Traditional grammar

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Traditional grammar (also known as classical grammar) is a framework for the description of the structure of a language.[1] The roots of traditional grammar are in the work of classical Greek and Latin philologists.[2] The formal study of grammar based on these models became popular during the Renaissance.[3]

Traditional grammars may be contrasted with more modern theories of grammar in theoretical linguistics, which grew out of traditional descriptions.[3] While traditional grammars seek to describe how particular languages are used, or to teach people to speak or read them, grammar frameworks in contemporary linguistics often seek to explain the nature of language knowledge and ability.[4] Traditional grammar is often prescriptive, and may be regarded as unscientific by those working in linguistics.[5]

Traditional Western grammars classify words into parts of speech. They describe the patterns for word inflection, and the rules of syntax by which those words are combined into sentences.[6]

  1. ^ Heine, Bernd; Narrog, Heiko; Haspelmath, Martin (2015-01-01), "Framework-Free Grammatical Theory", The Oxford Handbook of Linguistic Analysis, Oxford University Press, doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199677078.013.0014, ISBN 978-0-19-967707-8
  2. ^ Frede, Michael (1977), "The Origins of Traditional Grammar", Historical and Philosophical Dimensions of Logic, Methodology and Philosophy of Science, Springer Netherlands, pp. 51–79, doi:10.1007/978-94-017-1780-9_4, ISBN 978-90-481-8351-7
  3. ^ a b Dyer, Matthew (2006). "Descriptive theories, explanatory theories, and Basic Linguistic Theory". In F. Ameka; A. Dench; N. Evans (eds.). Catching Language: The Standing Challenge of Grammar Writing. Walter de Gruyter. pp. 207–234. ISBN 978-3-11-018603-1.
  4. ^ McCarthy, Michael; Christian, Matthiessen; Slade, Diana (2019-07-18), "Discourse analysis", An Introduction to Applied Linguistics, Routledge, pp. 55–71, doi:10.4324/9780429424465-4, ISBN 978-0-429-42446-5, S2CID 243427425
  5. ^ Smith, Allison (2005). "Traditional Grammar". In Strazny, Philipp (ed.). Encyclopedia of linguistics 2v. Taylor & Francis. Even though linguists today view traditional grammar as an unscientific way to study language and grammar, many of the basic Latin-based notions of grammar can still be found in all levels of the classroom [...] This advice is usually based on the prescriptive rules of prestige varieties of English
  6. ^ Croft, William (2001-10-25), "Syntactic Theory and the Theory of Language", Radical Construction Grammar, Oxford University Press, pp. 362–368, doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198299554.003.0010, ISBN 978-0-19-829955-4