Prescriptivism v. Descriptivism - 1552 Words

The Language Wars have been waged in the realm of English Literature, Language and Linguistics for years. Both sides of the argument are staunch believers in their position, but are more than willing to concede points to the other sides’ favour. In Bryan A. Garner’s essay, â€Å"Making Peace in the Language Wars†, he describes himself as a ‘descriptive prescriber’ (Garner, Making Peace in the Language Wars 2008, 270), and offers a truce that fulfils both sides of the argument as the crux of his essay. While the separate sides of the argument are relatively easy to define, it seems that no one sticks to them religiously, and the argument is between individuals fighting over individual points. The two sides are that of the descriptivist and that†¦show more content†¦George Orwell states that, â€Å"our civilization is decadent and our language†¦must inevitably share in the general collapse† (Orwell 2000, 1), when he argues for pres criptivism (though toned down from what was taught and accepted in his day). While Garner posits that, â€Å"describers, meanwhile, remind us that linguistic change is a fact of life – and conclude that it’s therefore not worth opposing† (Garner, Making Peace in the Language Wars 2008, 272). When David Foster Wallace discusses descriptivism, he makes a historical reference to, â€Å"Philip Gove’s now classic introduction to Webster’s Third [which] outlines this type of Descriptivism’s five basic edicts: ‘1 – Language changes constantly; 2 – change is normal; 3 – spoken language is the language; 4 – correctness rests upon usage; 5 – All usage is relative.’† (Wallace 2005, 83). Wallace himself argues against most of these edicts, proving himself to uphold his snootitude. Bryan A. Garner creates a list similar to that of Gove’s, while addressing the argument that â€Å"learning gr ammar may seem like an exercise in pedantry,† which is a point argued by many descriptivists: (1) Many if not most people grow up speaking a form of regional or social dialect. If you raise your comfort level with grammar, you’ll have more confidence that your speaking and writing won’t betray you among your more literate peers. (2) Many people who are confident that they know grammaticalShow MoreRelatedA Teacher as a Linguist Essay1644 Words   |  7 Pagesa teacher in a classroom, would presumable be the discussion of whether one demand a standard of English be used in his/her classroom and how is Standard English defined. Such deliberations would inevitably lead us into the debate of Descriptivism vs. Prescriptivism. A Prescriptivist, as the term suggests, is one who believes there is a prescribed list of rules that writers and speakers of the language must adhere. The prescriptive approach is â€Å"Norm-enforcing† (Camron, D., 2003). A descriptivist