Prescriptivism/Descriptivism

20 April 2009
06:22

○ What is prescriptivism?
○ What is descriptivism?
Prescription refers to the enforcement of rules governing
how a language is used and written. These rules can To have a descriptive attitude towards language means to
cover such topics as standards for spelling and grammar describe the language without being hypercritical or
or syntax; or a rule for what is deemed socially or expressing judgement. Cameron explains descriptive to be
politically correct. "norm-observing" whereas Fromkin and Rodman (1998)
clarify that:
Standardized spelling system.
It does not tell you how you should speak; it describes your
Prescription and description are often seen as opposites, basic linguistic knowledge. It explains how it is possible for
in the sense that one declares how language should be you to speak and understand and it tells you what you
while the other declares how language is . know about the sounds, words, phrases, and sentences of
Prescriptivism is an approach, especially to grammar, that your language.
sets out rules for what is regarded as correct in language.
Or many believe that prescriptivists do not lay down rules
about English usage, but only say how they think the
language should be used.
1. Linguistics Based on or establishing norms or rules indicating how
a language should or should not be used rather than describing
the ways in which a language is used. [American Heritage
Dictionary]

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Future of the English Language
20 April 2009
06:22

Where is the English Language headed in the future? There are two main theories.

The first is, that with globalisation, English will eventually become a "universal" language
that everyone speaks, with smaller languages fading from existence.

Another theory, one that David Crystal suggested, is that English will follow a similar
trend to Latin. Once a "universal" language itself, it was changed so by the variety of
people speaking it that eventually the different dialects became incomprehensible and it
broke down into separate languages.

Still, with globalisation, this doesn't seem that likely.

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Exam Preparation
20 April 2009
06:22

Stick to frameworks:
 Discourse A key period is following the introduction of
 Graphology the printing press (1476) and the introduction
 Lexis of the first dictionary (1755 - Samuel Johnson).
 Grammar Also remember the grammar books that
 Semantics appeared at the time - the writers that tried to
 Pragmatics "fix" the language (Robert Lowth's Short
 Phonology Introduction to English Grammar was written
1762). All these had an influence on the
language, and helped it to become
standardised (slowly - remember it didn't all
Get as much context as possible. happen at once).
Find out date and think about what
could have happened at the time.

Key points to remember

 English is a Germanic language - a group of northern European language deriving

from proto-germanic languages spoken around 1st millennia BC.
 Words that are linked to certain sects of society and culture can sometimes be largely
derived from other languages due to historical consequences. Latinate languages
such as French/Norman, Italian, have large influences on our food and music. Law is
especially influenced by the French. This is because law and convention required
formal writings to be done in French up till the 17th century.
 Norse words – outdoor objects such as sky and window.
 Anglo-Saxon compiles the core of our language. A majority of the most used words in
English come from our northern European friends. Not only do words such as mother,
father etc, come from Saxon but old English was directly taken from these languages.
 Second wave of French influence due to prescriptivists. Debt and subtle have their B’s
returned despite pronunciations of the word changing to not include them. Return to
‘correct’ English.
 Samuel Johnson’s dictionary in 1755 was hugely influential, despite not being the first
dictionary. It’s concise and well illustrated, drawing citations from all aspects of
literature, helping to draw together some of the finest uses of language over the past
few hundred years

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 Lexis
20 April 2009
06:22

When looking at the

 Words can simply die when they are no longer needed, words in a text, we
such as "galantine" and "stomacher". might also find
 New words enter the lexicon. These can be pure amelioration, where a
neologisms, or borrowed from other languages, like word's meaning gains
'risotto' and 'curry' (known as lone words). They can more positive
also be coined using word formation processes: connotations, and
o Compounding: "lap" + "top" = laptop. pejoration, where a
o Blending: where parts of words are used to make word's meaning gains
new ones, such as "smoke"+"fog"="smog". more negative
o Abbreviating: "telephone" becomes "phone". connotations. If we
o Back-formation: "porn" from "pornography" consider "bitch", this
where the end of the word is lost. (Also known as word has been
clipping.) through both
o Affixation: the process of adding a suffix or prefix amelioration and
to a previously existing word. pejoration. It was
"un"+"friendly"="unfriendly". pejorated from its
 Existing words take on new meanings. original meaning of a
o Broadening: where the meaning of a word is female dog, to an
extended, like "butcher" - it was once a seller of insult for a woman. At
goats; it now means a seller of meat. one point, however, it
o Narrowing: where a word's meaning gets ameliorated as
narrower, like "doctor" - it once meant a teacher women began to use
or a learned man; this meaning only remains in it for one another as a
'Doctor of English'. friendly insult. Now its
meaning seems again
to have pejorated.
In more modern language, you might see words
change due to social pressures like political If the meaning of a
correctness. P.C. is attempting to remove word completely shifts,
marked terms from the language like "actress" we call it a semantic
and "waitress" to the gender neutral "actor" shift. The original
and "waiter". It stretches beyond just gender, to meaning may or may
race, to disability, and can be taken not remain. Many IT-
nonsensically to coin new phrases like related words are
"vertically challenged". examples of semantic
shifts, like "mouse" and
If a word moves from one word class to another, we "window".
call it a function shift (also known as a grammatical
conversion). The proper noun "Google" came into
the language in 1999, and has since function shifted
to a verb, "I googled him yesterday."

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Orthography
20 April 2009
06:22

Hyphens have a curious story.

Words commonly collocated
are often, over time,
conflated (brought together).
Remember, orthography is from 'graph' which "Tonight" is an example of
means write and 'ortho-' meaning correct, so the this. Originally, it was written
correct way to write... the spellings. as the preposition and the
noun: "to night". As it was so
As we've seen in our brief history, spelling took a common, people started to
long time to standardise, not complete until around hyphenate it to "to-night".
the 18th century. Before then there might be a Eventually, the transient
word repeated in a text, but spelled a different way. hyphen was lost to get the
There are a few general trends that you might point present "tonight".
out:

 Inflections left over, most commonly "e".

 Certain letters are interchangeable:
o "i" can be "j" or vice versa
o "v" can be "u"
o before "w" was developed, "uu" was
used; literally 'double u'.

 Double and single letters may differ depending

on line spacing for printing: before
standardisation, a word with a double letter
might have lost a letter in order to fit on the
line.

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Syntax
20 April 2009
06:22

Remember, orthography is from 'graph' which Words commonly collocated

means write and 'ortho-' meaning correct, so the are often, over time,
correct way to write... the spellings. conflated (brought together).
"Tonight" is an example of
As we've seen in our brief history, spelling took a this. Originally, it was written
long time to standardise, not complete until around as the preposition and the
the 18th century. Before then there might be a noun: "to night". As it was so
word repeated in a text, but spelled a different way. common, people started to
There are a few general trends that you might point hyphenate it to "to-night".
out: Eventually, the transient
hyphen was lost to get the
 Inflections left over, most commonly "e". present "tonight".
 Certain letters are interchangeable:
o "i" can be "j" or vice versa
o "v" can be "u"
o before "w" was developed, "uu" was
used; literally 'double u'.

 Double and single letters may differ depending

on line spacing for printing: before
standardisation, a word with a double letter
might have lost a letter in order to fit on the
line.

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Register
20 April 2009
06:22

Register is curious. On looking at an older text and seeing the long sentences and
difficult, archaic language, one might be inclined to say that it has a high register.

But we should always consider the context.

In today's language use, we have a variety of different registers, from the very
high legalese, to the spiel of politicians, to colloquial adverts. The much lower
registers found today are relatively new, only coming into existence during the
19th century. Before then, language seemed only to have one register.

So, are older texts really using a high register? Or just the standard register of
the time? We can only say they use a 'high' register in comparison to today's
language. An 18th century advert will have a high register in comparison to a
21st century advert, despite the genre and purpose being similar; still, for its
time, the register wouldn't have been seen as high.

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Other Frameworks
20 April 2009
06:22

Phonology may come into things if you're presented with a poem that
has a clear rhyme scheme, but two words that don't seem to fit. The
words may reflect phonological changes. Also, Chaucer was a great cheat
when it came to rhyme: if he was stuck, he would inflect the two words
to make them rhyme, as the 'e' was always pronounced!

Pragmatics might be something else to look out for. If you see something
that you recognise as a Biblical reference, it will be from a time when a
writer's natural assumption was that everyone would recognise it.
Anything about "apples" is usually related to the Garden of Eden in
Literature of the past, for example. There was an assumed Christian
knowledge. Similarly, there might have been an assumed knowledge
about Greek mythology...

Can always talk about graphology: modern texts will use a lot more
graphological features, mainly because they can, as printing has come a
long way from the first printing presses.

You might also see the ſ, the 'long s', which means "s". No one is quite
sure why the ſ was used rather than s, for there are no clear patterns to
its use. All we can say iſ that it waſ a printing convention of the time.

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