rational english
by
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Languages are known to change though such changes are not perceptible at the time when such changes are occurring. First, the operating systems of those languages, namely, grammars also change, which is to say that the grammar is wired into the brain of a human child before its birth does not hold good. Second, words and their referents are not arbitrarily associated as some linguists claim. Introduction presents these arguments. Researches in grammar, particularly universal grammar, tend to make grammar an enigmatic science unapproachable to the teachers and learners of the languages. that each linguistic structure can be reduced to an algebraic formula is an unsustainable theory. We cannot learn languages through mathematics. Grammars will be better tools, if they absorb the insights from the linguistic sciences but we had better keep them in the domain of common knowledge understood by the community of its users. We should adopt a minimalist and rationalist approach in analyzing the structures of language as well as beliefs, practices and social behavioral patterns. That’s what this book is all about
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About the Book
The book is a critique of the structure of the English language. English lacks neutral causative expressions. 'Eat' has a causative in 'feed', but other verbs do not have corresponding causative forms. That a need for a genuine causative construction is real can be shown by the various processes at work in the present-day English to express causation. 'learn, sit, stand', etc. are joining the ranks of verbs like 'grow, wake', etc. to be used both intransitively and causatively in informal English, though. ' help, make, and have', without the infinitive marker 'to' are being used to convey causation, but they do not sound authentic. In Indian languages, causative verbs are being formed morphologically. All these prove that grammar is constantly changing and evolving and not wired into the brain of a human being before birth. The book enunciates a program for direct well-meaning interventions to simplify and rationalize English, particularly its spelling. It also engages learners in cultivating rational thinking through short stories, episodes, and skits, written in a simple style, as exercises at the end of chapters. There is a wrong notion in the minds of most Indians that everything ancient is good and should be blindly followed, which creates an altogether avoidable tension in the minds of the young people exposed to scientific methods of studying natural phenomena.
About the Author
The author is a retired teacher of English. He obtained a b. a. (hons) degree from Andhra university and an m.phil. from madras university. He has gained quite some expertise in grammar, linguistics and pragmatics. He is a minimalist. He has a strong belief in what leanardo da vinci said that ‘simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.’ Simplicity is indeed the ultimate perfection. he lives in Chennai, having devoted the best part of his life to teaching English in various colleges in Andhra Pradesh and tamil nadu. Linguistic structures across all languages suffer from ambiguities and even multiguities which hamper clear understanding of the message contained in them. It is abundantly clear to everybody that there is an urgent need for making languages simple, plain and rational now that the information in all fields of knowledge and activity is increasing at an exponential rate.