The Greco-Roman tradition

The Greco-Roman grammatical tradition crystallized much of the linguistic metalanguage used today, either as the Greek forms or as Latin calques. Grammar came to account for any instance of language, spoken or written, and evolved from being a practical to a scientific discipline (Gk. τέχνη tékhnē, Lat. ars), with its own set of rules. Crucial observations and analytical tools in the organization of sounds—allophony, natural classes, accentuation, syllable structure and weight, phonological processes, morphophonological alternation, and abstract underlying bases—can be counted among the contributions of the ancient western grammarians, and phonological change was noted through citing older forms or censuring newer ones. The tradition subsequently formed the basis of medieval and later linguistics in Europe and further east, and many of its themes have persisted throughout linguistic history.