Perscriptivism and Descriptivism

Prescriptivism

 

What is it?

The attitude or belief that one variety of a language is superior to others and should be promoted as such. You could say prescriptivism is characterised by a concern for "good," "proper," or "correct" usage.
Writers or communicators who wish to use words clearly, powerfully, or effectively often use prescriptive rules, believing that these may make their communications more widely understood.
The rules are based on normal usage, and they determine the way things such as spelling and grammar should be. Examples of prescriptive rules include:

• Don’t end a sentence with a preposition
• Don’t split infinitives
• Don’t use the passive voice
• Don’t use the pronoun ‘I’ in object position

 

Who supports it? 

• Geoffrey Pullum

• Lynne Truss

• Shadyah A. N. Cole

• Robert Lowth  

 

 

Descriptivism

 

What is it?
Descriptivism is a non-judgmental approach to language that focuses on how it is written and spoken. The idea behind descriptive linguistics is that a language is defined by what people do with it. In other words, you begin by studying and listening to native speakers. Then, when you notice patterns in the ways that they communicate, you can record those patterns as guesses about the principles of a language. If you rarely observe someone breaking those patterns, then your guess is more likely to be an accurate representation of the language. Those guesses are called hypotheses, and when they are well-supported by evidence, they can be accepted as correctness conditions for a language. For example, a correctness condition about Standard English is the notion of a Subject-Verb-Object (SVO) word order.

 

Who supports it? 

• Merriam-Webster

• Alexandra D'arcy

• Steven Pinker 

• Noam Chomsky

 
In more detail - 

• Robert Lowth (1710-1787) was a strong prescriptivist. What he decided was “right” was based largely on his study of Latin. For example, it was Lowth who gave us the rule that sentences should not end with a preposition.  

• Steven Pinker - Descriptivists, according to this scheme, believe that norms of correctness are arbitrary shibboleths of the ruling class, designed to keep the masses in their place. Language is an organic product of human creativity, and the people should be given the freedom to write however they please.