The concept of "grammar" (from the Greek. "record") is defined as a branch of linguistics that studies the grammatical structure of a language, as well as the patterns of constructing correct speech structures in this language.

The grammar of a language is a coherent system that has been formed over the centuries and is still developing. Grammar science originates in the Indian linguistic tradition, and after that it is improved on the basis of the ancient linguistic tradition. In the 19th and 20th centuries the grammar of the language has changed significantly, developing more and more new directions. The most prominent figures of this period in the field of Russian grammar were F. Fortunatov, V. Vinogradov, A. Shakhmatov, L. Shcherba and others.

Traditionally, the grammar of a language is represented by morphology - the study of parts of speech and syntax - the study of phrases, sentences and their structure. Morphology gives an idea of ​​the part-of-speech composition of the language, as well as of the grammatical categories of each part of speech. Syntax considers a phrase and a sentence in terms of their meaning, structure, function, compatibility of components, etc. The main concepts of morphology are: inflection, form formation, word form, grammatical meaning, grammatical form, grammatical category, etc. The main concepts of syntax are sentence, sentence member, syntactic connection, etc.

Grammar is closely related to other sciences of language. For example, with orthoepy, because studies sound means of expressing meanings and pronunciation of grammatical forms; with spelling, because covers the spelling of words; with style, because concerns the stylistic patterns of the use of grammatical forms, etc.

The grammar of a language is represented by several directions: for example, concepts that are universal for all languages ​​of the world are developed by a universal grammar, and concepts relating to a particular language are developed by a particular one; the language at a particular stage of its development is studied by synchronous grammar, and the historical stages of the development of the language are studied by historical grammar, etc.

Russian grammar has many similarities with the grammar of other languages, but at the same time it has a number of features. So, in the Russian language, the category of the aspect of the verb is singled out, hence the absence of the need to have many types of tenses (as, for example, in English). Until now, in Russian morphology, there are living processes of transition from one part of speech to another (from an adjective to a noun and a participle, from a participle to an adverb, etc.). In addition, against the background of the allocation of traditional 10 parts of speech, disputes about the number of parts of speech in the Russian language, etc., still do not subside.

Russian grammar is complex, primarily due to the abundance of grammatical categories. Remember, to characterize a simple sentence, we need at least 6 characteristics! Nevertheless, without knowledge and ability to navigate the grammar of the Russian language, it is impossible to comprehend the language system itself as a whole.

Good luck in learning Russian!

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§ 177. The term "grammar", as well as many other linguistic terms, is of Greek origin. Greek term grammar formed from the word gramma-"letter, spelling"; originally it was used in the meaning of "the art of writing and reading". In modern linguistics, the term "grammar" is used in different meanings. Usually they designate a certain section of the language system, often called the grammatical structure of the language, and the section of linguistics in which this section of the language system is studied.

"Term grammar... is used in two meanings: both as a doctrine of the structure of the language, and as a synonym for the expression “structure of the language”"; " Grammar called the science of the structure of the word and the structure of the sentence in abstraction from the specific material meaning of words and sentences, as well as the very structure of the word and the structure of the sentence inherent in a given language ";" It should be borne in mind that the word grammar is used both in the sense of the doctrine of grammar and in the sense of the grammatical structure of the language, i.e. the grammatical structure of words, phrases and sentences". At the same time, the grammatical structure is understood "either in a broad sense - as a set of laws for the functioning of language units at all levels of its structure .., or (more often) in a narrower sense - as a set of construction rules: 1) lexical units, primarily words (and their forms) from morphemes, and 2) connected statements and their parts - from lexical units selected in the process of speech each time, respectively, according to the thought expressed.

Along with these definitions of the term "grammar", the meaning of this term is sometimes highlighted, associated with its use in relation to individual elements of the grammatical system, for example, in phrases such as "grammar of the name", "grammar of the verb", "grammar of the infinitive", etc. .

The term "grammar" is also often used to refer to a book containing a description of the grammatical structure of a particular language or outlining the basics of a particular language and in general. In some explanatory dictionaries, this last meaning is considered as a special shade of one of the two main meanings.

Grammar as a special section of the language system in modern Russian linguistics is most often defined as a set, or system, of rules, techniques, methods, means or norms for the formation of grammatical units - grammatical forms in the broad sense.

It would be more legitimate to define grammar in this sense as a set, or system, of grammatical units (similar to how other language subsystems are defined in modern linguistics: phonetics, morphemics, vocabulary, word formation. The units of grammar (grammatical structure) are, first of all, grammatical forms (in a broad sense), grammatical categories and grammes (more on them, see below).Thus, grammar should be defined as a set (system) of grammatical forms, or grammatical categories, or grammes, or those others and thirds combined.

Let's compare some similar definitions offered by different linguists: " Grammar... - 1) the formal structure of the language, i.e. a system of morphological categories and forms, syntactic categories and constructions..."; " Grammar of the language(grammatical structure) is the totality and system of grammatical categories inherent in the language"; "The totality of grammatical categories constitutes the grammar of the language".

So, grammar as a certain language system (subsystem), as an object of grammatical teaching, it is a system of grammatical units: grammatical forms (in the broad sense), grammatical categories, grammes.

As already noted, the term "grammar" denotes not only the grammatical structure of the language, but also the doctrine of it, i.e. branch of linguistics that deals with the study of the grammatical structure of a language.

Differences in the understanding and explanation of the term "grammar" as the name of the grammatical structure of the language is reflected in the interpretation of this term as the name of the doctrine of the grammatical structure. Let's compare some definitions (explanations) of this concept: "the science of word structure and sentence structure", "the science of language forms, word forms (morphology) and phrase forms (syntax)", "a section of linguistics that studies the structure of words and sentences in a language "," a section of linguistics that studies forms of inflection, phrase formulas and types of sentences.

For the purpose of terminological differentiation of different concepts - grammar as a field of the language system and as a section of linguistics, some linguists propose to use the compound term "grammar of a language" to designate the first of them.

"In order to avoid the double understanding of the terms "phonetics" and "grammar" and the like, one could say "phonetics" and "phonetics of the language", "grammar" and "grammar of the language". The term "grammar of language" in this sense is also used by other scholars.

When using the term "grammar" in the sense of the doctrine of the grammatical structure, this term is often accompanied by comparative phrases: "as a science", "as a linguistic science", "as a section of linguistics", "as a doctrine of the structure of a language".

"In those cases where the named terms (i.e. the terms "grammar", "word formation", "morphology" and other similar. - V.N.) are used to designate science, the following wordings are introduced: “grammar as a science”, “morphology as a science”, etc. ". Such comparative turns in similar cases are used in other works. Similar comparative turns are also used to designate the corresponding language system (subsystem ) (cf.: "grammar as a structure of a language", "grammar as a system", etc.).

§ 178. The grammar of a language, its grammatical structure, as well as other subsystems of the language and the language system as a whole, can be studied from different angles, in different aspects. In accordance with this, different types, or types, of grammatical science are distinguished: general and particular grammar, descriptive and historical, comparative and comparative historical, scientific and school, formal and functional, etc.

Just as linguistics is divided into general and particular, general grammar and particular grammar are distinguished. General and particular grammar differ depending on the object of study (the number of languages ​​studied) and the nature of the phenomena being studied. General grammar studies grammatical phenomena (grammatical units, their functioning, change, relationships between them, etc.) characteristic of different languages ​​of the world, mainly language universals; private grammar deals with the study of relevant phenomena related to a single language or a specific group of languages.

Depending on the nature, method of studying the same grammatical phenomena, grammar is descriptive, descriptive, or synchronic, and historical, or diachronic. In descriptive grammar, the grammatical phenomena of a particular language or group of languages ​​are studied according to their state in a certain period of time, for example, in their current state, i.e. in a synchronic way; in historical grammar, the same phenomena are considered from the point of view of their change in the process of the historical development of the language by comparing their state in different periods of time, i.e. in a diachronic way.

Within the framework of descriptive grammar, comparative grammar is especially distinguished, within the framework of historical grammar, comparative-historical grammar. Comparative, or contrastive, grammar compares (compares) the grammatical structure of different (usually two) languages, related or unrelated, in order to facilitate the assimilation of the grammatical structure of the studied non-native language; Comparative historical grammar compares the grammatical phenomena of related languages, reflected in written monuments or recorded in living use, in order to recreate their earlier state, not attested in written monuments.

Along with the terms "comparative grammar" and "comparative-historical grammar", the term "comparative grammar" is sometimes used in the same meanings.

Depending on the goals and objectives that grammatical science sets for itself, scientific (theoretical, or general) grammar and school grammar (educational, practical) are distinguished. The purpose of scientific grammar is an in-depth study and description of the grammatical structure of a particular language or different languages ​​on the basis of modern linguistic theory, the latest achievements of linguistic science. Scientific grammar is usually normative, it establishes literary norms for the use of grammatical forms of words, the construction of syntactic constructions. Normative scientific grammar, which has received the approval of the main scientific organization of the country (for example, the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, the Russian Academy of Sciences), is called academic. Academic scientific grammarians are, for example, Grammar of the Russian language in two volumes (M., 1953–1954), Grammar of the modern Russian literary language, edited by N. Yu. Shvedova (M., 1970), Russian grammar in two volumes, edited by Η. Yu. Shvedova (M., 1980). School grammar is the grammar taught at school, "setting out elementary grammatical information in the spirit illuminated by tradition, along with spelling and punctuation rules." The main difference between scientific and school grammar is that the former "studies comprehensively all the units and categories of the grammatical structure of a language", while the latter "studies the basic (basic, typical) properties of the grammatical structure of a particular language". It should be noted that the question of the relationship between scientific and school grammar is solved by scientists in different ways.

Scientific grammar can be formal (passive, listener's grammar) and functional (active, speaker's grammar). In formal grammar, the description of the grammatical structure of the language is based on grammatical forms, their classification according to different criteria; description is carried out in the direction from form to meaning. Formal grammar is focused on the listener, who sensually perceives the form, a materially expressed grammatical unit, and through it learns the corresponding grammatical meaning. In functional grammar, on the contrary, the description of the grammatical structure is based on grammatical meanings grouped in a certain way, the functions of different grammatical units; the description goes from meaning, from function to form, to a specific unit expressing a certain meaning, performing a particular function. Functional grammar is focused on the speaker, who selects the necessary grammatical meaning from his arsenal and communicates it to the listener using the appropriate formal means.

Grammar is a part of the science of language. The part is quite important because it studies the grammar of the basis for constructing sentences, the patterns of formation of various phrases and phrases, reducing these patterns into a single system of rules.

How did the science of language

One of the first terms that can be attributed to the initial manifestations of linguistic science appeared in the time of the Greeks with Aristotle, the founder of the Alexandrian linguistic school. Among the Romans, the founder was Varro, who lived between 116 and 27 BC. It was these people who were the first to characterize some linguistic terms, such as the names of parts of speech, for example.

Many modern norms of the science of language were conceived in the Indian language school as early as the first millennium BC, as evidenced by the works of Panini. The study of languages ​​acquired a freer form already in the first millennium of the Christian era. How and what grammar studies at this time, it becomes clear from the works of the classics, on which it is based.

Grammar acquires not only a descriptive, but also a normative character. The basis of the foundations was considered to be elevated to the rank of an eternal form, the most closely related and reflecting the structure of thought. Those who studied grammatical structure in the 12th century considered it natural that this should be done best from Latin textbooks. Yes, there were no others. At that time, the works of Donat and Priscian were considered the standard and obligatory program. Later, in addition to these, Alexander's treatises from Vildier's Doctrinales and Grecismus of Eberhard of Bethune appeared.

Grammar of the Renaissance and Enlightenment

It will hardly surprise anyone that the norms of the Latin language have penetrated into many European languages. This confusion can be observed especially in the speeches of priests and in church treatises written at the end of the 16th century. Many Latin grammatical categories are especially traced in them. Later, in the 17th-18th centuries, the approach to the study of grammar changed somewhat. Now it has acquired a logical-philosophical character, which has led to greater universalization and standardization in relation to other language groups.

It was only at the beginning of the 19th century that the first attempts to classify grammatical rules in other languages ​​in a differentiated way from the Latin stem appeared. H. Steinthal played a major role in this, and his work was continued by the so-called neogrammarists - young scientists who sought to separate linguistic norms from Latin concepts.

An even greater differentiation of individual languages ​​occurred at the very beginning of the 20th century. It was at this time that the idea of ​​the so-called emancipation of various European languages ​​​​and isolation from the traditions of the Greek-Latin school gained popularity. In Russian grammar, the pioneer was F.F. Fortunatov. However, let's move on to the present and see what the grammar of the Russian language is studying today.

Classification of Russian grammar by parts of speech

In Russian, words are divided into parts of speech. This norm of division according to morphological and syntactic features is also accepted in most other languages ​​that have separated themselves from the Latin basis. However, the number of parts of speech may not match.

Common to almost all languages ​​of the world are the name (noun or other) and the verb. The latter can also be divided into an independent and auxiliary form, which is almost universal for all languages. The grammar dictionary classifies the following parts of speech in Russian: noun, adjective, verb, adverb, preposition, conjunction and interjection. Each of these categories has its own definition and purpose. We will not give here a description and grammatical categories of the noun and other parts of speech, this is described in detail in many textbooks on the grammar of the Russian language.

Ways to use verbs

All verbs in Russian can be used in three ways: as an infinitive, participle or gerund. All three forms are widely used in other languages ​​and often have similar usage. For example, the occurrence of an infinitive (an indefinite form of a verb) in a verbal predicate like “likes to draw” and others can be found in English, Italian, and most other European languages. The similar use of the participle and the gerund is also widespread, although there are significant differences.

Classification by members of the proposal

This classification provides for five separate categories, which can occur in one sentence all together or separately. Often one of the members of the sentence can be a whole phrase. So, if you need to make a sentence with the phrase "wide as a field", then it will act as a single application. The same is true for other parts of speech.

What members of the sentence classifies the grammar dictionary of the Russian language?

• The subject, which refers to the main members of the sentence, denotes an object or person and is determined by the predicate.
• The predicate also refers to the main members of the sentence, denotes an action or state, and is directly related to the subject.
• The object is a minor member and denotes the object of the action of the subject.
• The circumstance denotes a sign of action, depends on the predicate and also has a secondary meaning.
• The application denotes the quality of the subject (subject or complement) and is also secondary.

Back to the noun

In Russian, there are grammatical categories of the noun that cannot be ignored. So, the declension of a noun in cases is important. Despite the fact that cases themselves exist in many languages, rarely in which case declension is carried out using endings, as in Russian. Our grammar distinguishes 6 cases of a noun: nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, instrumental and prepositional.

The doctrine of parts of speech is at the center of science

Parts of speech is what modern grammar studies, or at least gives this section a central importance. Much attention is also paid to their grammatical categories and combinations, general rules and the structure of individual speech elements. The latter is studied by the section of grammar called syntax.

Apart from grammar, there are such sciences as lexicology, semantics and phonetics, although they are closely related and in some interpretations are presented as structural units of grammatical science. Grammar also includes such disciplines as the science of intonation, semantics, morphonology, derivatology, which are on the edge of the border between proper grammar and the previously named disciplines. In addition, grammar as a science is closely related to a number of other disciplines less known to a wide range of people.

Related sciences

Grammar, due to its features, has many facets of contact with such disciplines as:

• lexicology due to the detailed study of the grammatical properties of individual parts of speech;
• orthoepy and phonetics, since these sections pay a lot of attention to the pronunciation of words;
• orthography, which studies spelling issues;
• stylistics describing the rules for using various grammatical forms.

Separation of grammar according to other features

Earlier we wrote that grammar can be historical and synchronous, but there are other forms of division. Thus, there is a distinction between formal and functional grammar. The first, superficial, works on the grammatical means of linguistic expressions. The second or deep is at the intersection of proper grammar and grammatical semantics. There are also structures that study parts of speech that are present in many other languages ​​or only in Russian. On this basis, grammar is divided into universal and particular.

There are also historical and synchronic grammar. The first deals with the study of the language, comparing various historical milestones in its development, focusing on changes over time in grammatical structures and forms. Synchronous grammar, which is also called descriptive grammar, pays more attention to learning the language at the current stage of development. Both branches of science study the grammatical structure of the language in the historical or synchronous paradigm. The origins of this division and the science of grammar in general date back to the most ancient times of the prehistoric era.

The science of grammar is a complex of interrelated disciplines that are focused on creating universal language rules. This helps to avoid discrepancies in the formation of various speech structures, for example, when you need to make a sentence with a phrase consisting of several parts of speech, and in many other cases.

SUBJECT OF GRAMMAR AND TYPES OF GRAMMAR DESCRIPTIONS

Grammar as a science studies the grammatical structure of a language. This science has a long tradition. The origins of modern European grammatical thought and terminology should be sought in the writings of ancient Indian philologists, and later in the writings of the ancient Greeks. These

The traditions were continued by European philologists during the Renaissance and Enlightenment.

In the process of development of grammar as a science, the understanding of its subject changed significantly. There is a movement from a narrow understanding of the subject of grammar (only form) to such an understanding of its boundaries, when the derivation or formulation of grammatical laws is not conceivable without referring to the meaning. So, in the domestic and foreign grammatical tradition there is a strictly formal, narrow understanding of the object of grammatical science (F.F. Fortunatov, Ch. Friz, generative grammar), or a broad understanding of such an object, when the doctrine of the grammatical structure merges with the study of the word, with on the one hand, and on the other hand, with the study of all spheres of speech functioning.

The results of grammatical studies are reflected in different types of descriptions. These descriptions are presented with varying degrees of completeness in different types of grammars.

In traditional representations, these are scientific, descriptive or normative grammars. The first Russian grammar was “Russian Grammar” by M. V. Lomonosov, published in 1757. Accordingly, the grammar of Henry Sweet, which appeared in 1898 in Oxford, is considered the first scientific grammar of the English language.

To date, the following types of description of the grammatical system of a language have more or less clearly developed.

Descriptive (descriptive) grammars are ascertaining in nature, giving descriptions of the grammatical subsystem of a given language. According to this type of grammar, one can judge the structure of a particular language, the presence in it of certain grammatical categories, parts of speech, etc.

Explanatory (explanatory) grammars are aimed at explaining the features of the structure of the language and are generally commentary in nature. Explanatory grammars are predominantly theoretical in nature and their task, as a rule, is the scientific understanding of the material.

Synchronous grammars describe the state of the grammatical subsystem of a language at a certain stage of its development, making, as it were, its horizontal cut. Synchronous grammar is not always modern: for example, synchronous grammars of Old English or Middle English are quite possible, the main thing is that the description of the material is carried out without taking into account the factor of its historical formation and further development in the language.

Grammar and its sections

Grammar(ancient Greek γραμματική from γράμμα - “letter”) as a science is a section of linguistics that studies the grammatical structure of a language, the patterns of constructing correct meaningful speech segments in this language. Grammar formulates these patterns in the form of general grammar rules.

Speaking about grammar as a science, there are:

· historical grammar- a science that studies the structure of words, phrases and sentences in development through a comparison of various stages in the history of a language;

· synchronous grammar- a science that studies the structure of words, phrases and sentences in synchronous terms (in the 19th century this discipline was called descriptive grammar).

· The grammar is divided into two sections:

- 1) the structure of the language, i.e. a system of morphological categories and forms, syntactic categories and constructions, methods of word production. Thus, grammar presented grammatical categories, grammatical units and grammatical forms. In this sense, grammar is the structural basis of the language, without which words (with all their forms), sentences and their combinations cannot be created;

2) a branch of linguistics that studies the grammatical structure of a language, its multi-level organization, its categories and their relationship to each other.

The concept of the grammatical structure of the language

Grammar language is the internal structure of the language. The grammatical structure is not uniform. It distinguishes between morphological and syntactic levels of the language, each of which is a complex and ordered system. The grammatical structure exists independently of the speaker, i.e. objectively, and is a reflection of the real world, which itself also has a complex structure. The structure of the objective world is manifested in the fact that it breaks up into separate elements (objects, phenomena, signs, etc.) that are interconnected. The relations between the facts of objective reality are heterogeneous. It's a relationship: a) between the subject and the action, b) the action and the object, c) the object and its attribute, d) temporal relations, e) spatial, f) causal, g) target, etc. These heterogeneous relations are reflected in the language.

Basic units of grammar

Like all levels of the language, the grammatical structure has own units. These are: 1) a morpheme; 2) word form; 3) phrase; 4) offer. The units of the grammatical structure also include the word, which is the subject of study primarily of lexicology. In grammar, the word is studied differently: with t. sp. its grammatical forms, as well as the presence in it of those minimal semantic elements (morphemes) that are included in the composition, which are included in the phrase and sentence not directly, but indirectly, through the word. In this respect, the word is also a unit of grammar.

The concept of GC

Grammatical meaning is a meaning that acts as an addition to the lexical meaning of a word and expresses various relationships (relation to other words in a phrase and sentence; attitude to the person performing the action; relationship of the reported fact to reality and time; attitude of the speaker to the reported, etc. .). Usually a word has several grammatical meanings.