英语（心得）之浅谈英语语法及其分类

英语（心得）之浅谈英语语法及其分类

英语论文之浅谈英语语法及其分类 ‎ ‎【摘 要】当代英语语法流派可以粗略地分为三大类:规定性语法、描述性语法和解释性语法。本文简单介绍了各类语法的起源、基本概念 及其主要特点,并提出了作者对怎样正确对待传统语法的观点。‎ ‎【关键词】英语语法;分类;规定性语法;描述性语法;解释性语法 ‎【Abstract】TheprincipalschoolsofcontemporaryEnglishgrammarmayroughlybepidedintothreemajorclasses:PrescriptiveGrammar,‎ DescriptiveGrammarandExplanatoryGrammar.Thisarticlebrieflyintroducestheirorigins,basicconceptsandmaincharacteristics,andgivesthe author’sopiniononhowweshouldproperlythinkofTraditionalGrammar.‎ ‎【Keywords】Engilshgrammar;classification;prescriptivegrammar;descriptivegrammar;explanatorygrammar Introduction:Fromthelinguisticpointofview,Englishlanguage,‎ likeanyotherlivinglanguageintheworld,consistsofthreeessential elements:pronunciation,vocabularyandgrammar.‎ Pronunciationisthematerialoutershellofalanguage,orthe materialforminwhichalanguageexists.Vocabularyreferstoallthe constructionsofalanguage.Grammardealswiththesystematiclawsand rulesofalanguage,includingitsforms,inflexionsandwaystomake sentences.Grammarisoftencomparedtotheplasterandskeletondesigns ofbuildingofalanguage.‎ Letusdrawananalogysoastomakeclearertherelationbetween thethreebasicelements.Supposingalanguageisabuilding,then pronunciationisitsoutershape,vocabularyisthematerialofconstruction ‎(suchasbrick,tile,reinforcebars,cement,etc.)andgrammarisjustlike thedesignsandtechniquesofconstruction.‎ Amongthethreeessentialelements,pronunciation,asthematerial basisoftheexistenceofalanguage,isprimary;vocabularyliesonthe centralpositionastheothertwoareexpressedbymeansofit,while grammaristheusefulandnecessarytoolforustostudyandusea language.Withoutit,wewouldfeelitquitedifficulttousealanguage correctly,especiallyaforeignlanguage.Forastudentorateacherof English,itisstillmorenecessarytostudygrammar.‎ Accordingtothedevelopmentofgrammar,theprincipalschoolsof contemporaryEnglishgrammarmayroughlybepidedintothreemajor classes: Prescriptive Grammar, Descriptive Grammar and ExplanatoryGrammar.Hereisasketchyintroductiontosomeofthem:‎ A.PrescriptiveGrammar PrescriptivegrammaroriginatedinancientGreektimesofPlatoand Aristotle.Atthattime,grammarwasonlytreatedasthetoolofenjoying literature,andthechangesoflanguagewerelookeduponasdecayand degeneration.Theancientformsofalanguagewereheldinesteemand thegrammarianstriedtokeepthemfixedandunchanged.Prescriptive grammarmainlyconsistsoftwoparts:MorphologyandSyntax.Therewere eightpartsofspeechandaseriesofgrammaticalrulesbasedonLatin grammarwithagreatnumberofillustrationsfrom theworksofsome famouswriters.‎ AllPrescriptiveGrammarschoolshavesuchcommoncharacteristics asbelow:www.freetem4tem8.cn a.Thegrammarrulesaremadeonthebasisoflogicalreasoning(just likeLatingrammar),andusedtodecidewhetheracertainlanguage phenomenoniscorrectornot.‎ b.ThesystemispidedintoMorphologyandSyntax.‎ c.Theanalysisofsentenceismademoreorlessaccordingtotheir meanings(thusalsocalled“notionalgrammar”).Itisemphasizedthatone languageformexpressesonlyoneconceptofidea.‎ ThemainschoolsofPrescriptiveGrammarare:‎ a.SchoolGrammar---theonecompiledforteachingalanguagein th th schoolsfromthe18centurytothe20century.‎ b.PracticalGrammar---theoneusedtomaster,ormoreexactly,to helpthecommandofaforeignlanguage.‎ c.TraditionalGrammar---allthegrammarschoolsdifferentfrom DescriptiveGrammarandExplanatoryGrammar.Thoughlastingforover ‎2,000years,ithasnoactualdefinition.Generallyspeaking,itrefersto theterms,rules,conceptsandtheoriestakenandcarriedonfromthe th worksof18centuryprescriptivegrammarandthoseafterwards.‎ B.DescriptiveGrammar th DescriptiveGrammarcameintobringinthelate19 centuryand th theearly20century.Thedescriptivegrammariansthinkthatlanguageis alwayschanginganddeveloping,andthatdifferentlanguageshave differentfeaturesoftheirown,sotheyobjecttoapplyingLatingrammar mechanically.Theyinsistupondescribingobjectivelyandindetailthe practicaluseofalanguage,andanalyzingitaccordingtoitsstructures andfunctions.Itisemphasizedthatoneconceptofideacanbeexpressed indifferentways.‎ SomemainschoolsofDescriptiveGrammar:‎ a.StructuralGrammar---thechiefviewpointsare:asfarasa languageisconcerned,speechisinthefirstplace,namely,oralformsare priortowrittenones.Thedescriptionofalanguageoughttobegiven accordingtohowitisspokeninreality,nothowitmustbespoken.The concretestepsofanalysisaretakenatthreelevels:first,thephoneme;‎ then,themorpheme;andfinally,sentencepatterns.Thestructural grammariansareopposedtopidingwordclassesaccordingtothe meaning,butinsistondescribingalanguagebyitsforms.‎ b.FunctionalGrammar---TheBritishLinguistM.A.K.Halliday wasthechieffounder.Hethoughtthatlanguageisacommunicativetool withthreesocialfunctionsexpressing:conceptsofthought,relationships between human beings,and coherentcontents.Anotherfeatureof FunctionGrammaristostudydeeplyvarioustypesofalanguageusedon differentoccasionsandindifferentregions (suchasBritishEnglish,‎ AmericanEnglish,formal,informal,etc.).Oppositely,theothergrammar schoolsdostudytheuseofalanguagebutonlytheinnerstructuresor transformationandgenerationofsentences.Inthisaspect,Functional Grammarhasopenedupanewfieldofthegrammarresearchforus.‎ c.CommunicativeGrammar---thegrammaticalsystemputforward ‎    byBritishlinguistsG.LeechandJ.Svartvik.Ittakesconceptsofthought asthecore,andthefeaturesofvarioustypesofEnglish(elevated,formal,‎ neutral,informal,slang;written,spoken,polite,familiar,etc.)expressions ondifferentoccasions,pronunciationandintonationandsoon.Inmany aspects,itrelatestoFunctionalGrammar(somanygrammariansregard themasthesameone),butlaysmorespecialstressonthecommunicative effectofalanguage,particularlyonthatoneconceptofthoughtcanbe expressedbyvariousformsoflanguage.Itschiefcontributionlieson ‎“howtomakecommunicationbyusinggrammar”. “FollowMe”and ‎“NewConceptEnglish”aretypicaltwoofthewell-knowntextbooks compiledonCommunicativeGrammar.‎ C.ExplanatoryGrammar Basicallyspeaking,ExplanatoryGrammarbelongstotheoretical grammar,whichmakesrationaldiscussionandexpositionongrammar withthehelpofsemantics,lexicology,logic,psychology,sociologyand eventhemethodsofmathematicalanalysis.Explanatorygrammarians observeandstudylanguagephenomena,andfurthermore,explaintheir distinctions,causesandorigins.‎ SomeprincipalschoolsofExplanatoryGrammar:‎ a.HistoricalGrammar---Itstudiesthedevelopmentofalanguage fromtheview-pointofhistory,dealingwiththestudyofmorphologyand syntax.Departingfromthetraditionsofprescriptivegrammar,historical grammariansexpoundallkindsofphenomenaofEnglishaccordingtothe historicalprinciples,avoidingestablishingsomeabstractrulestoguideor ‎“purify”thelanguage.‎ b.ComparativeGrammar---Itmakesalotofcomparisonbetween the differentlanguages concerned or between the corresponding grammaticalrelationsofonelanguageatdifferentstagesofhistory.‎ c.Transformational-generativeGrammar---Thefounderisan Americanlinguist,N.Chomsky.Inhiswell-knowngrammarbook ‎“SyntacticStructures”,hesetsforthhisnewandoriginalviewson grammar.Hethinksgrammarmustbesimpleandclear,andmustpossess theabilityofgeneration,thatis,theabilitytoproduceinfinitesentences accordingtothegrammar.Heholdsthateverynativespeakerofa languageisbornwithasetoflinguisticacquisitiondeviceandthatthe mathematicalpatternsmustbeusedtomakegrammarsimpleandclear.‎ Heputsforwardawholesetofstrictsystematicformulas,i.e.the transformationalrules,fromwhichthepracticalspeechcanbeproduced.‎ Oneofitsoutstandingfeaturesistheadvancingofthedistinction between“surfacestructure”and“deepstructure”ofthesentence.‎ Conclusion:Finally,letuscometothequestion “Howshouldwe properlythinkofTraditionalGrammar?”Asalinguistictheoretic branch,TraditionalGrammarhasalreadybeenlastingformorethan ‎2,000years.Itcertainlyhasitsownadvantagesandhasgivensome importantcontributionstolanguagestudyingandteaching.Itmakesthe studyofalanguageeasierbygivingdefinitions,makingrulesand providingillustrations.Thebasicgrammaticalconceptssuchaspartsof speech,membersofthesentence,methodsofanalyzingsentenceswordby word,etc.dohelpthelearnerstomastersyntacticstructures,comprehend essaysandreadtheoriginalsmoreeasily.Moreover,ithashadsome influenceupontheestablishmentanddevelopmentofothergrammatical schools.‎ TraditionalGrammar,however,has its own deficiency and shortcomings.First,itputsstressonthemorphologyanddoesnotpay enoughattentiontothesyntax.Astheresult,itisusuallynoteasyfor learnerstomakesentencesbothinrightstructureandagreeingwiththe habits.Thenthetraditionalgrammarattachesimportancetothewritten languagebutnottotheorallanguage,andthusthecommunicativeand socialfunctionsofthe language are overlooked.In addition,its definitionsandrulesaremadebylogicalreasoningandbasedonvarious standards,andsotheylackcontinuity.Forexample,somepartsofspeech areclassifiedbythemeaning(suchasnoun,verbandinterjection),some bytheirfunctions(pronoun,adjective,adverb,conjunction),andsomeby both(preposition).‎ Many contemporary linguistssharply criticize and blame the traditionalgrammar,and someeven regard itassubjectivism or ‎“‎ rationalism.Inotherwords,theyconsiderittobethesynonymof non-‎ ‎”www.freetem4tem8.cn science.Itisnecessaryandhelpfultopointoutthedeficiencyand shortcomingsofthetraditionalgrammar,butitisnotpracticaltothrowit allawayatpresent.Wemustseethatwiththedevelopmentoflanguage,‎ thetraditionalgrammarhasbeenimprovingitselfconstantly,particularly drawing some research results of the structural grammar and transformationalgrammar.Inourcountry,especiallyinmiddleschools andmostcolleges,thegrammarsystemadoptedinEnglishteachingis basicallythetraditionalgrammar.AsforStructure Grammarand Transformational-generativeGrammar,theyhavenotallalongtakenthe placeofTraditionalGrammar.StructuralGrammarisalreadyoutofpower now.AlthoughTransformational-generativeGrammarhasgreatinfluence,‎ itisstillstudiedasameretheoryandnotyetwidelyusedinthe practicallanguageteaching.‎ Ifwetakegrammarjustasausefultoolforlanguagestudyingand teaching,notasthepurpose;ifweconstantlyimproveourEnglish grammarteachingandstudythenew resultsofothercontemporary grammarschools,wewillsurelymakegoodprogressinourEnglishstudyongrammar.‎ ‎●‎ ‎【Bibliography】‎ Thomson,A.J,andMartinetA.V.:“APracticalEnglishGrammar”.‎ Leech,G.andSvartvik,J.:“A CommunicativeGrammarofEnglish”.‎ Chomsky,N.:“SyntacticStructures”.‎ Lester,M.:“IntroductoryTransformationalGrammarofEnglish”.‎ XuLiwu:“APracticalGrammarofContemporaryEnglish”.‎ YuGuolin:“ANewEnglishGrammarforCollegeStudents”.‎ 李学平、潘欢怀:“当代英语语法概论”.‎ 四川大学外文系:“英语语法词典”    ‎