Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Charles C. Fries
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30 COLLEGE ENGLlSH
when it happens to conflict with our own next forty-seven dealing with exceptions
prejudices; and we should take the time brought up by brilliant nuisances who
and trouble to examine a good deal of don't need the rule anyhow, most of the
this evidence. W e shall then be in the value and all of the comfort evaporate.
position to give an honest opinion about And if we try to doctor the rule to make
the status of a given item as well as its it waterproof we only make it too com-
structural implications; and we ought to plicated for any general use-without
have a pretty fair idea about when to ever quite stopping all the leaks.
insist on conformity and when to allow A teacher can do a reasonably good
free choice. job even with a "traditional grammar" if
5. Perhaps most important of all, we he realizes its limitations and uses it only
should remember Edward Sapir's won- for what it is worth. I think he can do
derful statement that "all grammars leak."
At best their rules are generalizations of a better job with any of several modern
something less than perfect accuracy. A grammars because they fit the language
simple statement that is about ninety- better and base their explanations on evi-
eight percent true can be of great value dence that the students can more easily
and comfort to a class. But if we explain understand. But it is a little early to be
it in three minutes, and then spend the using any of these as sacred texts.
Advances in Linguistics
For many of the present members of center of study, Literary Criticism, with
the National Council of Teachers of a broad and very active interest in the
English the term linguistic sciezce (often knowledge and understanding won b y
interchanged with the term linguistics) modern linguistic science. This was Pro-
has the ring of something very new. It fessor Fred Newton Scott (in whose
seems to stand for something that has seminar in Literary Criticism I studied
grown up quite recently and for some- in 1915). Let me recommend to you the
thing concerning which the writers of address he made to this Council 44 years
articles recently published in the Coun- ago, in 1916, entitled The Standard of
cil's journals show the most violent dis- American Speech.l
agreement. What w e call "modem" linguistic
Now, as a matter of fact, matters per- science is, however, a young science, but
taining to the more scientific study of b y no means an infant. A t the time of
the English language are, b y no means, the founding of the Council, fifty years
new to the National Council. T h e first ago: the beginnings of the techniques
President of this Council (the only Presi- which made a scielzce of linguistics were
dent to be elected for two terms), one of already ninety years old. I am assuming
the prominent founders of this organiza- that the mark of a "science" is its cumu-
tion, fifty years ago, combined his chief lative and inzpersonal nature,-impersonal
Professor Emeritus at the University of 'It appeared afterward in the English Journal
Michigan and vice president of the Ninth In- and was reprinted in a little volume of twenty-
ternational Congress of Linguists, Mr. Fries four of his articles published a t the end of his
has written many books o n modern linguistics. career, entitled T h e Standard of American
His latest book is Foundation for English Speech and Other Articles. Of these articles
Teaching (1961). half must be counted as linguistic.
A D V A N C E S IN LINGUISTICS 31
in the sense that the techniques used ( 3 ) In 1925 Sapir's paper on Sound
must lead to generalizations that are Patterns in Language in America (and
verifiable by all competent persons, and de Saussure's lectures in Switzerland) in-
cz~mulative in the sense that all new troduced the beginnings of structural
contributions must build upon or take linguistics.
cognizance of all that has preceded. I have noted the chronology of these
Every now and then, in the efforts to periods of special development in Modern
push out the boundaries of our cumula- Linguistic Science in order to make cer-
tive knowledge, a break-through into tain that no one (in this audience, at
new understanding necessitates a reori- least) will any longer believe that what
entation of the knowledge gained pre- we call Modern Linguistic Science is
viously. In linguistic science such break- the private theory of a small group of
throughs have occurred several times. irresponsible radicals devoted t o a pro-
(1) With Erasmus Rask's p a p e r gram of undermining all the defenses of
( 18 19), and with Grimrn's Germanic "accurate and elegant expression," who
Grammar (1821), the beginnings of the hold as their first principle "Accept what
new techniques in Indo-European com- comes and in time we shall have a class-
parative study made the first great ad- less speech corresponding to the usage
vance in language study from the time of the most n u m e r o ~ s . " ~
of the ~ r e e k ~ ~ 6 l o s o ~Ithintroduced
~rs. For each of the three periods of the
the period of linguistic science charac- development of Modern Linguistic Sci-
terized by the exploration of genetic ence we have had men of international
relationships between languages, and reputation who have attempted to sum
the beginnings of language history. This up and explain for the educated lay
period of linguistics saw the start of reader the progress in linguistic knowl-
work upon the great historical diction- edge that has been achieved. For the
aries-for German, Grirnm's Worter- first period we have two books by Wil-
buch undertaken in 1837 (and still in liam Dwight Whitney, Professor of San-
progress) : for English, T h e Oxford Eng- skrit at Yale during the third quarter of
lish Dictionary undertaken in 1858 (fin- the nineteenth century. Language and
ished in 1928). The first period of
Modern Linguistic Science thus, was
the Study of Language: Twelve lectures
on the principles of Linguistic Science
from 1820 t o 1875. was delivered first at the Smithsonian
(2) In 1875, Karl Verner's paper and Institution in Washington early in 1864,
the work of Leskien (and of the other then at the Lowell Institute in Boston
Jung-Grammtiker, or Neo-Grammari- in December 1864 and January 1865,
ans) introduced a period of much greater and first published in 1867. There were
rigor in dealing with the generalizations at least five editions of this book. A
concerning "sound-change." This period second book by Whimey, published in
saw also the development (a) of phonet- 1875 was Life and Growth of Language:
ics (the scientific analysis of speech A n Outline of Linguistic Science. For
sounds both in respect to the muscular the second period there were Hermann
movements, the articulations, by which Paul's Principien der Sprachgeschichte
they are made, and in respect to the (Principles of Language History) first
vibrations that produce their acoustical
effect), (b) of fing-uistic geography, (c) published in 1880, with the fifth edition
of the recording and analvsis of un- in 1920, Otto Jespersen's Language: Its
written language;. This, the kecond peri-
od of hlodern Linguistic Science ex- 'Jacque Barzun,The Houre of Intellect, p.
tended from 1875-1925. 241.
32 COLLEGE ENGLISH
Nature, Development and Origin, in serve to give these important features
1923, and Holgar Pedersen's, Linguistic their relative prominence.
Science in the Nineteenth Century, (tr.
by Spargo) 1931. For the third pe-
riod there have been Edward Sapir's Lan- 1. a body of knowledge and under-
guage 1921; L e o n a r d Bloomfield's standing
Language 1933, and now Kenneth Pilte's 2. (knowledge and understanding)
Language (in Relation to a Unified concerning the nature and functioning
Theory of the Structure of Human Be- of human language
havior), Part I in 1954; Part I1 in 1955; 3. (this knowledge and understand-
and Part I11 in 1960. ing) built up out of information about
Scholars devoted to Modern Linguistic the structure, the operation, and the his-
tory of a wide range of very diverse
Science in this country founded the human languages
Linguistic Society of America in 1924. 4. (this knowledge and understanding
That society has grown from a body of built up) by means of those techniques
270 members to a membership of over and procedures that have proved most
1600. Abroad there have been the Lin- successful in establishing verifiable gen-
guistic Circle of Prague (Czechoslovakia) eralizations
and the Linguistic Circle of Copenhagen 5. (verifiable generalizations) con-
(Denmark). T h e International Congress cerning relationships among linguistic
of Linguists, organized in the late twen- phenomena.3
ties, at its eighth meeting in Oslo, Nor- Every science has developed its own
way in 1957, was attended by 525 invited special techniques for investigation, anal-
linguists from 43 different countries, ysis, and the testing of generalizations
from Japan and Australia to the West concerning the data it accumulates.
Jndies, from Ghana and South Africa to Modern linguistic science began early in
Russia and Scotland, and from Argentina the nineteenth century with the use of
to the United States and Canada. sets of phonological correspondence as
What then is this linguistic science a means of exploring and proving genetic
and what is a linguist? A linguist is relationships between different languages.
one whose special field of scholarship These techniques became more refined
is linguistic science. Linguistic science and more rigorously controlled after
is here understood to be a body of 1875. Later came the develo~ment of
knowledge and understanding concern- sound techniques for languagZ history,
ing the nature and functioning of human for linguistic geography, for the analysis
language, built up out of information and description of unwritten language,
about the strucrure, the operation, and for finding and checking the structurally
the history of a wide range of very significant contrasts that make the s p e
diverse human languages by means of cia1 signals of each different language.
those techniques and procedures that T h e validity of the basic approach to
have proved most successful in establish- language through these techniques has
in verifiable generalizations concerning been verified again and again, and the
ena.
f
re ationships among linguistic phenom-
'Only as the study of language turned away
from introspection and chance observation to
In this much loaded and complicated seek a broad informational basis of verifiable
definition there are five essential features facts, and, away from the attempt to establish
that cannot be separated, for each suc- relationships between linguistic phenomena and
such matters as race, chmate, and nationality,
ceeding feature is a qualifier of what has to the effort to find verifiable relationships
preceded. Perhaps the following arrange- within the linguistic phenomena themselves, did
ment of the parts of this definition may that study begin to make real scientific progress.
A D V A N C E S IN
techniques themselves have been and are The facts of language histo
being constantly improved by rigorous the myth of a golden age
riorated.
rt,
lution Passed by the National Council of 'See College English for February 1960.
Teachers of English at the general business 'See W. W, Hatfield, "Will Structural Grarn-
meeting November 22, 1951. mar Help?" in College English, Dec. 1958.
A D V A N C E S IN L l N G U l S T l C S 37
Such a group must have available for achievements of linguistic science. Per-
their work those who have achieved haps this is the the reason that some of
understanding and control of the tre- those teachers of English who have
mendous body of material produced by earnestly sought help in linguistic
a host of workers in the field of En lish
language-from Old English to an% in-
cluding the descriptive analysis of
courses have come away greatly disa
pointed because they found nothing 1-
rectly applicable to their needs.
r
present-day English. This material is not The Conference of 1958, in the Pam-
a11 easily available and nicely laid out. phlet T h e Basic Issues in the Teaching
Great masses of it are in a form that of English ("Issue" 1 3 , p. 9) raises the
needs to be reworked and restudied in question of the pan linguistics should
the terms of our recent developments in have in the teaching of English, in the
"structural" linguistics. following manner.
Teachers can not be equipped to pro- "Up to the present only a few text-
vide the "applications of lingustic books have attempted to adapt the up-
science" to the problems of teaching proach of the structural linguists to use
English by taking "one or two courses in the classroom. Nevertheless, we must
in linguistics." It seems to have been as- ask whether this new nzethod offers a
sumed that everybody knew what sub- clue to a better correlation of the knowl-
ject-matter content any course of study edge of language structure with writing
labelled "linguistics" would include, and ability. How much, if any, of such lin-
that any course with a "linguistics" label guistic knowledge is appropriate for each
would provide the necessary enlighten- level? How may teachers best be trained
ment. As a matter of fact, however, to develop this knowledge in their pu-
"linguistics" covers a very wide range pils?" [The italics are mine.]
of material and one cannot predict even
what an introductory course will stress. This paragraph seems to suggest that
Very frequently, "training in linguistics" "the approach of the structural linguist,"
as recommended to language teachers his methods and techniques, might be
has meant mastering only the tools, tech- adapted "to use in the classroom" as "a
niques and p r o c e d u r e s of linguistic new method" for achieving "a better
analysis. Many "introductory" courses correlation of the knowledge of lan-
are set up to offer what is thought to guage structure with writing ability."
be the necessary first steps for those It then raises the question of "how
who aim to become practitioners in the much, if any, of such knowledge" of
analysis of an unknown language. Some language structure "is appropriate for
"linguists" seem to believe, or they act each level," and how best to train teach-
as if they believed, that the tools, tech- ers to pass on "this knowledge" to their
niques, and classificatory definitions pupils. I believe we need something
alone constituted the substance of the quite different. In my view, it is not
science of linguistics. I do not want to the tools and the techniques of linguistic
belittle the scientific importance of ade- science that should be brought into the
quate tools, sound techniques, and sharp classroom; but, in some way, the sub-
classifications. I should like, however, to stance of the knowledge and under-
insist that one can achieve a sufficient standing w o n by linguistic science must
mastery of these tools and techniques be thoroughly assimilated and then w e d
of linguistic analysis without any real to shed new light upon the problems
understanding of the significance of the that arise wherever language is concerned,
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[Footnotes]
9
Will Structural Grammar Help?
W. Wilbur Hatfield
The English Journal, Vol. 47, No. 9. (Dec., 1958), pp. 570-572.
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