Editing Grammar

''For the rules of the English language, see [[English grammar]].'' 

In [[linguistics]], '''grammar''' is the set of [[structural]] rules that govern the composition of [[sentence (linguistics)|sentences]], [[phrase]]s, and [[words]] in any given [[natural language]]. The term refers also to the study of such rules, and this field includes [[morphology (linguistics)|morphology]], [[syntax]], and [[phonology]], often complemented by [[phonetics]], [[semantics]], and [[pragmatics]].  Linguists do not normally use the term to refer to [[orthography|orthographical]] rules, although usage books and [[style guide]]s that call themselves grammars may also refer to spelling and punctuation. 

==Use of the term==
Every speaker of a language has in his or her head a set of rules<sup>[]</sup> for using that language.  This is a grammar, and&mdash;at least in the case of one's native language&mdash;the vast majority of the information in it is not [[language acquisition|acquired]] by conscious study or instruction, but by observing other speakers; much of this work is done during infancy. Language learning later in life, of course, may involve a greater degree of explicit instruction.<sup>[]</sup>

The term "grammar" can also be used to describe the rules that govern the linguistic behaviour of a group of speakers. The term "English grammar," therefore, may have several meanings. It may refer to the whole of English grammar&mdash;that is, to the grammars of all the speakers of the language, which means including a great deal of variation.<sup>[]</sup>  Alternatively, it may refer only to what is common to the grammars of all, or of the vast majority of, English speakers (such as [[Subject Verb Object|subject-verb-object]] word order in [[Simple sentence|simple declarative sentences]]).  Or it may refer to the rules of a particular, relatively well defined variety of English (such as [[Standard English]]).

"''An'' English grammar" is a specific description, study or analysis of such rules. A [[reference book]] describing the grammar of a language is called a "reference grammar" or simply "a grammar". A fully explicit grammar exhaustively describing the [[grammaticality|grammatical]] constructions of a language is called a descriptive grammar. Linguistic description contrasts with [[linguistic prescription]], which tries to enforce rules of how a language is to be used.   

[[Grammatical framework]]s are approaches to constructing grammars. The standard framework of [[generative grammar]] is the [[transformational grammar]] model developed in various ways by [[Noam Chomsky]] and his associates from the 1950s onwards.

==Etymology==

See Also [[grapheme]]

The word ''grammar'' derives from [[Ancient Greek language|Greek]] γραμματικὴ τέχνη (''grammatikē technē''), which means "art of letters", from γράμμα (''gramma''), "letter", itself from γράφειν (''graphein''), "to draw, to write".<sup>[]</sup>

==History==

See Also [[History of linguistics]]

The first systematic grammars originated in [[Iron Age India]], with [[Yaska]] (6th c. BC), [[Pāṇini]] (4th c. BC) and his commentators [[Pingala]] (ca. 200 BC), [[Katyayana]], and [[Patanjali]] (2nd c. BC). In the West, grammar emerged as a discipline in [[Hellenism (neoclassicism)|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. 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]], and [[Aemilius Asper]].

[[Tamil language|Tamil]] grammatical tradition also began around the 1st century BC with the [[Tolkāppiyam]].

A grammar of [[Old Irish|Irish]] originated in the 7th century with the [[Auraicept na n-Éces]].

[[Arabic grammar]] emerged from the 8th century with the work of [[Ibn Abi Ishaq]] and his students.

The first treatises on [[Hebrew grammar]] appeared in the [[High Middle Ages]], in the context of [[Mishnah]] (exegesis of the [[Hebrew Bible]]). The [[Karaite]] tradition originated in [[Abbasid]] [[Baghdad]]. The ''[[Diqduq]]'' (10th century) is one of the earliest grammatical commentaries on the Hebrew Bible.<sup>[]</sup> [[Ibn Barun]] in the 12th century compares the Hebrew language with [[Arabic language|Arabic]] in the [[Islamic grammatical tradition]].<sup>[]</sup>

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]]. Treatment of vernaculars began gradually during the [[High Middle Ages]], with isolated works such as the [[First Grammatical Treatise]], but became influential only in the [[Renaissance]] and [[Baroque]] periods. 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. 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).

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]].

In [[1643 AD|1643]] there appeared [[Ivan Uzhevych]]'s ''Grammatica sclavonica'' and, in 1762, the ''Short Introduction to English Grammar'' of [[Robert Lowth]] was also published. The ''Grammatisch-Kritisches Wörterbuch der hochdeutschen Mundart'', a [[High German]] grammar in five volumes by [[Johann Christoph Adelung]], appeared as early as 1774.
From the latter part of the 18th century, grammar came to be understood as a subfield of the emerging discipline of modern [[linguistics]]. The Serbian grammar by [[Vuk Stefanović Karadžić]] arrived in 1814, while the ''Deutsche Grammatik'' of the [[Brothers Grimm]] was first published in 1818. The ''Comparative Grammar'' of [[Franz Bopp]], the starting point of modern [[comparative linguistics]], came out in 1833.

==Development of grammars==

See Also [[Historical linguistics]]

Grammars evolve through usage and also due to separations of the human population. With the advent of written [[Knowledge representation|representation]]s, formal rules about language usage tend to appear also. Formal grammars are [[codification (linguistics)|codifications]] of usage that are developed by repeated documentation over time, and by [[observation]] as well. 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 view prescriptive grammars as having little justification beyond their authors' aesthetic tastes, although style guides may give useful advice about Standard English based on descriptions of usage in contemporary writing. Linguistic prescriptions also form part of the explanation for variation in speech, particularly variation in the speech of an individual speaker (an explanation, for example, 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).

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 [[linguistics|linguists]] use the term, particularly as they are often [[prescriptive]] rather than [[descriptive]].

[[Constructed language]]s (also called planned languages or conlangs) are more common in the modern day. Many have been designed to aid human [[communication]] (for example, naturalistic [[Interlingua]], schematic [[Esperanto]], and the highly logic-compatible [[artificial language]] [[Lojban]]). Each of these languages has its own grammar.

Syntax refers to linguistic structure above the word level (e.g. how sentences are formed)&mdash;though without taking into account [[intonation]], which is the domain of phonology. Morphology, by contrast, refers to structure at and below the word level (e.g. how compound words are formed), but above the level of individual sounds, which, like intonation, are in the domain of phonology.<sup>[]</sup> No clear line can be drawn, however, between syntax and morphology. [[Analytic languages]] use [[syntax]] to convey information that is encoded via [[inflection]] in [[synthetic language]]s. In other words, word order is not significant and [[morphology (linguistics)|morphology]] is highly significant in a purely synthetic language, whereas morphology is not significant and syntax is highly significant in an analytic language. [[Chinese language|Chinese]] and [[Afrikaans language|Afrikaans]], for example, are highly analytic, and meaning is therefore very context-dependent. (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 language|synthetic]], uses [[affix]]es and [[inflection]]s to convey the same information that Chinese does with [[syntax]]. Because Latin words are quite (though not completely) self-contained, an intelligible Latin [[Sentence (linguistics)|sentence]] can be made from elements that are placed in a largely arbitrary order. Latin has a complex affixation and simple syntax, while Chinese has the opposite.

==Grammar frameworks==
See Also [[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 United States. Of these, the main divisions are:

*[[Transformational grammar]] (TG)
*[[Systemic functional grammar]] (SFG)
*[[Principles and Parameters|Principles and Parameters Theory]] (P&P)
*[[Lexical functional grammar|Lexical-functional Grammar]] (LFG)
*[[Generalised Phrase Structure Grammar|Generalized Phrase Structure Grammar]] (GPSG)
*[[Head-Driven Phrase Structure Grammar]] (HPSG)
*[[Dependency grammar]]s (DG)
*[[Role and reference grammar]] (RRG)

==Education==

See Also [[orthography]]

[[Image:World literacy map UNHD 2007 2008.png|right|300px|thumb|Worldwide [[List of countries by literacy rate|literacy rates by country]].]]
[[Prescriptive]] grammar is taught in [[primary school]] ([[elementary school]]). The term "[[grammar school]]" historically refers to a school teaching [[Latin grammar]] to future Roman citizens, orators, and, later, Catholic priests.  In its earliest form, "grammar school" referred to a school that taught students to read, scan, interpret, and declaim Greek and Latin poets (including Homer, Virgil, Euripides, Ennius, and others). But see the British kind of [[grammar school]].

A [[standard language]] is a particular dialect of a language that is promoted above other dialects in writing, education, and broadly speaking in the public sphere; it contrasts with [[vernacular]] dialects, which may be the objects of study in [[descriptive grammar]] but which are rarely taught prescriptively. The standardized "[[first language]]" taught in primary education may be subject to [[language politics|political]] controversy, since it establishes a standard defining [[nationality]] or [[ethnicity]].

The pre-eminence of [[Parisian French]] has reigned largely unchallenged throughout the history of modern French literature. Standard [[Italian language|Italian]] is not based on the speech of the capital, Rome, but on the speech of [[Florence]] because of the influence Florentines had on early [[Italian literature]]. Similarly, standard Spanish is not based on the speech of [[Madrid]], but on the one of educated speakers from more northerly areas like [[Castile and León]]. In [[Argentina]] and [[Uruguay]] the Spanish standard is based on the local dialects of [[Buenos Aires]] and [[Montevideo]] ([[Rioplatense Spanish]]). [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]] has three official written standards, respectively [[Brazilian Portuguese]] , [[European Portuguese]] and [[Galician Portuguese]].

[[Norwegian language|Norwegian]] has two standards, ''[[Bokmål]]'' and ''[[Nynorsk]]'', the choice between which is subject to [[Norwegian language struggle|controversy]]: Each Norwegian municipality can declare one of the two its official language, or it can remain "language neutral". Nynorsk is endorsed by a minority of 27 percent of the municipalities. The main language used in primary schools normally follows the official language of its municipality, and is decided by referendum within the local school district. [[Standard German]] emerged out of the standardized chancellery use of [[Early New High German language|High German]] in the 16th and 17th centuries. Until about 1800, it was almost entirely a written language, but now it is so widely spoken that most of the former [[German dialect]]s are nearly extinct.

[[Standard Mandarin]] has official status as the standard spoken form of the [[Chinese language]] in the [[People's Republic of China]] (PRC), the [[Republic of China]] (ROC) and the [[Singapore|Republic of Singapore]]. Pronunciation of Standard Mandarin is based on the [[Beijing dialect]] of [[Mandarin Chinese]], while grammar and syntax are based on modern [[vernacular Chinese]].
[[literary Arabic|Modern Standard Arabic]] is directly based on [[Classical Arabic]], the language of the [[Qur'an]]. The [[Hindustani language]] has two standards, [[Hindi]] and [[Urdu]].

In the United States, the Society for the Promotion of Good Grammar designated March 4 as National Grammar Day in 2008.<sup>[]</sup>

==See also==
* [[:Category:Grammars of specific languages]]
* [[Ambiguous grammar]]
* [[Government and binding]]
* [[Harmonic Grammar]]
* [[Higher-order grammar]]
* [[Linguistic typology]]
* [[List of linguists]]
* [[Syntax]]
* [[Universal grammar]]

==Notes and references==

* American Academic Press, The (ed.). [[William Strunk, Jr.]], et al. ''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==


[[Category:Grammar| ]]
[[Category:Fiction]]
[[Category:Linguistics]]
[[Category:Style (fiction)]]
[[Category:Greek loanwords]]
[[Category:Teachable units for language instruction]]

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