Step 3 – The nature of grammar

Tutora: Viviana Andrea Ospina

Estudiante:

Yaneth Rocio Camargo Tocora

Código: 1098735827

Grupo: 518017_16

Universidad Nacional Abierta y a Distancia UNAD

Escuela de Ciencias de la Educación

Licenciatura en Lenguas Estranjeras

Curso: introduction to linguistics

Bucaramanga 28/10/19
Summary of the third assignment.
Activities to Develop
1. Read the document “Grammar” Chapter 7, pages 80-95, in ‘Yule, G. (2010). The Study
of Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press’; found in the Course Contents,
UNIT 1, in the Knowledge Environment; and also read the text “Grammar” Chapter 4,
pages 19-24, in ‘Bauer, Laurie.; The Linguistic Student's Handbook’

2. Based on the first text, you need to post the following analysis:
Study questions
2.1. Identify all the parts of speech used in the following sentence (e.g. woman = noun):
“The woman kept a large snake in a cage, but it escaped recently”.
The= article (determiner)
woman= noun
kept= verb
a= article (determiner)
large= adjective
snake= noun
in= preposition
a= article
cage= noun
but= conjunction
it= pronoun
escaped= verb
recently: adverb

2.2. What prescriptive rules for the “proper” use of English are not obeyed in the following
sentences and how would they be “corrected”?

(i) The old theory consistently failed to fully explain all the data.
In the first sentence the part of “TO FULLY EXPLAIN” it is incorrect because we must not
SPLIT an infinitive. Therefore, the correct sentence would be: The old theory consistently
failed TO EXPLAIN FULLY explain all the data.
(ii) I can’t remember the name of the person I gave the book to

In the second sentence the preposition “TO” is incorrect, because at the end of a sentence
we cannot use prepositions, the correct sentense would be: I can’t remember the name of
the person to whom I gave the book)

2.3. Tasks

2.3.1. Another term used in the description of the parts of speech is “determiner.”
What are determiners? How many examples were included in this chapter?

The term determiner is a more comprehensive category than article. The articles in English
are the (define article) and a/ an (indefinite article) but the two make up only a subclass of
words that have a similar grammatical role, or, to put it differently, that show up in the
same positions. Others include the words this, that, these, those for example, the italicized
words in (5) and (6) like pronouns, determiners are closed set
(5) this microprocessor directs the car’s engine-control system
(6) these two groups of figures are binary and decimal equivalents

The word some and any are also determiners when in the modifying function, as in (7)
(7) he melted down some silver coins
In some traditional grammars determiners other than articles(and sometimes articles, too)
were classed as adjectives on the grounds that they modify nouns, but there are very good
reasons for treating them as separate from adjectives. Although it is true that they modify
nouns, they do not do so in the same way as adjectives, and they differ on the questions of
grammatical obligatoriness. Where both occur together, determiners proceed adjectives as
in (8) but no vice versa as in (8a)
(8) the greater danger is that of flooding
(8a) greater the danger is that of flooding
Retrieved from: the functional analysis of English a Hallidayan approach second edition by
Thomas Bloor and Meriel Bloor.
2.3.2 In this chapter, we discussed “correction” in grammar. What is hypercorrection?
Hipercorrección (pronounced HI-per-ke-REK-shun) is a pronunciation, word form,
or grammatical construction produced by mistaken analogy with standard usage out of a
desire to be correct.
In some cases, hypercorrection may be a sign of language change. For example,
in Understanding Language Use in the Classroom (2014), Susan Behrens points out that a
"hypercorrection such as Whom is it? would be rejected by everyone. However, Who did
you see? would be rated by many as acceptable, even correct."
crucially is motivated by the relationship between different dialects or languages--or rather
by the relationship between these as perceived by their speakers.
"In many case, speakers focus on differences in prestige. Speakers of less prestigious
dialects try to imitate a more prestigious one by adaptations in their pronunciation. . . .
"As the result of a variety of sound changes and analogical developments, English at a
certain stage had two competing forms of the so-called gerund, a form in -ing (as in going)
and a form in -en (as in goen). At a later stage, Standard English leveled out the form in -
ing at the expense of -en. Many nonstandard dialects generalized -en, instead. This
difference has since become one of the major features distinguishing standard from
nonstandard English, and the use of the form in -en is often referred to as 'dropping
one's gs.' As speakers who 'drop their gs' try to speak the prestige dialect, they replace
their -en by -ing. And again, in many cases they go too far and extend their substitution to
words like taken (as in I have taking it)." (Hans Henrich Hock and Brian D.
Joseph, Language History, Language Change, and Language Relationship. Walter de
Gruyter, 1996)
Retrieved from:https://www.thoughtco.com/hypercorrection-grammar-and-pronunciation-
1690937

2.3.3. The structural analysis of a basic English sentence (NP + V + NP) is often described
as “Subject Verb Object” or SVO. The basic sentence order in a Gaelic sentence (V + NP +
NP) is described as “Verb Subject Object” or VSO.

After looking at the examples below (based on Inoue, 1979), would you describe the basic
sentence order in these Japanese sentences as SVO or VSO or something else?

2.3.3.1 Jakku-ga gakkoo-e ikimasu

Jack school to go
S O V
 (“Jack goes to school”)

2.3.3.2 Kazuko-ga gakkoo-de eigo-o naratte imasu

Kazuko school at English learn be

S O V
(“Kazuko is learning English at school”)

2.3.3.3 Divergence in the syntactic patterns of languages is responsible for the patterns of
errors made by English-language learners. Given that English-language learners from
Korea produce sentences such as *I ice-cream like and *I book read, what can you say
about word order in Korean? (Taken from Gordon T. 2012)

The word order in Korean will be a bit difficult for students studying English. The variation
of the word order specifies a great difference between English and Korean. However, these
differences mean they can have a greater learning process. Since there is a great
understanding of grammar, grammatical instructions also help the process of correcting
sentences. when to use specific grammar forms, and the difference between written
grammar and spoken grammar.
3. Based on the second text please answer: In the text we can see that in the history of
linguistics we have two forms to understand grammar: a Prescriptive form and a
Descriptive one; why the second comprehension it is considered a breakthrough in
Linguistics?

Descriptive linguistics is a subfield of linguistics that studies and describes language in

emphasizes the primacy of speech, the adoption of a synchronic approach, and the
description of language and dialect systems as they are found to be spoken. Unlike
historical linguistics, descriptive linguistics is interested in all languages, not only in those
languages whose historical changes are known. Also descriptive linguistics is considered an
advance in linguistics because it is she who tries to discover the rules that they require from
different speakers. Within this linguistics is the importance of implementing a good
phonology, morphology and syntax.