Grammar
Grammar is a system of rules which governs the production and use of utterances in a given language.
These rules apply to sound[40] as well as meaning, and include componential subsets of rules, such as those pertaining to phonology (the organisation of phonetic sound systems), morphology (the formation and composition of words), and syntax (the formation and composition of phrases and sentences).[6]
Modern frameworks that deal with the principles of grammar include structural and functional linguistics, and generative linguistics.[41]
Sub-fields that focus on a grammatical study of language include the following:
- Phonetics, the study of the physical properties of speech sound production and perception, and delves into their acoustic and articulatory properties
- Phonology, the study of sounds as abstract elements in the speaker's mind that distinguish meaning (phonemes)
- Morphology, the study of morphemes, or the internal structures of words and how they can be modified
- Syntax, the study of how words combine to form grammatical phrases and sentences
- Semantics, the study of lexical and grammatical aspects of meaning[42]
- Pragmatics, the study of how utterances are used in communicative acts, and the role played by situational context and non-linguistic knowledge in the transmission of meaning[42]
- Discourse analysis, the analysis of language use in texts (spoken, written, or signed)
- Stylistics, the study of linguistic factors (rhetoric, diction, stress) that place a discourse in context
- Semiotics, the study of signs and sign processes (semiosis), indication, designation, likeness, analogy, metaphor, symbolism, signification, and communication