LLD 107: Patterns of English

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LLD 107Patterns of English

• What is bad grammar?

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LLD 107 Patterns of English

• Spring 2009
• Professor Thom Huebner
• Office Clark 489
• Office Hours M 3-5 pm, W 3-430 pm and by
  appointment
• Telephone [phone]
• Email thom.huebner_at_sjsu.edu

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LLD 107 - Introduction

• What is language?
• What is grammar?
• What are universals of language?

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What is language?

• Systematic
• Set of arbitrary symbols
• Vocal or visual
• With conventionalized meanings
• Used for communication
• Operating in a speech community or culture
• Essentially human
• Acquired by all people under normal conditions

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Systems in Language

• Discourse
• Semantics
• Syntax
• Morphology
• Phonology
• Phonetics

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Rules

• Statements of systematic, recurrent patterns of
  language use
• Apply at all levels of language
• Phonology
• Morphology
• Syntax
• Semantics
• Discourse

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Competence vs. Performance

• Competence our (often subconscious) knowledge
  of a language
• Performance the use of language in production
  and comprehension

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Linguistic competence

• A proficient speakers ability to recognize
• Grammaticality
• Paraphrase
• Ambiguity
• Anomaly

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Communicative competence

• Linguistic / grammatical competence
• Sociolinguistic competence
• Discourse competence
• Strategic competence

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Language Skills

• Primary Secondary
• Production speaking writing
• Comprehension listening reading

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What is Grammar?

• Mental grammar
• Theoretical grammar
• Prescriptive grammars
• Descriptive grammars
• Pedagogical grammars
• Reference grammars

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Mental grammar

• The grammar which we have in our heads, which
  allows us to recognize grammatical sentences vs.
  ungrammatical sentences a part of our
  linguistic competence
• I gave the money to Sarah.
• To I gave the money Sarah.
• The symbol before a form indicates that it is
  not grammatical.

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Theoretical grammar

• Any approach that attempts to develop theoretical
  insights into the nature of language as such
• Is based on data from many languages
• Distinguishes between surface grammar and deep
  grammar
• Is sometimes referred to as formal grammar

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Prescriptive grammar

• Any approach that attempts to lay down rules of
  correctness as to how language should be used.
• Aims to preserve imagined standards by insisting
  on norms of usage.
• E.g., use I after verb to be it is I.
• use whom in object position the man whom I saw.
• never split an infinitive to bravely go

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Descriptive grammar

• A systematic description of a language as found
  in a sample of speech or writing.
• Avoids evaluative comments such as good, bad,
  correct, wrong.
• Focuses on appropriateness within various
  contexts of use.

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Pedagogical grammar

• Texts used for the purpose of teaching the
  grammar of a language.
• Intended to be used by teachers and students.
• Contain exercises for practice.
• Often have a prescriptivist bent.

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Reference grammar

• A comprehensive description of the syntax and
  morphology of a given language
• Is used as a reference much like a dictionary or
  thesaurus.
• Is sometimes referred to as a grammar handbook.
• Should be in the tool box of any language teacher.

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What are language universals?

• Absolute universals
• Universal tendencies
• Universal grammar
• Universal Grammar (UG)

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Absolute universals

• A linguistic pattern at play in all languages of
  the world without exception
• Example Any language with voiced stops (i.e.,
  /b/, /d/, and /g/) also has voiceless stops
  (i.e., /p/, /t/, and /k/).

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Universal tendency

• A linguistic pattern at play in most, but not
  all, of the worlds languages.
• Example Most (but not all) verb-final languages
  place adjectives before the nouns they modify.

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Universal grammar

• The innate propensity for language that all human
  beings are born with
• Chomsky refers to this metaphorically as the
  language organ.

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Universal Grammar (UG)

• A formal approach to linguistic theory
  spearheaded by Noam Chomsky, whose aim is to
  describe the possible form of a human grammar
  and especially the restrictions on the form such
  grammars can take.

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OWL

• http//owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/grammar