Traditional Grammar Overview

Traditional Grammar

• Traditional grammar is a theory of language that lays down rules for correct usage.
• It's based on ideas from ancient Greek and Roman sources.
• It focuses on correctness rather than actual usage.
• Prescriptivism is a key characteristic.
• It doesn't attempt to explain all languages uniformly.

Structure of Traditional Grammar

• Different traditions exist for different languages.
• Traditional grammar of European languages is an adaptation of Latin grammar.
• It views Latin as having better forms than English and French.
• It aims for a unified, prescriptive approach, not a descriptive model.

Historical Overview

• Traditional grammar stretches over 2000 years.
• Includes grammars from classical periods of Greece, India, and Rome.
• Covers the Middle Ages, Renaissance, 18th, and 19th centuries.
• More recent grammars reflect a prescriptive view.

Characteristics of Traditional Grammar

• Did not study language as a system.
• Focused on topics like logic, philosophy, literary criticism, etc.
• Biased against spoken language, incorrectly assuming it was similar to written language.
• Focused heavily on regular plural formation rules in the spoken language.
• Overlooked variations in pronunciation.
• Primarily a diachronic, rather than synchronic approach in language studies.
• Used comparative philology for analysis, which assumes historical connections without necessarily considering current states of languages.
• Examined the etymology of words.
• Did not emphasize the multiple functions of grammar.

Strengths and Limitations

• Provided some basic grammatical concepts (such as noun, verb, sentence, etc.).
• Influenced methods of teaching and codifying language.
• Suffered from limitations like not fully understanding language change.
• Failed to account for spoken variations.
• Prescriptions did not always correspond with actual usage.
• Failed to acknowledge different language functions other than literary.