tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5173950.post4121707136243058552..comments2024-03-29T03:57:26.974-04:00Comments on Grim's Hall: Language Like a Free MarketGrimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07543082562999855432noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5173950.post-60321014280187717272018-12-10T10:12:23.513-05:002018-12-10T10:12:23.513-05:00My one disappointment about the article is that he...My one disappointment about the article is that he never really discusses how to be both effectively.<br /><br />Linguists must be descriptivists. Their job is to observe language and describe it. It's baked into the definition of their field. You cannot be a prescriptivist linguist any more than you can be a pacifist infantryman.<br /><br />However, too many assume that because linguists are descriptivists, everyone else should be too. It can't work that way. Editors & English teachers exist for a good reason, and they must take a prescriptivist stance to do their jobs, which is to help people to communicate clearly. We all depend on a commonly understood grammar and vocabulary, on rules for spelling and punctuation, in order to communicate.<br /><br />The problem with prescriptivists is that many prescriptivist rules in English don't make sense; they were imported from Latin, which is a very different language, or they were invented from some famous person's list of language annoyances, or some influential editor decided at some point that what everyone was saying wasn't logical, or some such thing. For example, the "rule" that you can't end a sentence with a preposition was intentionally imported from Latin and initially imposed by a small but influential group of prescriptivists; it was never a natural part of the English language, and it doesn't belong in the English language.<br /><br />Prescriptivists need to learn from descriptivists, etymologists, and language historians, but they shouldn't give up the fight of teaching people how to communicate effectively.Tomnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5173950.post-90934678504308038132018-12-08T14:36:01.898-05:002018-12-08T14:36:01.898-05:00I started as a prescriptivist and became a descrip...I started as a prescriptivist and became a descriptivist. Usage by an adult native speaker cannot really be wrong. What we call wrongness is usually a matter of dialect. <br /><br />However...<br /><br />Language usage is also signalling about a dozen things, not all of which are mere snobbishness or preference for one's own group's speech. We signal that we care about the formality of a situation. We signal that we know the specific rules a situation. We signal that we want to be one with our audience, not setting ourselves apart - or the opposite. I am very modern and informal in most of my punctuation, and that is intentional. My vocabulary, pronunciation, and word-order tend to be traditional, even archaic, and that is intentional.Assistant Village Idiothttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01978011985085795099noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5173950.post-28691198113479216772018-12-07T16:00:42.624-05:002018-12-07T16:00:42.624-05:00Great piece.Great piece.Grimhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07543082562999855432noreply@blogger.com