Good morning, my name is............

and I have decided to choose topic number 12, which is

about: Concepto de gramática: reflexión sobre la lengua y su aprendizaje. De la gramática
normativa a la gramática en función del uso de la lengua y de la comunicación. Many
things have been said about this topic by many authors but in order to acquire a clear and
logical comprehension, I will divide it into the following points:

1. INTRODUCTION.

2. THE CONCEPT OF UNIVERSAL GRAMMAR AND CHOMSKY’S APPROACH

TO LANGUAGE ACQUISITION.

3. LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

3.1. PHONOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT

3.2. GRAMMATICAL DEVELOPMENT.

4. FROM TRADITIONAL TO FUNCTIONAL COMMUNICATIVE GRAMMAR.

4.1.TRADITIONAL GRAMMARS: RATIONALISTS AND NORMATIVE.

4.2. FUNCTIONAL GRAMMARS: THE PRAGUE SCHOOL & THE LONDON

SCHOOL.

4.3. COMMUNICATIVE GRAMMARS.

5. CONCLUSION.

6. BIBLIOGRAPHY.

1. INTRODUCTION.

The description of a language has to make reference to the three major components of the
linguistic system. Firstly, phonology, which describes the sound system. Secondly, lexicon,
which lists the vocabulary items specifying how they are pronounced, how they behave
grammatically, and what they mean. Finally, grammar is divided in morphology which
deals with the form of words and syntax that explains the way words combine to form
sentences.

The knowledge of grammatical rules is essential for the mastery of a language, but the
acquisition of them is different for a native speaker or for a second language learner. In this
unit we will pay special attention to grammar trying to clarify its characteristics, the role it
has in the linguistic system and its diachronic evolution.

2. UNIVERSAL GRAMMAR AND CHOMSKY’S APPROACH TO LANGUAGE

ACQUISITION.
From the earliest times people were interested in studying language, i.e. how we produce
sentences or how we learn languages. In the 13th and 14th centuries systems of what is now
called ‘universal grammar’ started to develop. Universal grammar is one of the dominant
approaches to the study of language universals. This approach assumes that language
consists of a set of abstract principles that characterised the core grammar of all natural
languages. It is considered to be a characteristic of the child’s pre-linguistic state. The
hypothesis of universal grammar has been reviewed in this century by Generativism, whose
main representant was Noam Chomsky.

Chomsky identifies knowing a language with having a mentally represented grammar. This
grammar constitutes the native speaker’s competence, which is the capacity, which native
speakers possess in order to speak. Competence is contrasted to performance, which is the
perception and production of speech.

In the investigation of language a whole new sub discipline was developed. I am referring
to ‘psycholinguistics which is the intersection between psychology and linguistics and
whose main scope is the study of language acquisition. From a psycholinguistic point of
view Chomsky promotes his theory of mentalism. He takes the view that the principles
whereby the mind acquires knowledge are innate. However holding this view Chomsky
was adopting an anti-behaviourist attitude.

Chomsky also claims that the structure dependency is a universal property of all languages
and is very concerned in showing how children can come to acquire the mastery of this
property in the acquisition and use of language. He states the mind can be best described in
terms of a set of abstract structures that mature according to a genetically determined
programme of development in interaction with the environment. This structure dependency,
which refers to the formal and internal properties of a language to combine between them,
is obviously a characteristic of syntax. The speaker is able to produce new, infinite
utterances form the knowledge of a definite number of rules.

3. LANGUAGE ACQUISITION.

The term acquisition of a language refers to the result which is the knowledge and use of
particular languages. We will focus here on the acquisition of 1st languages.

All normal children acquire the language they hear around them without special instruction.
They start talking at the same age and go through the same stages of language development.
Therefore, the theory of language acquisition proposed by Generativism makes a lot of
sense. They called the theory L.A.D (Language Acquisition Device) and claimed that we
acquire and use language due to a series of input data and two kinds of devices, an
evolution device and a deduction one, both of them being innate, i.e. all human beings are
born with a series of acquisition and learning principles.

In the acquisition of first languages, we may distinguish between a phonological and a

grammatical development. I will describe first the phonological one. In the first six months
of postnatal life the child normally passes form crying to cooing and from cooing to
bubbling and there is little doubt that this developmental sequence is innately determined. It
is very interesting to say that during the babbling period most children will have acquired
some of the intonation patterns of their native language. Therefore, we can say that
babbling clearly prepares the way for speech. When the child is about nine months old,
he/she begins to show evidence of his /her construction of the phonological system in
his/her native language, trying to use sounds meaningfully. Children will master their
language phonological system by the time they are five, but some phonetic features like the
prosodic structure may not be acquired until they are much older.

After the phonological development in the acquisition of a first language has been
described, I will adopt a grammatical point of view to explain language acquisition. There
is evidence that, as in the case of phonology, there is a developmental sequence of the
acquisition of grammatical structures. We can distinguish two periods in the acquisition of
grammar:

- Holophrastic period, in which the child produces one-word sentence (9-18 months). For
example the child says just ‘water’ to mean he/she wants to drink.

- Telegraphic period, in which utterances are not linked and two or three words are used to
produce a sentence. The child’s speech lacks inflections and function word such as
prepositions, determiners or conjunctions. For example ‘want water’ to mean he/she wants
a glass of water.

Little by little the speech of the child improves in terms of length and complexity and will
look more like adult speech. By the time the child is four, though still defective by
comparison with that of adults, is no longer telegraphic. For example, the child may say ‘I
want glass water’. But it has now become clear that much of the grammatical structure of a
language may not be properly mastered until the child is about ten years old.

Throughout the sixties psycholinguistics were concerned almost exclusively with grammar
in their study of child language, the opinion has since shifted in favour of the view that it is
impossible to study the child’s developing grammatical competence in isolation from his
general cognitive, emotional and social development. The scope of child language cover
not only phonology, grammar and vocabulary but also semantics structure of utterances,
their role in social interaction and their reflection of child’s beliefs about the world.

4. FROM TRADITIONAL TO FUNCTIONAL COMMUNICATIVE GRAMMAR.

In this point I will try to show a general view on the crucial shift from the study of grammar
as a rule, to the study of grammar in terms of its functions in daily communication, trying
to describe and analyse the main approaches to grammar.

4.1. TRADITIONAL GRAMMARS

- Rationalist grammars:
They were based in the idea that the mind is able to analyse the processes of language to
explain its nature. They defended that the language faculty was innate and was not
dependent on outside factors. The first important rationalist grammar was ‘Port Royal
Grammar’ (1650) by Lancelot and Arnaud and one of its major discoveries was the
difference between definite and indefinite articles.

- Normative grammars:

They attempted to show how a language had to be used. Highly reputed authors and writers
were chosen in order to explain the optimal use of a language. A very clear example of this
kind of grammar is the ‘Esbozo de una gramaática del español, by the RAE, which
contains a lot of example and rules which do not reflect the use of present-say Spanish.

4.2. FUNCTIONAL GRAMMARS.

Before dealing with functional grammars it would be useful to refer to other approaches.
Firstly, Saussure and structuralism, which attempted to describe grammar as a structure of
combining systems. Secondly, Bloomfield and descriptivism, which attempted to describe
newly discovered languages, especially Amerindians conceiving language as a
manifestation of internal desires that humans have. Finally, the Shapir-Whorf hypothesis,
which hold the view that language and social culture are totally linked.

The functional grammars emerged form two linguistics schools:

1. The Prague School.

It was formed by linguists who from 1926 have analysed language in terms of function.
They aimed at the analysis of a language in order at show the functions played by the
various structural components in its entire use. In this sense they wanted to explain more
than describe. They do not aim at saying what languages were but at explaining why they
were the way they were.

2. The London School.

It studied language as a means of communication, and grammar as a system of relationships

explained in terms of the options the speaker makes in each part of the linguistic chain. The
most important linguist in this school was Firth. We can say that his notion of language as
vehicle of interrelated systems and vehicle for communication have influenced other
important British linguists like Lyons or Hallyday.

 
4.3. COMMUNICATIVE GRAMMARS.

The term communicative grammar has become the most descriptive one in the domain of
English Language Teaching. These kinds of grammars understand language as a set of
resources to transmit meaning. Hallyday is perhaps the best representant of the
communicative approach, as he developed the study of notions, created by means of
grammatical and semantic constructions. The most famous grammar in this approach is A
communicative grammar of English, in which the notional-functional approach is presented
in a formal way. For example, the language used for complaining, suggesting, criticising,
etc.

5. CONCLUSION.

In this unit we have basically analysed and explained the concepts of grammar and
language acquisition paying special attention to Chomsky’s approach to language
acquisition and also adopting a psycholinguistic view to describe the acquisition of 1st
languages. Likewise, we have also seen the approaches to grammar, from traditional to
functional communicative approaches.

6. BIBLIOGRAPHY.

- Lyons, Language and Linguistics. C.U.P., 1981.

- Sampson, Schools of linguistics. Hutchinson University Library, 1980

- Radford, Atkinson at Al. Linguistics: an Introduction. C.U.P. 1999.