This document discusses reference grammars, which are prose descriptions of a language's major grammatical constructions, illustrated with examples. The document outlines what constitutes a reference grammar, including an introduction about the language and its speakers, the main body organized by grammatical structures, and sections on index, bibliography, and abbreviations. It also notes strengths like being designed to teach about a language and serve as a reference, but weaknesses include lack of clear distinctions between languages and accounting for language variation. Finally, it implies reference grammars serve mother-tongue speakers wanting to learn more about their language and linguists making comparisons to other languages.

1. REFERENCE GRAMMAR
MARICHELE A. DE
GUZMAN
Lecturer
Graduate Studies,Master
in Education
Major in English
Language Teaching
Panpacific University
North Philippines
Urdaneta City,
Pangasinan

2. WHAT IS A REFERENCE GRAMMAR?

3. A reference grammar is a prose-like
description of the major grammatical
constructions in a language, illustrated
with examples. A description of the
grammar of a language, with
explanations of the principles governing
the construction of words, phrases,
clauses, and sentences.

11. Americans use the present perfect tense
less than speakers of British English and a
British teacher might mark wrong some
things that an American teacher would say
are correct.

12. 1. US Did you do your homework
yet?
Brit. Have you done your
homework yet?
2. US I already ate.
Brit. I’ve already eaten.

13. 3. Brit. I’ve got two sisters.
US I have two sisters.
4. Brit. I’ve got to go now.
US I have to go now.

14. Examples of different words being used in British and
American English
angry (brit.) = Mad (US) autumn = fall
boot (of a car) = trunk chemist’s = drug store
cupboard = closet flat = apartment
lift = elevator nappy = diaper
pavement = sidewalk petrol = gas/gasoline
rubbish = trash tap = faucet
trousers = pants

15. Required training and courses
In order to write a reference grammar
you should be trained in descriptive
linguistics. The following courses combined
with practical help will equip you to produce a
suitable reference grammar:
• Phonetics
• Phonology
• Morphology
• Syntax
• Semantics
• Field methods

16. PARTS OF A REFERENCE GRAMMAR
_________________________________
Although reference grammars
vary considerably in length and
scope, a good one should consist
minimally of the following
substantive parts:

17. INTRODUCTION
An introductory section or chapter should
provide essential background material on the
language and its speakers, including genetic
affiliation, sociolinguistic situation
(demography, dialects), ethnography, and a
brief review of previous literature. This section
does not have to be very long, but it is
absolutely necessary in order to orient the
reader to the language as a vehicle for
communication used by real people.

18. BODY
The main part of the grammar is usually organized
according to some structural organizing principle. One
principle is to begin with "smaller" units of structure and to
work one's way up to the larger and normally more
complex units, for example:
• phonemes
• nouns
• nominal predications
• verbs
• verbal predications
• compound predications
• complex predications
• discourse structure

19. Index
A good index is what turns an ordinary grammar into a
true reference grammar. One "test" often apply to published
grammars is to look up some grammatical feature that ought
to be treated in any reference grammar, such as relative
clauses or causatives, and check on how long it takes to find
an example of that feature. If it takes longer than five minutes,
the grammar fails the test. Since the purpose of a reference
grammar is to make detailed information on a language
accessible, a good measure of its success in accomplishing its
intended purpose is how easily that detailed information can
be found. Without a good index, the best reference grammar in
the world is almost useless.

20. BIBLIOGRAPHY
The grammar should contain a bibliography
of all previous literature on the language, plus
other works cited in the grammar.
ABBREVIATIONS
All descriptive linguistic work involves
abbreviations. A good informative list of all the
abbreviations found in the grammar is an
important tool to allow the reader to
comprehend and use it.

21. Strengths of
reference grammar

22. A reference grammar is …
designed to teach someone about the language and to
give readers a reference tool for looking up specific details of
the language.
Organized according to universal structural categories.
Contains chapters which consist mostly of explanation
the plus one or two examples of every point mentioned.
Written for individuals who have some understanding
of language as a universal phenomenon and who wish to
learn how the particular language described fits into
universal understandings of human language.

23. 1. Rarely clear cut distinctions between one
language and another and slowly accumulating
differences in speech forms which becomes very
difficult to say that when two people speak the”
same language” or when they speak “different
languages”.
2. Show overlapping in language forms
3. Language variation which specifies any
distinguishable form of a language.
Weaknesses of Reference Grammar

24. Implications of
reference grammar

25. The two varieties of English most widely found in
print and taught around the world are British and
American - it is therefore important for teachers
to be aware of the major differences between
the two. And while lexical differences are the
easiest ones to notice, a knowledge of
grammatical and phonological differences can
be useful not only for teachers to be aware of,
but also to be able to deal with should they
come up in class.

26. An important point to make is that different doesn’t
mean wrong. Comments such as “American English is
inferior to British English”, or “American English is
better than British English” have no solid basis other
than the speaker’s opinion. The truth is that no
language or regional variety of language is inherently
better or worse than another. They are just different.
Students will often have very firm beliefs on which
English they think is better/easier to
understand/clearer etc. While it may be true for that
particular individual, there is no evidence to suggest
that one variety is easier to learn or understand than
the other

27. Mother-tongue speakers of the
language who want to understand more
about their language.
Organized in terms of the forms that
the readers already know how to use, but
are not aware of their significance to the
grammar as a whole.

28. Linguists who want information on the
language for comparative purposes.
Organized in terms of a universal
outline designed to help the reader make
meaningful comparisons between the
language described and other languages

29. Thank you
very much for
listening!