DESCRIBING LANGUAGE

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WHAT IS GRAMMAR?

• Grammar is the body of rules that describe the structure of expressions in the language. This includes the structure of words, phrases, clauses and sentences.

THE GRAMMAR OF THE LANGUAGE

• The grammar of a language is the description of the ways in which words can change their forms and combined into sentences in that language.

• We can create any number of different sentences.

• For example:

• The child broke the window.(Active)• The window was broken by a boy.(Passive)

• NP1 + VP + NP2 NP2 + be + V – ed + by + NP1

WHAT IS COMPETENCE AND PERFORMANCE?

• According to Chomsky competence refers to a speaker's knowledge and ability to produce and to understand a number of sentences.

• Performance refers to the specific utterances, including grammatical mistakes and non-linguistic features.It is the realisation of competence.

WHAT IS MORPHEME?

• Morpheme is the smallest conceptual meaningful component of a word.

• Morphology (using morphemes to change the meaning) and syntax (the order that words can be arranged in) are essential in writing or speech for a successful communication.

SPOKEN AND WRITTEN GRAMMAR

• Sometimes in speech some grammatical rules seem to be completely ignored.

• Spoken English has its own discourse markers:

• For example:• Frequent non-clasual units(Mmm,No,Uh huh,Yeah)• A variety of tags not found in written style, such as

question tags.• Hesitators(er, umm, erm)• Interjections(ah, oh wow)• Condensed questions(More milk? Any luck?)• Echo questions(Oh did you say San Fransisco?)• Response forms(yeah or sure to acknowledge a

request)• Fixed polite speech formulae(Happy birthday!)

PROBLEMS WITH GRAMMAR RULES

• With grammar rules we can create infinite number of sentences.Some rules are easy to understand but some are so complex.

• Michael Swan suggest a number of measures of a good rule.These include ‘’simplicity’’ , ‘’truth’’ , ‘’clarity’’ and ‘’relevance’’.

LANGUAGE IN USE

LANGUAGE IN USE

• The words we use and what they mean are not the same thing.We choose words and phrases to have different effects from the surface meaning.

• For this we have four principles: Purpose , Appropriacy , Language in Discourse and Genre.

PURPOSE

• We have a purpose in mind which we wish to achieve.

• For example: It’s cold here. (Request to close the window)

• Would you like to come for a coffee?(Inviting and the purpose is to be a good host)

APPROPRIACY

• Would you like to come to the cinema?• How about coming to cinema?• What about the cinema?• There’s a good movie on at the cinema.

• Which form is the most appropriate for you?

• There are 5 principles which govern our choice:

• Setting: we use informal speech at home , whereas we may use more formal speech in an office.

• Participants: when we are talking to superiors we use a speech different from when we are talking to our friends , colleagues or members of our families.

• Gender: research shows women talk less when they are talking with opposite sex.

• Channel: we use different languages when talking on the phone , face to face interaction or in a hall in front of a crowd.

• Topic: the topic affects our grammatical choices.For example childbirth is different from football or physics.

LANGUAGE AS DISCOURSE

• Julian Edge shows how typical pattern of paragraph organization is exemplified in a simple story.

• Situation• Problem• Response• Evaluation

• Once upon a time there was a merchant so rich that he could have paved the streets of his town with silver. (Situation)

• But his wealth brought him little happiness, because he was allergic to almost everything and had to stay in a sterile room. (Problem)

• In desperation he offered half his fortune to anyone who could cure his allergies.Doctors came from far and wide but not to avoil. (Response)

• Unless he has died in the meantime he still sits here today, looking at pictures of the world outside. (Evaluation)

GENRE

• As we can describe different kind of films, we can also describe different types of writing for different purposes.

• For example: Scientific writing , report writing or journalism.

• These allow students to read or write with a greater understanding of how such texts are constructed.

GESTURES

Shrugging shoulders may indicate ‘’I don’t know’’.

Crossing arms may indicate relaxation.

GESTURES

• We use gestures to indicate a wide range of meanings but some gestures may be specific to particular cultures.

PROXIMITY , POSTURE AND ECHOING

• The physical distance between speakers can indicate a number of things.

• Closeness indicate threat but distance may indicate lack of interest.

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