U2AOS1 - Prescriptivism And Descriptivism Flashcards
Alliteration in headline and misspelling of Afghanistan
”- Leongatha war memorial updated their stone plaque and they misspelled Afghanistan
- Needs fixing as this is a significant monument used to honour people who fought in the war and therefore the correct spelling should be used
- As it is in stone in a public space it should be correct
- Highlights prescriptive attitudes can differ depending on the context
- A lot of the people in the comments have high expectations of proofreaders
- Orthography error (conventional spelling system of language)
Lindt ‘crispy sensation
”- Abstract noun ‘sensation’ modified by adjective crispy
- Google can also be used as a verb or a noun
- A unique wording with lexemes structured this way
- Lindt is trying to highlight the experience their product will create for their customer
- Most people would be fine with the unusual structure and believe companies should be creative
- Some prescriptivists may disagree
- Links in with the cultural trend of companies selling an experience not a product
- Easily facilitates a sales campaign or slogan
Capitalisation and sentence structure error
”- Non-capitalisation of noun ‘moe’
- Lacking a full stop after ‘local Woolies moe’
- Comma between the two independent clauses ‘…new shelving, we estimate…’
- Woolworths Moe March 2020; sign on enterance
- Leads to elitist judgements by those who view Moe as lower socioeconomic classed area
- Doesn’t impact on the reader’s ability to understand the text
- May lead to some prescriptive people complaining about the sign
- Expectations that language used by a big company such as Woolworths should be correct
Tweet referring to Melania Trump
”- The speech was at a convention (celebration of party and candidate)
- Bette Midler is an American singer-songwriter
- Theme of elitism (the belief that society should be led by an elite)
- Interjection simple sentence
- More motivated politically
- Could be seen as racist
- Shows hatred of Donald Trump leads to critical comments
- Highlights prescriptive views can be used as a tool for criticising others
- Mocking of the republicans as they would usually criticise people for these types of things
The use of the word ‘simp’ on live TV by Bill Shorten
”- Reaction to new language noun ‘simp’
- Claims he is putting it in plain English yet many possibly wouldn’t understand what he is saying
- Incorrect context? Trying to relate to a younger audience
- Expectation of a higher standard for leaders?
- People with prescriptive views concerned about shifting meaning making it hard to understand
- Even though it is slang a lot of people can debate its definition
Comment by Luke Cornelius in a press address referring to people who were going to protest the lockdown for coronavirus
”- ‘Tin foil hat wearing brigade’ -> compares the people who have conspiricies about 5G to people who use tin foil hats to protect themselves from aliens reading their minds
- Luke Cornelius -> police assistant commissioner
- Many people understood what he said
- Prescriptivists may be concerned about this language as it isn’t direct and clear
- It may be welcome for some people as it is direct and shows that it is more genuine and leaders and sharing their frustrations towards these people
New blend ‘maskne’
”- Blending ‘mask’ and ‘acne’
- Shows COVID-19 has changed the language due to the different situation
- As it is in the Age shows it is becoming mainstream
- The Age is catering to a market and the new language is widely accepted
- Most people would observe the blend as there have been other related terms such as bacne
The use of less instead of fewer
”- Less is used to refer to things which are measured and fewer when counted
- Daniel Andrews was criticised by using words ‘less’ instead of fewer
- People who are speaking have less time to correct these mistakes
- Expectations of people who lead everyone to use correct language
- Prescriptivists can be picky and seem arrogant
- It is only picked on as they don’t want to make a directly negative point about Daniel Andrews and are using how he speaks as a subtle way to do it
- People may be annoyed by these attitudes
- less = determiner
- fewer = comparative adjective?
‘Had a mare’
”- AFL Footballer posted on Twitter ‘has a mare, apologies’
- Less expectation on language correctness on social media
- Allows him to seem genuine and apologetic through technical language which may seem insincere
- Makes him seem young, friendly and fun therefore creating an identity that isn’t possible if everyone is using the same language
Changing road names to be more appropiate
”- About changing road names to more politically correct language
- Proper Nouns
- Mornington Peninsula Shire plans to rename ‘Blacks Camp Rd’, ‘Blacks Camp Pre-School’ etc.
- Original names were found to be derogatory and offensive to the traditional custodians of the land, the Bunurong land council and people of aboriginal heritage
- More respectful of indigenous Australians than terms that are very old and sound offensive
- Highlights how Australia has become progressive and aware that names should not be offensive to groups due to their ethnicity
- Governments (in this case local) have a role in promoting language that is respectful to minority groups
David Crystal Linguist Quote - Rules
”"”The vast majority of spelling rules in English are irrelevant. They don’t stop you understanding the word in question.”””
David Crystal Linguist Quote - Internet
”"”Language itself changes slowly but the internet has speeded up the roves of those changes so you notice the more quickly”””
Bruce Moore Linguist Quote
”"”…language is constantly evolving and this is part of the evolutionary process.”””
Introduction
One Sentence Per Point:
- Big Picture Statement About Ideas In Topic Sentence And How They Relate To Language
- Contention
- Supporting Arg One
- Supporting Arg Two
Paragraph Structure (X3)
Topic Sentence
- Evidence
- Explanation
- Summary Sentence
