University of Belgrade

Faculty of Philology
English Language III (Morphology)

TOPIC:
Comparison of definitions of grammar

Student:
Professor:
Milica Petrovic
Milojevic, M.A., Ph.D.
2011/0823

Jelisaveta

'It is difficult to capture the central role played by grammar

in the structure of language, other than by using a metaphor
such as 'framework' or 'skeleton'. But no physical metaphor can
express satisfactorily the multifarious kinds of formal patterning
and abstract relationship that are brought to light in a
grammatical analysis' (D.Crystal: A Dictionary of Linguistics and
Phonetics, Oxford, Basil Blackwell, sec.ed. 1985).
This introduction has the purpose of emphasizing in
advance how dificult it is to talk and write about language
disciplines. In further text, some most important definitions of
grammar and its branches will be mentioned and compared in
order to show the wide range of interpretations that exist when
it comes to exploring all characteristics of grammar. Beginning
with definitions from grammar books, moving on to the ones
from various dictionaries and reference books, this short work
will try to fulfil serious expectations about comparing selected
informations.
'Grammar is the system of rules and procedures
formulated as algorithms operating on the inventory of the
language units' (J.Milojevic: Essentials of English Morphology,
Belgrade: Papirus, 2003). This very concrete definition of
grammar can help in giving the main idea of what the purpose
of grammar is and what it actually represents, especially when
it comes to going into details and studying a language on a
certain academic level. What is to be remembered is the fact
that a language represents a compact organism, made of many
different parts with all their functions and in order that, as such,
it can work properly, all its parts have to be properly connected.
Precisely grammar is the connecting tissue. Grammar is the one
that gives a scheme and a pattern of how the above mentioned
language units should be organised. The same as an algorithm
does when being applied in mathematics, grammar means as
far as the organising a language is concerned.
In order to have the first definition well supported and to
have its accuracy proved, it is of high importance to mention
some other definitions of grammar.
'Grammar represents the rules of a language, concerning
the way in which you can put words together in order to make
sentences' (Collins COBUILD English Grammar, London: Collins
Publishers, The University of Birmingham and Glasgow, 1990).

'Grammar deals with the structure of languages, English

grammar with the structure of English, French grammar with
the structure of French etc. Language consists of words, but the
way in which these words are modified and joined together to
express thoughts and feelings differs from one language to
another. The grammar of each language constitutes a system of
its own, each element of which stands in a certain relation to,
and is more or less, dependent on, all the others' (O.Jespresen:
Essentials of English Grammar, London: George Allen & Unwin
LTD, 1979)
What is also important to emphasize is that the meaning of
the very word 'grammar' does not only refer to the rules of a
language, but also can have the meaning og a book itself, 'A
grammar is a book that describes the rules of a language, eg.
an old French grammar' (Collins COBUILD English Grammar,
London: Collins Publishers, The University of Birmingham and
Glasgow, 1990). When it has this sort of meaning, it is
necessary to underline that as a noun itself, it has the category
of countability.
Having in mind that grammar, as one of the layers of the
language, or, as a connecting tissue, has its origin and some
information to be mentioned, in the next few paragraphs, there
is an explanation of how grammar evoluted in the past:
'The rules for constructing words and sentences in a
particular language, or the branch of linguistics studying this.
Every language has a grammar; indeed, every language has
quite a lot of grammar. Spoken languages like Latin, English,
Chinese and Navaho differ rather substantially in their
grammar, but they all have lots of it. The same is true of
creoles and of true sign languages like ASL and BSL; it is
even true of artificial languages like Esperanto, which has
vastly more grammar than is hinted at in its inventor's
celebrated 'sixteen rules'. On the other hand, pidgins have no
grammar to speak of and consist merely of words
supplemented by contextual clues. The lingusitic study of
grammar is conventionally divided into two parts: morphology
the study of word structure and syntax the study of
sentence structure. The tradition of studying grammar is
venerable: the ancient Indians, the ancient Greek and Romans,
and the medieval Chinese, Arabs, and Jews all did important
grammatical work on their favourite languages, and the PortRoyal grammarians in seventeenth-century France were already

contemplating grammar from a universalist point of view. But

the rise of modern linguistics in the early twentieth century
gave new imeptus to the study of grammar; by the 1930's and
1940's the American Leonard Bloomfield and his successors
were doing important work in morphology, and in the 1950's
Noam Chomsky made the study of syntax one of the most
prominent of all areas of linguistics, by introducing the new
approach called generative grammar and by reviving the
search for universal grammar' (R.L.Trask: Key Concepts in
Language and Lingusitics, Routledge 2004).
It is clearly visible that grammar had and still has its path
of evolution. Structuralism and many theores of grammar
pointed out the main importance of its role in exploring a
language. What this precise definition has is a broader pont of
view when it comes to explaining where does grammar, to say
so, actually date from.
Still, it looks like all previously mentioned definitions lack
in explaining
the grammar's exact place in a language
structure. To answer that difficult question, one can consult
even an encyclopedia and find that there are two different
approaches to the topic. According to the first one, language
structure includes three branches (phonology, grammar and
semantics), but as far as the other one is concerned: 'The
general sense of the term, popularized by Chomsky, subsumes
all aspects of sentence patterning, including phonology and
semantics, and introduces the term 'syntax' as the more
specific notion' (D.Crystal: A Dictionary of Linguistics and
Phonetics, Oxford, Basil Blackwell, sec.ed. 1985).
In other words, according to Noam Chomsky's point of
view, the term grammar includes phonology, syntax and
semantics.
According to the encyclopedia previously mentioned, there
are six types of grammar: descriptive, pedagogical,
prescriptive, reference, theoretical and traditional.
Descriptive grammar deals with 'grammatical constructions that
are used in a language, without making any evaluative
judgments about their standing in society'; pedagogical is 'a
book speciffically designed for teaching a foreign language, or
fore developing an awareness of the mother tongue';
prescriptive is 'a manual that focuses on constructions where
usage is divided, and lays down rules governing the socially
correct use of language'; reference grammar is a grammatical

description that tries to be as comprehensive as possible, so

that it can act as a reference book for those intrested in
establishing grammatical facts'; theoretical would be an
'approach that goes beyond the study of individual languages,
to determine what constructs are needed in order to do any
kind of grammatical analysis'; whereas traditional grammar is 'a
term often used to summarize the range of attitudes and
methods found in the period of grammatical study before the
advent of lingusitic science' (D.Crystal: A Dictionary of
Linguistics and Phonetics, Oxford, Basil Blackwell, sec.ed.
1985).
To prove that grammar has a wide range of substructures
that contribute to its cohesion and to prove that the
contribution itself follows the streams of modern and
contemporary tendencies, Radolph Quirk, in his 'Grammar of
Contemporary English' , London, 1972 explains: 'In the
education systems of the English speaking countries, it is
possible also to use the term 'grammar' loosely so as to include
both spelling and lexicology'.
****
Grammar books themselves are not the only sources of
information where the study of grammar and all that it involves
is explained. There are dictionaries as well, and there is a
difference. 'The dictionary therefore explains context words and
structural words alike, while the grammar-book describes and
explains all phenomena which can be brought under general
rules. It classifies words and states the peculiarities of each
category. To do this effectively and economically, it creates as
many categories as are deemed necessary or expedient, and
designates each by a term which will enable us to recognize it'
(H. E.Palmer and F.G.Blandford: A grammar of Spoken English,
third edition, W.Heffer & Sons LTD, Cambridge, 1969)
Although explanations in grammar books seem to be more
full-scale, which is somehow natural having in mind that they
are hanbooks, whereas dictionaries only give the explanation of
the very term 'grammar', dictionaries also can offer some basic
references about what grammar as such deals with. For
example: '1) That department of the study of a language which
deals with its inflectional forms or other means of indicating the
relations of words in the sentence, and with the rules for
employing these in accordance with established usage; usually

the phonetic system of the language and the principles of its

representation in writing.
2) General, Philosophical or Universal Grammar:
The science which analyses those dictionaries in thought
which it is the purpose of grammatical forms more or less
completely to render in expression, and which aims to finish a
scheme of classification capable of including all the
grammatical categories recognized in actual languages.
Historical grammar: the study of the historical
development of the inflextional forms and syntactical usages of
a language;
Comparative grammar: the comparative treatment of the
phenomena of two or more related languages, with the object of
determining the nature and degree of their relationship' (The
Oxford English Dictionary, volume IV, F-G, Oxford, 1933)
There are also definitions that do not actually mention the
development of grammar, nor the differnces between various
types of it, but give some further explanation of what grammar
itself can include. '1a) the study of the classes of words, their
inflections and their functions and relations in the science; b) a
study of what is to be preferred and what avoided in inflection
and syntax; 2a) the characteristic system of inflections and
syntax of a language; b) a system of rules that defines the
grammatical structure of a language; 3a) a grammar textbook;
b) speech or writing evaluated according to its conformity to
grammatical rules; 4) the principles or rules of an art, science,
or technique (a ~ of the theater)' (Merriam-Webster's Collegiate
Dictionary, Incorporated Springfield, Massachusetts, U.S.A.,
tenth edition, 1998).
All things considered, having to compare definitions,
especially if the topic is so delicate as the topic related to
grammar is, the task is very complex and responsible. As we
have seen, every grammar book and dictionary which is
regarded as respectable, offers differnt variations of one topic.
What is to be underlined is that the very first definition, by J.
Milojevic, M.A., Ph.D. actually gathers and makes concrete what
some other definitions widely explain, but also gives hints for
further research. There is no only one single definition that is
worth paying attention to. In order to get the whole image and
see how rules of grammar function in real language, every
source that provides its readers with as many tips as possible is

useful and the combination of these sources can help in

building a real fundament when it comes to language learning.

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Collins COBUILD English Grammar (1990) Collins
Publishers, The University of Birmingham, London and
Glasgow
Crystal, D. (1985) A dictionary of Linguistics and
Phonetics. Oxford, Basil Blackwell ( sec.ed.)
Jespersen, O. (1979) Essentials of English Grammar.
London: George Allen & Unwin
Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (1998)
Incorporated Springfield, Massachusetts U.S.A. (tenth
edition)

 Milojevic, J. (2003) Essentials of English Morphology.

Belgrade: Papirus
Oxford English Dictionary (1933) volume IV, F-G,
London: Oxford University Press
Palmer, H. (1969) Grammar of Spoken English (revised
by F.G.Blandfield, third ed.), Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press
Quirk, R. et al. (1972) A Grammar of Contemporary
English. London: Longman
Trask, R. L. (2004) Key Concepts in Language and
Linguistics. London: Routledge