Grammar

In, the grammar (from γραμματική grammatikḗ) of a  is its set of  constraints on speakers’ or writers’ composition of , , and. The term can also refer to the study of such constraints, a field that includes domains such as, , and , often complemented by , , and. There are currently two different approaches to the study of grammar, and.

speakers of a or lect have effectively internalized these constraints, the vast majority of which – at least in the case of one’s  – are  not by conscious study or  but by hearing other speakers. Much of this internalization occurs during early childhood; learning a language later in life usually involves more explicit instruction. In this view, grammar is understood as the cognitive information underlying a specific instance of language production.

The term “grammar” can also describe the linguistic behavior of groups of speakers and writers, rather than individuals. Differences in scales are important to this sense of the word: for example, the term “English grammar” could refer to the whole of English grammar (that is, to the grammars of all the speakers of the language), in which case the term encompasses a great deal of. At a smaller scale, it may refer only to what is shared among the grammars of all or most English speakers (such as word order in ). At the smallest scale, this sense of “grammar” can describe the conventions of just one relatively well-defined form of English (such as for a region).

A description, study, or analysis of such rules may also be referred to as a grammar. A describing the grammar of a language is called a “reference grammar” or simply “a grammar” (see ). A fully explicit grammar which exhaustively describes the constructions of a particular speech variety is called a descriptive grammar. This kind of contrasts with, an attempt to actively discourage or suppress some grammatical constructions, while  and promoting others, either in an absolute sense or about a. For example, some prescriptivists maintain that sentences in English should not end with prepositions, a prohibition that has been traced to (13 April 1668 – January 1688) whose unexplained objection to the practice perhaps led other English speakers to avoid the construction and discourage its use. Yet has a long history in  like English, where it is so widespread as to be a standard usage.

Outside linguistics, the term grammar is often used in a rather different sense. It may be used more broadly to include conventions of, which linguists would not typically consider as part of grammar but rather as part of orthography, the used for writing a language. It may also be used more narrowly to refer to a set of only, excluding those aspects of a language’s grammar which are not subject to  or debate on their normative acceptability. Jeremy Butterfield claimed that, for non-linguists, “Grammar is often a generic way of referring to any aspect of English that people object to.”

Etymology
The word grammar is derived from γραμματικὴ τέχνη (grammatikḕ téchnē), which means “art of letters”, from γράμμα (grámma), “letter”, itself from γράφειν (gráphein), “to draw, to write”. The same Greek root also appears in, , and photograph.

History
The first systematic grammar, of, originated in , with (6th century BC),  (6th–5th century BC ) and his commentators  (c. 200 BC), , and  (2nd century BC). , the earliest grammar, is mostly dated to before the 5th century AD. The  also made some early attempts at language description.

Grammar appeared as a discipline in from the 3rd century BC forward with authors such as  and. The oldest known grammar handbook is the  (Τέχνη Γραμματική), a succinct guide to speaking and writing clearly and effectively, written by the ancient Greek scholar (c.  170–c.  90 BC), a student of Aristarchus of Samothrace who founded a school on the Greek island of Rhodes. Dionysius Thrax’s grammar book remained the primary grammar textbook for Greek schoolboys until as late as the twelfth century AD. The Romans based their grammatical writings on it and its basic format remains the basis for grammar guides in many languages even today. developed by following Greek models from the 1st century BC, due to the work of authors such as, , , , and.

A grammar of originated in the 7th century with the. emerged with in the 7th century. The first treatises on appeared in the, in the context of  (exegesis of the ). The tradition originated in. The  (10th century) is one of the earliest grammatical commentaries on the Hebrew Bible. in the 12th century compares the Hebrew language with in the.

Belonging to the  of the seven, grammar was taught as a core discipline throughout the , following the influence of authors from , such as. Treatment of vernaculars began gradually during the, with isolated works such as the , but became influential only in the and  periods. In 1486, published Las introduciones Latinas contrapuesto el romance al Latin, and the first, , in 1492. During the 16th-century, the Questione della lingua was the discussion on the status and ideal form of the , initiated by ’s  (, Prose della volgar lingua Venice 1525). The first grammar of was written in 1583 by.

Grammars of some languages began to be compiled for the purposes of evangelism and from the 16th century onward, such as Grammatica o Arte de la Lengua General de los Indios de los Reynos del Perú (1560), a  grammar by.

From the latter part of the 18th century, grammar came to be understood as a subfield of the emerging discipline of modern linguistics. The Deutsche Grammatik of the was first published in the 1810s. The Comparative Grammar of, the starting point of modern , came out in 1833.

Theoretical frameworks
Frameworks of grammar which seek to give a precise scientific theory of the syntactic rules of grammar and their function have been developed in.


 * (structural–functional analysis):
 * : dependency relation ( 1959)
 * : dependency relation ( 1959)
 * : dependency relation ( 1959)
 * : dependency relation ( 1959)
 * : dependency relation ( 1959)

Other frameworks are based on an innate "", an idea developed by. In such models, the object is placed into the verb phrase. The most prominent biologically-oriented theories are:


 * (1960s)
 * (1970s)
 * (1990s)
 * (late 1970s)
 * (1985)
 * grammar (1980s)
 * -based grammar (1993)
 * : probabilistic
 * -based grammar (1993)
 * : probabilistic
 * : probabilistic
 * : probabilistic
 * : probabilistic
 * : probabilistic
 * : probabilistic

are commonly used by such frameworks to depict their rules. There are various alternative schemes for some grammars:

Development of grammars
Grammars evolve through. Historically, with the advent of, formal rules about tend to appear also, although such rules tend to describe writing conventions more accurately than conventions of speech. are of usage which are developed by repeated documentation and  over time. As rules are established and developed, the prescriptive concept of can arise. This often produces a discrepancy between contemporary usage and that which has been accepted, over time, as being standard or “correct”. Linguists tend to view prescriptive grammars as having little justification beyond their authors’ aesthetic tastes, although style guides may give useful advice about standard language employment, based on descriptions of usage in contemporary writings of the same language. Linguistic prescriptions also form part of the explanation for variation in speech, particularly variation in the speech of an individual speaker (for example, why some speakers say “I didn’t do nothing”, some say “I didn’t do anything”, and some say one or the other depending on social context).

The formal study of grammar is an important part of children’s schooling from a young age through advanced, though the rules taught in schools are not a “grammar” in the sense that most use, particularly as they are  in intent rather than.

(also called planned languages or conlangs) are more common in the modern-day, although still extremely uncommon compared to natural languages. Many have been designed to aid human communication (for example, naturalistic, schematic , and the highly logic-compatible ). Each of these languages has its own grammar.

refers to the linguistic structure above the word level (for example, how sentences are formed) – though without taking into account, which is the domain of phonology. Morphology, by contrast, refers to the structure at and below the word level (for example, how are formed), but above the level of individual sounds, which, like intonation, are in the domain of phonology. However, no clear line can be drawn between syntax and morphology. use syntax to convey information which is encoded by in. In other words, word order is not significant and morphology is highly significant in a purely synthetic language, whereas morphology is not significant and syntax is highly significant in an analytic language. For example, Chinese and are highly analytic, thus meaning is very context-dependent. (Both have some inflections, and both have had more in the past; thus, they are becoming even less synthetic and more “purely” analytic over time.), which is highly , uses and  to convey the same information that Chinese does with syntax. Because Latin words are quite (though not totally) self-contained, an intelligible Latin can be made from elements that are arranged almost arbitrarily. Latin has a complex affixation and simple syntax, whereas Chinese has the opposite.

Education
grammar is taught in primary and secondary school. The term “” historically referred to a school (attached to a cathedral or monastery) that teaches Latin grammar to future priests and monks. It originally referred to a school that taught students how to read, scan, interpret, and declaim Greek and Latin poets (including Homer, Virgil, Euripides, and others). These should not be mistaken for the related, albeit distinct, modern British grammar schools.

A is the dialect which is promoted above other dialects in writing, education and, broadly speaking, in the public sphere; it contrasts with, which may be the objects of study in academic,  but which are rarely taught prescriptively. The standardized “” taught in primary education may be subject to controversy, because it may sometimes establish a standard defining nationality or.

Recently, efforts have begun to update in primary and secondary education. The main focus has been to prevent the use of outdated prescriptive rules in favor of setting norms based on earlier descriptive research and to change perceptions about relative “correctness” of prescribed standard forms in comparison to non-standard dialects.

The preeminence of has reigned largely unchallenged throughout the history of modern French literature. Standard Italian is based on the speech of Florence rather than the capital because of its influence on early literature. Likewise, standard Spanish is not based on the speech of Madrid, but on that of educated speakers from more northern areas such as Castile and León (see ). In and  the Spanish standard is based on the local dialects of Buenos Aires and Montevideo. has, for now, two official, respectively and.

The variant of  is likewise divided;  and the  of  use their own distinct normative subvarieties, with differences in  reflexes. The existence and codification of a distinct Montenegrin standard is a matter of controversy, some treat as a separate standard lect and some think that it should be considered another form of Serbian.

has two standards, ' and ', the choice between which is subject to : Each Norwegian municipality can either declare one as its official language or it can remain “language neutral”. Nynorsk is backed by 27 percent of municipalities. The main language used in primary schools, chosen by referendum within the local school district, normally follows the official language of its municipality. emerged from the standardized chancellery use of in the 16th and 17th centuries. Until about 1800, it was almost exclusively a written language, but now it is so widely spoken that most of the former are nearly extinct.

has official status as the standard spoken form of the Chinese language in the (PRC), the  (ROC) and the. Pronunciation of Standard Chinese is based on the local accent of from Luanping, Chengde in Hebei Province near Beijing, while grammar and syntax are based on modern.

is directly based on, the language of the. The has two standards,  and.

In the United States, the Society for the Promotion of Good Grammar designated March 4 as in 2008.

= =