Kinds of Grammar

Roll no. BSENL-19-06

Kinds of Grammar

There are following kinds of Grammar:

1) Generative Grammar
2) Mental Grammar
3) Pedagogical Grammar
4) Theoretical Grammar
5) Reference Grammar
6) Traditional Grammar
7) Universal Grammar

1. Generative Grammar

A precisely formulated set of rules whose output is all (and only) the sentences of a language i.e.,
of the language that it generates. There are many different kinds of generative grammar,
including transformational grammar as developed by Noam Chomsky from the mid-1950s.
Linguists have disagreed as to which, if any, of these different kinds of generative grammar serves
as the best model for the description of natural language.

Encyclopedia Britannica

2. Mental Grammar

Mental grammar is the generative grammar stored in the brain that allows a speaker to
produce language that other speakers can understand. It is also known as competence
grammar and linguistic competence. It contrasts with linguistic performance, which is the
correctness of actual language use according to a language's prescribed rules.

The concept of mental grammar was popularized by American linguist Noam Chomsky in his
groundbreaking work "Syntactic Structures" (1957).

(Philippe Binder and Kenny Smith, the Language Phenomenon)

3. Pedagogical Grammar

Pedagogical grammar is grammatical analysis and instruction designed for second-

language students. Also called ped grammar or teaching grammar.

In An Introduction to Applied Linguistics (2007), Alan Davies observes that a pedagogical

grammar may be based on the following:

1. A grammatical analysis and description of the language

2. A particular grammatical theory
3. The study of the grammatical problems of learners or on a combination of approaches.

David Taylor

4. Theoretical Grammar

Theoretical grammar is concerned with language in general rather than with an individual
language, as is the study of essential components of any human language. Transformational
grammar is one variety of theoretical grammar.

According to Antoinette Renouf and Andrew Kehoe:

"Theoretical grammar or syntax is concerned with making completely explicit the formalisms
of grammar, and in providing scientific arguments or explanations in favor of one account of
grammar rather than another, in terms of a general theory of human language."

Antoinette Renouf and Andrew Kehoe

The Changing Face of Corpus Linguistics. Rodopi, 2003

 5. Reference Grammar

A reference grammar is a prose-like description of the major grammatical constructions in a

language, illustrated with examples. Designed to teach someone about the language and to give
readers a reference tool for looking up specific details of the language.

Glossary of Linguistic Terms

6. Traditional Grammar

The term traditional grammar refers to the collection of prescriptive rules and concepts about the
structure of language that is commonly taught in schools. Traditional English grammar, also
referred to as school grammar, is largely based on the principles of Latin grammar, not on
modern linguistic research in English.

Traditional grammar defines what is and is not correct in the English language, not accounting for
culture or modernizing in favor of maintaining tradition. Because it is fairly rigid and rooted in the
ways of the past, traditional grammar is often considered outdated and regularly criticized by
experts. Even so, many children learn this proper, historical form of grammar today.

7. Universal Grammar

Universal grammar consists of a set of atomic grammatical categories and relations that are the
building blocks of the particular grammars of all human languages, over which syntactic structures
and constraints on those structures are defined. A universal grammar would suggest that all
languages possess the same set of categories and relations and that in order to communicate
through language, speakers make infinite use of finite means, an idea that Wilhelm von
Humboldt suggested in the 1830s.

Universal grammar, theory proposing that humans possess innate faculties related to the
acquisition of language. The definition of universal grammar has evolved considerably since first
it was postulated and, moreover, since the 1940s, when it became a specific object of modern
linguistic research. It is associated with work in generative grammar, and it is based on the idea
that certain aspects of syntactic structure are universal.

Encyclopedia Britannica