Structural Grammar

Questions and Answers

The underlying structure of language

Morphology

Ferdinand de Saussure

Distributional analysis Signup and view all the answers

It oversimplifies the complexity of language Signup and view all the answers

Phonology Signup and view all the answers

Binary oppositions Signup and view all the answers

Traditional Grammar Signup and view all the answers

Study Notes

Structural grammar is a linguistic approach that focuses on the underlying structure of language, examining how words are combined to convey meaning.
It emphasizes the organization of language into smaller units, such as phonemes, morphemes, and phrases, to understand how they function together.

Syntax: the study of how words are combined to form phrases, clauses, and sentences.
Morphology: the study of the internal structure of words and how they are formed from smaller units (morphemes).
Phonology: the study of the sound system of language, including phonemes and their distribution.

Structuralism: focuses on the underlying structure of language, examining how words are combined to convey meaning.
Traditional Grammar: focuses on the surface-level features of language, such as parts of speech and sentence diagramming.

Ferdinand de Saussure: considered the father of modern linguistics, introduced the concept of structuralism in language study.
Leonard Bloomfield: developed the concept of structural grammar in the 1930s.
Noam Chomsky: influenced the development of structural grammar with his theory of generative grammar.

Binary oppositions: the idea that language is composed of binary oppositions, such as phonemes /p/ and /b/, which distinguish between words.
Distributional analysis: the study of how linguistic units are distributed in speech and writing to understand their function.
Componential analysis: the study of how smaller units (morphemes) combine to form words.

Oversimplification: structural grammar can oversimplify the complexity of language.
Limited applicability: structural grammar may not be applicable to all languages or dialects.
Ignoring pragmatic context: structural grammar can ignore the pragmatic context in which language is used.

Focuses on the underlying structure of language, examining how words are combined to convey meaning
Emphasizes the organization of language into smaller units, such as phonemes, morphemes, and phrases, to understand how they function together

Syntax: studies how words are combined to form phrases, clauses, and sentences
Morphology: studies the internal structure of words and how they are formed from smaller units (morphemes)
Phonology: studies the sound system of language, including phonemes and their distribution

Structuralism: focuses on the underlying structure of language, examining how words are combined to convey meaning
Traditional Grammar: focuses on the surface-level features of language, such as parts of speech and sentence diagramming

Ferdinand de Saussure: introduced the concept of structuralism in language study and is considered the father of modern linguistics
Leonard Bloomfield: developed the concept of structural grammar in the 1930s
Noam Chomsky: influenced the development of structural grammar with his theory of generative grammar

Binary oppositions: language is composed of binary oppositions, such as phonemes /p/ and /b/, which distinguish between words
Distributional analysis: studies how linguistic units are distributed in speech and writing to understand their function
Componential analysis: studies how smaller units (morphemes) combine to form words

Oversimplification: can oversimplify the complexity of language
Limited applicability: may not be applicable to all languages or dialects
Ignoring pragmatic context: can ignore the pragmatic context in which language is used