ABSTRACT
Grounding is the mode of elucidation that aims to identify how people themselves understand a concept. Ludwig Wittgenstein and J. L. Austin each develop their own strategies for identifying how words are used, and many of these strategies overlap. Wittgenstein sometimes calls his mode of proceeding "grammatical investigation". Different uses of words formed on the same stem may also shed light on a word's grammar. Investigating grammar by means of interviewing involves posing questions directly to living speakers. Investigating what Austin called "trailing clouds of etymology" can be another useful aid. Grammatical investigation can consist primarily of introspective analysis to shed light on the conventions of a larger linguistic community. Interviewing and textual analysis are distinct strategies of ethnographic grammatical investigation. Drawing upon the insights of Wittgenstein and other ordinary language practitioners, it is seen that this endeavor-grammatical investigation-entails looking at the range of situated uses to which the corresponding term or phrase can be put.
