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Re: Unilang: the Grammar

From:dirk elzinga <dirk.elzinga@...>
Date:Tuesday, April 24, 2001, 15:39
On Tue, 24 Apr 2001, Oskar Gudlaugsson wrote:

> I think that technically there is no such thing as > "grammar", as distinct from morphology, syntax, etc; or so I > understand modern linguistic terminology. Is grammar the > total of those, excluding all phonology? In any case, I open > a "grammar" thread to discuss in entirety various things > that I don't feel to belong properly to either morphology or > syntax.
The term 'grammar' is ambiguous like 'word'. Many linguists use 'grammar' to refer to the unconscious knowledge a native speaker has about her language. This includes phonology (and phonetics!) as well as morphology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics. 'Grammar' can also refer to a written description of a language, as Yoon Ha observes. This is also common usage. I've also heard the term 'grammar' used in the way you suggest above; that is, structural features of a language which exclude phonology. As a phonologist, I think it a poor definition :-). Dirk -- Dirk Elzinga dirk.elzinga@m.cc.utah.edu "The strong craving for a simple formula has been the undoing of linguists." - Edward Sapir