Theme: traditional grammar and its weaknesses

STRATIFICATIONAL GRAMMAR
Stratificational grammar is associated with the name of Sidney Lamb. According to Sidney Lamb, language does not have only two levels of deep and surface structure but a series of levels or strata, each with a different kind of structure. This grammar has come to be known as `Stratificational Grammar', as one of its chief feature is its treatment of linguistic structure as comprising several structural layers called `strata' by Lamb. According to him, "A language is a complex network of sound-meaning relationships. These relationships can be analyzed in terms of a series of code like systems. Each of these systems has its own syntax or tactics."
According to Lamb, therefore all natural languages may be said to have three major strata:

Semiology

Grammar

Phonology

Semiology is concerned with meaning and phonology with speech. Grammar is a link between the two.

In stratificational grammar a sentence is realized as a string of sounds, a tree of morphemes and a constellation of meanings. The basic relationship in this model is that of representation or realization. It links the elements of one stratum with those of the stratum below. Lamb's "Outline of Stratificational Grammar" gives the basic features of this model. The structure - the boy caught the bird - can be analyzed in the following way in terms of this system:

Declarative Past

The------------ Thing----------Agent- Do Goal---Thing---The

Animate Catch Animate

Adult Human Male

Boy Bird

References

[1]Hinkel, E. (2004). Teaching Academic ESL Writing Practical Techniques in Vocabulary and Grammar. Lawrence Erlbaum Associatiates, Pubishers: London.
[2] Johnson, P. (1992). Cohesion and coherence in composition in Malay and English, RELCJournal, 23:1, DOI: 10.1177/003368829202300201
[3] Mahlberg, M. (2006). Lexical cohesion corpus linguisti theory and its application in English language teaching, International Journal of Corpus Linguistics, 11:3, 363- 383
[4] McDonough, J.D. & McDonough, S. (1997). Research Methods for English Language Teachers. London: St. Martin’s Press, Inc.
[5] McNamara, D.S. (2013). The epistemic stance between the author and reader: A driving force in the cohesion of text and writing, Discourse Studies, 15(5), 579-595, DOI: 10.1177/1461445613501446
[6] Myers, G. (1991). Lexical cohesion and specialized knowledge in science and popular science texts, Discourse Processes, 14:1, 1-12, DOI: 10.1080/01638539109544772
[7] Nation, I.S.P. (2009). Teaching ESL/EFL Reading and Writing. ESL & Applied Linguistics Professional Series. New York: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group.
[8] O’reilly, T. & McNamara, D.S. (20017). Reversing the reverse cohesion effect: Good texts can be better for strategic, high-knowledge readers, Discourse Processes, 43:2, 121-152
[9] Palmer, J.C. (1999). Coherence and cohesion in the English language classroom: the use of lexical reiteration and pronominalisation, RELC Journal, 30:61, DOI: 10.1177/003368829903000204