English 319

1. English 319 Section 750 & 751 www.csub.edu/~ecase

2. Quiz True or False? Grammar sucks!!!

3. Quiz True - If you look at grammar prescriptively False – If you look at grammar descriptively

4. Language • Prescriptive grammarians tell people how they should speak and write • Descriptive grammarians simply document how people actually speak and write

5. Language • Descriptive grammarians see language as an interesting puzzle that can be solved • As an example, take a look at the following two sentences:

6. Language • 1) We arrived in Denver after a breathtaking flight that ended in a smooth touchdown. • 2) The administration denied all the requests that the students made. • In which of these two sentences can the word “that” be deleted?

7. Language • 1) We arrived in Denver after a breathtaking flight that ended in a smooth touchdown. • 2) The administration denied all the requests (that) the students made. • Why?

8. Language • It turns out the answer is fairly simple • Each of the two sentences is actually derived from two other sentences • Thus:

9. Language • 1) We arrived in Denver after a breathtaking flight that ended in a smooth touchdown. • Is derived from • We arrived in Denver after a breathtaking flight • The flight ended in a smooth touchdown

10. Language • In this example, “that” replaces “The flight,” which serves as the subject of the underlying sentence • “that” is called a “relative pronoun” • Now look at the other example

11. Language • 2) The administration denied all the requests (that) the students made. • Is derived from • The administration denied all the requests • The students made the requests

12. Language • In this example, “that” replaces “the requests,” which serves as the object of the underlying sentence • The general rule? • Relative pronouns that replace subjects cannot be deleted • Relative pronouns that replace objects can be deleted

13. Language • Incidentally, this also helps to explain the “who” versus “whom” distinction (both who and whom can serve as relative pronouns) • “who” replaces subjects • “whom” replaces objects

14. Language • Police psychologists calmed the terrorist who had threatened some female hostages. • Police psychologists calmed the terrorists • The terrorists had threatened some female hostages

15. Language • The female hostages whom the terrorists had threatened escaped before the shootout. • The female hostages escaped before the shootout • The terrorists had threatened some female hostages

16. Language • Why are we in this class? • Why are we studying something that we have had mastery over since roughly the age of five? • Why do most people cringe when the hear the word “grammar”?

17. Language • A little history of “grammar” • Language “belongs” to all of us • Therefore, we all seem to have a strong opinion about it • Our ideas about language are usually based on the variety of our place of upbringing, however

18. Language • Or on the group of people that raised us • So, very often, those strong opinions differ greatly • Historically, this led to something called Prescriptivism

19. Language • Prescriptivism is the view that one variety of language has an inherently higher value than others • That this variety ought to be imposed on the whole of the speech community • This view is especially propounded in relation to grammar and vocabulary

20. Language • Prescriptivism has a long an varied history • One of the most influential grammars of the 18th Century was Bishop Robert Lowth’s Short Introduction to English Grammar (1762) • (Lowth lived from 1710 to 1787)

22. Language • Lowth’s approach was strictly prescriptive • That is, he meant to improve and correct, not describe • He judged correctness by his own rules (mostly derived from Latin) which frequently went against established usage

23. Language • In America, Lowth’s approach inspired Lindley Murray’s widely used English Grammar (1794) • (Murray lived from 1745 to 1826)

25. Language • Both Lowth’s and Murray’s grammars went through 20 editions each over several decades • Murray’s book had an enormous influence on school practice and popular attitudes in the U.S. (that is still there!!!)

26. Language • Some examples of his axioms: • ‘You should write or say It is I and not It is me’ • (The reasoning: in Latin, the verb be is followed by the nominative case, not the accusative)

27. Language • ‘Two negatives, in English, destroy one another, or are equivalent to an affirmative’ • (The reasoning: based on logic and mathematics)

28. Language • (Of course, this is not true; two negatives in fact just make a more emphatic negative) • “I ain’t done nothin’”

29. Language • There are several reasons why language was studied prescriptively over the centuries • (Crystal, 1997: The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language)

30. Language • 1) Grammarians wanted to point out what they felt to be common “errors” in order to improve the language. • 2) They wanted a means of settling disputes over usage. In other words, they wanted to provide a standard.

31. Language • 3) They wanted to codify the principles of their languages (standards), to show that there was a system beneath the apparent chaos of usage. • 4) A standard allows a speaker to be understood by the greatest possible number of individuals (and also over time).

32. Language • 5) A set of standard rules is necessary for students learning English (or any other language) as a second language. • 6) Existence of prescriptive rules allows a speaker of a nonstandard variety to learn the rules of a”standard” variety and employ that variety in appropriate settings.

33. Language • In this view, usage was either right or wrong • This attitude is obviously still with us • The alternative viewpoint (which this class espouses) is less concerned with standards

34. Language • More concerned with facts of linguistic usage • In other words, the intent of modern linguistics is to describe, not prescribe • But as a future teacher, this view may cause you problems

35. Language • We need to find a balance – the more you know about language, the better (more informed) your decisions about usage and teaching will be • IOW, it is usage, not logic, that must determine the descriptive rules of a language

36. Language • As my old linguistics teacher, David Marshall, used to say: • “You don’t have to know how to fix an engine to drive in the Indy 500 . . . • But you do have to know how to fix an engine to be in the pit crew.” • You are all, henceforth, grammar mechanics

37. Language • So what parts of the engine (aspects of language) do you know? • One of the aspects of language in which you have competence is phonetics • Phonetics is the part of linguistic competence that has to do with your knowledge of the sounds of a language

38. Language • Let’s look at the t sound in two words:  • top vs. stop  • Did you know that there is a difference between them? • In spite of the fact that these two sounds are different, you know how to produce them without thinking about them

39. Language • Another of the aspects of language in which you have competence is phonology • Not only can you physically produce and perceive the sounds of your language, you know how these sounds work together as a system

40. Language • Let’s look at the sequence of letters in: • g-i-s-n-t • In this sequence of letters, there are 5 x 4 x 3 x 2 x 1 = 120 possible combinations

41. Language • Let’s try another one: • yutiervins • 10x9x8x7x6x5x4x3x2x1 = • 3,628,800

42. Language • Another of the aspects of language in which you have competence is morphology • For the most part, speech consists of a continuous stream of sound with few pauses between words • However, you have little trouble breaking your utterances down into the words that make them up

43. Language • How about these words: • balloon • rearming • re+arm+ing • Antidisestablishmentarianism • Anti + dis + establish + ment + ari + an + ism

44. Language • Another of the aspects of language in which you have competence is syntax • At the same time that you are doing all of the above, you also recognize well-formed (that is grammatical) sentences:

45. Language • you up pick at o’clock will eight • I will picks you up at eight o’clock • I will pick you up at eight o’clock • At eight o’clock, I will pick you up

46. Language • Another of the aspects of language in which you have competence is semantics • You can also distinguish between grammatical acceptability and meaning acceptability: • contented little cats purr loudly • colorless green ideas sleep furiously

47. Language • So part of your linguistic competence has to do with your ability to determine the meaning of sentences  • For example, you understand the ambiguity in the following sentences:   • I saw her duck • Visiting relatives can be dreadful

48. Language • The chickens are too hot to eat • Students hate annoying professors • Drunk gets nine months in violin case • Kids make nutritious snacks • Grandmother of eight makes hole in one

49. Language • Another of the aspects of language in which you have competence is what we will call pragmatics • You understand how the context of utterances influences their meaning: • Its rather cold in here • You make a better door than a window

50. Language • Part of your pragmatic competence is understanding discourse • You can understand the contexts or situations in which different styles of language may be used • Discourse can vary in pronunciation, vocabulary, and syntax, among other things