‘Back to the future’: The ‘new prescriptivism’ in twenty-first-century Britain
Most introductory textbooks on linguistics make a point of highlighting the distinction between descriptive and prescriptive approaches to the study of language: ‘linguistics is descriptive, not prescriptive” has long been a mantra. Although this is the consensus amongst professional linguists1, pre...
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Laboratoire d’Etudes et de Recherches sur le Monde Anglophone (LERMA)
2018-06-01
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| Series: | E-REA |
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| Online Access: | https://journals.openedition.org/erea/6112 |
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| author | Joan C. BEAL |
| author_facet | Joan C. BEAL |
| author_sort | Joan C. BEAL |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Most introductory textbooks on linguistics make a point of highlighting the distinction between descriptive and prescriptive approaches to the study of language: ‘linguistics is descriptive, not prescriptive” has long been a mantra. Although this is the consensus amongst professional linguists1, prescriptivism is alive and well outside the academy. There is a huge market for prescriptive texts such as Lynn Truss’s Eats, Shoots and Leaves (2003), the best-selling non-fiction book in the UK in the year of its publication. The election of a Conservative-led coalition government in 2010 and a Conservative one in 2015 coincided with a further resurgence of prescriptive attitudes, most infamously in the reaction to a letter signed by 100 academics protesting against the education secretary’s reactionary policies and the introduction of the ‘‘SPaG” (spelling, punctuation and grammar) tests for eleven-year-old pupils. In this paper I examine the phenomenon of popular and institutional prescriptivism in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries and consider why, far from receding in the face of descriptive linguistics it is, if anything, resurgent. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-63d2fdd8adeb4f03bd5c4e0d004fd70f |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1638-1718 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2018-06-01 |
| publisher | Laboratoire d’Etudes et de Recherches sur le Monde Anglophone (LERMA) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | E-REA |
| spelling | doaj-art-63d2fdd8adeb4f03bd5c4e0d004fd70f2025-01-09T12:53:54ZengLaboratoire d’Etudes et de Recherches sur le Monde Anglophone (LERMA)E-REA1638-17182018-06-0115210.4000/erea.6112‘Back to the future’: The ‘new prescriptivism’ in twenty-first-century BritainJoan C. BEALMost introductory textbooks on linguistics make a point of highlighting the distinction between descriptive and prescriptive approaches to the study of language: ‘linguistics is descriptive, not prescriptive” has long been a mantra. Although this is the consensus amongst professional linguists1, prescriptivism is alive and well outside the academy. There is a huge market for prescriptive texts such as Lynn Truss’s Eats, Shoots and Leaves (2003), the best-selling non-fiction book in the UK in the year of its publication. The election of a Conservative-led coalition government in 2010 and a Conservative one in 2015 coincided with a further resurgence of prescriptive attitudes, most infamously in the reaction to a letter signed by 100 academics protesting against the education secretary’s reactionary policies and the introduction of the ‘‘SPaG” (spelling, punctuation and grammar) tests for eleven-year-old pupils. In this paper I examine the phenomenon of popular and institutional prescriptivism in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries and consider why, far from receding in the face of descriptive linguistics it is, if anything, resurgent.https://journals.openedition.org/erea/6112prescriptivismdescriptivismEnglish language teachingusage guideSPaG test |
| spellingShingle | Joan C. BEAL ‘Back to the future’: The ‘new prescriptivism’ in twenty-first-century Britain E-REA prescriptivism descriptivism English language teaching usage guide SPaG test |
| title | ‘Back to the future’: The ‘new prescriptivism’ in twenty-first-century Britain |
| title_full | ‘Back to the future’: The ‘new prescriptivism’ in twenty-first-century Britain |
| title_fullStr | ‘Back to the future’: The ‘new prescriptivism’ in twenty-first-century Britain |
| title_full_unstemmed | ‘Back to the future’: The ‘new prescriptivism’ in twenty-first-century Britain |
| title_short | ‘Back to the future’: The ‘new prescriptivism’ in twenty-first-century Britain |
| title_sort | back to the future the new prescriptivism in twenty first century britain |
| topic | prescriptivism descriptivism English language teaching usage guide SPaG test |
| url | https://journals.openedition.org/erea/6112 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT joancbeal backtothefuturethenewprescriptivismintwentyfirstcenturybritain |