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LING 490: English Grammar

Course Aims and Objectives

This course provides students with a solid foundation in the description and analysis of the grammar of English. Rather than restricting ourselves to a particular theoretical orientation, we explore the diversity of frameworks, by focussing on the status and role of meaning (and usage) in relation to grammatical structure.

Course Content

Throughout this course we will investigate the huge divide that has arisen in the study of English grammar (and actually the study of grammar In general) between scholars who study it mainly in structural / formal terms (e.g. Noam Chomsky and his followers), and those who prefer to view language in relation to its functions (e.g. Michael Halliday, Bob Dixon, and Talmy Givón, but especially cognitive linguists such as George Lakoff, Ronald Langacker, Adele Goldberg, and William Croft).

The emphasis on language use brings with it another important aspect of this course. Compared to more traditional courses on English grammar we will spend more time exploring variation , e.g. geographic, social, and historical. We will supplement textbook examples with other kinds of data, often corpus data. We then examine these in the light of various theories, shedding light on both the grammar itself and on some of the strengths and weaknesses of the theoretical models.

The introductory lecture provides a brief overview of the major theoretical approaches to (English) grammar. Most lectures in weeks 2 through 9 focus on an aspect of English grammar (e.g. word classes, grammatical functions, the passive), which is discussed in terms of the structuralist/formalist vs. functionalist/cognitive linguistic schools of thought. Unusually for a course on English grammar, there is also a lecture in which we explore and scrutinise the methods grammarians use to collect the data from which they derive their generalisations, e.g. introspection, corpus studies, and questionnaires. The final lecture will build a bridge to more concrete applications of grammatical theory, e.g. language teaching. This is usually a guest lecture by Prof. Geoffrey Leech, who has done work across almost every area of English grammar one might think of.

Assessment

A 5,000 word written assignment.

Recommended Reading

Berk, Lynn. 1999. English syntax: from word to discourse. Oxford: OUP.

Biber, D., S. Johannson, G. Leech, S. Conrad & E. Finegan. 1999. Longman grammar of spoken and written English. New York: Longman.

Croft, William and D. Alan Cruse. 2004. Cognitive linguistics. Cambridge: CUP.

Dixon , R.M.W. 2005. A semantic approach to English grammar . Oxford : OUP.

Givón, T. 2001. Syntax: an introduction. 2 vols. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

Hollmann, Willem B. and Anna Siewierska. Corpora and (the need for) other methods in a study of Lancashire dialect. Zeitschrift für Anglistik und Amerikanistik 54:203-216.

Milroy, J. & L. Milroy 1993. Real English: the grammar of English dialects in the British Isles. London: Longman.

Quirk, R., S. Greenbaum, G. Leech & J. Svartvik. 1985. A comprehensive grammar of the English language. London: Longman.

Additional Information

This course is taught in Term 1