{"id":100,"date":"2020-09-21T18:42:45","date_gmt":"2020-09-21T22:42:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/whywriteguide2e\/chapter\/5-2-grammar-as-a-situated-practice\/"},"modified":"2023-09-28T15:20:34","modified_gmt":"2023-09-28T19:20:34","slug":"5-2-grammar-as-a-situated-practice","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/whywriteguide2e\/chapter\/5-2-grammar-as-a-situated-practice\/","title":{"raw":"5.2 Grammar as a Situated Practice","rendered":"5.2 Grammar as a Situated Practice"},"content":{"raw":"The word \u201cgrammar\u201d can strike fear into the hearts of students (or anyone, except applied linguists) everywhere. Perhaps you are someone who loves grammar and enjoys sentence diagramming<\/a>.[footnote]To learn more about sentence diagramming, read this short article: Juana Summers, \u201cA Picture of Language: The Fading Art of Sentence Diagramming,\u201d NPR<\/em>, August 22, 2014,\u00a0npr.org\/sections\/ed\/2014\/08\/22\/341898975\/a-picture-of-language-the-fading-art-of-diagramming-sentences<\/a>.[\/footnote] If you are, then we are willing to bet that you are in the minority. Whether you know it or not, you really are knowledgeable about grammar, because you are able to use language in such a way that others understand you. That is, if grammar is the operating rule of English, then you understand those rules, at least implicitly. You also know that certain types of grammar are used in certain situations. This is what we mean when we say that grammar is a situated practice<\/strong>. You use certain words and sentence structures and tenses (and so on) in certain communication and rhetorical situations and not in others.\r\n\r\nAll of this means that there is more than one way to speak English in any given context. Dr. Greg Younging, member of the Opaskwayak Cree Nation, provides grammatical and stylistic guidelines<\/a>[footnote]Greg Younging, Elements of Indigenous Style: A Guide for Writing by and About Indigenous Peoples <\/em>(Brush Education, 2018).[\/footnote] for referring to Indigenous Peoples and also for when Indigenous Peoples write in English. Here are a few of the rules Younging lists that we thought you might find useful:\r\n
\r\n
\r\n\r\nTerms that Should Be Capitalized<\/strong>\r\n\r\nTerms for Indigenous identities; Indigenous governmental, social, spiritual, and religious institutions; and Indigenous collective rights should be capitalized.\r\n\r\nIndigenous Colloquial English<\/strong>\r\n\r\nIndigenous style recognizes Indigenous colloquial English as a legitimate literary device that should not be edited into \u201cproper\u201d English.\r\n\r\nThe M\u00e9tis Resistances<\/strong>\r\n\r\nThe appropriate terms for events in the history of the M\u00e9tis and Canada in 1869-70 and 1885 are the Red River Resistance<\/em> and the Riel Resistance<\/em>.\r\n\r\nInappropriate Possessives<\/strong>\r\n\r\nIndigenous Peoples are independent sovereign nations that predate Euro-colonial states and are not \u201cowned\u201d by Euro-colonial states. Indigenous style therefore avoids the use of possessives that imply this, such as \u201cCanada\u2019s Indigenous Peoples,\u201d or \u201cour Indigenous Peoples,\u201d and \u201cthe Indigenous Peoples of Canada.\u201d[footnote]Younging,\u00a0Elements of Indigenous Style<\/em>,\u00a081-91.[\/footnote]\r\n\r\n<\/div><\/blockquote>\r\nAs you can see, grammar or the rules of language have been used as a means to oppress others. For example, by using possessives to define the relationship between non-Indigenous and Indigenous Peoples, a whole cultural group is designated as \u201cowned\u201d or \u201cpossessed\u201d by another group. Grammar is powerful, which is why it\u2019s vital to be aware of how language is assembled and operated. Let\u2019s start with defining grammar, a notoriously loose and baggy term.","rendered":"

The word \u201cgrammar\u201d can strike fear into the hearts of students (or anyone, except applied linguists) everywhere. Perhaps you are someone who loves grammar and enjoys sentence diagramming<\/a>.[1]<\/sup><\/a> If you are, then we are willing to bet that you are in the minority. Whether you know it or not, you really are knowledgeable about grammar, because you are able to use language in such a way that others understand you. That is, if grammar is the operating rule of English, then you understand those rules, at least implicitly. You also know that certain types of grammar are used in certain situations. This is what we mean when we say that grammar is a situated practice<\/strong>. You use certain words and sentence structures and tenses (and so on) in certain communication and rhetorical situations and not in others.<\/p>\n

All of this means that there is more than one way to speak English in any given context. Dr. Greg Younging, member of the Opaskwayak Cree Nation, provides grammatical and stylistic guidelines<\/a>[2]<\/sup><\/a> for referring to Indigenous Peoples and also for when Indigenous Peoples write in English. Here are a few of the rules Younging lists that we thought you might find useful:<\/p>\n

\n
\n

Terms that Should Be Capitalized<\/strong><\/p>\n

Terms for Indigenous identities; Indigenous governmental, social, spiritual, and religious institutions; and Indigenous collective rights should be capitalized.<\/p>\n

Indigenous Colloquial English<\/strong><\/p>\n

Indigenous style recognizes Indigenous colloquial English as a legitimate literary device that should not be edited into \u201cproper\u201d English.<\/p>\n

The M\u00e9tis Resistances<\/strong><\/p>\n

The appropriate terms for events in the history of the M\u00e9tis and Canada in 1869-70 and 1885 are the Red River Resistance<\/em> and the Riel Resistance<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Inappropriate Possessives<\/strong><\/p>\n

Indigenous Peoples are independent sovereign nations that predate Euro-colonial states and are not \u201cowned\u201d by Euro-colonial states. Indigenous style therefore avoids the use of possessives that imply this, such as \u201cCanada\u2019s Indigenous Peoples,\u201d or \u201cour Indigenous Peoples,\u201d and \u201cthe Indigenous Peoples of Canada.\u201d[3]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

As you can see, grammar or the rules of language have been used as a means to oppress others. For example, by using possessives to define the relationship between non-Indigenous and Indigenous Peoples, a whole cultural group is designated as \u201cowned\u201d or \u201cpossessed\u201d by another group. Grammar is powerful, which is why it\u2019s vital to be aware of how language is assembled and operated. Let\u2019s start with defining grammar, a notoriously loose and baggy term.<\/p>\n

  1. To learn more about sentence diagramming, read this short article: Juana Summers, \u201cA Picture of Language: The Fading Art of Sentence Diagramming,\u201d NPR<\/em>, August 22, 2014,\u00a0npr.org\/sections\/ed\/2014\/08\/22\/341898975\/a-picture-of-language-the-fading-art-of-diagramming-sentences<\/a>. ↵<\/a><\/li>
  2. Greg Younging, Elements of Indigenous Style: A Guide for Writing by and About Indigenous Peoples <\/em>(Brush Education, 2018). ↵<\/a><\/li>
  3. Younging,\u00a0Elements of Indigenous Style<\/em>,\u00a081-91. ↵<\/a><\/li><\/ol><\/div>","protected":false},"author":103,"menu_order":2,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":["erin-kelly","sara-humphreys","natalie-boldt","nancy-ami"],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[50],"contributor":[62,63,64,61],"license":[],"class_list":["post-100","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry","chapter-type-numberless","contributor-erin-kelly","contributor-nancy-ami","contributor-natalie-boldt","contributor-sara-humphreys"],"part":97,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/whywriteguide2e\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/100","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/whywriteguide2e\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/whywriteguide2e\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/whywriteguide2e\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/103"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/whywriteguide2e\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/100\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":530,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/whywriteguide2e\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/100\/revisions\/530"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/whywriteguide2e\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/97"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/whywriteguide2e\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/100\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/whywriteguide2e\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/whywriteguide2e\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=100"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/whywriteguide2e\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=100"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/whywriteguide2e\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}