Understanding the Role and Importance of Grammar in Language - Prof. Oró, Apuntes de Literatura inglesa

¡Descarga Understanding the Role and Importance of Grammar in Language - Prof. Oró y más Apuntes en PDF de Literatura inglesa solo en Docsity! Describing language Introduction Grammar • The set of rules that allow us to combine words in English into larger units (cf. syntax). • Native speakers of a language implicitly know the rules which allow us to distinguish between well formed and ill formed sentences and utterances. • We acquire working knowledge of the rules of our L1 by being exposed to it from early childhood. • Later on, we undertake a formal study of grammar in order to make explicit the rules which we apply when we use language. • Phonology deals with the distinctive sounds of language and the ways in which they may be combined. • Orthography deals with the distinctive written symbols and their possible combinations. • Phonetics deals with the physical characteristics of the sounds in the language and how these sounds are produced. • Morphology refers to the set of rules that describe the structure of words (morphemes, roots, affixes) • Pragmatics is concerned with the use of particular utterances within particular contexts. Grammars of English • There are many grammars of English. • They differ in how much of the grammar they cover, how they set out the rules and the categorisation and terminology that they use. • In general we distinguish between descriptive and prescriptive grammars. • Descriptive grammars describe how people use language. The evidence to validate their rules is drawn from the knowledge that the speakers have of their L1 and from samples of their actual use of language. Variation according to use • Language varies according to context and communicative purpose. E.g. newspapers, cookery books, scientific papers, emails, poetry and fiction all have distinctive language features. Newspapers have a distinctive layout, headlines are often highly compressed, cookery books tend to use many imperatives, scientific papers use many passive constructions. • These varieties are known as registers, i.e. varieties of language associated with specific uses and communicative purposes. • Some variation depends on the medium, i.e. the channel of communication. There is a major distinction between spoken and written language. • Conversation involves immediate interchange between the participants, who convey their reactions both in words and through facial expressions and physical features. There is more spontaneity in conversation than in writing; self-correction occurs in the flow of conversation whereas it is eliminated through editing in writing. • Writing needs to be more explicit, since obscurities and misunderstandings cannot be resolved immediately. People feel more committed to what they have written because of the potential of permanence of written communication. • Language also varies according to the attitude of the speaker or writer towards the listener or reader, towards the topic and towards the purpose of communication.