Grammarian for Grammarians: Part 1: Prespective Grammar

"This section of the book explores the rules of usage established by the prescriptive grammarians of the 18th century and traces their continuing influence on present-day conceptions of grammar, especially among non-specialists" (8). The first section deals with the Classical Period (500 BC - 500 AD) and centers on the idea that the Greeks and the Romans were the first people to study language. The Greeks were interested in language because they had become aware of other languages through "trade and diplomacy" and the fact that there were many "distinct dialects" in their own language (8). During this time, the Greeks invented the first alphabet that gave each consonant and vowel a symbol. This alphabet was the basis of our own English alphabet. The Greeks were not just interested in the ideas and concepts of language but also the origin of words. Nature vs. convention was one of the main debates during this time; people were trying to figure out if "words imitate nature or do they have an arbitrary relationship to what they represent" (9). A study based on the "order that is found in language" was also being done by the Greeks at this time (9). The Greeks were responsible for the beginnings of the different parts of speech. Plato created the the concept of noun and verb around 400 BC and in 350 BC Aristotle added the idea of a conjunction. In 100 BC Dionysius added "participle, article, pronoun, preposition, and adverb" to the list which gave the Greeks eight different parts of speech. However, in 1761 Joseph Priestley "submitted adjective for participle" in his book The Rudiments of English Grammar (10). Even though the Greeks did many things to advance the study of grammar and language, they were still somewhat in the dark age about three different issues. "First, there was no understanding of the genetic relation among languages, especially between Latin and Greek" (13). "Second there was a fundamental, mistaken belief that any type of language change was a form or language 'decay'" (13). "Third, there arose a mistaken conception that spoken language is secondary to written language; that is, that speech is an imperfect representation of writing" (13). During the Middle Ages (500-1500 AD) the rise of Latin as the "better" language became apparent and became the "primary subject of language study" (14). It was not until the Renaissance (1500-1650) that vernacular languages became a form of writing and study. This was also the time that printing written language was expanding and language easier to obtain and study.