Download Fall 2007, English 3318: Studies in English Grammar

Fall 2007, English 3318:
Studies in English Grammar
Instructor: Dr. Svetlana Nuernberg
Office: 1092-94 S and 451 S
Office Hours: MW 1:00-2:00 PM and by appointment
Email: [email protected]
Course Description and Objectives
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This 3-credit course is an intensive survey of the
principles and problems of English Grammar
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with emphasis on developing vocabulary and
understanding necessary to identify and explain writing
choices and errors
Upon completion of this course, students should
be able:
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to articulate the goals of prescriptive and descriptive
grammar perspectives
to know and comfortably use terminology relevant for
discussions of grammar and writing issues
Objectives
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Students should:
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be aware of the relationship between structure and
meaning
be able to find, correct and explain the common errors
in phrases and sentences
be able to apply basic language analysis skills to
English words and sentences
be able to generate basic sentence trees using basic
principles of phrase structure theories
This semester will be spent discussing abstract
structures to report an infinite number of
meanings.
Course Materials
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Required
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Analyzing English Grammar. Klammer Th., Schulz
M.R., Della Volpe A. 2007. 5th Edition. Boston:
Pearson Longman.
Optional
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Understanding English Grammar. Kolln M., Funk R.
7th Edition. Boston: Pearson Education.
Doing Grammar. Morenberg, Max. 2002. 3rd Edition.
New York: Oxford University Press.
Other Topics
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Evaluation
Written Work
Attendance and Lateness
Academic Honesty
Schedule
Introduction
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Grammar vs Other Subjects
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you are already experts
you have an innate “language competence”
Ways to Deal with Knowledge
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focal knowledge
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ability to list the steps to be followed in order to produce
result (at a conscious level)
tacit knowledge
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information about how to produce a result (at an
unconscious level)
The Purpose of Grammar
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A person who learns a language acquires
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a system of rules that relate sound and meaning in a
certain specific way
a certain competence that he puts to use in producing
and understanding speech
The theory of grammar tries to discover
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the system of rules that govern human speech
the principles and factors that determine the selection
of the system of the appropriate forms
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on the basis of the data available
What Is Grammar?
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Several Different Concepts
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A complete linguistic system that exists in the mind of a
speaker of a language
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A (written) description of a language
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when we refer to “a grammar of English”
An abstract notion of an ideal set of rules (of correct or
proper grammar)
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the knowledge when we say that someone“knows” a language
when we say that someone uses good grammar
A handbook containing the prescriptive rules
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when we say that someone looked it up in his grammar
Representation of Grammar
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A system of content connections of morphemes
(as the smallest meaningful units) within speech
complexes
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The word as a semantic integrity of morphological
units (prefixes, roots, suffixes, infixes, etc.)
The phrase or word-combination as a semantic unity of
words
The sentence as a semantic unity of phrases
The speech complex as a semantic unity of sentences
The textual segment as a semantic aggregate of speech
complexes (supra-synthetic unities)
Grammar Versus Usage
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Language is in a constant state of change
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attempts to control the process failed (eg. simplification
of spelling; eg. drive thru; call it a nite, etc)
varieties of English are equivalent to groups of speakers
(dialects: social, regional)
adaptations or creations of groups enter the language and
become acceptable – standard
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Fancy the happiness of Pinocchio on finding himself free
(1925) vs Imagine Pinocchio's joy when he felt himself free
(1983).
e.g., 'contact' (noun) – the state in which two things touch one
another becomes 'contact' (verb) – the state of people being in
touch with one another
e.g., different from vs different than; enormity vs
enormousness
Language Changing or Anomalies
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Changing of Stress
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Phonetic Hyper Correction ('r' )
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to import (verb), import (noun)
to address (verb), address (noun)
from deer [diər] to [diə]
from idea [aidiə] to [aidiər]
Word Forms
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prototypic, prototypal, prototypical
archetypic, archetypal, archetypical
Spoken and Unspoken Rules
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The rules (patterns) that you follow and can explain
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word order
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subject verb agreement
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The little old house that stands on the corner of 12th and Vine
belongs to me.
Stands corner little the on house of and 12th that Vine the
belongs to me.
A hunter killed a bear.
A bear killed a hunter.
He doesn't speak Chinese.
He don't speak Chinese.
formation of the past form
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He swam across the river.
She jumped up very high.
Spoken and Unspoken Rules
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The rules that you follow, but can't explain why
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do not use double negation
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do not split the infinitives
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I tried to assess the situation quickly.
I tried to quickly assess the situation.
do not end the sentence with a preposition
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He doesn't know anything about it.
He doesn't know nothing about it.
With whom did you go?
Whom did you go with?
The rules that you follow, but do not know that they
exist
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f***ing insertion (up down up down intonation pattern)
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California, Nevada, Illinois, Washington, Mississippi
Prescriptive Grammar
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A Prescriptive Approach
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borrowed from Latin-centered curriculum
the goal is to control language use or set standards for
language use
the standards are usually expressed in the form of
prescriptive rules - Standard American English
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the belief in an absolute standard of correctness
language use is either correct or incorrect
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to regulate and enforce a particular usage
to make judgments about language
established through understanding and following the norms
of correctness by educated people
registered in authorized reference works – handbooks,
dictionaries
Examples of Prescriptive Grammar
Rules
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Do not use unnecessary words
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Avoid frequent usage of be as a main verb
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gives advice about style
warns against overuse of be
You may use “It's me” in speech
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gives permission to use an informal expression
Investigating Language
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The stigma attached to ain't has left a void in our
language. You will discover how we filled void
when you add appropriate tag questions to the
three sentences
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The weather is nice today, _________________?
You are my friend, _________________?
I am your friend, _______________________?
Now turn those tag questions into statement
Pay attention to the third one, does it sound
ungrammatical to you? Would you call ain't
ungrammatical?
Descriptive Grammar
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A Descriptive Approach
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originated from scholarly tradition (Pedagogical
Grammar – concerned with the need of students and
teachers)
formed from two schools of thought
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American Structural Linguistics (1920-1950)
Transformational Generative Grammar (since 1960s)
the goal is to observe, record, and predict patterns of
actual language use
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the rules describe natural language patterns and try to
account for those patterns
the focus is on whether the utterances sound natural to the
native speakers
Examples of Descriptive Grammar
Rules
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Articles (a, an, the) precede nouns
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In questions, the verb usually begins the sentence
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describes the word order of NP (noun phrases)
describes the form of question
Imperative sentences (e.g., “Leave at once”)
usually lack a subject
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describes the form of command
Describing How the System Works
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Variation in usage among speakers of SAE
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whose version to use as a model?
which style of speech to follow?
at what point does a form become acceptable?
what about borderline cases?
Example snoring vs boring
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snoring professor
boring professor
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are both words participles, derived from verbs snore, bore?
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the professor is snoring – snoring professor (modifies the word)
the professor is boring – boring professor (modifies the word)
are they adjectives?
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adjectives can be compared and qualified, participles cannot
very boring professor vs very snoring professor
he is more boring than she is vs she is more snoring than he is
Exercise 1 - Identifying Rules
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Briefly explain whether the following rules are
descriptive or prescriptive.
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Adverbs such as however can be moved around in
sentences.
Do not use the passive voice without a good reason.
Most verbs form the past tense by adding -d or ed to
the base form.
Use precise adjectives and concrete nouns
Dialects
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Dialect - a variant of language spoken by a group
of people sharing the same time (historical period)
or space (geographical or social environment)
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20th century vs Shakespeare's days “Thou shouldst not
have been old till thou hadst been wise” (King Lear)
residing in a specific country: trunk (AE), boot (BE)
belonging to specific socioeconomic group: this, those,
these – pronounce with -d rather than -th
depending on their psychological state, speaking to the
same sex, age, interests, religion, or profession
Examples of Dialects
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Regional dialects
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Southerners:
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park and pork may sound alike (different sounds for
Northerners)
roasting ear – refer to what American from other regions
call corn-on-the-cob
Social dialects
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lower economic or educational level
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say I seen it instead I saw it
sex and age difference
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sex – men interrupt women more that women interrupt men
age – calling your parents: mommy, daddy vs mom, dad or
mother and father
Regional Dialects
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The first English-speaking immigrants brought to the
US in 17th century local British dialects
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during 17th-18th centuries the dialects underwent a process of
leveling
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dialect differences became less marked (accommodating to other
dialects)
diminished communication with England
developing pronunciation and vocabulary distinct to the New
World
West African slaves influenced the American Language
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spoke a version of English (evolved from the pidgin English
used to conduct African trade including slavery)
combined with English spoken by whites it became Black
English Vernacular (BEV) or African-American EV (AAEV)
Regional Dialects
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th
During 19 century regional dialects in AE grew
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eastern border was in closer contact with England than
the rest of the country
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settlement patterns
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adopted some changes that were happening there
r-less pronunciation of coastal New England - (pahk the cab)
the national spread westward tended to follow major
geographical boundaries – rivers, mountain – divide chief
regional dialects today
influence of Black English on Southern White English
Today there are three major regional varieties of AE
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the Northern, Midland, the Southern
in the west all three of them blended, but Midland is
dominating
Southern vs Northern Dialects
Southern Speech
watt
raid
a color
a primary color
Cotton is watt
The American flag is raid, watt and blue
par
poke
electric current
Turn off the par
bacon meat from pig We had poke and eggs for breakfast
Boston Speech (Northern)
Cuber
draw
drawering
cod
the Caribbean island ruled by Fidel Castro
a compartment in a chest for storing clothes; a drawer
a sketch made with a pencil, pen or crayon
a small, flat piece of stiff paperboard for playing bridge and poker
Social Dialects
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Sociolinguistic stratification (NY, Washington
DC, LA, Chicago, Detroit) – their residents are
divided along social class lines that can be
identified by regular patterns of linguistic
variations
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social dialect of educated, middle-class professionals –
is considered standard (keep -r in words like guard; say
thing and not ting or these not dese)
social dialects of those without education, wealth, and
power – are labeled nonstandard (omit -r in words like
horse; use -d instead of th in the words this, those)
Regional Dialect into Social Dialect
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Migration of large groups results in a regional
dialect becoming a social dialect
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Appalachian English
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Southwest – speakers with Hispanic background
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people from Appalachian region moved to northern cities in
search of jobs
new dialect patterns were added to urban language
environment
verbs that are considered singular agree with plural subjects:
they was, the car is, those people makes, her children has
substitute ch for sh – shin and chin are pronounced the same
Vietnamese speakers
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Sam walk to school yesterday instead of Sam walked to
school yesterday
Standard American English
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General American Dialect as a Standard American
English
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Broadcast Standard English or Network Standard
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many features of pronunciation, vocabulary, and
grammar are shared by middle-class, urban, educated
speakers of the language
it is a mixture of widely used pronunciation and
vocabulary with grammar drawn pretty much from the
prescriptive handbooks (Northern and Midland)
Standard written (edited) English
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emphasizing the careful revision and corrections that
are usually necessary in formal writing
Standard Written English
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Changes more slowly than any spoken dialect
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advantage: resistant to change – remained relatively
uniform
disadvantage: spoken form changes and moves away
from written form of English
Brings access to power through educational and
professional advancement
Has prestigious place among the various American
social dialects
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style shifting occurs when we are speaking more than
one dialect and for some occasions are shifting our
language closer to patterns of standard language
Hyper Correction
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It happens when we are trying to shift our
language closer to the patterns of standard English
It is when speaker goes “one better”
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characteristic of second ranking communities
An example is saying between you and I instead
between you and me
Linguistic insecurity and the desire to be correct
leads some speakers to overcorrect
Exercise 2 Hypercorrection
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Hypercorrection is the tendency of speakers to
overcorrect their speech in formal situations. Some
linguists explain overcorrection by relating it to
the speaker's great anxiety about speaking
properly, rather than naturally.
Might it also offer a means of understanding the
occurrence of sentences like
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Whom did you say is calling?
We will accept whomever applies.
in which who, rather than whom, is correct form?
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you propose?
Second Language Acquisition
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Interlanguage – exhibits features of both the new
(second, target) language and the native language
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developmental errors – represent an apparently universal
stage in the development of English language
proficiency
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making the same mistakes as children make acquiring the first
language: saying bringed, drived instead of brought, drove
correcting mistakes later when learning individual exceptions
for irregular verbs
transfer errors
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occur only in second language learning, when learners transfer
to the new language a feature from their first language: espeak
instead of speak for Spanish speakers
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the combination sp cannot begin a word without a vowel coming first
Styles
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Casual speech characterized by conversation that
treats the listener as an insider who shared much
knowledge with the speaker
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ellipses (parts of sentences can be omitted) is frequent
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Coffee's good. Nice day today. What's up? See ya later!
slang and informal vocabulary is used
Consultative style – when adults exchange
information with superiors or people they do not
know
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standard English is usually used or shift occurs
Styles
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Formal Style – occurs in speeches for public
occasions
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planned in advance
eg. One may suppose that vs I think that
Informal style – everyone's usage of language
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a continuum starting from casual speech to formal
speech
Exercise 3 – Analyzing Styles
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Although the full range of speech styles can be
observed in college classrooms, the language tends
to shift between consultative and formal styles.
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Think about the speech style of the instructors in the
classes that you are currently taking.
Consider the degree to which the presentation
approaches the formality of written English and how
often students interrupt with contributions and
questions.
How would you place the lectures on the continuum
from casual to consultive to formal?
Do you find that you monitor your own speech more in
a formal classroom situation than in a casual one?