Descriptivism Flashcards
What’s descriptivism?
To describe language usage. Language change should be acknowledged and recorded rather than judged/corrected.
What are prescriptivists and descriptivists seen as?
Adversaries in linguistic war.
What did Trudgill say?
Language change= inevitable as society changes, misuse of a word ❌ affects users meanings/listeners understanding.
What did David Crystal say?
Internet increased rate of language change.
Against idea that only young ppl use text speech and it’s ruining eng.
Uses metaphor of tide- describe how Lang always changing
What did Cameron 1995 say?
He’s a descriptivist- says prescriptivism shows how ppl care how Lang is used.
Fears about language change symbolise fears abt social problems-> as if declining standards of language 🪞 , ⬇️ standards in behaviour/edication
What’s the Oxford English Dictionary?
Publishes in 20th century. Editors were descriptivists. The aim to record Lang as it was, not make rules.
Most think dictionary as prescriptive rule book = to check meanings and spellings
What do they consider differnt language use as?
As variation rather than inferiority and deviance
Who’s Jean Aitchinson?
Considers omission like wa’er and assimilation’dunno’ as natural occurrences. She came up with metaphors to describe ppl anxieties about language use.
Jean Aitchinson: what’s damp spoon?
People believe language change caused by sloppiness or laziness.(sloppy like someone leaving damp spoon in sugar)
Says that lazy speech is drunk speech because of poor/bad muscular coordination
Jean Aitchinson: What’s crumbling castle?
Where some people see English language as an old building that should be preserved/protected. People think that Eng Lang was carefully created and now at risk. Argues there was never a golden age when lang correctly used by all.
Jean Aitchinson: Infectious disease
We catch change from people around us. She argues people pick up change because they want to choose good language use for their context ie:convergence.
