Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-jr42d Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-17T13:05:52.242Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Is a meaning-based grammar of English possible?

Exploring English grammar from the perspectives of pattern grammar and local grammar

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 December 2018

Hang Su
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Previous research on the grammar of English has led to the development of a number of useful reference books (e.g. Quirk et al., 1985; Biber et al., 1999; Huddleston & Pullum, 2002; Berry, 2012), which have substantially contributed to the teaching and learning of English language in EFL contexts. However, I found that from an (advanced) EFL learner's perspective, EFL learners are often left to our own choices when we want to express a specific meaning in spoken and/or written communication, such as acknowledgement-making for example (Hyland & Tse, 2004). One major reason for this is that these reference books have mainly focused on discussing issues such as word classes, types of clauses, tense and aspects, etc. They have not attempted to document systematically the lexicogrammatical means by which specific meanings can be expressed, though they do have selectively described some. This stimulated me to think whether it is possible to develop, what I tentatively call, a meaning-based grammar of English, i.e. a grammar which is primarily concerned with meanings and their typical lexicogrammatical realisations.

Type
Research Article
Information
English Today , Volume 35 , Issue 4 , December 2019 , pp. 53 - 59
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Baker, C. 2012. ‘FrameNet, current collaborations and future goals.’ Language Resources and Evaluation, 46(2), 269–86.Google Scholar
Barnbrook, G. 2002. Defining Language: A Local Grammar of Definition Sentences. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Berry, R. 2012. English Grammar: A Resource Book for Students. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Biber, D., Johansson, S., Leech, G., Conrad, S. & Finegan, E. 1999. Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English. Harlow: Person Education Limited.Google Scholar
Butler, C. 2004. ‘Corpus studies and functional linguistics theories.’ Functions of Language, 11(2), 147–186.Google Scholar
Cheng, W. & Ching, T. 2018. ‘Not a guarantee of future performance: The local grammar of disclaimers.’ Applied Linguistics, 39(3), 263–301.Google Scholar
Deutschmann, M. 2003. ‘Apologising in British English.’ Unpublished PhD thesis. Sweden: Umeå University.Google Scholar
Dickins, P. M. R. & Woods, E. G. 1988. ‘Some criteria for the development of communicative grammar tasks.’ TESOL Quarterly, 22(4), 623–46.Google Scholar
Ellis, N. 2013. ‘Construction grammar and second language acquisition.’ In Hoffmann, T. & Trousdale, G. (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Construction Grammar. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 365–78.Google Scholar
Fillmore, C. J. & Atkins, B. T. 1992. ‘Towards a frame-based organization of the lexicon: The semantics of RISK and its neighbours.’ In Lehrer, A. & Kittay, E. (eds.), Frames, Fields, and Contrasts: New Essays in Semantics and Lexical Organization. Hillsdale, MI: Lawrence Erlbaum, pp. 75–102.Google Scholar
Francis, G., Hunston, S. & Manning, E. 1996. Collins Cobuild Grammar Patterns 1: Verbs. London: HarperCollins.Google Scholar
Francis, G., Hunston, S. & Manning, E. 1998. Collins Cobuild Grammar Patterns 2: Nouns and Adjectives. London: HarperCollins.Google Scholar
Goldberg, A. 1995. Constructions: A Construction Grammar Approach to Argument Structure. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Goldberg, A. 2006. Constructions at Work: The Nature of Generalization in Language. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Huddleston, R. & Pullum, G. 2002. The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Hunston, S. 2002. ‘Pattern grammar, language teaching, and linguistic variation: Applications of a corpus-driven grammar.’ In Reppen, R., Fitzmaurice, S. & Biber, D. (eds.), Using Corpora to Explore Linguistic Variation. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, pp. 167–183.Google Scholar
Hunston, S. 2014. ‘Pattern grammar in context.’ In Herbst, T., Schmid, H.–J. & Faulhaber, S. (eds.), Constructions Collocations Patterns. Berlin: Mouton De Gruyter, pp. 99–120.Google Scholar
Hunston, S. & Francis, G. 2000. Pattern Grammar: A Corpus-driven Approach to the Lexical Grammar of English. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Hunston, S. & Sinclair, J. 2000. ‘A local grammar of evaluation.’ In Hunston, S. & Thompson, G. (eds.), Evaluation in Text. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 74–101.Google Scholar
Hunston, S. & Su, H. 2017. ‘Patterns, constructions, and local grammar: A case study of evaluation.’ Applied Linguistics, 1–28. doi:10.1093/applin/amx046Google Scholar
Hunston, S. & Thompson, G. 2000. Evaluation in Text. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Hyland, K. & Tse, P. 2004. ‘I would like to thank my supervisor: Acknowledgements in graduate dissertations.’ International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 14(2), 259–75.Google Scholar
Quirk, R., Greenbaum, S., Leech, G. & Svartvik, J. 1985. A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language. London: Longman.Google Scholar
Sinclair, J. 1991. Corpus, Concordance, Collocation. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Su, H. 2017. ‘Local grammars of speech acts: An exploratory study.’ Journal of Pragmatics, 111, 72–83.Google Scholar
Su, H. 2018. ‘Thank bloody God it's Friday: A local grammar of thanking.’ Corpus Pragmatics, 2(1), 83–105.Google Scholar
Su, H. & Wei, N. X. 2018. ‘I'm really sorry about what I said: A local grammar of apology.’ Pragmatics, 28(3), 439–62.Google Scholar