Grammar is the study of the rules governing the use of any given spoken language, and, as such, is a field of linguistics. Linguistics is the scientific study of Language, encompassing a number of sub-fields Theoretical linguistics is the branch of Linguistics that is most concerned with developing models of linguistic knowledge Phonetics (from the Greek φωνή ( phonê) "sound" or "voice" is the study of the physical sounds of human speech Phonology ( Greek φωνή (phōnē voice sound + λόγος (lógos word speech subject of discussion is the systematic use of sound to encode meaning Morphology is the field of Linguistics that studies the internal structure of words In Linguistics, syntax (from Ancient Greek grc συν- syn-, "together" and grc τάξις táxis, "arrangement" is the In Linguistics, lexis (in Greek λέξις = word describes the storage of language in our mental Lexicon as prefabricated patterns ( Lexical units Semantics is the study of meaning in communication The word derives from Greek σημαντικός ( semantikos) "significant" from Lexical semantics is a subfield of linguistic Semantics. It is the study of how and what the words of a language denote (Pustejovsky 1995 Statistical Semantics is the study of "how the statistical patterns of human word usage can be used to figure out what people mean at least to a level sufficient for information access" Logical positivism asserts that structural semantics is the study of relationships between the meanings of terms within a sentence and how meaning can be composed from smaller elements Prototype Theory is a mode of graded Categorization in Cognitive science, where some members of a category are more central than others Pragmatics is the study of the ability of Natural language speakers to communicate more than that which is explicitly stated Applied linguistics is an interdisciplinary field of study that identifies investigates and offers solutions to language-related real life problems One hotly debated issue is whether the biological contribution includes capacities specific to language acquisition often referred to as Universal grammar. Psycholinguistics or psychology of language is the study of the psychological and neurobiological factors that enable Humans to acquire use Sociolinguistics is the study of the effect of any and all aspects of Society, including cultural norms expectations and context on the way Language is used Linguistic anthropology is that branch of Anthropology that brings linguistic methods to bear on anthropological problems linking the analysis of Semiotic Generative linguistics is a school of thought within Linguistics that makes use of the concept of a Generative grammar. In Linguistics and Cognitive science, cognitive linguistics (CL refers to the school of linguistics that understands language creation learning and usage Computational linguistics is an Interdisciplinary field dealing with the statistical and/or rule-based modeling of Natural language from a computational Descriptive linguistics is the work of analyzing and describing how Language is spoken (or how it was spoken in the past by a group of people in a speech community Historical linguistics (also called diachronic linguistics) is the study of language change Comparative linguistics (originally comparative Philology) is a branch of Historical linguistics that is concerned with comparing languages in order to Etymology is the study of the History of Words &mdash when they entered a language from what source and how their form and meaning have changed over time Stylistics is the study of varieties of Language whose properties position that language in context. In Linguistics, prescription can refer both to the codification and the enforcement of rules governing how a language is to be used Corpus linguistics is the Study of language as expressed in Samples ( corpora) or "real world" text See also History of grammar Linguistics as a study endeavors to describe and explain the human faculty of Language. A linguist in the academic sense is a person who studies Linguistics. This article discusses currently unsolved problems in Linguistics. In the Philosophy of language, a natural language (or ordinary language) is a Language that is spoken or written in phonemic-alphabetic or phonemically-related Linguistics is the scientific study of Language, encompassing a number of sub-fields Traditionally, grammar included morphology and syntax; in modern linguistics these subfields are complemented by phonetics, phonology, semantics, and pragmatics. Morphology is the field of Linguistics that studies the internal structure of words In Linguistics, syntax (from Ancient Greek grc συν- syn-, "together" and grc τάξις táxis, "arrangement" is the Phonetics (from the Greek φωνή ( phonê) "sound" or "voice" is the study of the physical sounds of human speech Phonology ( Greek φωνή (phōnē voice sound + λόγος (lógos word speech subject of discussion is the systematic use of sound to encode meaning Semantics is the study of meaning in communication The word derives from Greek σημαντικός ( semantikos) "significant" from Pragmatics is the study of the ability of Natural language speakers to communicate more than that which is explicitly stated Each language has its own distinct grammar. "English grammar" (uncountable) refers to the rules of the English language itself, while "an English grammar" (countable) refers to a specific study or analysis of these rules. A fully explicit grammar exhaustively describing the grammatical constructions of a language is called a descriptive grammar. In Theoretical linguistics, grammaticality is the quality of a linguistic Utterance of being grammatically well-formed. In Linguistics, prescription can refer both to the codification and the enforcement of rules governing how a language is to be used Specific types of grammars, or approaches to constructing them, are known as grammatical frameworks. Grammatical Framework (GF is a type-theoretic grammar formalism based on Martin-Löf type theory. The standard framework of generative grammar is the transformational grammar model developed by Noam Chomsky in the 1950s to 1980s. In Theoretical linguistics, generative grammar refers to a particular approach to the study of Syntax. In Linguistics, a transformational grammar, or transformational-generative grammar ( TGG) is a Generative grammar, especially of a Natural Avram Noam Chomsky (noʊm ˈtʃɑmski born December 7 1928 is an American linguist, Philosopher, cognitive scientist, Political

A reference book that attempts a comprehensive description of the grammar of a language may be called "a grammar" or "a reference grammar".

Etymology

The word "grammar," derives from Greek γραμματική τέχνη (grammatike techne), which means "art of letters," from γράμμα (gramma), "letter," and that from γράφειν (graphein), "to draw, to write"^[1]. Greek (el ελληνική γλώσσα or simply el ελληνικά — "Hellenic" is an Indo-European language, spoken today by 15-22 million people mainly

History

Further information: History of linguistics

The first systematic grammars originate in Iron Age India, with Panini (4th c. See also History of grammar Linguistics as a study endeavors to describe and explain the human faculty of Language. The Iron Age in the Indian subcontinent succeeds the Late Harappan (Cemetery H culture also known as the last phase of the Indus Valley Tradition Pāṇini ( IAST: Pāṇini Dēvanāgarī: sa पाणिनि a Patronymic meaning "descendant of {{IAST|Paṇi}} " was an ancient BC) and his commentators Pingala (ca. Pingala ( पिङ्गल piṅgalá) was an ancient Indian writer famous for his work the Chandas Shastra ( chandaḥ-śāstra 200 BC), Katyayana, and Patanjali (2nd c. Kātyāyana (c 3rd century BC was a Sanskrit grammarian, mathematician and Vedic priest who lived in ancient India. Patañjali ( Devanāgarī पतञ्जलि (fl 150 BCE or 2nd c BC). In the West, grammar emerges as a discipline in Hellenism from the 3rd c. BC forward with authors like Rhyanus and Aristarchus of Samothrace, the oldest extant work being the Art of Grammar (Τέχνη Γραμματική), attributed to Dionysius Thrax (ca. Rhianus (Ῥιανὸς ὁ Κρής was a Greek poet and grammarian a native of Crete, friend and contemporary of Eratosthenes (275 BC-195 BC Aristarchus of Samothrace (, 220? &ndash 143 BC?) was a Grammarian noted as the most influential of all scholars of Homeric poetry The Art of Grammar (Τέχνη Γραμματική is a treatise on Greek Grammar attributed to Dionysius Thrax, and written in the 2nd Dionysius Thrax ( (170 BC‑90 BC was a Hellenistic Grammarian who lived and is thought by some to have worked in Alexandria and later at Rhodes 100 BC). Latin grammar developed by following Greek models from the 1st century BC, due to the work of authors such as Orbilius Pupillus, Remmius Palaemon, Marcus Valerius Probus, Verrius Flaccus, Aemilius Asper. The grammar of Latin, like that of other ancient Indo-European languages, is highly inflected, which allows for a large degree of flexibility when choosing word order Lucius Orbilius Pupillus (114 BC &ndash c 14 BC was a Latin Grammarian of the 1st century BC who taught a school first at Benevento and then at Quintus Remmius Palaemon, Roman Grammarian, a native of Vicentia, lived in the reigns of Tiberius and Claudius. Marcus Valerius Probus, of Berytus, was a Roman Grammarian and Critic, who flourished during the reign of Nero. Marcus Verrius Flaccus (ca 55 BC-AD 20 was a Roman Grammarian and teacher flourished under Augustus and Tiberius. Aemilius Asper, Latin Grammarian, possibly lived in the 1st century or late 2nd century.

Tamil grammatical tradition also began around the 1st century BC with the Tolkāppiyam. The Tolkāppiyam (தொல்காப்பியம் is a work on the Grammar of the Tamil language and the earliest extant work of Tamil

A grammar of Irish originated in the 7th century with the Auraicept na n-Éces. Old Irish is the name given to the oldest form of the Irish language, or rather the Goidelic languages, for which extensive written texts are possessed The Auraicept na n-Éces ("the scholars' primer" is claimed as a 7th century work of Irish grammarians written by a scholar named Longarad

Arabic grammar emerges from the 8th century with the work of Ibn Abi Ishaq and his students. Arabic is a Semitic language See Arabic language for more information on the language in general ʿAbd-Allāh ibn Abī Isḥāq al-Ḥaḍramī ( Arabic, عبد الله بن أبي اسحاق الحضرمي) (died AD 735 / AH 117 an

Belonging to the trivium of the seven liberal arts, grammar was taught as a core discipline throughout the Middle Ages, following the influence of authors from Late Antiquity, such as Priscian. The term liberal arts refers to a particular type of educational Curriculum broadly defined as a Classical education. Late Antiquity (c 300-600 is a Periodization used by historians to describe the transitional centuries from Classical Antiquity to the Middle Ages, in Priscianus Caesariensis ( fl 500 AD commonly known as Priscian, was a Latin grammarian. Treatment of vernaculars begins gradually during the High Middle Ages, with isolated works such as the First Grammatical Treatise, but becomes influential only in the Renaissance and Baroque periods. The High Middle Ages was the period of European history in the 11th 12th and 13th centuries (AD 1000&ndash1299 The First Grammatical Treatise is a 12th century work on the Phonology of the Old Norse or Old Icelandic language The Renaissance (from French Renaissance, meaning "rebirth" Italian: Rinascimento, from re- "again" and nascere Baroque art redirects here Please disambiguate such links to Baroque painting, Baroque sculpture, etc In 1486, Antonio de Nebrija published Las introduciones Latinas contrapuesto el romance al Latin, and the first Spanish grammar, Gramática de la lengua castellana, in 1492. Antonio de Lebrija, also known as Antonio de Nebrija, Elio Antonio de Lebrija, Antonius Nebrissensis, and Antonio of Lebrixa Spanish' ( español castellano) is a language originating in North-Central Spain which is spoken throughout Spain most countries in the Americas the Philippines and Equatorial During the 16th century Italian Renaissance, the Questione della lingua was the discussion on the status and ideal form of the Italian language, initiated by Dante's de vulgari eloquentia (Pietro Bembo, Prose della volgar lingua Venice 1525). The Italian Renaissance began the opening phase of the Renaissance, a period of great cultural change and achievement in Europe that spanned the period from the end of the 14th Italian ( or lingua italiana) is a Romance language spoken by about 63 million people as a First language, primarily in Italy. De vulgari eloquentia ( On Eloquence in the vernacular) is the title of an essay by Dante Alighieri, written in Latin and initially meant to consist Pietro Bembo ( May 20, 1470 - either 11 January or 18 January, 1547 was an Italian scholar poet literary theorist and

Grammars of non-European languages began to be compiled for the purposes of evangelization and Bible translation from the 16th century onward, such as Grammatica o Arte de la Lengua General de los Indios de los Reynos del Perú (1560), and a Quechua grammar by Fray Domingo de Santo Tomás. Evangelism is the Christian practice of proselytisation. The intention of most evangelism is to effect Eternal salvation to those who do not follow the The Bible has been translated into many languages from the Biblical languages of Hebrew and Greek. Quechua ( Runa Simi) is a Native American language of South America. Fray Domingo de Santo Tomás OP ( 1499 in Sevilla – 28 February 1570 in La Plata, Bolivia) was a Spanish Dominican In 1643 there appeared Ivan Uzhevych's Grammatica sclavonica and, in 1762, the Short Introduction to English Grammar of Robert Lowth was also published. Ivan Petrovych UZHEVYCH ( Ukrainian Іван Ужевич Uževyč, Belarusian Іван Ужэвіч Užėvič, Polish Jan Użewicz Robert Lowth FRS ( 27 November, 1710 &ndash 3 November, 1787) was a Bishop of the Church of England, a professor of The Grammatisch-Kritisches Wörterbuch der hochdeutschen Mundart, a High German grammar in five volumes by Johann Christoph Adelung, appeared as early as 1774. The High German languages (in German, Hochdeutsch) are any of the varieties of standard German, Luxembourgish and Johann Christoph Adelung ( 8 August 1732 – 10 September 1806) was a German Grammarian and Philologist.

From the latter part of the 18th century, grammar came to be understood as a subfield of the emerging discipline of modern linguistics. Linguistics is the scientific study of Language, encompassing a number of sub-fields The Serbian grammar by Vuk Stefanović Karadžić arrived in 1814, while the Deutsche Grammatik of the Brothers Grimm was first published in 1818. Vuk Stefanović Karadžić ( Serbian Cyrillic: Вук Стефановић Караџић ( November 7, 1787 - February 7, 1864 The Brothers Grimm ( German: Die Gebrüder Grimm) Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, The Comparative Grammar of Franz Bopp, the starting point of modern comparative linguistics, came out in 1833. Franz Bopp ( September 14, 1791 – October 23, 1867) was a German linguist known for extensive comparative work on Comparative linguistics (originally comparative Philology) is a branch of Historical linguistics that is concerned with comparing languages in order to

In the USA, the Society for the Promotion of Good Grammar has designated March 4, 2008 as National Grammar Day. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the ^[2]

Development of grammars

Main article: Historical linguistics

Grammars evolve through usage, and grammars also develop due to separations of the human population. Historical linguistics (also called diachronic linguistics) is the study of language change With the advent of written representations, formal rules about language usage tend to appear also. Knowledge representation is an area in Artificial intelligence that is concerned with how to formally "think" that is how to use a symbol system to represent Formal grammars are codifications of usage that are developed by repeated documentation over time, and by observation as well. Codification is the process of standardizing and developing a norm for a language Observation is either an activity of a living being (such as a Human) which senses and assimilates the Knowledge of a Phenomenon, or the recording of data As the rules become established and developed, the prescriptive concept of grammatical correctness can arise. This often creates a discrepancy between contemporary usage and that which has been accepted over time as being correct. Linguists tend to believe that prescriptive grammars do not have any justification beyond their authors' aesthetic tastes; however, prescriptions are considered in sociolinguistics as part of the explanation for why some people say "I didn't do nothing", some say "I didn't do anything", and some say one or the other depending on social context. Sociolinguistics is the study of the effect of any and all aspects of Society, including cultural norms expectations and context on the way Language is used

The formal study of grammar is an important part of education for children from a young age through advanced learning, though the rules taught in schools are not a "grammar" in the sense most linguists use the term, as they are often prescriptive rather than descriptive. Education encompasses both the Teaching and Learning of Knowledge, proper conduct, and technical competency In the fields of Neuropsychology, Personal development and Education, Learning is one of the most important Mental function of humans Linguistics is the scientific study of Language, encompassing a number of sub-fields In Linguistics, prescription can refer both to the codification and the enforcement of rules governing how a language is to be used Descriptive linguistics is the work of analyzing and describing how Language is spoken (or how it was spoken in the past by a group of people in a speech community

Constructed languages (also called planned languages or conlangs) are more common in the modern day. A constructed or artificial language known colloquially or informally as a conlang is a Language whose Phonology, Grammar Many have been designed to aid human communication (for example, naturalistic Interlingua, schematic Esperanto, and the highly logic-compatible artificial language Lojban). Communication is the process of conveying information from a sender to a receiver with the use of a medium in which the communicated information is understood the same way Interlingua is an International auxiliary language (IAL developed between 1937 and 1951 by the International Auxiliary Language Association (IALA is by far the most widely spoken constructed International auxiliary language in the world Lojban (ˈloʒban is a constructed, syntactically unambiguous human language based on Predicate logic. Each of these languages has its own grammar.

No clear line can be drawn between syntax and morphology. Analytic languages use syntax to convey information that is encoded via inflection in synthetic languages. In morphological typology (in linguistics an isolating language (also analytic language) is any Language in which words are composed of In Linguistics, syntax (from Ancient Greek grc συν- syn-, "together" and grc τάξις táxis, "arrangement" is the In Grammar, inflection or inflexion is the way language handles grammatical relations and relational categories such as tense, mood, voice A synthetic language, in Linguistic typology, is a Language with a high Morpheme -per- word ratio 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. Morphology is the field of Linguistics that studies the internal structure of words Chinese and Afrikaans, for example, are highly analytic, and meaning is therefore very context – dependent. Afrikaans is an Indo-European language, derived from 17th century Dutch and classified as Low Franconian Germanic, mainly spoken in (Both do have some inflections, and have had more in the past; thus, they are becoming even less synthetic and more "purely" analytic over time. ) Latin, which is highly synthetic, uses affixes and inflections to convey the same information that Chinese does with syntax. Latin ( lingua Latīna, laˈtiːna is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. A synthetic language, in Linguistic typology, is a Language with a high Morpheme -per- word ratio An affix is a Morpheme that is attached to a stem to form a word In Grammar, inflection or inflexion is the way language handles grammatical relations and relational categories such as tense, mood, voice In Linguistics, syntax (from Ancient Greek grc συν- syn-, "together" and grc τάξις táxis, "arrangement" is the Because Latin words are quite (though not completely) self-contained, an intelligible Latin sentence can be made from elements that are placed in a largely arbitrary order. In Linguistics, a sentence is a grammatical unit of one or more words bearing minimal syntactic relation to the words that precede or follow it often preceded and followed Latin has a complex affixation and a simple syntax, while Chinese has the opposite.

Grammar frameworks

Main article: Grammar framework

Various "grammar frameworks" have been developed in theoretical linguistics since the mid 20th century, in particular under the influence of the idea of a "Universal grammar" in the USA. In Theoretical linguistics, the following fundamental approaches towards constructing Grammar frameworks for Natural languages are distinguished Theoretical linguistics is the branch of Linguistics that is most concerned with developing models of linguistic knowledge Universal grammar is a theory of Linguistics postulating principles of Grammar shared by all languages thought to be innate to humans ( linguistic nativism Of these, the main divisions are:

• Transformational grammar (TG))
• Principles and Parameters Theory (P&P)
• Lexical-functional Grammar (LFG)
• Generalized Phrase Structure Grammar (GPSG)
• Head-Driven Phrase Structure Grammar (HPSG)
• Dependency grammars (DG)
• Role and reference grammar (RRG)

See also

• Category:Grammars of specific languages
• Ambiguous grammar
• Fremdsprachen und Hochschule
• Government and binding
• Higher-order grammar
• Linguistic typology
• Syntax
• Systemic functional grammar
• Universal grammar

Notes and references

1. ^ Online Etymology Dictionary
2. ^ National Grammar Day

• American Academic Press, The (ed. In Linguistics, a transformational grammar, or transformational-generative grammar ( TGG) is a Generative grammar, especially of a Natural Principles and parameters is a framework in Generative linguistics. Lexical functional grammar (LFG is a Grammar framework in Theoretical linguistics, a variety of Generative grammar. Generalised phrase structure grammar (GPSG is a framework for describing the Syntax and Semantics of natural languages Head-driven phrase structure grammar (HPSG is a highly lexicalized non-derivational Generative grammar theory developed by Carl Pollard and Ivan Sag Dependency grammar (DG is a class of syntactic theories developed by Lucien Tesnière. Role and Reference Grammar (RRG is a model of Grammar developed by William Foley and Robert Van Valin Jr In Computer science, a grammar is said to be an ambiguous grammar if there is some string that it can generate in more than one way (i Fremdsprachen und Hochschule ( FuH) (= Foreign Languages at Universities) is a triannual academic journal published by the German Association of University Language Government and binding is a theory of Syntax in the tradition of Transformational grammar developed principally by Noam Chomsky in the 1980s Higher Order grammar (HOG is a Grammar theory based on Higher-order logic. Linguistic Typology is an international Peer-reviewed journal in the field of Linguistic typology, founded in 1997 In Linguistics, syntax (from Ancient Greek grc συν- syn-, "together" and grc τάξις táxis, "arrangement" is the Systemic functional grammar (SFG or systemic functional linguistics (SFL is a model of grammar that was developed by Michael Halliday in the 1960s Universal grammar is a theory of Linguistics postulating principles of Grammar shared by all languages thought to be innate to humans ( linguistic nativism ). William Strunk, Jr., et al. William Strunk Jr (July 1 1869 Cincinnati Ohio &ndash September 26 1946 Ithaca New York) was Professor of English at Cornell University and is The Classics of Style: The Fundamentals of Language Style From Our American Craftsmen. Cleveland: The American Academic Press, 2006. ISBN 0978728203.

• Rundle, Bede. Grammar in Philosophy. Oxford: Clarendon Press; New York: Oxford University Press, 1979. ISBN 0198246129.

External links

• English Grammar (Gramática da Língua Inglesa), wikibook in English and Portuguese
• Online Grammar Practice
• Grammar and Language Message Board A free online grammar community featuring Q&A, ESL, and other forums for anyone with an interest in or questions about grammar. Wikibooks (previously called Wikimedia Free Textbook Project and Wikimedia-Textbooks) is a Wikimedia Foundation Wiki for the creation of English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States Portuguese ( or língua portuguesa) is a Romance language that originated in what is now Galicia (Spain and northern Portugal.