Palmer Why study grammar?

What sets man apart from the rest of the animal Kingdom is his ability to speak. Grammar is a human characteristic. Man is homo Grammaticus. Language is a communication system. Grammar is the device that specifies the infinite set of well-formed sentences and assigns to each of them one or more structural descriptions. There are three characteristics of language that are important for the understanding of the nature of grammar: it is complex, productive and arbitrary. It is complex because it hasnt proved possible to translate mechanically from one language to another with really satisfactory results. It is productive because we can produce myriads of sentences that we have never heard or uttered before. It is arbitrary because there is no one-to-one relation between sound and meaning, this account for the fact that languages differ mostly in their grammatical structure. What is grammar? Misconception: 1. A grammar of a language is a book written about it. [A book is ABOUT grammar] 2. The grammar of the language is found only in the written language spoken languages have no grammar or at least frustrate so much that they are only partially grammatical. 3. Some languages have grammar, others not: Chinese, for instance, has no grammar, and English has precious little. syntax is part of grammar. 4. Grammar is something that can be good or bad, correct or incorrect. It is bad (incorrect) grammar to sat `Its me, for instance. 5. Some people know the grammar of their language, others do not.

Correct and Incorrect Grammar can be learnt and so `known, the basic mistake is seeing grammar as a ser of NORMATIVE rules (how to speak and write). Speech and writing The term `grammar comes from the Greek word meaning `to write, and is concerned with the written language. But, equally, the spoken language has a grammar. The written language is often far more homogeneous than the spoken. Form and meaning Grammar and semantics are not identified.