A grammar book is a book or treatise describing the grammar of one or more languages. In linguistics, such a book is itself frequently referred to as a grammar.

While not the first, the Aṣṭādhyāyī is the oldest linguistic and grammar text.

Etymology Ancient Greek had the term τέκνή γραμματική (téchnē grammatikḗ, 'skill in the use of letters'), which was adapted into Latin as ars grammatica. This term was used in the title of works about writing and language, which came to be known in English as grammar-books or grammars.Andrew Linn, 'English Grammar Writing', in The Handbook of English Linguistics, ed. by Bas Aarts and April McMahon (Oxford: Blackwell, 2006), pp. 72–92.

Definition Although the style and content of grammar-books varies enormously, they generally aim for a fairly systematic and comprehensive survey of one language's phonetics, morphology, syntax and word-formation. Since languages vary across time, space, social groups, genres, and so forth, grammars inevitably cannot represent every single aspect of a language, but usually select a particular variety with a view to a particular readership.

The readerships of grammars and their needs vary widely. Grammars may be intended for native-speakers of a language or for learners. Many grammars are written for use by children learning a language in a school environment. Many grammars are reference grammars, intended not to be read from beginning to end like a textbook, but to enable readers to check particular details as the need arises. Some grammars are prescriptive, aiming to tell readers how they ought to use language; others are descriptive, aiming to tell readers how language is used in reality. In either case, popular grammars can be enormously influential on language-use.

History

The earliest known descriptive linguistic writing, leading to early grammar-books, took place in a Sanskrit community in northern India; the best known scholar of that linguistic tradition was Pāṇini, whose works are commonly dated to around the .François & Ponsonnet (2013). The earliest known grammar of a Western language is the second-century BCE Art of Grammar attributed to Dionysius Thrax, a grammar of Greek.

Key stages in the history of English grammars include Ælfric of Eynsham's composition around 995 CE of a grammar in Old English based on a compilation of two Latin grammars, Aelius Donatus's Ars maior and Priscian's Institutiones grammaticae. This was intended for use by English-speaking students of Latin, and is the first known grammar of Latin written in a vernacular language, but was arguably also intended to use Latin as a basis for explaining English grammar.Melinda J. Menzer, 'Ælfric's English Grammar', The Journal of English and Germanic Philology, 103 (2004), 106-24. A key step in the development of English grammars was the 1586 publication of William Bullokar's published his Pamphlet for Grammar, which used a framework derived from Latin grammars to show how English too had grammatical structures and rules. Numerous grammars aimed at foreign learners of English, sometimes written in Latin, were published in the seventeenth century, while the eighteenth saw the emergence of English-language grammars aiming to instruct their Anglophone audiences in what the authors viewed as correct grammar, including an increasingly literate audience of women and children; this trend continued into the early twentieth century. A key shift in grammar-writing is represented by Charles Carpenter Fries' 1952 The Structure of English, which aimed to give up-to-date, descriptive rather than prescriptive, information on English grammar, and drew on recordings of live speech to inform its claims.

List of first printed grammars (1450–1800)

Year Language Author Notes1451LatinAelius DonatusDonatus' Ars Minor was the first printed book by Johannes Gutenberg.1471Ancient GreekManuel ChrysolorasChrysoloras' Erotemata was the first printed book in greek language.1489HebrewMoses Kimhi1492SpanishAntonio de NebrijaNebrija's Gramática de la lengua castellana is the first printed grammar of a vernacular language.1505Andalusi ArabicPedro de Alcalá1516ItalianGiovanni Francesco Fortunio1527Biblical AramaicSebastian Münster1530FrenchJohn Palsgrave1533CzechBeneš Optát1534GermanValentin Ickelsamer1536PortugueseFernão de Oliveira1539HungarianJános Sylvester1539Classical ArabicGuillaume Postel1539SyriacTeseo Ambrogio written in collaboration with the Maronite monk Elias ibn Ibrahim.1543SicilianClaudio Mario d'Arezzo 1552GeʽezMariano Vittoriowritten in collaboration with the Ethiopian monk Täsfa Ṣǝyon.1558PurépechaMaturino GilbertiGilberti's Arte de la lengua de Michoacán is first printed grammar of an American indigenous language.1560QuechuaDomingo de Santo Tomás1567WelshGruffydd Robert1568PolishPierre Statorius1571NahuatlAlonso de Molina1578ZapotecJuan de Córdova1584DutchHendrik Laurenszoon Spiegel1584SloveneAdam Bohorič1586Church Slavonicanonymous1586EnglishWilliam Bullokar1593MixtecAntonio de los Reyes 1595TupiJosé de Anchietaknown by the title Arte de gramática da língua mais usada na costa do Brasil1603AymaraLudovico Bertonio 1604JapaneseJoão Rodrigues Tçuzuknown by the title Arte da Lingoa de Iapam1604CroatianBartol Kašić1606MapucheLuis de ValdiviaValdivia also published in 1607 two other grammars for Allentiac and Millcayac languages.1610TagalogFrancisco Blancas de San José1612MalayAlbert Cornelius Ruyl1612TurkishHieronymus Megiserbased on manuscript written by Hector von Ernau.1614TimucuaFrancisco Pareja1618HiligaynonAlonso de Méntrida1619ChibchaBernardo de Lugo1620Yucatec MayaJuan Coronel1622Modern GreekGirolamo Germano1624ArmenianFrancesco Rivola1627IlocanoFrancisco Lopez1636CopticAthanasius KircherKircher's Prodromus Coptus was based on manuscript written by Yuhanna al-Samannudi.1637EstonianHeinrich Stahl1637MazahuaDiego de Nágera Yanguas1638BasqueArnauld de Oihenart1639PersianLouis de Dieu1640GuaraniAntonio Ruiz de Montoya 1640KonkaniThomas StephensStephens' Arte da Lingoa Canarim is the first printed grammar of any Indian language.1643GeorgianFrancesco Maria Maggio1643Old EnglishAbraham WheelockeA summary of the Old English grammar was included in Wheelocke's edition of Bede's Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum 1644MamDiego de Reynoso1644MochicaFernando de la Carrera1644LatvianJohans Georgs Rēhehūzens1647BikolAndrés de San Agustin1649FinnishEskil Petraeus1651VietnameseAlexandre de Rhodes1651IcelandicRunolf Jonsson1653LithuanianDaniel Klein1659KongoGiacinto Brusciotto1659BretonJulien Maunoir1663WarayDomingo Ezguerra1666MassachusettJohn Eliot1667KalinagoRaymond Breton1668DanishErik Pontoppidan1672TamilPhilippus Baldaeus1677IrishFroinsias Ó Maolmhuaidh1679SorbianXaver Jakub Ticin1680CumanagotoFrancisco de Tauste1681FrisianSimon Abbes GabbemaA grammar of Frisian was included in the Gabbema's edition of Gysbert Japiks's Friesche Rymlerye1683TarahumaraTomas de Guadalajara1686ManchuFerdinand Verbiestreprinted by Melchisédech Thévenot in 1696, with Martino Martini's Chinese Grammar1689GothicGeorge Hickes1690PangasinanAndrés Lopez1696SwedishNils Tiällmann1696RussianHeinrich Wilhelm Ludolf1696ChineseMartino Martinipublished by Melchisédech Thévenot in his Relations de divers voyages curieux1697KimbunduPedro Dias1698AmharicHiob Ludolfwritten in collaboration with Abba Gorgoryos.1699KipeáLuigi Vincenzo MamianiMamiani published the only grammar of a non-Tupi language from colonial Brazil; known by the title Arte de grammatica da lingua brasilica da naçam kiriri. 1699Morocosianonymous1702OpataNatal Lombardo 1707CornishEdward LhuydA grammar of cornish language was included in Lhuyd's Archæologia Britannica.1707SinhalaJohannes Ruell1716AlbanianFrancesco Maria da Lecce1729RomanshFlaminio da Sale1729KapampanganDiego Bergaño1729MixeAgustín de Quintana1731OtomiFrancisco Haedo1732LuleAntonio Machoni1737CahitaTomás Basilio1738SámiPehr Fjellström1743HindiDavid Millsbased on manuscript written by Joan Josua Kettler.1743BengaliManuel da Assumpção1743TepehuanBenito Rinaldini1747HuastecCarlos de Tapia Zenteno1750MalteseAgius de Soldanis1752TotonacJosé Zambrano Bonilla1753KaqchikelIldefonso Joseph Flores 1760GreenlandicPaul Egede1769Chuvashanonymous1770NegerhollandsJoachim Melchior Magens1775Marianonymous1775Udmurtanonymous1778Scottish GaelicWilliam Shaw1778Marathianonymous1779NeapolitanFerdinando Galiani1780RomanianSamuil Micu-Klein1782SardinianMatteo Madao 1783PiedmonteseMaurizio Pipino 1787KurdishMaurizio Garzoni1790SanskritPaulinus of St. Bartholomewbased on manuscript written by Johann Ernst Hanxleden.1790SlovakAnton Bernolák1794Slavo-SerbianAvram Mrazović1799MalayalamRobert Drummond

See also

Dictionaries Glossaries Language documentation List of Croatian grammar books

Further reading

Görlach, M. (1998), An annotated bibliography of nineteenth-century grammars of English (Amsterdam: Benjamins) Graustein, G. and Leitner, G. (eds.) (1989), Reference grammars and modern linguistic theory, Linguistische Arbeiten, 226 (Tübingen: Niemeyer)

Leitner, G. (1984), 'English grammaticology', International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching, 23, 199–215. Leitner, G. (ed.) (1986), The English reference grammar: language and linguistics, writers and readers (Tübingen: Niemeyer) Leitner, G. (ed.) (1991), English traditional grammars: an international perspective (Amsterdam: Benjamins)

References