Ling0001
Fall 2023 Homework
2 Due Mo 9/25
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Pick a (real or alleged) "rule of grammar" that interests you, and analyze it from four perspectives:
Each section of your analysis can be brief, but it should be explicit and empirically contentful. In the case of this particular assignment, do not hand in group work -- each student should write his or her own analysis, though of course it is entirely appropriate for you to discuss the assignment among yourselves. You can choose a case where you've been taught that the way you naturally speak or write is wrong, but you don't believe there is a problem, or even find that the allegedly correct form is strange or artificial. For example, some people feel this way about saying "it is I" rather than "it's me" Or iff you prefer, you can take the prescriptive side: specify a grammatical principle that you (believe that) you follow in your own speech and writing, and whose violation sounds wrong to you in the speech or writing of others. Some people feel this way about the conflation of imply and infer, or the use of real as an adverb ("that's a real bad idea"). Some people even feel this way about the use of can in this and the previous paragraph, to indicate permission rather than ability. Whichever side you taking in your evaluation, try to be precise both about the linguistic structure involved, about the facts of the case (historical and current patterns of usage), and about your feelings. In other words, be sure that your essay answers these questions:
We also strongly recommend that you take advantage of search engines like Google or English-Corpora.org in order to provide both quantitative and qualitative evidence about what the current norms of usage really are. If you have trouble thinking of interesting cases, you can consult a prescriptive text for lists of putative rules to react to, such as Merriam-Webster's Concise Dictionary of English Usage, which is available online through the library. And that same source may provide some useful history and analysis for your chosen topic, however you arrive at it. The Oxford English Dictionary, also available through the library, is a useful source for illustrative examples. To be most effective, your essay should be both specific and general: you should give specific examples, and you should analyze accurately what general principles are involved. If your native language is not English, you may address the differences between what you have been taught in English classes, and the way that you hear people around you talking. In this case, discuss how you feel about making the choice between classroom English and everyday English. Alternatively, you may do the assignment with respect to a prescriptive rule in another language. In this case, however, you will have to give enough background information for us to be able to understand the issues, assuming that we do not know the language under discussion. A relevant illustration: xkcd for 9/18/2016... |
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