Until the beginning of this century, with few notable exceptions, prescriptivism has received little serious attention among the academic linguistic community as a factor in language variation... Show moreUntil the beginning of this century, with few notable exceptions, prescriptivism has received little serious attention among the academic linguistic community as a factor in language variation and change. The five studies included in this book are embedded in the growing research initiative that is attempting to paint a fine-grained picture of linguistic prescriptivism in the English language. In contrast to institutional prescriptivism, or the so-called prescriptivism from above, which is enforced by bodies such as language planning boards, governmental committees, and agencies, this book focuses on grassroots prescriptivism – the attempts of lay people to promote the standard language ideology. Grassroots prescriptivism investigates the metalinguistic comments of language users expressed on traditional (letters to newspaper editors and radio phone-ins) and new media platforms (forum and blog discussions). This book demonstrates that, contrary to popular belief, language users are not passive recipients of language rules, but active participants in matters of linguistic prescriptivism. The diachronic exploration of grassroots prescriptivism reveals a complex picture. While in many respects, twenty-first-century prescriptivism represents a continuation of the 250-year-old prescriptive tradition, the author argues that prescriptivism, like language itself, undergoes change over time. Show less
Focusing on the general public, an often-forgotten key player in the debate on correct and proper English usage, this dissertation provides a current perspective on attitudes towards fourteen usage... Show moreFocusing on the general public, an often-forgotten key player in the debate on correct and proper English usage, this dissertation provides a current perspective on attitudes towards fourteen usage problems, including literally as an intensifier and the notorious split infinitive, in British English. Proper English Usage investigates the impact of the social variables age, gender, language nativeness and level of education on attitudes towards the usage problems investigated. The results of various attitude elicitation tests, including an online questionnaire completed by 112 respondents, have shown that social variables such as age play a crucial role in the social stratification of usage attitudes. Using a mixture of different attitude elicitation techniques has shown that both subconsciously and consciously offered attitudes need to be taken into account in order to circumvent the issue of obtaining socially desirable answers. Besides applying a mixed-methods approach, qualitative and quantitative attitudinal data contribute further to a fuller picture of current usage attitudes. A historical dimension is added to the study by exploring the Hyper Usage Guide of English (HUGE) database, which allowed for a systematic assessment of percept data found in advice manuals spanning 240 years. Show less
The eighteenth century was a key period in the establishment of standard modern English. This period, referred to as the Late Modern English period, witnessed the publication of an unprecedented... Show moreThe eighteenth century was a key period in the establishment of standard modern English. This period, referred to as the Late Modern English period, witnessed the publication of an unprecedented number of normative works aiming to define ‘correct’ English. Joseph Priestley (1733–1804) is best known as a scientist and theologian, but his Rudiments of English Grammar, first published in 1761 is an important work in the wave of English normative grammars of the late eighteenth century. Using a multi-disciplinary approach, this book investigates Priestley’s role as a codifier of the English language. The author demonstrates that the influence of Priestley’s grammar on the language has been underestimated and merits re-evaluation. Priestley’s ideas on grammar are related to his broader philosophical thinking. It is shown that, although Priestley is usually seen as one of the few descriptive grammarians of the period, his grammar also contains decidedly prescriptive elements, and that his adherence to the force of usage should be qualified. In addition, Priestley’s usage is compared to the rules in his grammar using a corpus of Priestley’s personal correspondence, created for this study. Show less
