The Classical Period lasted from 500BC to 500AD, during which much language study was done by the Greek and the Romans. It is from this ancient grammar that much of prescriptive grammar is descended. The Greeks made a lot of grammatical progress in this time, and that knowledge was transmitted to other lands by the Romans.
The Greeks became interested in language for a couple of different reasons. One is that they knew about other languages through trade and travel. This allowed them to observe similarities and differences across languages. Another reason that interested the Greeks is the multiple dialects that can be found in Greece due to geographic divides. The Greeks also developed an interest in comparing older, written language with the standard language they spoke at the time. They could see that the language had changed. Observing that language can come in different forms and change over time, the Greeks began to study language and grammar.
The most important innovation pioneered by the Greeks was the alphabet. They were the first people to assign a symbol to every consonant and vowel sound, and our alphabet of today is descended from theirs. These forethinkers of the Classical Period turned their interest into a common practice of consciously speculating about the use of language. The people most associated with this movement were Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, and a group called the Stoics. One of the biggest contentions between these figures was whether words/language was nature or convention. This means they fought over whether words sounded like what they were(like cock-a-doodle-doo), or were just arbitrary and unconnected sounds that randomly represent things(like rooster). They also debated about analogy versus anomoly in language, which is basically whether or not language is orderly and regular. Analogists thought is was structured, while anamolists did not.
Another major contribution by the Greeks were the first parts of speech. Plato and Aristotle pioneered the concepts of nouns, verbs, and conjunctions. Later in the Classical Period, an Alexandrian Dionysius wrote The Art of Grammar and added five categories: participle, article, pronoun, preposition, and adverb. Even later, Priscian released his 1,000 page grammar and introduces interjections. This massive work was later used as the basis for the first grammar book written for English. It wasn't until 1700 years later that Joseph Priestley, where the English parts of speech were finalized into the eight parts we now know.
The Classical Period's study of parts of speech gave rise to sentence parsing. Parsing is basically breaking a sentence down into its parts and identifying each word's part and function. This is what most grammar classes still do today. The idea of conjugating verbs and nouns also arose in this period. Yet, there were gaps in this knowledge. They didn't understand that languages were interrelated, and that Greek was the sister language of Latin. They Greeks also had a mistaken idea that any change in language was decay, rather than evolution. They also had a concept that spoken language was corrupted, and only written language could be pure. They got this mistaken idea out of the change in what they spoke, and what was written in old writings. Despite these deficits in knowledge, the Greeks (and Romans) are considered pioneers in the field of grammar.
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I did not know that the English language was so strongly derived from the Greeks. The fact that five of the eight parts of speech come from them is astounding, especially since those parts of speech still survive today.
On the other hand, it did not surprise me that they felt the language was only pure in the written form. I think that this is true, actually. When languages are spoken, there is slang and dialects. For a language to remain completely untainted, it can only be written.
It is also interesting that grammar classes today still perform the same exercises of labeling the words in a sentence by their parts of speech and their function.
Being of Greek heritage I was aware that alot of English language is derived from the Greeks yet I wasn't aware it was so in depth.
I agree that language can be less pure when spoken and not written because it can lose substance via slang, dialect or mispronunciation.
I like that grammar classes today still utilize some of the same exercises such as labeling.
It is true that our language is a descendant language, but the nature of English is still inherently different. The languages of the Western world can be broken down into Romantic, Slavic, and Germanic dialects, English being of a Germanic and Romantic hybrid. This influence of barbarian and Roman language gives us English, which makes our language inherently different from any language today. English is a blend of musical language and the language of anger, and this is clear in the spoken word of the English language. The written form borrows far more from the Romantic influence on the language.
I find it very interesting that so many languages are related to each other and derive mostly from Latin and Greek. I did know that our alphabet is based on the Greek alphabet, but I had no idea that so many other parts of our language are derived from the Greeks. I also find the debates of the Stoics to be interesting. I, too, have thought a lot about language being nature or convention, wondering who arbitrarily decided that roosters are called roosters and cats are called cats.
I was unaware that the English language is so strongly derived from Greek. I knew that
English origins in various languages, but I did not realize that the root language was Greek. I also found it very interesting that the "keepers" of grammar were hermits.
I'm not surprised at all that English has Greek roots. The Greeks thought of everything!
What is kind of interesting though (and sorry if this is slightly off topic, but David's comment got me thinking about it) is the fact that English is such a wide spread language. Go to any country in the world and you are almost certain to meet at least one person who speaks it. Yet so few Americans can fluently communicate in a second language. I think something should be done about that. The older kids get the harder it becomes to learn a second language. I didn't have the opportunity to take a foreign language until high school. It would be nice if it was at least an option in elementary school or something.
I had no idea that English was derived from Greek. I know the Greeks were known as the most enlightened, but I never realized that the English language had so much to have because of the Greeks I find that very interesting. The fact that when language is spoken and not written it losses its power is very understandable because of the amount of slang that is used during everyday speech.
I honestly didn't know that our alphabet come from the Greek alphabet. It is weird to think that so many languages derived from the Greeks. I totally agree that language is less pure when spoken. I can see the difference in speaking and writing the language. There is so much slang used today that the purity of the language fades.
I had no previous knowledge that consisted of our English language, being influenced so much by the Greeks. The mention of Plato and Socretes I thought pertained only to Philosophy and not so much the English language. I also agree with the statement that language is only pure when written out. You are able to see what real language looks like without getting the different varieties of it when it is spoken. Especially in today's society, when there are so many different kinds of language that the real beauty of it tends to get lost.
It is always interesting to hear about the influence of the Greeks on language. I was aware of their influence on the modern Enlish alphabet, but I was not aware that they pioneered in grammar as well. Given that so much changed in the way people understood language, I wonder what kinds of changes in spoken and written language developed with this new understanding of structure. Was there improvement in written work (esp. more writers because of better education tools)? Did this improvement in understanding of the written word feed that suspicion that written language is superior to spoken language?
I was shocked to find out that the English Language was taken from Greeks. I had no idea. I thought it was interesting that the language is only pure when in the written form, but it does not surprise me. Most people change the languages as they speak them but shortening words or speaking in slang. I found it interesting that grammar classes still do some of the same exercised to learn language and grammar.
I was unaware that the english language was derived from the Greeks. However it is not surprising because they are both European not to mention how in science classes you always learn the greek or latin version and it usually has some similarity.
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