Grammar is the system for organising a language. All major languages have a grammatical structure.
Grammar allows us to structure our sentences and even our thoughts and ideas.
Some experts think that, without grammar, language itself would not exist.
If words are the building blocks of language then grammar is the instruction manual telling us how the words all fit together.
Language is based on shared understanding. Without grammar we’d all have our own different ways of constructing sentences and conveying meaning. It’d get pretty confusing.
There are thousands of languages around the world each with their own grammatical rules.
For example in English it’s the verb tense that lets people know when something is happening. But imagine for a moment we didn’t have these rules.
In Mandarin Chinese, unlike English, the verb never changes. So instead of the different tenses that we have in English like; leave, leaving or left, a Mandarin speaker relies on words around the verb to talk about time.
A sentence that would be grammatically confusing in English makes sense in Mandarin Chinese. Neither language is wrong, they just all have their own grammatical rules.
It almost doesn’t matter what the rule is, just that it exists.
In the 1970’s a language professor went to live with the isolated Pirahã tribe in the Brazilian rainforest. He was surprised to find their language was unlike any other known at the time.
For example in the Pirahã language there seemed to be
no way to talk about the future; the words and grammar to express things that have not yet happened simply didn’t exist.
If a language doesn’t have the same functions as most others does that mean it doesn’t have grammar? Or have they simply invented another grammar that works for them?
Emojis are symbols that replace words in a conversation. This in itself isn’t a new idea but modern use in text and messages is shaping
a new form of communication.
So, are there any rules about how emojis are used? For instance, could you talk about the past or future with emojis?
Can any language exist without grammar?
What is grammar?
We often think of grammar as a list of rules we learn at school, but it is far more than that! It provides the foundation that all major languages are built on.
Grammar is one of the first things we pick up as we learn to speak and use language. As we listen to others talk, the patterns and structures of the words they use become intuitive rules. We automatically use these rules when we start to form sentences.
Sentence structure
Let's take the following words: cat the mat on sat the. We all know what the words mean but put together like that they don't make much sense. Cat is the subject here, mat is the object, and sat is the verb.
The English language has a subject, verb, object (SVO) grammatical structure. If we rearrange the words into this structure we come to: the cat sat on the mat.
This subject, verb, object (SVO) structure is the usual grammatical system for English and other major languages like Mandarin, Spanish and Russian. All major languages have some system of organisation like this. A subject, object, verb (SOV) structure is also very common and includes Japanese, Hindi and Korean.
Without these structures we would be unable to talk about complex ideas and thoughts or even discuss basic things like what we’re having for dinner next week.
Can language exist without grammar?
Children learn these structures very quickly, before they know what the terms subject, object and verb actually mean! This had led some language professors to argue that humans have an in-built ability to use grammar and that, without it, language itself would not exist.
What do you think…can language exist without grammar?
More on Sentence structure and types
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