Editing Roger Bacon (section)

===Linguistics===
{{main|Summa Grammatica}}
{{see also|Universal grammar}}
Bacon's early linguistic and logical works are the ''Overview of Grammar'' (''[[Summa Grammatica]]''), ''{{lang|la|Summa de Sophismatibus et Distinctionibus}}'', and the ''{{lang|la|Summulae Dialectices}}'' or ''{{lang|la|Summulae super Totam Logicam}}''.{{sfnp|''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy''|2013|loc=§2}} These are mature but essentially conventional presentations of Oxford and Paris's terminist and pre-[[modistae|modist]] logic and grammar.{{sfnp|''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy''|2013|loc=§2}} His later work in linguistics is much more idiosyncratic, using terminology and addressing questions unique in his era.<ref name=hovd1>{{harvp|Hovdhaugen|1990|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=8UxAAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA124 121–122]}}.</ref>

In his ''[[Grammatica Graeca|Greek]]'' and ''[[Grammatica Hebraica|Hebrew Grammars]]'' (''{{lang|la|Grammatica Graeca}}'' and ''{{lang|la|Hebraica}}''), in his work "On the Usefulness of Grammar" (Book III of the ''{{lang|la|[[#Opus Majus|Opus Majus]]}}''), and in his ''Compendium of the Study of Philosophy'',<ref name=hovd1/> Bacon stresses the need for scholars to know several languages.<ref name=hovd8/> Europe's vernacular languages are not ignored—he considers them useful for practical purposes such as [[medieval trade|trade]], [[Christian proselytism|proselytism]], and [[government in the High Middle Ages|administration]]—but Bacon is mostly interested in his era's [[languages of science]] and religion: [[Arabic]], [[Greek language|Greek]], [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] and [[Medieval Latin|Latin]].<ref name=hovd8>{{harvp|Hovdhaugen|1990|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=8UxAAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA128 128]}}.</ref>

Bacon is less interested in a full practical mastery of the other languages than on a theoretical understanding of their grammatical rules, ensuring that a Latin reader will not misunderstand passages' [[authorial intent|original meaning]].<ref name=hovd8/> For this reason, his treatments of Greek and Hebrew grammar are not isolated works on their topic<ref name=hovd8/> but contrastive grammars treating the aspects which influenced Latin or which were required for properly understanding Latin texts.<ref name=hovd9>{{harvp|Hovdhaugen|1990|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=8UxAAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA129 129]}}.</ref> He pointedly states, "I want to describe Greek grammar for the benefit of Latin speakers".<ref name=hovd3/>{{refn|group=n|Latin: ''{{lang|la|Cupiens igitur exponere gramaticam grecam ad vtilitatem latinorum}}''.<ref name=hovd3>{{harvp|Hovdhaugen|1990|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=8UxAAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA123 123]}}.</ref>}} It is likely only this limited sense which was intended by Bacon's boast that he [[Language education|could teach an interested pupil a new language]] within three days.<ref name=hovd9/>{{refn|group=n|It has been claimed that the copies of Bacon's grammars which have survived was not their final form, but [[Eva Hovdhaugen|Hovdhaugen]] considers that—even if that were the case—the final form would have been similar in scope to the surviving texts and mostly focused on improving a Latinate reader's understanding of texts in translation.<ref name=hovd9/>}}

Passages in the ''Overview'' and the Greek grammar have been taken as an early exposition of a [[universal grammar]] underlying all [[human]] [[language]]s.<ref name=lawman>{{harvp|Murphy|1974|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=8B5z0MiRnJ8C&pg=PA153 153]}}.</ref> The Greek grammar contains the tersest and most famous exposition:<ref name=lawman/>
{{blockquote|Grammar is one and the same in all languages, substantially, though it may vary, accidentally, in each of them.{{refn|[[Edmond Nolan|Nolan]],{{sfnp|Nolan & al.|1902|p=27}} cited in [[James J. Murphy|Murphy]].{{sfnp|Murphy|1974|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=8B5z0MiRnJ8C&pg=PA154 154]}}}}{{refn|group=n|[[Latin]]: ''{{lang|la|...grammatica vna et eadem est secundum substanciam in omnibus linguis, licet accidentaliter varietur...}}.''<ref name=hovd3/>}}}}
However, Bacon's lack of interest in studying a literal [[grammar]] underlying the languages known to him and his numerous works on linguistics and comparative linguistics has prompted [[Eva Hovdhaugen|Hovdhaugen]] to question the usual literal translation of Bacon's ''{{lang|la|grammatica}}'' in such passages.<ref name=hovd7/> She notes the ambiguity in the Latin term, which could refer variously to the structure of language, to its description, and to the science underlying such descriptions: i.e., [[linguistics]].<ref name=hovd7>{{harvp|Hovdhaugen|1990|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=8UxAAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA127 127–128]}}.</ref>