Language Agenda - Review of Grammar

Agenda — More on descriptive vs. prescriptive grammar — Another way to think about what grammar is — Application exercise: language variation and descriptive grammar — Start the brain and language unit Warm-up — Which of the following best describes a speaker’s linguistic competence? ¡ ¡ ¡ A....

Agenda — More on descriptive vs. prescriptive grammar — Another way to think about what grammar is — Application exercise: language variation and descriptive grammar — Start the brain and language unit Warm-up — Which of the following best describes a speaker’s linguistic competence? ¡ ¡ ¡ A. A speaker’s mental representation of language B. A speaker’s physical limitations on using language C. How a speaker should speak. Review — So how do linguists go about discovering the properties of the mental grammar? — Linguists take a scientific, empirical approach: e.g. what sound sequences and sentences do native speakers allow? — This allows us to determine what is possible in a language and what isn’t. Review — Descriptive Grammar: linguist’s description of the mental grammar (what speakers know) ¡ What the speaker’s rules actually are. ¡ It is a description of what can actually be said. ¡ We will focus on studying descriptive grammar in this class I don’t want to talk to nobody today. Over there is the apple tree I stood next to. Who did you dance with? You walking to the library? Review — Prescriptive Grammar: ‘rules’ of grammar (which for English are often based on Latin) dictated by style/ grammar book ‘authorities’ on language ¡ What a speaker’s rules should be according to these ‘authorities’ ¡ These rules may generate types of sentences that you might not often hear in the real world. Over there is the apple tree next to which I stood. With whom did you dance?