Теоретическая грамматика английского языка (Theoretical Grammar of the English language) - страница 5

Grammar as a science. Relationship between normative and theoretical grammar. The connection of grammar with other sciences. Morphology and syntax.

Grammar in general is a branch of linguistics which deals with the grammatical structure of the language. Grammar rules organize a chain of words into a phrase and a sentence. Practical (normative, prescriptive) grammar prescribes, gives rules for practical use, teaches how to speak or write, but it doesn’t explain the rules theoretically and scientifically.

Theoretical grammar analyzes the facts of the language, tries to explain them without giving any prescriptions. Unlike practical grammar, theoretical grammar does not in all cases give a ready-made solution. It gives the analysis of the structure on the basis of general principles of linguistics. It outlines the main problems on which there are different opinions expressed by different linguists. In the language there are a number of phenomena interpreted differently by different linguists. To a large extent, these discrepancies are due to the fact that in linguistics there are different linguistic schools with their methods of analysis and approach to the material. But in a number of cases this is due to the fact that some facts of the language cause difficulties in analysis and then only a possible but not conclusively proven way of solving them is suggested. It is this circumstance that determines the existence of different theories on the same language phenomenon of language, whereas in practical grammar there are no such discrepancies. Thus, the tasks of are to show the structure of the language as a system, to provide an adequate and systematic description of linguistic factors; to acquaint the students with various interpretations and theories on the same linguistic factors; The aim of theoretical grammar is not only to transfer certain knowledge, but also to try to teach how to critically treat different interpretations of the same problems, to evaluate the correctness and accuracy of existing theories.

Grammar is connected with other branches of linguistics: phonetics, as every word and sentence is a combination of phonemes; stylistics, which studies many problems treated in grammar: grammati-cal synonymy, for example; lexicology (both lexicology and theoretical grammar study words, but from different aspects). For example, there are different opinions concerning word-building.The first states that word-building is a part of lexicology, the second states it’s partly a matter of grammar to study words; and the third one claims that word-building is a special sphere intermediate between lexicology and grammar.