[B-Greek] Matthew 8:23 EMBANTI AUTWi ... HKOLOUQHSAN AUTWi and What Grammar Is/Isn't
Christine Bussman
olearyck at geek-den.net
Tue Nov 9 12:14:06 EST 2010
On 11/09/10 10:31, Carl Conrad wrote:
> Then a five-year-old who hasn't been to school and doesn't even know what
> grammar is cannot formulate a sentence like "Bill bit the cat" or understand
> what that sentence means when he hears it?
I think most of this discussion comes down to a definition of grammar.
Some of us would say that that five year old is using grammar, he just
hasn't yet learned the rules for that grammar. We use the term
'grammar' to describe not just the formulation of rules that describe
how we speak, but also the natural understanding of those rules that is
necessary to be understood. The five year old has only the natural
understanding of grammar. The older person who is learning English as a
second language may only have the the formulated rules. An older native
speaker (hopefully) has both, and uses both as needed.
This duality of grammar is part of why some of us find the old skill of
diagramming sentences so helpful. It's another place that the two parts
of grammar overlap and can help each other be understood.
Christine Bussman
> My point is that there are indeed norms of usage for a time and place, but that
> a grammatical accounting of that usage is a theoretical construct that is
> secondary to the actual usage of speakers and writers, listeners and readers.
> I would not equate the norms of usage with "grammar." I think that any
> grammar is an endeavor to describe and explain the norms of usage.
>
> Carl W. Conrad
> Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)
>
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