Finding an identity 63
it. An interesting kind of semi-prescriptivism has begun to emerge,
as a result.
The distinction between prescriptive and descriptive approaches
to language study has been a source of controversy since Classical
times.^2 Prescriptivismis the view that one variety of language has
an inherently higher value than others, and that this ought to be
imposed on the whole of the speech community. It is an author-
itarian view, espoused for English in the middle decades of the
eighteenth century, and propounded especially in relation to usage
in grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation. The favoured variety
is usually a version of the standard written language which most
closelyreflectsliterarystyle.Thosewhospeakorwriteinthisvariety
are said to be using language ‘correctly’; those who do not are said
to be using it ‘incorrectly’. (Some analysts distinguishprescriptive
rules, recommending what should be done,fromproscriptive rules,
recommending what should not be done.) Examples in English are
(for grammar) ‘Never begin a sentence withand’, (for vocabulary)
‘Always usedecimateto mean “kill a tenth”’, (for pronunciation)
‘Avoid pronouncing an /r/ between vowels, as inlaw(r) and order’,
and (for spelling) ‘There must always be anaeinencyclopaedia.’
Quite plainly, the prescriptive approach ignores the realities of
everyday usage, where most people (including many famous
authors) do begin sentences withand,dousedecimateto mean
‘kill a large number’, do link adjacent vowels with /r/, and do not
put theaofencyclopediain.
The descriptive approach, by contrast, does not condemn usages
that do not follow the rules thought up by prescriptively minded
authors. Rather, it describes the variations in usage found within
a language, and explains why variant forms exist. American usage
favoursencyclopedia, traditional British usageencyclopaedia; but
as the dominant influence during the twentieth century was from
the US to the UK, the American spelling was increasingly found in
British publications. Or again, bothThis is the lady I was talking
(^2) For the issue of prescriptivism and descriptivism, see Milroy and Milroy (1991), and
Crystal (1984).