Theory of Grammar

This site does not propose a theory, but is an attempt to search for a universal theory. Linguistic theory cannot be built on data from merely one or two languages. We welcome inputs from all scholars of all languages. Given the enormous variations in languages the theory should be such that it provides a plausible description to every structure of all known languages. This can be done only if we get data from every possible language. We propose to make this an interactive site for development of the theory. With this objective the theory needs to be comprehensive. It should go beyond structural description and should be able to tackle problems of style, use etc. Accordingly, it should be universal. We need to establish universal categories rather than adopt notional categories. This can be achieved by an integrated approach using both semantic inputs and syntactic descriptions. Linguistic study should not be confined to the classroom. It should address the concerns of everyone in the field – learner, teacher, writer, translator, and, in fact, every user. So it has to be comprehensible, simple and elegant in exposition. Finally, it should be interdisciplinary. Though not precise like mathematics everywhere, linguistic theory can use the methods of logic, set theory, discrete mathematics and so on for universal appeal. We would like scholars from other areas to come forward and contribute.