Fixing English

Over the past three hundred years, attempts have been made to prescribe how
we should and shouldn’t use the English language. The efforts have been
institutionalized in places such as usage guides, dictionaries, and school
curricula. Such authorities have aspired to “fix” the language, sometimes by
keeping English exactly where it is, but also by trying to improve the current
state of the language.
Anne Curzan demonstrates the important role prescriptivism plays in the
history of the English language, as a sociolinguistic factor in language change
and as a vital meta-discourse about language. Starting with a pioneering new
definition of prescriptivism as a linguistic phenomenon, she highlights the
significant role played by Microsoft’s grammar checker, debates about “real
words,” nonsexist language reform, and efforts to reappropriate stigmatized
terms. Essential reading for anyone interested in the regulation of language, the
book is a fascinating re-examination of how we tell language history.

anne curzan is Professor of English in the Department of English

Language and Literature at the University of Michigan.

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Fixing English
Prescriptivism and Language History

Anne Curzan

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© Anne Curzan 2014
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no reproduction of any part may take place without the written
permission of Cambridge University Press.
First published 2014
Printed in the United Kingdom by Clays, St Ives plc
A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Curzan, Anne.
Fixing English : prescriptivism and language history / Anne Curzan.
pages cm
ISBN 978-1-107-02075-7 (hardback)
1. English language – Grammar, Historical. 2. English language – Usage –
History. 3. English language – History. 4. Historical linguistics. I. Title.
PE1101.C87 2014
420.9–dc23
2013037433
ISBN 978-1-107-02075-7 Hardback
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