Generic Grammar Course? (was RE: Why students do not study Russia n anymore)

[Udut, Kenneth]

I wonder:

Do any colleges/universities offer
a course in plain ol' grammar?

That is - some kind of course that
brings together all *known* possibilities of
grammar 'styles' and gives examples, definitions,
explanations, etc?

For example: this hypothetical course, without
teaching any *specific* language, would
rather teach whatever the max # of known
cases are - I think it's, what - 8 in Indo-european languages,
and something like 15 in the Finnish one?  [I forget],
and what they're all about.

It would teach all the different potential known
genders - hopefully erasing once and for all
the "Why male and female and neuter distinctions?" question...

It would teach the various potential word orders
that are known.

And examples of all of these things abound.

It could use extremely literal English translations
since it is not teaching another language, but rather
using examples from other languages to help
teach the structures of language.

THEN - when time comes to learn Russian,
the new Russian student will at least be
able to say to him/herself, "Well, there *are*
six cases in Russian (sometimes 7 or an occasional 8),
but there at least isn't the bewildering array of
time-tenses - just the present, past imperfect and future imperfect,
past perfect and future perfect..."

Then, it won't be so darned bewildering to find
that "Yes, word order in Russian is freer than in
English, but yes, there are still some commonly used
conventions (such as 'where to put new information').

Just a thought.

-Kenneth

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