LIN200H5 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1: Linguistic Prescription, Uptodate, Merriam-Webster
Document Summary
Term grammar used to refer to the system we follow, whether consciously/ unconsciously in creating well-formed phrases and sentences. Well-formed within a particular language variety; e. g. sentences well-formed in spoken english may not be in written english or even in another language. Prescriptive grammar tells people how they should speak or write. Descriptive grammar describes the language that we actually use. The primary approach of the text will be descriptive grammar. All human languages are based on meaningful units called words: learned over the course of a lifetime through hearing or reading them in context. Complex words can be broken down into parts called morphemes: e. g. disapproval prefix (dis-), root (approve), suffix (-al, we use our knowledge of morphemes to invent and interpret new words. Words and morphemes are made up of consonant and vowel sounds: these sounds and letters have no meaning of their own, meaning attached only to words and morphemes.
