The Grammar of Spoken English: Its Relation to What Is Called English Grammar

5 yt tHAT little we know of the grammar of spoken English is based on V w unsystematic impressions of what we hear and on the unsubstantiated assumption that the grammar of the spoken language must be essentially that of the written. Before we can hope to get an authentic grammar of spoken English there are two steps we must take. One of them is obvious: we must have a sufficient body of recorded evidence of actual spoken usage to permit systematic analysis. The other step is less apparent, but a necessary prerequisite. The grammar of spoken English must be based on a far more objective analysis of the evidence than has characterized the analysis of written English. I shall attempt, therefore, to substantiate my assertion that much of the best scholarly work in Ena lish grammatical analysis has lacked that necessary objectivity. By the grammar of spoken English I mean a complete and consistent description of every aspect and variety of the spoken English language. Since the preparation of such a description seems not only improbable but impossible, I must explain why I postulate such a conception. The fundamental reason is this: if we assume that the function of language is communication, we must conclude that that is language which performs this function, and that is not language but a mere counterfeit which fails to perform this function. Let me hasten to illustrate my definition. Such examples as 'I seen the botllen of 'm,' 'Them dogs are us'n's,' 'I'll call you up, without I can't,'2 all perform the required function for me and must therefore be explained by our ideal grammar. On the other lland, the utterances of those to whom English is not vernacular are sometimes so un-English in their arrangements of sounds and words as to be quite incomprehensible. Such language we need not consider and may dismiss as counterfeit. I must now amplify the definition of grammar as the systematic description of a language. A description which merely enumerates is of little value. The parts list for an automobile does in a sense describe the car, but it is only the engineer's blueprint, in which all those parts are assem