The unexpected effects of grammar

At first glance, nothing is more off-putting than (French!) grammar. Every word must be identified and analysed within the context of the whole. It’s like a proper police investigation, in which the detective becomes a victim of a system of rules that sometimes follow one another with no apparent logic.

And yet …

Whatever the learners’ age – from teenagers to pensioners – I always come to the same conclusion: a profound silence, which at first worried me a little and which I associated with boredom.

Next come the questions – and not just any questions: philosophical questions. What value should we attach to the past? Why does time seem to pass differently depending on the languages studied? How do geography and climate shape a language? What does the verb ‘to be’ mean: a permanent or a transitory state? And the verb ‘to have’ – what aspects of property and being, in relation to possession, does it convey?

There is even more to it: learners immerse themselves in this world of rules and exceptions in order to delve deep within themselves. It seems to me, ultimately, that this intense concentration is in fact an appointment that the learner makes for themselves, allowing them to step away from the hustle and bustle to discover their own train of thought, or even their relationship with existence…

Grammar can also serve as a foundation for critical thinking, offering an experience that is not merely one of applying a rule in an exercise, nor one of achieving linguistic autonomy: it is an experience of the self at the very core of one’s being.

Grammar as a means of self-discovery – who would have ever thought it?