Language Descripstions

Have six main stage of development

1. Classical or traditional grammar
2. Structural linguistics
3. Transformational generative (TG) grammar
4. Functional/notional grammar
5. Discourse(rhetorical) analysis

• Classical or traditional grammar

These decriptions were based on an analysis of the role played by each word in the sentence. Language were described in this way becouse the classical languages were case-based languages where the gramatical function of each word in the sentence was made apparent by the use of appropriate inflections. Thus the form of a word would change according to whether it was a subject, object, indirect object and so on. The prestige of the old classical language ensured the survival of this form of description even after english had lost most of its case markers and become a largely word-order based language.

• Structural linguistics

In a structural description the grammar of the language is described in terms of syntagmatic structures which carry the fundamental propositions (statement, interrogative, negative, imperative, etc) and notions (time, number, genders etc). By varying the word within these structural frameworks, sentence with different meaning can be generated. This method of linguistic analysis led in english language teaching to the development of the substitution tabel as a typical means of explaining grammatical patterns.

• Transformational Generative (TG) grammar

Chomsky argured that the structural description was too superficial, becouse it only described the surface structure of the language and thus could not explain relationships of meaning which were quite clearly there, but which were not realised in the surface structure.

Language variation and register analysis

The concept of language variation gave rise to the type of ESP which was based on register analysis. If language varies according to context, it was argured, then it should be possible to identify the kind of language associated with a specific context, such as an area of kowledge (legal english ; social english ; medical english ; bussines english ; scientific english etc), or an area of use (technical manuals, academic texts, business meeting, advertisements, doctor-patient communication etc).

• Functional/notional grammar

The second major offshoot of work into language as communication which has influenced ESP has been the functional/notional cocept of language descriptions. The terms ‘functional’ and ‘notional’ are easly and frequenty confused. There is, however, a difference. Functions are concerned with social behaviour and represent the intention of the spreaker or writer, for example, advising, warning threatening, describing etc.they can be approximately equated with the communicative acts that are carried out thought language. Notions on the other hand, reflects the way in which the human mind thinks. They are the categories into which the mind and thereby language divides reality , for example time, frequently, duration, gender, number, location, quantity, quality etc.

• Discourse (rhetorical) analysis

Till this point language had been viewed in term of the sentence. Now the emphasis move to looking at how meaning is generated between sentences. This was a logical development of the functional/notional view language of language which had shown that there is more the meaning than just the word in the sentence. The context of sentence is also important in creating the meaning.