German Grammar Cruncher Quiz

Grammar Cruncher Concept

In its broadest sense, "grammar crunching" is an allegorical [1] limiting or constraining of "grammar" as an idealized global abstraction of the general, dynamic, spatial-temporal "state" of a language (including its technical modes of transmission) to specific "instances" or "instants" (common Latin etymology: in + stare, indicating standing in closest proximity), "places," or "positions," resulting in units (e.g. sentences, paragraphs, texts, genres, etc.) that make particular, individual sense to somebody. 

German "grammar crunching" is an agential & combinatorial making of sense (Sinnstiftung) that involves constructing relations of ACTIONS (with verbs and their forms as the pertinent linguistic raw material), ACTORS (with nouns and their forms as the pertinent linguistic raw material), and MODALITIES (all other grammatical forms that serve adverbially to modify, qualify, or sequence sense). It is convenient and simplistic, and indeed in need of infinite further elaboration,[2] to align time with ACTIONS, space with ACTORS, and place with MODALITIES. It is likewise convenient and simplistic, and indeed in need of infinite further elaboration, to align time, space, and place respectively with the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd person grammatical and cognitive perspectives (for example, as suggested by the Freudian fort-da game[3]). It is convenient and simplistic, and indeed in need of infinite further elaboration, finally, to postulate that language itself, understood as such an agential and combinatorial establishing of relations of ACTIONS, ACTORS, and MODALITIES (i.e. as "crunching"), is the truest [4] "context" of and for (foreign) language learning. Correspondingly, if we proceed interrogatively rather than declaratively, an urcontext for language (learning) might be posited that frames itself as a series of related questions in this way: What action is happening, or not? What or who instantiates the action? Who or what receives some impact, benefit, or brunt of the action directly (i.e. in a manner corresponding to a 2nd person perspective)? Who or what receives some impact, benefit, or brunt of the action indirectly (i.e. in a manner perhaps suggestive of a 3rd person perspective)? Which things or persons might be caretakers, stakeholders, or owners of some aspect of the action? When, where, how, and why does the action happen as it does?

Grammar crunching in the online language learning of UF's Discover German sequence postulates and practices a language proficiency based not primarily on emulating the model of the "native speaker" who has somehow learned their language "naturally," but rather on syntactic [5] combinatorial "position management" within a sentence field. Instead of trying to assimilate morphology (all the different inflected forms words can have) previously qua memorization as the primary underlying approach to learning (how to speak) German ("naturally"), you will work with and become proficient at occupying language-positions in a sentence-field correctly with the raw material of language (ACTIONS, ACTORS, MODALITIES)—which is to say, you will become proficient "crunchers." The memorization of morphology and the associated speaking, writing, reading, and listening comprehension skills should follow, without trying (i.e. as children learn language "naturally" growing up, without trying), from ongoing crunching and other experiences with the language over time, and with sufficient effort and repetitions.

The German Grammar Cruncher is conveniently like the "octagonal" linguistic "kaleidoscope" referenced by Twain in the citation above if we arbitrarily posit eight occupied positions: 1. doer, 2. action, 3. done-unto directly, 4. done-for-or-on-behalf-of indirectly, 5. temporal adverbial modality, 6. causal or circumstantial adverbial modality, 7. spatial adverbial modality, 8. some completion of the action. However, it differs by enabling repeatable patterns suggested by the "help texts" below.

The German Grammar Cruncher renders the conventional (Cartesian) scheme (in red in the above image) positionally (as indicated in black at bottom), with the dotted-line dynamics remaining the same. Further specifications of the positions and of the linguistic raw material (actions, actors, modalities) by which they are filled (or not) sequentially:

Position #1 Help Text:

either 1. “Doer” of the action (nominative subject); or “Done-Unto” of the action (accusative direct object); or “For-Whom-Done” of the action (dative indirect object); or an Adverbial Modifier of time, causality/circumstance, or place (preferably in this order). [Here and elsewhere: a Stakeholder/Possessor in/of an action can be appended to a doer, recipient, or modifier via a genitive construction.]

Position #2 Help Text:

The ACTION: a verb in its conjugated form agreeing in gender, number, and person with the Subject/Doer of the action. [This may be a sentence final position in a simple subject-verb construction; any of the following below might also be sentence final.]

Position #3 Help Text:

either “Doer” of the action (nominative subject, if inverted); or “Done-Unto” of the action (accusative direct object); or “For-Whom-Done” of the action (dative indirect object); an Adverbial Modifier of time, causality/circumstance, or place (preferably in this order); or Sentence final position: past participle, modal verb, predicate nominative, prepositional complement of verb, other completion of the action/predicate, etc.

Position #4 Help Text:

either “Doer” of the action (nominative subject, if further inverted in rare cases); or “Done-Unto” of the action (accusative direct object); or “For-Whom-Done” of the action (dative indirect object); an Adverbial Modifier of time, causality/circumstance, or place (preferably in this order); or Sentence final position: past participle, modal verb, predicate nominative, prepositional complement of verb, other completion of the action/predicate, etc.

Position #5 Help Text:

either “Done-Unto” of the action (accusative direct object); or “For-Whom-Done” of the action (dative indirect object); an Adverbial Modifier of time, causality/circumstance, or place (preferably in this order); or Sentence final position: past participle, modal verb, predicate nominative, prepositional complement of verb, other completion of the action/predicate, etc.

Position #6 Help Text:

either “Done-Unto” of the action (accusative direct object); or “For-Whom-Done” of the action (dative indirect object); an Adverbial Modifier of time, causality/circumstance, or place (preferably in this order); or Sentence final position: past participle, modal verb, predicate nominative, prepositional complement of verb, other completion of the action/predicate, etc.

Position #7 Help Text:

either “Done-Unto” of the action (accusative direct object); or “For-Whom-Done” of the action (dative indirect object); an Adverbial Modifier of time, causality/circumstance, or place (preferably in this order); or Sentence final position: past participle, modal verb, predicate nominative, prepositional complement of verb, other completion of the action/predicate, etc.

Position #8 Help Text:

Always only if applicable: A Sentence Final Position consisting of some kind of completion of the action/predicate: past participle, modal verb, predicate nominative, prepositional complement, some other completion of the action/predicate.

Interrogative "switches" that could be seen as "powering" Actions, Actors, and Modalities (if they are present; if not present, a corresponding lack/gap is signaled):

• Action—Yes-No?-Question Type
• Doer—Was? Wer?
• Done-unto, Directly—Was? Wen?
• Done-for-or-on-behalf-of, Indirectly—Wem?
• Stakeholder—Wessen?
• Adverbial Temporal Modality—Wann?
• Adverbial Causal/Circumstantial Modality—Warum? Wie?
• Adverbial Spatial Modality—Wo? Wohin? Woher?

Click here for additional information about the German Grammar Cruncher.

[1] "Allegory" (compare to the ancient Greek: ἀλλος: other, an-other, otherwise + ἀγορεύω: to speak in the assembly/marketplace = άλληγορέω: to speak figuratively, interpret allegorically) used here to designate a way of speaking that itself includes and combines other (i.e. literal and figurative/symbolic) levels or kinds of speaking, the relations among which occur combinatorially (and are frequently clarifiable via etymologies).

[2] Some preliminary reflections leading in the direction of the development of the Grammar Cruncher are contained in Will Hasty, "Theory meets Praxis: from Derrida to the Beginning German classroom via the internet"; Die Unterrichtspraxis/Teaching German, vol. 39, no. 1-2, 2006, p. 14+. Gale Academic OneFile.

[3] Nicholas Dion, See Spacing Freud: Space and Place in Psychoanalytic Theory: "With respect to our investigation into space and Freud, I have demonstrated that space has a key role to play in the unconscious, that place can be receptive of affect, and that the formation of the subject, as described in the oceanic feeling and the fort-da game, is an intensely spatial process. Freud unequivocally describes the creation of the subject in terms of a partitioning of space" (158); https://tspace.library.utoronto.ca/bitstream/1807/33977/1/Dion_Nicholas_M_201211_PhD_thesis.pdf

[4]  "True" according to its verbal sense "to make level, square, balanced, or concentric; bring or restore to a desired mechanical accuracy or form.

[5] From French syntaxe, from Late Latin syntaxis, from Ancient Greek σύνταξις (súntaxis), from σύν (sún, “together”) + τάξις (táxis, “arrangement”), from τάσσω (tássō, “I arrange”).

Contact Will Hasty with questions or comments.

The German Grammar Cruncher is being developed as a collaboration between UF German Studies in the Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures and UF's Center for Instructional Technology and Training (CITT).