浅谈英语语法及其分类

byBritishlinguistsG.LeechandJ.Svartvik.Ittakesconceptsofthought
asthecore,andthefeaturesofvarioustypesofEnglish(elevated,formal,
neutral,informal,slang;written,spoken,polite,familiar,etc.)expressions
ondifferentoccasions,pronunciationandintonationandsoon.Inmany
aspects,itrelatestoFunctionalGrammar(somanygrammariansregard
themasthesameone),butlaysmorespecialstressonthecommunicative
effectofalanguage,particularlyonthatoneconceptofthoughtcanbe
expressedbyvariousformsoflanguage.Itschiefcontributionlieson
“howtomakecommunicationbyusinggrammar”. “FollowMe”and
“NewConceptEnglish”aretypicaltwoofthewell-knowntextbooks
compiledonCommunicativeGrammar.
C.ExplanatoryGrammar
Basicallyspeaking,ExplanatoryGrammarbelongstotheoretical
grammar,whichmakesrationaldiscussionandexpositionongrammar
withthehelpofsemantics,lexicology,logic,psychology,sociologyand
eventhemethodsofmathematicalanalysis.Explanatorygrammarians
observeandstudylanguagephenomena,andfurthermore,explaintheir
distinctions,causesandorigins.
SomeprincipalschoolsofExplanatoryGrammar:
a.HistoricalGrammar---Itstudiesthedevelopmentofalanguage
fromtheview-pointofhistory,dealingwiththestudyofmorphologyand
syntax.Departingfromthetraditionsofprescriptivegrammar,historical
grammariansexpoundallkindsofphenomenaofEnglishaccordingtothe
historicalprinciples,avoidingestablishingsomeabstractrulestoguideor
“purify”thelanguage.
b.ComparativeGrammar---Itmakesalotofcomparisonbetween
the differentlanguages concerned or between the corresponding
grammaticalrelationsofonelanguageatdifferentstagesofhistory.
c.Transformational-generativeGrammar---Thefounderisan
Americanlinguist,N.Chomsky.Inhiswell-knowngrammarbook
“SyntacticStructures”,hesetsforthhisnewandoriginalviewson
grammar.Hethinksgrammarmustbesimpleandclear,andmustpossess
theabilityofgeneration,thatis,theabilitytoproduceinfinitesentences
accordingtothegrammar.Heholdsthateverynativespeakerofa
languageisbornwithasetoflinguisticacquisitiondeviceandthatthe
mathematicalpatternsmustbeusedtomakegrammarsimpleandclear.
Heputsforwardawholesetofstrictsystematicformulas,i.e.the
transformationalrules,fromwhichthepracticalspeechcanbeproduced.
Oneofitsoutstandingfeaturesistheadvancingofthedistinction
between“surfacestructure”and“deepstructure”ofthesentence.
Conclusion:Finally,letuscometothequestion “Howshouldwe
properlythinkofTraditionalGrammar?”Asalinguistictheoretic
branch,TraditionalGrammarhasalreadybeenlastingformorethan
2,000years.Itcertainlyhasitsownadvantagesandhasgivensome
importantcontributionstolanguagestudyingandteaching.Itmakesthe
studyofalanguageeasierbygivingdefinitions,makingrulesand
providingillustrations.Thebasicgrammaticalconceptssuchaspartsof
speech,membersofthesentence,methodsofanalyzingsentenceswordby
word,etc.dohelpthelearnerstomastersyntacticstructures,comprehend
essaysandreadtheoriginalsmoreeasily.Moreover,ithashadsome
influenceupontheestablishmentanddevelopmentofothergrammatical
schools.
TraditionalGrammar,however,has its own deficiency and
shortcomings.First,itputsstressonthemorphologyanddoesnotpay
enoughattentiontothesyntax.Astheresult,itisusuallynoteasyfor
learnerstomakesentencesbothinrightstructureandagreeingwiththe
habits.Thenthetraditionalgrammarattachesimportancetothewritten
languagebutnottotheorallanguage,andthusthecommunicativeand
socialfunctionsofthe language are overlooked.In addition,its
definitionsandrulesaremadebylogicalreasoningandbasedonvarious
standards,andsotheylackcontinuity.Forexample,somepartsofspeech
areclassifiedbythemeaning(suchasnoun,verbandinterjection),some
bytheirfunctions(pronoun,adjective,adverb,conjunction),andsomeby
both(preposition).
Many contemporary linguistssharply criticize and blame the
traditionalgrammar,and someeven regard itassubjectivism or
“
rationalism.Inotherwords,theyconsiderittobethesynonymof non-
”www.freetem4tem8.cn
science.Itisnecessaryandhelpfultopointoutthedeficiencyand
shortcomingsofthetraditionalgrammar,butitisnotpracticaltothrowit
allawayatpresent.Wemustseethatwiththedevelopmentoflanguage,
thetraditionalgrammarhasbeenimprovingitselfconstantly,particularly
drawing some research results of the structural grammar and
transformationalgrammar.Inourcountry,especiallyinmiddleschools
andmostcolleges,thegrammarsystemadoptedinEnglishteachingis
basicallythetraditionalgrammar.AsforStructure Grammarand
Transformational-generativeGrammar,theyhavenotallalongtakenthe
placeofTraditionalGrammar.StructuralGrammarisalreadyoutofpower
now.AlthoughTransformational-generativeGrammarhasgreatinfluence,
itisstillstudiedasameretheoryandnotyetwidelyusedinthe
practicallanguageteaching.
Ifwetakegrammarjustasausefultoolforlanguagestudyingand
teaching,notasthepurpose;ifweconstantlyimproveourEnglish
grammarteachingandstudythenew resultsofothercontemporary
grammarschools,wewillsurelymakegoodprogressinourEnglishstudy

ongrammar.
●
【Bibliography】
[1]Thomson,A.J,andMartinetA.V.:“APracticalEnglishGrammar”.
[2]Leech,G.andSvartvik,J.:“A CommunicativeGrammarofEnglish”.
[3]Chomsky,N.:“SyntacticStructures”.
[4]Lester,M.:“IntroductoryTransformationalGrammarofEnglish”.
[5]XuLiwu:“APracticalGrammarofContemporaryEnglish”.
[6]YuGuolin:“ANewEnglishGrammarforCollegeStudents”.
[7]李学平、潘欢怀:“当代英语语法概论”.
[8]四川大学外文系:“英语语法词典”

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