Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 09.djvu/137

* GRAMMAR. 115 GRAMMAR. mar, as it 18 one of the strongest of the Sanskrit, and Priscian (about the close of the tiflli cen- tury A.D.), whose llruiiiiitatical Commenlurics, in eighteen books (the first two on i)lionoU)gy, two more on word-formation, then twelve on inllection, and two on syntax), was the standard authority through the iliddle Ages. Media-val times show no priigress in grammatical work. It is true that non-classical languages received attentinu owing to the spread of Christianitj-, which otl'creil the Scriptures in the vernaculars of the peoples to whom the new religion was carried. The only grammar in the technical sense of the word, how- ever, of this period is the Welsh one, entitled Desparth Edciirn Atir, written, as its name im- plies, by Edeyrn the CIolden-Tongued, in the thir- teenth century. With the revival of learning came a change. Latin still exercised its influence over all grammar, and the earliest Renaissance treatises are devoted to Latin in its relation to the vernaculars. t)ne of the first works of this type was the anonymous Troctntiis dans inodiim teuionisandi casus ct tempora (ilUnstcr, 1451). A single sentence shows its quaint character: Un eyii verhum neutrum odder ncutrale hcth da- rumine also, dat yd noch wercken edder li/dcnt hedudct (and a verhum neutrum or neutrale is thus called, liccaiisc it expresses neither action nor passivity). The first Greek grammar of this period was that written by the Byzantine exile Constantine Lascaris (Milan. 1476). To give a history of the man.y classical grammars which appeared from the beginning of the Renaissance to the new epoch inaugurated by the study of Sanskrit would lead -too far afield. Suffice it to say that there was no real progress made in scientific grammar of any language until the ex- clusive devotion to Latin and Greek gave way at the opening of the nineteenth century to the broader study of other languages as well. The first grammars of the various non-classical lan- guages are as follows: Spanish by ^-Elius Anto- nius Xebrissensis (1492): Arabic by Peter of Alcala (1505); Hebrew by Reuchlin (1506); Old Church Slavic, anonymously (1516); Ger- man Ijy Ickelsamer (?) (1527) ; Hungarian by Erdosi (1539) ; Kthiopic by Victorinus (1548) ; French by Estienne (Stephanus) (1557): Syriae by Widmanstadt (1558); Polish by Stoienski (Statorius) (1568); Bohemian, anonymous (1567); Basque, anonymous (1587); Tagal by Santo Josepho (1610); ilodern Greek bv Por- tius (1638): Canarese by Estevano (1640); Danish bv Pontoppidan (1648); Annaniese by Rhodes (1651); English by Wallis (1653)'; Lithuanian by Klein (1653) ; Chinese by Kircher (1667) : Portuguese by Pereira (1672) ; ilalay by Raimonds(l'674) ; Swedish Ijy Wallen ( 16S2 )'; Lettish by Adolphi ( 1683) ; Gothic, Anglo-Saxon, and Icelandic by Hickes ( 1689 ). The geographical discoveries of this period resulted linguistically in the publication of numerous grammars, in- cluding those of Aztec (1555) ; Chiapa (1560) ; Quichua (1.560) ; Mixteca (1503) ; Tupl (1.595) ; Aymara and Araucanian (1603) ; Huron (1631 i ; GuaranI (1639) : :Massachusetts (1666) : Chayma (16S0). The eighteenth century was rich in granmiatical contributions. We have grammars of Tamil by Ziegenbalg (1716) ; Hindustani by Schultze (1741): Fanti and Accra by Protten (1764); Bengali by Halhed ( 1778) ;" Marathi, anonymous (1778). The American languages also received much attention. Thus Moxan was treated by Marbau (1701); Tarsaca by Qui.xas (1714) ; 'Jvoran by Urtego (1732); Lnlen by Machoiii (1732) ; Totonaean by Bonilla (1752) ; EskiniiJ by Egede (1760); Otomi by Neve y Molina (1767) ; Abipone by Dobrizliofer (1784) ; Mohegan by Edwards (1788). The latter half of the century was marked by a steady growth of interest in comparative grammar, wiiich was soon to revolutionize the study and the methods of the science. (The history of tlicsc branches of linguistics will be treated more properly under I'uiLOLooY. ) Since the opening of the nineteenth century the history of grannuar in its norma- tive as])eet lias been modified to some e.xtent by the comparative method, which is also re- sponsible in great part for the historical mode of treatment. The trammels of Latin are less felt, although the simple normative grammar of any Indo-Gernuuiic language is almost of neces- sity written along the old familiar scheme. The inadequacy of such a treatment is less apparent, however, in this group of dialects than in tho.se of other language families. Many tongues which have no case, verb inflection, or the like corre- sponding to the Latin must be distorted before they can be forced into the conventional mold. Such incorporating languages as American In- dian are ca.ses in point. This difliculty is, it must be confessed, almost unavoidable. The mind of the liuguist is, unhappily, so fixed by the forms of his own vernacular and its kindred languages that it is almost a psychic impossibility for him to escape their influence, especially when pre- senting the facts of a language in the form of a grammar. Method of XoEjiATn-E Geammar. While nor- mative grammars vary somewhat according to the special requirements of the languages of which they treat, or according to the class of readers to whom they are addressed, they should be written in general according to a uniform out- line. The comprehensive definition of the language considered by the grammar in question is given, the dialectic subdivisions are described and lo- calized, and their mutual relations to each other are presented. The orthography, pronunciation, and main principles of accent are next consid- ered, and then the phonology is taken up syste- matically, jireferably in the order of vowels, semivowels, nasals, liquids, mutes (gutturals, palatals, dentals, and labials), and spirants. Af- ter the phonology comes the noun-formation, fol- lowed by the inflection of nouns and adjectives according to their various declensions, then pro- nouns and numerals, and finally adverbs, prepo- sitions, conjunctions, and interjections. Next comes the section on verb-fonnation. followed by the verb-inflection arranged according to the different conjugations of the language under con- sideration. The division of syntax follows th.at of inflection. Here several arrangements are pos- sible. The simplest method is to repeat the order observed in the inflectional part. The concluding portion of the syntax may often be devoted profitably to a discussion of the word order of the language, and a sketch of the metres found in the poetry should conclude the work. Com- parisons of the dialects of the language with its literary form may often be introduced in their proper places. It must be borne in mind that this is the outline of a technical scientific gram- mar. Special grammars, as those for beginners and schools, will frequently deviate for practical