Grammar book


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.

Etymology

had the term τέκνή γραμματική, 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.

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. 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. 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)

YearLanguageAuthorNotes
1451LatinAelius DonatusDonatus' Ars Minor was the first printed book by Johannes Gutenberg.
1471Ancient GreekManuel ChrysolorasChrysoloras' Erotemata was the first printed book in greek language.
1489HebrewMoses Kimhi
1492SpanishAntonio de NebrijaNebrija's Gramática de la lengua castellana is the first printed grammar of a vernacular language.
1505Andalusi ArabicPedro de Alcalá
1516ItalianGiovanni Francesco Fortunio
1527Biblical AramaicSebastian Münster
1530FrenchJohn Palsgrave
1533CzechBeneš Optát
1534GermanValentin Ickelsamer
1536PortugueseFernão de Oliveira
1539HungarianJános Sylvester
1539Classical ArabicGuillaume Postel
1539SyriacTeseo Ambrogiowritten 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 Tomás
1567WelshGruffydd Robert
1568PolishPierre Statorius
1571NahuatlAlonso de Molina
1578ZapotecJuan de Córdova
1584DutchHendrik Laurenszoon Spiegel
1584SloveneAdam Bohorič
1586Church Slavonicanonymous
1586EnglishWilliam Bullokar
1593MixtecAntonio de los Reyes
1595TupiJosé de Anchietaknown by the title Arte de gramática da língua mais usada na costa do Brasil
1603AymaraLudovico Bertonio
1604JapaneseJoão Rodrigues Tçuzuknown by the title Arte da Lingoa de Iapam
1604CroatianBartol Kašić
1606MapucheLuis de ValdiviaValdivia also published in 1607 two other grammars for Allentiac and Millcayac languages.
1610TagalogFrancisco Blancas de San José
1612MalayAlbert Cornelius Ruyl
1612TurkishHieronymus Megiserbased on manuscript written by Hector von Ernau.
1614TimucuaFrancisco Pareja
1618HiligaynonAlonso de Méntrida
1619ChibchaBernardo de Lugo
1620Yucatec MayaJuan Coronel
1622Modern GreekGirolamo Germano
1624ArmenianFrancesco Rivola
1627IlocanoFrancisco Lopez
1636CopticAthanasius KircherKircher's Prodromus Coptus was based on manuscript written by Yuhanna al-Samannudi.
1637EstonianHeinrich Stahl
1637MazahuaDiego de Nágera Yanguas
1638BasqueArnauld de Oihenart
1639PersianLouis de Dieu
1640GuaraniAntonio Ruiz de Montoya
1640KonkaniThomas StephensStephens' Arte da Lingoa Canarim is the first printed grammar of any Indian language.
1643GeorgianFrancesco Maria Maggio
1643Old EnglishAbraham WheelockeA summary of the Old English grammar was included in Wheelocke's edition of Bede's Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum
1644MamDiego de Reynoso
1644MochicaFernando de la Carrera
1644LatvianJohans Georgs Rēhehūzens
1647BikolAndrés de San Agustin
1649FinnishEskil Petraeus
1651VietnameseAlexandre de Rhodes
1651IcelandicRunolf Jonsson
1653LithuanianDaniel Klein
1659KongoGiacinto Brusciotto
1659BretonJulien Maunoir
1663WarayDomingo Ezguerra
1666MassachusettJohn Eliot
1667KalinagoRaymond Breton
1668DanishErik Pontoppidan
1672TamilPhilippus Baldaeus
1677IrishFroinsias Ó Maolmhuaidh
1679SorbianXaver Jakub Ticin
1680CumanagotoFrancisco de Tauste
1681FrisianSimon Abbes GabbemaA grammar of Frisian was included in the Gabbema's edition of Gysbert Japiks's Friesche Rymlerye
1683TarahumaraTomas de Guadalajara
1686ManchuFerdinand Verbiest
1689GothicGeorge Hickes
1690PangasinanAndrés Lopez
1696SwedishNils Tiällmann
1696RussianHeinrich Wilhelm Ludolf
1696ChineseMartino Martinipublished by Melchisédech Thévenot in his Relations de divers voyages curieux
1697KimbunduPedro Dias
1698AmharicHiob Ludolfwritten in collaboration with Abba Gorgoryos.
1699KipeáLuigi Vincenzo MamianiMamiani published the only grammar of a non-Tupi language from colonial Brazil; see Arte de grammatica da lingua brasilica da naçam kiriri
1699Morocosianonymous
1702OpataNatal Lombardo
1707CornishEdward LhuydA grammar of cornish language was included in Lhuyd's Archæologia Britannica.
1707SinhalaJohannes Ruell
1716AlbanianFrancesco Maria da Lecce
1729RomanshFlaminio da Sale
1729KapampanganDiego Bergaño
1729MixeAgustín de Quintana
1731OtomiFrancisco Haedo
1732LuleAntonio Machoni
1737CahitaTomás Basilio
1738SámiPehr Fjellström
1743HindiDavid Millsbased on manuscript written by Joan Josua Kettler.
1743BengaliManuel da Assumpção
1743TepehuanBenito Rinaldini
1747HuastecCarlos de Tapia Zenteno
1750MalteseAgius de Soldanis
1752TotonacJosé Zambrano Bonilla
1753KaqchikelIldefonso Joseph Flores
1760GreenlandicPaul Egede
1769Chuvashanonymous
1770NegerhollandsJoachim Melchior Magens
1775Marianonymous
1775Udmurtanonymous
1778Scottish GaelicWilliam Shaw
1778Marathianonymous
1779NeapolitanFerdinando Galiani
1780RomanianSamuil Micu-Klein
1782SardinianMatteo Madao
1783PiedmonteseMaurizio Pipino
1787KurdishMaurizio Garzoni
1790SanskritPaulinus of St. Bartholomewbased on manuscript written by Johann Ernst Hanxleden.
1790SlovakAnton Bernolák
1794Slavo-SerbianAvram Mrazović
1799MalayalamRobert Drummond