UK POF MU a of 1) ty sors | STUDENT’S | GRAMMAR | OF THE ENGLISH | LANGUAGE | Sidney Greenbaum Randolph Quirk Ay TONGMAN12 1 the english language The use of English English is the world’s most widely used language. A distinction is often made that depends on how the language is learned: as a native language (or mother tongue), acquired when the speaker isa young child (generally in the home), of as a foreign language, acquired at some subsequent period. Overlapping with this distinction is that between its use asa fist language, the primary language of the speaker, and as an additonal language. In some countries (particularly of course where it is the dominant native language), English is used principally for internal purposes as an intranational language, for speakers to communicate with other speakers of the same country; in other countries such as Germany and Japan, it serves chiefly as an international language, the medium of communication with speakers from other countries. But in numerous countries such as India, the Philippines, and Nigeria, ‘where English is for the most part a foreign language too, it nonetheless hhas prominent internal functions within these countries in addition to its international role, Such domestic use of ‘English as a foreign language’ is cofien called ‘English as a second language” ‘The meanings of ‘grammar’ Syntax and inflections ‘We shall be using ‘grammau in this book to inelude both syntax and that aspect of morPHoLoGy (the internal structure of words) that deals with INFLECTIONS (oF ACCIDENCE). The fact that the past tense of buy'is hough’ {inflection} and the fact that the interrogative form of He bought itis Did he ‘buy it? [syntax] are therefore both equally within grammar. Our usage corresponds to one of the common lay uses of the word in the English speaking world. A teacher may comment: John uses good grammar but his spelling is awful. The comment shows that spelling is exchided from grammar: and if Soha ‘wrote interloper where the context demanded interpreter, the teacher would say that he had used the wrong word, not that he had made a16 7 4 The English language Vari les of English Types of variation There are numerous vrei of Engh, but we shall book fe mcrypt ation, Anyi he aging nsec ‘we may abstract individual varieties: : pares a (a) region (0) social group (©) ed of aicourse (@) meaiom © atte The fist two types of variation rela aration relate primarily to the language user People wea reponalvariaty becuse they Ine in ategion os econ ved in that region, Similarly, people usea socal varity bese fae, affiliation with a social group, ‘These varieties are rel aman thelanguageuser At he therefore (onstousy or on 1 iis are relatively permanent for me time, we should be aware that many people than one regional or social variety and can consciously) switch varieties according to the situation, And of course people move to other regions or change there Social afiiations, and may then adopt a new regional or social variety The last three types of variation relate to language use, People select tke varieties according to the situation and the purpose of the communion tion. The field of discourse relates to the activity in which they aco quater the medium may be spoken or written, generally depending on the proximity ofthe participants in the communication: and the atte expressed through language is conditioned by the relationship of the Participants in the particular situation. A coMMON cons is presea in all the varieties so that, however esoteric a variety may be, it has runing hrough ita set of grammatical and other characteristics that are preva inal the others. Tis this fact that ste th ‘English’ to all the varieties. ; m mn Varieties according to repion havea well-established label both in popu ane technical use: iatscTs. Geographical daperion inn ihe ae basis for tage variation and inthe couse of tne, wih eee communications and relative remoteness, such dispersion result Giaets becoming so dstint that we regard them as deer eg This later stage was longago reached with the Germaniedigleee tae now Dutch, English, Gorman, Swedish ete butt ingot hag ane {and may not necessarily ever be reached, given the modern euse adeno ofcommuniction) with hedislctsofEaslshthathaverecea one ‘eyloal separation of communities within the Bish lec aaa 18 Varieties ot English 5 ‘voyages of exploration and settlement in Shakespeare's time) elsewhere in the world, It is pointless to ask how many dialects of English there are: there are indefinitely many, depending on how detailed we wish to be in our observations. But they are of course more obviously numerous in long: settled Britain than in areas more recently settled by English speakers, such as North America of, still more recently, Australia and New Zealand. The degree of generality in our observation depends crucially upon our standpoint as well as upon our experience, An Englishman will hear an American Southerner primarily as an American, and only asa Southerner in addition if further subclassification is called for and ibis experience of American English dialects enables him to make it, To an American the same speaker will be heard first as a Southerner and then (subject to similar conditions) as, say, a Virginian, und then perhaps asa Piedmont Virginian, Social variation Within each of the dialects there is considerable variation in speech according to education, socioeconomic group, and ethnic group. Some differences correlate with age and sex. Much (if not most) ofthe variation does not involve categorical distinctions; rather it is a matter of the frequency with whieh certain linguistic features are found in the groups ‘There is an important polarity between uneducated and cducated speech in which the former can be identified with the nonstandard regional dialect most completely and the latter moves away from regional usage to a form of English that cuts across regional boundaries. An outsider (who was not a skilled dialectologist) might not readily find New Englander who said see for saw, a Pennsylvanian who said seen, and 2 Virginian who said seed. These ae forms that tend to be replaced by sa with schooling, and in speaking toa strangeradialet speaker would tend to use "schoo! forms. On the other hand, there is no simple equation of regional and unedueated English. Just as educated English 7 sa cuts across regional boundaries, so do many features of uneducated use: prominent examplcis the double negative asin clon’ want na cue, which has been outlawed from all edueated English by the prescriptive grammar tradition for over two hundred years but which continues to thrive as an emphatic form in uneducated speech wherever English is spoken, Educated English naturally tends to be given the additional pres government agencies, the profession, the political parties, the press, tk law court, and the pulpit any institution which must attempt to addres tse toa public beyond the smallest dialectal community. tis codified in dictionaries, arammars, and guides to usage, and itis taught in the school system at al levels. Itis almost exclusively the language of printed mater Because educated English is thus accorded implicit social and political sanction, it comes to be referred toa STANDARD ENGLISH, ind provided We eof