LANGUAGE IN INDIA
http://www.languageinindia.com
Volume 4 : 3 March 2004

A PRELUDE TO TEACHING GRAMMAR AESTHETICALLY
B. Syamalakumari

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A thing of beauty is a joy is forever. Beauty attracts, sustains, and maddens people. Beauty with brain conquers world. This type of beauty pleases, wins.

Grammar with beauty elevates human thought. Grammar is a set of rules for Beauty.

Every living and non-living being has a grammar of its own - with respect to its structure -the skeleton, ligaments, tissues, etc. The basic frame - the end product - is beauty. It appeals to the senses, namely, touch, vision, smell, taste, and hearing and the sixth sense, intuition.

Grammar functions as a bridge between expression and content - speech and meaning.

Grammar is a set of values, which relates sound and meaning.

Haphazard speech does not communicate.

Grammar gives the design and order. Order means the system, disorder means the confusion. Grammar adds beauty to speech. Social grammar gives politeness/appropriateness, which in turn earns admiration.

Exercises sometimes can result in boredom. Games thrill while giving exercises.

Exercises and Games

Exercise Make sentence using following words.
Games Select the suitable petals and make a flower.
Difference is only in the garb. Exercise is plain, Game is decorative.
Gymnastics and Exercise Ground. Example: Cricket

Every word has a set of other categories of words behind it, which can go together in a sentence. It means there are selection and restriction processes for the use of each word. These are the common values for communication.

When these common values are violated in poetry, beauty is enhanced. Cross the border of common expressions to literary expressions - literary appreciation - it can reach great heights to attain the supreme beauty called God.

Ordinary Expression
Flower Blossoms
Blooms
Dries
Falls
Spread perfume
Baby Cries
Smiles
Walks
Babbles
Literary Expression
Flower smiles
cries
dies
attracts
calls
Baby blooms
blossoms
shines
withers

Yet another relish is found when human verbs and adjectives are attributed to non-human categories and vice-versa.

Sounds Phones Phonemes
Words free bound
Grammatical categories
Rhyming sounds
Use of synonyms - sneha, prema, priti, bhakti, vatsalya
Context
Culture specific words
Culture neutral words

Language borrowing is the only borrowing by which the giver does not lose.

On the other hand, in the uncontrolled borrowing, the borrower loses.

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