Kui vajalik on grammatika?
How Much Grammar do We Need?

Summary/Abstract: According to Bourdieu, the knowledge of standard language is a linguistic capital that could be used to gain other types of capital. This means that there is a constant need for learning the standard language. The paper argues that the language that is used to describe the standard is written in the jargon of linguistics presupposing the knowledge of the structure of language and grammatical terminology. Using the linguistic jargon helps to maintain the linguists monopoly over the formulation of legitimate language. However, the norms of the standard language could also be formulated in a considerably simpler language. The paper analyses several subfields of orthography and concludes that most of the rules can be formulated using intuitively understandable notions and common vocabulary. Such descriptions would drastically reduce the need for grammatical instruction in literacy teaching.

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