Ling 001

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Ling 001

• Prescriptivism versus Descriptivism

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Part I Grammar

• We are going to talk about properties of grammars
• When we talk about grammar (and language) a key
  distinction
• Prescriptive Grammar
• Vs.
• Descriptive Grammar
• Bear in mind from the beginning the idea that any
  given language has many dialects, etc. well
  return to this theme.

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Prescriptive Grammar

• Rules of good or proper usage, which dictate
  what is good grammar and what is bad grammar
• Example
• (1) She doesnt know him.
• (2) She dont know him.
• Example (1) is supposed to be good, while (2)
  is supposed to be bad

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Why?

• The basic problem with She dont know him it is
  not part of standard English. But it is part of
  some varieties/dialects of English
• Is there a logic to this judgment? Technically,
  what the example shows is the absence of 3rd
  person singular agreement -s
• Agreement morphemes on a verb mark who the
  subject of the verb is (in some languages)
• Is the absence of agreement somehow bad or
  illogical?

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Agreement

• Consider modal verbs like can, would, etc. in
  standard English
• Yes No
• I can I can
• You can You can
• He/she/it can He/she/it cans
• So absence of agreement is not inherently bad.
  English has very little agreement compared to
  some languages, but more than e.g. Swedish or
  Chinese, which have no agreement on the verb.
• Theres nothing inherently better or worse about
  the standard variant

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Descriptive Grammar

• What native speakers know (tacitly) about their
  language. We have to distinguish between
  different variants of one language, versus things
  that are impossible in all varieties
• Example
• Grammatical according to style/register, dialect
• I didnt see anybody.
• I didnt see nobody.
• Ungrammatical
• I did anybodynt see.
• See did nobody I not.

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Descriptive Grammar, cont.

• Descriptive grammar is the objective study of
  what speakers actually know. It does not presume
  to tell them how to use their language (faculty).
• One can objectively study dialects or registers
  of a language that are not the standard or most
  socially accepted variety
• All of these varieties are equally complex as far
  as the scientific study of language is concerned
• In order to focus on descriptive grammar later,
  we will examine aspects of prescriptive grammar
  now

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Varieties of Prescriptive Grammar

• The rules set out by prescriptive grammar have
  kind of a mixed character
• Standard (written) style
• Use 3rd person -s
• No double negatives etc.
• Cases in which people differ
• Who/whom did you see at the park?
• The data are/is interesting.

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Varieties of Prescriptive Grammar, cont.

• Changes that are resisted by some speakers
• Between you and I
• Me and John saw that.
• Inventions of so-called experts, or grammarians
• Dont split infinitives
• Dont strand prepositions
• Use I shall and you will

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Attempts to Justify Prescriptive Grammar

• In asserting the correctness of rules like
  dont split infinitives, and so on, prescriptive
  grammarians resort to different means for
  instance
• By decree X is right because I say so.
• Bogus historical reasoning English should be
  like it used to be
• Specious reasoning based on analogy to other
  languages English should be like Latin
• Dubious logic The standard form is more
  logical than the non-standard form

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Historical Reasoning

• Why should English be like it used to be?? All
  languages change Where would we stop?
• Should we say (Chaucer quote)
• He nevere yet no vileynye ne sayde.
• he never yet no villainy not said
• Roughly He never used rough language
• In addition to being almost incomprehensible, it
  shows double (triple even) negation, like I
  didnt see nobody which were not supposed to
  say, according to the prescriptivists.

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Example other languages

• E.g. no split infinitives
• Ok to go boldly
• Supposedly bad to boldly go
• Why? Latin infinitives are one word e.g. amare
  to love. This couldnt be split by another
  word.
• Why make English like Latin? Consider
• wehLla-te. This means Ill have (a rope)
  there in the language Hupa (related to Navajo,
  spoken in CA)
• Why not make English look like this? Or any other
  language for that matter? Linguistically
  speaking, this is the same type of thing but
  clearly it doesnt make sense.

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Dubious appeals to Logic

• Is the standard always more logical? Consider
  reflexive pronouns like myself
• Reflexive Possessive
• St. myself my car
• yourself your car
• himself his car
• herself her car
• Non-St. myself my car
• yourself your car
• hisself his car
• herself her car
• --gt In the non-standard variety, the reflexive
  form is always the same as the possessive this
  is more systematic than the standard, where this
  is true in only three of the four cases above.

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Justification, Continued

• Consider the case of double negation again
• I didnt see nobody
• Think of this in the terms above
• Theres no reason to believe the decree that this
  is bad
• Historically this was found in English
• Other languages (e.g. Spanish) have double
  negation as the standard
• Theres nothing less logical about having
  double negation (unless some other languages are
  entirely illogical, which is not the case).
• Lets apply what weve learned in an example

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An Example (for Practice)

• Ali G Andy Rooney
• Comedian Curmudgeon
• (ref HBO, Da Ali G Show Episode 12,
  Realness)

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Example

• AG Does you think the media has changed since
  you first got in it?
• AR Does you think the media has changed?? DO
  you think the media has changed
• AG Whatever. Does
• AR (interrupts) No, its English. The English
  language would say Do you think the media has
  changed?, not Does you think the media has
  changed. ltPAUSE, and with exasperationgt Yes I
  think the media has changed.

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Example, Part II

• AG So what sorts of things does you think the
  media should cover
• AR ltinterruptinggt DO you think the media
• AG Um, yo, DO you think the media I think its
  an English/American thing though, isnt it?
• AR No no, no no. Thats English. The English
  language is very clear. I have fifty books on the
  English language if you would like to borrow one
  ltgestures towards bookcasegt

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Keeping Score

• The Does you think? Part
• Fact The dialect of English (a London one) that
  Ali G is speaking/imitating does in fact have
  does with you. In this way it is an
  English/American thing. Since it is a perfectly
  good language, point to Ali G.
• Score
• Ali G 1
• Andy Rooney 0

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Keeping Score, II

• 2) The the media has changed part.
• Fact Real self-appointed grammar experts should
  know that media began life as a plural. So for a
  hardcore prescriptivist like Rooney, it should be
  the media have changed.
• In any case, -1 to Rooney for choosing what to
  complain about arbitrarily. 1 to Ali G for just
  keeping it real.
• Score
• Ali G 2
• Andy Rooney -1

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More Dialogue, Same Results

• (from later in the interview)
• AG Thats quite racialist to be honest.
• AR ltscoffsgt Oh, racist. Racist, not
  racialist.
• AG Yo, RACIALIST
• Another interesting point

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Scorekeeping III

• Both racist and racialist appear to be used in
  England sometimes in the same text
• Britain has been transformed into a racist
  society.
• work for anti-racialist organizations
• (quotes from M.A.E. Dummett, Frege Philosophy of
  Language)
• So it is a perfectly good word in different
  varieties of English (the question of why the two
  vary is interesting).
• Score (Final)
• Ali G 3
• Andy Rooney -1

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Interim Conclusions

• The scientific study of language provides a
  theory of the structures found in the descriptive
  grammar of human language
• Prescriptive grammar has no place in this
  enterprise
• Throughout the course, our discussions of grammar
  will refer to the descriptive sense

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What this does not mean

• We are not saying that there is no such thing as
  unhelpful, uninformative, ambiguous, or difficult
  language e.g.
• Uninformative
• Q What have you been doing lately?
• A Stuff.
• Difficult (for memory reasons)
• The rat the cat the dog bit chased ate the
  cheese.
• Compare
• The rat the cat chased ate the cheese or
• This is the dog that bit the cat that chased the
  rat that ate the cheese

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It also doesnt mean that

• We are not saying that anything goes in any
  context. It is also the case that some things are
  more appropriate in some contexts than in others
• E.g. starting a term paper with inappropriate
  words or phrases
• Telling a friend on the phone that An
  acquaintance with whom I spoke earlier alluded to
  similar possibilities at an earlier juncture.
• ButThese are points about (social)
  acceptability, not grammaticality in the sense of
  being derived by ones linguistic competence.