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What is descriptive grammar and prescriptive grammar? In descriptive grammar, the grammar is merely described: all facts of usage are recorded, sometimes tabulated for frequency, to be used to compare with other time periods or other languages. Descriptive grammars serve well as references. Descriptive grammars tell users how the language IS used. Prescriptive grammars are style and usage manuals. They differ from publisher to publisher (in America). In several other countries (e.g. France, Germany, Spain...), there is one authoritative prescriptive grammar. Either way, prescriptive grammars are guides that tell speakers/writers how they SHOULD use the language.
Grammaticality belongs both to descriptive grammar and “theoretical “ grammar (one you didn't ask about)--but mostly to theoretical grammar. Grammaticality questions the structures in speakers' internal grammar. E.g., in English, it is not grammatical to say "What did he say where she lives?" to mean 'Where did he say she lives?', but the corresponding German sentence, "Was hat er gesagt, wo sie wohnt?" is grammatical. That is, in English, that construction is not in the internal grammar of any native English speaker; but it is in the internal grammar of every native German speaker. Grammatical theories (theoretical grammar) seeks to explain these questions of grammaticality, e.g. "What about the overall structure of German makes this construction possible, and what about English structure makes it impossible for English?" | 
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发表于 1970-1-1 08:00:00
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