Transcript DESCRIPTIVE LINGUISTICS vs. PRESCRIPTIVE LINGUISTICS

ATTITUDES TO
LANGUAGE
Languages for Graduates Seminar
Mariangela Spinillo
16h December 2011
ATTITUDES TO LANGUAGE
Attitudes towards languages and language usage are
commonplace throughout the world. People assign
various attributes to languages and language forms –
e.g. elegant, guttural, musical, aesthetically pleasing.
We invest some language forms with prestige while
others are stigmatised.
ATTITUDES TO LANGUAGE
Prestige and stigma are connected with
speakers of languages and have to do with
social class and social or national identity, and
with ideas about status.
ATTITUDES TO LANGUAGE
LEVELS OF LANGUAGE USE:
o
o
o
o
o
Whole languages
Varieties of a language
Words and expressions
Discourse practices
Pronunciation
PRESCRIPTIVE
LINGUISTICS

Rules of correctness

Norms of usage

Dos and Don’ts

Imagined standards
PRESCRIPTIVE
LINGUISTICS
One variety of language has an inherently
higher value than others and ought to be
imposed on the whole of the speech
community.
PRESCRIPTIVE LINGUISTICS:
CRITERIA
 Purity
 Logic
 History
 Literary
excellence
PRESCRIPTIVE
LINGUISTICS
The principal design of a Grammar of any Language
is to teach us to express ourselves with propriety in
that Language, and to be able to judge of every
phrase and form of construction, whether it be right
or not.
Robert Lowth, A Short Introduction to English Grammar, 1762
DESCRIPTIVE LINGUISTICS

Facts of linguistic usage

Observed regularity

No imagined ideal state

Language changes/ variation

Modern Linguistic approach
DESCRIPTIVE
LINGUISTICS
There is no hard and fast rule for making
Grammaticality judgments. Grammaticality is a
continuum.
Berk, English Syntax, 1999
SUPER SYNTAX
For anyone who’s confused about correct grammar
and style in writing, the Internet offers the
following tips:
SUPER SYNTAX
o
It is wrong to ever split you infinitive.
o
Contractions aren’t necessary.
o
The passive voice is to be avoided.
o
Prepositions are not the words to end sentences with.
o
One-word sentences? Eliminate.
REACTIONS TO
LANGUAGE
I knew I was in one of those fancy food shops when I
saw the sign over the express lane. Instead of reading
‘15 items or less’, it said ‘15 items or fewer’.
CONCLUSION
Our attitudes to language are far from trivial
and they may be influential in our assessment
of the characteristics of individuals and social
groups. These assessments can be carried over
into the decisions that are made in important
areas of our lives such as employment, education
and equality of opportunity.
CONCLUSION
Awareness of how attitudes might be formed or
manipulated may not make us immune to them,
but it may help us to evaluate their influence on
our own practices.
FURTHER READING
Bauer, L. & P. Trudgill (eds). 1998. Language Myths. Penguin.
Berk, L. 1999. English Syntax: from word to discourse. OUP.
Cameron, D. (1995). Verbal Hygiene. London: Routledge.
Crystal, D. 1987. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language.CUP
Crystal, D. 1995. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English
Language.CUP.
Giles, H. & Coupland, N. (1991). Language: Contexts and
Consequences. Milton Keynes: Open University Press.
Lyons, J. 1981. Language and Linguistics: an introduction. CUP.