What is

‘Grammar’?
Lecture 1
What comes to your
mind when you hear
the word g
​ lamour​
?
∎ ​A book

∎ ​Linguistic theory

A
∎​ subdiscipline

∎ ​A
speaker’s knowledge of
language
Nowadays the term
‘grammar’ has a number
 of different meanings.

Language
➢​ is divided into
different
structural levels only for the sake
of ​investigation.

➢ ​We have to separate one

linguistic fact
from another in order to analyse
it thoroughly.
The traditional approach to
grammar
 Each
∎​ linguistic level has its own specific features.
Which are the structural levels of
language?
lexico-semantical
morphological
phonological

syntactical
for an
item of one level to
➢ ​It is not possible
combine with an integrated into
item of ​
another another ​level
level
it
➢​ acquires the
➢ ​while preserving features of the level
the into which it has
qualities of the been integrated,
original ​level abandoning the
➢ ​an item of one features ​it had in
level can the previous ​ level
pass over and be
Phonemes, ​
morphemes​, ​words

What about morphemes? Are

there any
words consisting of only one
morpheme?

,, ,,, ffl, ☼;

Is it possible to have a
morpheme made of ​only one
phoneme?

Gender ➢
➢​ ​ ​Ex.​, , ,
, 

Number ➢
➢​ ​ ​Ex.?
J. Molhova: There are also many
points in ​language where the
respective levels not ​only
function together but intersect
there is a similar parallel with the
category ​of ​
number

person

person
 mother

person
children

bull

calf
father cow

➢ ​J.Molhova: every form has its

content /
meaning; and every content /
meaning has its ​form

Grammatical category
form meaning
The morpheme is the
smallest meaningful unit

table
➢​ - tables; cat - cats;
girl- girls

➢ ​table,cat, girl ​the common

forms ​singular ​of the nouns ​➢
tables, cats, girls ​the common
plural ​forms of the nouns.
the difference between a
grammatical and a lexical
item

➢ ​The form is one and the same and

the meaning ​accordingly ➢

​ ​0o - a
singular noun, common case ​➢ ​-s – a
marker of plurality in English

the morphemes 0 and -s have

these meanings ​irrespective of

the lexical meanings of the ​items

This description refers
both to the form and its
meaning
Hypothesis​: ​a grammatical
category is a specific form with a
specific meaning ​
independent of
the lexical meaning of the item
 She
➢​ is a teacher. ​➢ ​She is a
bla. ​
➢ ​The bla blas.

every
➢​ word is phonologically
motivated

Ex.
➢​ ​ orrowings – ​fashion -
b
фешън ​➢ ​The former English
phoneme is substituted by a
Bulgarian one​.
Words ​consist of strings of
sounds, ​forming the
phonological system of
language

It
➢​ is not possible for any word
to function ​without having a

​ ​It is not
grammatical form. ➢
possible for any word to follow
the ​
grammatical pattern of

another language.

every word must be

grammatically ​
motivated
a ​word ​must have a
grammatical form ​compatible
with the existing ​grammatical
patterns in the language
➢ ​It
is impossible to add
anything more to
the word on the morphological
level. ​➢ ​Ex. girl – girls
girl- girl- + -0 = girl girl- + -s =
girls
The grammatical
motivation actually turns a
morpheme ​or a ​group of
morphemes ​ into a ​
word
 Grammatical motivation
can be considered as
grammatical
completeness

For this reason one can discuss

problems of ​meaning connected
with the word with greater
confidence than with the
morpheme.