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Noam Chomsky: Definition of Grammar Based From Different Authors
Noam Chomsky: Definition of Grammar Based From Different Authors
Noam Chomsky
-Generative grammar is a theory of grammar that holds the human language is shaped by a set of
basic principles that are part of the human brain. This “universal grammar”, according to linguist like
Chomsky comes from our innate language faculty.
David Crystal
- Grammar is the study of all the contrast of meaning that is possible to make within the sentence.
The ‘rules’ of grammar tell us how. By one count, there are some 3,500 such rules in English.
W. Nelson Francis
- the set of formal patterns in which the words of language are arranged in order to convey larger
meanings.
- the branch of linguistic science which is concerned with the description, analysis, and
formulation of formal language patterns.
- linguistic etiquette. Example is the expression, “he ain’t here” is bad grammar.
Richard Nordquist
-The word grammar comes from Greek, meaning “craft of letter” which is an apt description. The
systematic study and description of a language.
-grammar is simply the collection of principles defining how to put together a sentence.
-The department of the be study of a language which deals with its flexional forms or other means of
indicating the relations of word in the sentence, and with the rules of employing these in accordance
with established usage; usually including also the department which deals with the phonetic system of
the language and the principles of its representation of writing.
Trask
- Narrowly, the part of the structure of a language which includes sentence structure (syntax) and
word structure (morphology). A particular description of a language, or a book containing it. A linguist
who specializes in the study of grammar in this sense is a grammarian. Broadly, the entire structure
of a language, including not only its syntax and morphology but also its phonology and semantics,
and possibly also its pragmatics.
Huddleston
-The term “grammar” is used in the number of different senses. The grammar of a language may be
understood to be a full description of the form and meaning of the sentence of the language or else it
may cover only certain, variously delimited, parts of such description. Here we shall use it in one of
these narrower senses, embracing syntax and morphology.
- The term grammar is used in a number of different senses. The grammar of a language may be
understood to be a full description of the form and meaning of the sentence of the language or else it
may cover only certain, various delimited, parts of such description. Here we shall use it in one of
these narrower senses, embracing syntax and morphology
- The system of rules in our heads. You bring the study of grammar a lifetime of “knowing” how to
produce sentences. This subconscious, internalized system of rules is your “language competence”
-The social implications of usage, also known as “linguistic etiquette”. The definition could be called
the do’s and don’t’s of grammar. This is the definition that people have in mind when they use terms
like “poor grammar” or “good grammar”.
Hartwell
- A set of formal patterns in which the words of a language are arranged to covey larger meaning.
- The branch of linguistics concerned with the description, analysis, and formulation of a formal
language pattern.
- Linguistic etiquette.