TRADITIONAL GRAMMAR

TRADITIONAL GRAMMAR VERSUS FUNCTIONAL GRAMMAR

Grammar (Definition and a short history)

Early grammar was that of Sanskrit compiled by Indian grammarian Panini 400 BC aimed at the preaching of their religious book “Vedas” and for the translation of their “Buddha religion”. Word grammar is derived from Greek word “Grammatica or “Grammatical Techne” means “The art of writing” And this Greek concept lasted till middle ages where it became “A set of rules usually in the form of a text book dictating correct usage “. Grammar is the branch of linguistics dealing with the form and structure of words (morphology), and their interrelation in sentences (syntax). The study of grammar reveals how language works, other definition of grammar says that grammar is rule and regulations of a language governing the sounds, words, sentences, and other elements, as well as their combination and interpretation. The Romans adopted the grammatical system of the Greeks and applied it to Latin. Except for Varro, of the 1st century BC, who believed that grammarians should discover structures, not dictate them, most Latin grammarians did not attempt to alter the Greek system and also sought to protect their language from decay. Whereas the model for the Greeks and Alexandrians was the language of Homer, the works of Cicero and Virgil set the Latin standard. The works of Donatus (4th century AD) and Priscian (6th century AD), the most important Latin grammarians, were widely used to teach Latin grammar during the European Middle Ages. In medieval Europe, education was conducted in Latin, and Latin grammar became the foundation of the liberal arts curriculum. Many grammars were composed for students during this time. Aelfric, the abbot of Eynsham (11th century), who wrote the first Latin grammar in Anglo-Saxon, proposed that this work serve as an introduction to English grammar as well. Thus began the tradition of devising English grammar according to a Latin model.The Modesta, grammarians of the mid-13th to mid-14th century who viewed language as a reflection of reality, looked to philosophy for explanations of grammatical rules. In 17th-century France a group of grammarians from Port-Royal were  interested in the idea of universal grammar. The 20th-century linguist Noam Chomsky has called the Port-Royal group the first transformational grammarians.

Traditional grammar

Traditional grammar is the collection of prescriptive rules and concepts about the structure of language that is commonly taught in schools .Traditional English grammar (also known as school grammar) is largely based on the principles of Latin grammar, not on current linguistic research in English.In linguistics, a traditional grammar is a framework for the description of the structure of language. Traditional grammars are commonly used in language education. Concepts treated in traditional grammars include:

S .NO	NOUN	S.NO	NOUN
1	Subject	9	Noun
2	Predicate	10	Adjective
3	Object	11	Determiner
4	Predicative	12	Verb
5	Adverbial and adjunct	13	Adverb
6	Sentence	14	Preposition
7	Clause	15	Conjunction
8	Phrase	16	Pronoun

James D. William in his book (The Teacher's Grammar Book. Routledge, 2005) says about traditional grammar:

"We say that traditional grammar is prescriptive because it focuses on the distinction between what some people do with language and what they ought to do with it, according to a pre-established standard. . . . The chief goal of traditional grammar, therefore, is perpetuating a historical model of what supposedly constitutes proper language."

David Crystal says in his book ( The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language. Cambridge University Press, 2003):

"Grammarians of the 2000s are the inheritors of the distortions and limitations imposed on English by two centuries of a Latinate perspective."

In light of the above Traditional grammar is the Aristotelian orientation of Greek and Romans this was a vehicle of mastering many languages for centuries and it is full of short comings.

Advantages of traditional grammar

The primary purpose of speaking and writing is to communicate with others. Grammar is simply the commonly accepted methods of organizing and expressing words and phrases so that the intended meaning is easily and successfully communicated. As long as accepted grammar rules are followed, the communication can be successful. However, when the grammar rules are not followed fairly closely, it can become awkward for the listener to hear the intended message. It is as if they arehaving to walk through a verbal obstacle course to reach the destination, the meaning of the communication. Misuse of grammar can also convey to the reader or listener that the communicator is not educated or not intelligent. Improper use of grammar is used by writers when they are attempting to show a lack of refinement in their characters.

Dis advantages of traditional grammar

·        Firstly, it is prescriptive in nature, attempting to lay down rules for speakers of a language.

·        Secondly, its grammatical categories are merely based on European languages and are found inadequate in describing other languages.

·        Thirdly, it lacks a theoretical framework and thus fails to account for the nature of language.

·        It has given a distorted view of what language is, placing priority on rules rather than on functions of communication.

·        Language is not a math. (Is there such a thing a 'traditional grammar'?) Though grammar can help, in the same way maths can help in Biology or other sciences.

·        The grammar of English is constantly changing (oxymoronically). Though, one could argue that there is a universal grammar, as was thought in the Baroque and Classical eras, more esp. with music.

Functional Grammar

Functional Grammar (FG) is a general theory of the organization of natural language as developed by Simon C. Dik and others. In the theory functional notions play essential and fundamental roles at different levels of grammatical organization. The theory is based on data and descriptions of many languages, and therefore has a high degree of typological adequacy. FG offers a platform for both theoretical linguists interested in representation and formalism and descriptive linguists interested in data and analysis. The Renaissance approach to grammar, which based the description of all languages on the model of Greek and Latin, died slowly, however. Not until the early 20th century did grammarians began to describe languages on their own terms. Noteworthy in this regard are the Handbook of American Indian Languages (1911), the work of the German American anthropologist Franz Boas and his colleagues; and the studies by the Danish linguist Otto Jespersen, A Modern English Grammar (pub. in four parts, 1909-31), and The Philosophy of Grammar (1924). Boas's work formed the basis of various types of American descriptive grammar study. Jespersen's work was the precursor of such current approaches to linguistic theory as transformational generative grammar.Some grammarians are more concerned, however, with determining how the meaningful arrangement of the basic word-building units (morphemes) and sentence-building units (constituents) can best be described. This approach is called descriptive grammar. Descriptive grammars contain actual speech forms recorded from native speakers of a particular language and represented by means of written symbols. Descriptive grammars indicate what languages—often those never before written down or otherwise recorded—are like structurally.Boas challenged the application of conventional methods of language study to those non-Indo-European languages with no written records, such as the ones spoken by Native North Americans (see Native American Languages). He saw grammar as a description of how human speech in a language is organized. A descriptive grammar should describe the relationships of speech elements in words and sentences. Given impetus by the fresh perspective of Boas, the approach to grammar known as descriptive linguistics became dominant in the U.S. during the first half of the 20th century.We have now discussed both type of grammar in full detail ,now let us have a look on their features then it would be then easy for us to decide what tupe of grammar is needed nowadays.

COMPARATIVE STUDY OF TRADITIONAL AND FUNCTIONAL GRAMMAR

S.NO	TRADITIONAL GRAMMAR	FUNCTIONAL GRAMMAR
1	It is old and is declined after the eighteenth century.	It is developed newly mainly in the twentieth century.
2	It is pre or unscientific.	It is scientific.
3	It is illogical, inconsistent and unmethodological.	It is logical, consistent and methodological.
4	Subjective or intuitive.	Objective and verifiable.
5	Informal	Formal
6	Studies language as they were all alike.	Studies language as a mirror of culture, since no cultures are alike, no two languages are alike.
7	Gives priority to written form, especially literary form of language.	Gives priority to spoken form, the contemporary, actual usage.
8	Lacks precision and economy.	Is full of precision and economy.
9	Is a set of prescriptive or normative rules	Is an inventory of the language units phoneme ,  morpheme phrases , clauses and sentences.
10	Gives main emphasis to meaning.	Since meaning is a very complex phenomenon it ignores meaning rather emphasize communication.
11	Based on Greek and Latin models.	Based on factual study of language.
12	Fusion of all linguistic levels.	Separation of all linguistic levels.
13	Explanatory (How and Why?)	Observational and descriptive or functional.
14	Humanistic and philosophical study.	Empirical science.
15	It could not express gesture and feelings.	It could express gesture and feelings.
16	It could not considerate language change.	Since language is constantly in change it accepts new trends.
17	It emphasizes rules.	It observes native speakers.
18	It is deductive.	It is inductive.
19	It has long history.	It has short history.
20	It ignores speaking.	It emphasizes speaking.

USES OF TRADITIONAL GRAMMAR

S.NO	USE OF TRADITIONAL GRAMMAR AND REASON
1	Phraseology of second language could be easily explained.
2	It is useful for adults as they can follow rule and can produce good language.
3	It is in use in our schools as our education system is mainly based on grammar translation method (GTM). Moreover many teachers are also not trained for the same.
4	It is in use as we can not produce native like situation in our schools.

USES OF FUNCTIONAL GRAMMAR

S.NO	USE OF FUNCTIONAL GRAMMAR AND REASON
1	It‘s use is helpful in classes as it produce native like speaking.
2	It emphasizes native like use of language therefore students learn language naturally.
3	It is student centered and in our country it can not be used due to non availability of trained staff.
4	Language could be learnt easily therefore now it is much emphasized.

Conclusion:

Inspite of focusing on  functional grammar Traditional grammar being full of short comings is still in use because of our system being based on it and. To sum up I would like to quote Fries who says about Traditional grammarians thus:

“Not insightful, prescientific, prescriptive and having a literary bias, they are full of inadequacies there may be about 200 definitions of a sentences yet they are not able to differentiate between “The dog is barking and The barking dog.” ” 

REFERENCES CITED

• James D. Williams, The Teacher's Grammar Book. Routledge, 2005.
• David Crystal, The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language. Cambridge University Press, 2003.
• George Hillocks, Research on Written Composition: New Directions for Teaching. National Council of Teachers, 1986.
• Brian Brooks, James Pinson, and Jean Gaddy Wilson, Working with Words. Macmillan, 2005.
• Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation.
• Grammar Code 5657 AIOU Islamabad.