浅谈英语语法及其分类
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【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
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
contemporaryenglishgrammarmayroughlybedividedintothreemajor
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:
a.thegrammarrulesaremadeonthebasisoflogicalreasoning(just
likelatingrammar),andusedtodecidewhetheracertainlanguage
phenomenoniscorrectornot.
b.thesystemisdividedintomorphologyandsyntax.
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
grammariansareopposedtodividingwordclassesaccordingtothe
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.
municativegrammar---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.
parativegrammar---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-
”
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,wewillsurelymakegoodprogressinourenglishstudy
ongrammar.
【bibliography】
[1]thomson,a.j,andmartineta.v.:“apracticalenglishgrammar”.
[2]leech,g.andsvartvik,j.:“a communicativegrammarofenglish”.
[3]chomsky,n.:“syntacticstructures”.
[4]lester,m.:“introductorytransformationalgrammarofenglish”.
[5]xuliwu:“apracticalgrammarofcontemporaryenglish”.
[6]yuguolin:“anewenglishgrammarforcollegestudents”.
[7]李学平、潘欢怀:“当代英语语法概论”.
[8]四川大学外文系:“英语语法词典”