oneness, the plural expresses more-than-onene

Debated Problems within the Category of Case
To the debated problems within the category of case there refer 1. the existence of this category in English ( Otto Jespersen ridiculed the very idea of case in English as a morphological category,

Debated Problems
1. Debated is the status of the article in the morphological system of ME. Some scholars treat it as a separate word, a separate part of speech {a pronoun (indefinite , demonstrative) or a p

The Functions of Articles in a Sentence
Articles are peculiar, semantically, syntactically and communicatively. The indefinite article, as a rule, expresses a classifying generalization (An elephant is a big animal). The de

The General Properties of a Verb
Verbs express events, processes, states, actions, activities, performances and achievements. It is an open class of words. Any word can be verbalized. Morphologically, syntactically and semanticall

Classifications of Tenses
There exist classifications embracing a rich variety of tenses. Temporal relations are considered by some scholars to be more complex than merely the present, the past and the future. Otto Jesperse

The Future Tense
As a colourless, neutral synthetic future which is to be found in Russian and French it is non-existent in English. O. Jespersen, Palmer, L. Barkhudarov hold that shall

The Present Tense
As to its syntagmatic semantics, the Present is the richest tense form. Its paradigmatic meaning is that of immediate present coinciding with the moment of speech. It’s syntagmatic meanings are:

The Category of Aspect
Under aspect scholars understand a mode (a phase) of an action, that is, continuity, progressiveness, completion, resultativity, instantaneousness, etc.). The following problems are open t

The Category of Voice
The definition of voice depends upon interpretations of this category, If voice is understood as a logical category it denotes ways of expressing relations between a verb and its subject and object

The Subjunctive Mood
It is the most confusing mood. In Old English there was a fully inflective Subjunctive comparable with Latin or German. It denoted problematic, hypothetical and purely imaginary actions. I

Points of Similarities with the Finites
1. The verbals express the idea of action( to write, writing, written, writing: There are a lot of things to marvel at but, first, a lot of questions to ask. A man to see

Points of Differences with the Finites
1. The verbals cannot refer actions to the present, past, or future. They show precedence, simultaneity, or successiveness of some actions as regards those expressed by the finites {I am surpris

Types of Syntax
There are several varieties of syntax , several syntactic theories in modern linguistics. Traditionalsentential syntax, the primary concern of which is a sentence and its grammatical organiz

Devices of Connecting Words in a Phrase
Main grammatical devices of connecting words within a phrase are agreement, government, adjoinment (примыкание), incorporation, enclosure (включение). Agreement consists in c

Debated Problems within the Theory of the Phrase
There are several debated problems within the theory of the phrase. Most essential are the predicative character of the phrase, the problem of criteria of classifying phrases, the number of element

THE THEORY OF THE SIMPLE SENTENCE
  Sentential syntax is to be understood as a language component of our internal grammar, which allows us to generate, process and recognize grammatically correct sentences out of a li

The Definition of a Sentence
We are to distinguish among sentences, clauses and utterances. A sentence is a grammatical unit of written language. An utterance is a speech act, a pragmatic unit. A clause is a constituent of a s

Syntactic Modelling of the Sentence
Without comprehending what a basic model is we cannot understand the computer-like ability of our brain which can create sentences that have never been heard before and process sentences that we re

Semantic Modelling of the Sentence
Semantic modelling is associated with generative semantics and semantic syntax. Here the content side of a sentence is modelled and described in elementary senses. The basic notion is that of a sem

The Notion of a Syntactic Paradigm
A syntactic paradigm is a set of syntactic structures, one of which is a kernel, it is invariable, and others are variables received by various transformational procedures, this process being calle

Structural Classification of Simple Sentences
There are several classifications of a simple sentence: structural, communicative, semantic, pragmatic, etc. Scholars distinguish the following communicative types of sentences: declarative,

Syntactic Ties
There exist several syntactic ties within a sentence. The primary predicative tie makes a sentence as it realizes itself in the changes of the verb for person, number, tense, voice, mood, as

Within a simple sentence we distinguish primary and secondary (independent/ dependent) elements, the structural nucleus and its adjuncts.
We have seen that there exist several syntactic ties within a sentence. Very peculiar is the secondary predicative tie. It is implicit, formally unexpressed. It is concealed in infinitival,

Syntactic Processes
By introducing various dependent elements into the subject-predicate skeleton of a sentence we can derive expanded structures. The ways of introduction of these dependent elements are called syn

The Principal Parts of a Simple Sentence
The principal parts of a simple sentence are the subject and the predicate. They are indispensable. The subject denotes something that is spoken about. It is subdivided into

An Object
An object is a secondary part which depends upon the predicate. It is verb -oriented. Logical relations between a predicate- verb and its object are various. An object is indispensable (obli

Debated Problems within a Simple Sentence
1. Debated is the status of a simple sentence with expansion. 1.1. Expanded are the simple sentences with homogeneous parts. Any member of the sentence can be homogeneous (The beauty of the l

A COMPOSITE SENTENCE
There are dichotomic and trichotomic classifications of sentences. In a dichotomic classification we see a simple ( one –axis) sentence and a composite sentence. The trich

A Compound Sentence
Problems within a compound sentence are: 1. general notion of coordination and types of coordination; 2. the semantic volume of the coordinating conjunctions and, but, or, for

The Status of the Subordinate Clause.
The most accepted view is that a sub-clause is an explicitly predicative structure with a subject and a predicate. Many scholars hold that a clause needn’t have explicit predication (H. Poutsma, G.

Classifications of Subordinate Clauses.
Sub-clauses are classified on two principles: functional and categorial. As to the functional principle, they are classed on the analogy with the parts of the simple sentence. They ar

Types of Subordinate Clauses.
Subject clauses occupy the position of the subject. They are to be found either in the initial or in the final position (What is thine is mine. What happened after that

Connections between the Principal and the Subordinate Clause.
Sub-clauses can be optional or indispensable for the structural and semantic integrity of the complex sentence. So, the sub-clause can be connected with the principal clause indispensably or option

Neutralization between Subordination and Coordination.
The borderline between the compound and the complex sentence is very vague and the difference between them can be neutralized. It occurs when a sub-clause comes to be very loose, losing its grammat

Communicative Dynamism within a Composite Sentence( Compound and Complex) and a Supra-phrasal Unit.
In a compound sentence both parts are communicatively equal if they are connected by copulative and adversative coordination. If they are connected by causative and consecutive coordination, the se

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