Prescriptive grammar

2007 ◽  
pp. 243-261
Author(s):  
Rosemarie Whitney Ostler
Keyword(s):  
Prescriptive Grammar

The effect of prescriptivism on comparative markers in spoken Dutch

2013 ◽  
Vol 30 ◽  
pp. 89-101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ferdy Hubers ◽  
Helen de Hoop
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Strong Influence ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Alternative Form ◽  
Strongly Correlated ◽  
Level Of Education ◽  
Grammar Rules ◽  
Long Time ◽  
Comparative Constructions ◽  
Prescriptive Grammar

Dutch prescriptive grammar rules dictate that the complementizer dan ‘than’ should be used in comparative constructions of inequality. This has been an issue for grammarians from the sixteenth century onwards when als ‘as’ started to be used as an alternative form in this type of context. In order to find out why and when people choose one comparative marker over the other, we examined the use of these markers in the Spoken Dutch Corpus (CGN). We found that the use of dan is overall more common than als in comparative constructions of inequality, even though from a linguistic point of view als might be favoured. The choice between als and dan turns out to be strongly correlated with the level of education. Although this factor has been assumed to be of influence for a long time, as far as we know it has never been quantitatively tested before. We conclude that the effect of the level of education we found reflects the strong influence of the prescriptive rule taught in schools, repressing the use of als in comparatives of inequality.

‘Two rules are at play when it comes to none’: A corpus-based analysis of singular versus plural none

English Today ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 50-56
Author(s):  
Sugene Kim
Keyword(s):  
Academic English ◽  
Spoken English ◽  
Plural Noun ◽  
Actual Use ◽  
Grammar Rules ◽  
Singular Noun ◽  
Prescriptive Grammar ◽  
Upper Level ◽  
Indefinite Pronoun ◽  
Level Student

This paper identifies discrepancies between prescriptive grammar rules concerning the number of the indefinite pronoun none and the actual use of this pronoun in modern academic English as shown in the Michigan Corpus of Academic Spoken English (MICASE) and Michigan Corpus of Upper-level Student Papers (MICUSP). Whereas prescriptive rules state that the number of none is determined by its referent or by the user's desired effect, the analyses of the MICASE and MICUSP search results suggest that, regardless of the modality of discourse, (1) the number of none with an anaphoric referent is determined by the number of its referent and (2) the principle of proximity applies without exception when none is used as part of a ‘none of + singular noun/pronoun’ phrase and applies frequently but not always when followed by an ‘of + plural noun/pronoun’ phrase.

scholarly journals Hypercorrection as a By-product of Education

2019 ◽  
Vol 41 (4) ◽  
pp. 552-574 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ferdy Hubers ◽  
Thijs Trompenaars ◽  
Sebastian Collin ◽  
Kees De Schepper ◽  
Helen De Hoop
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
High School Students ◽  
School Students ◽  
Educational Levels ◽  
Everyday Language ◽  
Grammar Rules ◽  
University Level ◽  
Prescriptive Grammar

AbstractPrescriptive grammar rules are taught in education, generally to ban the use of certain frequently encountered constructions in everyday language. This may lead to hypercorrection, meaning that the prescribed form in one construction is extended to another one in which it is in fact prohibited by prescriptive grammar. We discuss two such cases in Dutch: the hypercorrect use of the comparative particle dan ‘than’ in equative constructions, and the hypercorrect use of the accusative pronoun hen ‘them’ for a dative object. In two experiments, high school students of three educational levels were tested on their use of these hypercorrect forms (nexp1 = 162, nexp2 = 159). Our results indicate an overall large amount of hypercorrection across all levels of education, including pre-university level students who otherwise perform better in constructions targeted by prescriptive grammar rules. We conclude that while teaching prescriptive grammar rules to high school students seems to increase their use of correct forms in certain constructions, this comes at a cost of hypercorrection in others.

On the goals, principles, and procedures for prescriptive grammar: Singular they

1980 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 349-367 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald G. Mackay
Keyword(s):  
Side Effects ◽  
Relative Frequency ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Language Change ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
General Interest ◽  
Costs And Benefits ◽  
Theoretical Linguistics ◽  
Normal Language ◽  
Prescriptive Grammar

ABSTRACTThis paper examines the goals of prescriptive grammar and the causes and consequences of the rift between prescriptive and theoretical linguistics. It also proposes a principle for guiding prescriptive recommendations in the future as well as a theoretical framework and procedure for predicting the consequences of prescriptive recommendations. The procedure illustrates a hypothetical prescription: the substitution of singular they for prescriptive he. Projected benefits the prescription include neutral connotation, naturalness, simplicity, and lexical availability. Projected costs include covert and overt referential ambiguity; partial ambiguity; conceptual inaccuracy; loss of precision, imageability, impact, and memorability; bizarreness involving certain referents and case forms; distancing and dehumanizing connotations; unavailability of the ‘he or she’ denotation; potentially disruptive and long-lasting side effects on other areas of the language. Procedures are also illustrated for determining the relative frequency of such costs and benefits and for estimating the relative disruptiveness of the costs normal language use. Implications of the data for several issues general interest to linguistics and psychology are explored. (Ambiguity, language change, prescriptive grammar, theoretical linguistics, language planning, pronouns, neologisms.)

scholarly journals Cognitive grammar on "smash": Perspectives from Langacker's framework

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 90-103
Author(s):  
Chong Seng Tong ◽  
Ng Yu Jin ◽  
Noor Asam Abdul Rahman ◽  
Zalina MohdKasim
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Grammar ◽  
Language System ◽  
Linguistic Resources ◽  
Prescriptive Grammar ◽  
The Way

The language system allows us to express perceived events in different ways using different linguistic resources. Ability to perform this task goes beyond the notion of prescriptive grammar, which makes no connection between language and the cognitive mind. Cognitive grammar focuses on the way we construct our ideas. Meaning is equated with conceptualization. Semantic structures are characterized Based on the ideas and theses posited by Langacker with regards to Cognitive Grammar, we seek to illustrate how our cognitive minds help us manipulate the use of language, especially the grammatical items.

scholarly journals ELEMENTS OF POPULAR CULTURE IN TEACHING SENTENCE PATTERNS AND VERBAL CATEGORIES TO STUDENTS OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE

1970 ◽  
Vol 45 (5) ◽  
pp. 251-279
Author(s):  
Olga V. Panić Kavgić ◽  
Aleksandar Kavgić
Keyword(s):  
Popular Culture ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Qualitative Methodology ◽  
English Language ◽  
Comic Strips ◽  
Millennial Students ◽  
English Grammar ◽  
Language And Literature ◽  
Rules And Principles ◽  
Prescriptive Grammar

The paper deals with the application of elements of present-day popular culture in teaching certain elements of grammar to first-year undergraduate students of English Language and Literature at the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Novi Sad. Preceded by a theoretical discussion of implicit/explicit and descriptive/prescriptive grammar teaching at the university level, the paper introduces elements of popular culture as a motivating factor and connective tissue to teach numerous grammar rules otherwise often perceived by students as uninteresting and difficult to understand, memorize and apply. In order to illustrate and reinforce the point that grammar is made more comprehensible when its rules and principles, their correct or incorrect use, are explained through examples from present-day popular culture, a selection of language units is extracted from films, cartoons, comic strips, TV series, talk shows and song lyrics, most of which are well-known to Millennial students. Employing qualitative methodology, various uses of elements of popular culture implemented in teaching grammar are extensively described and analyzed, while two of the students’ answers in the e-survey were also analyzed quantitatively. This research is expected to demonstrate, explain and systematize the various ways in which the teaching process exploits grammatically relevant examples from widely known works of contemporary popular culture. The authors’ presumptions about the effectiveness of introducing elements of popular culture are reinforced by the results of a short survey carried out in order to obtain feedback from students who attended the courses English Grammar 1 and English Grammar 2.

Prescriptive Grammar for Clinical Prescribing Workflow

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 96-110
Author(s):  
Kalle Kauranen ◽  
Arnold Kim ◽  
Phillip Osial
Keyword(s):  
Healthcare Professionals ◽  
Effective Practices ◽  
Health Record ◽  
Clinical Workflow ◽  
Development Environment ◽  
Integrated Development ◽  
Healthcare Environment ◽  
Prescriptive Grammar ◽  
Ease Of Access ◽  
Rigid Design

Health information technology is being increasingly introduced into the healthcare environment with its benefits of providing safer and more effective practices. However, the new solutions are brought in issues of implementing them with existing clinical workflows and presents a variety of solutions that do not work well together. For healthcare professionals that want total control over their work, existing solutions can appear rigid and inflexible for their needs. Other solutions can also appear cumbersome as they take user experience for granted with their focus on ease of access. This research presents a prescriptive grammar for prescribing of medications which address the problems of fractured clinical workflow and rigid design of current prescribing tools. The author's solution uses a fully validated Parser Combinator Grammar with an Integrated Development Environment for the construction of prescriptions that once completed, are entered into an electronic health record using the HL7 standard.

Who Rules the Language?

2021 ◽  
pp. 198-213
Author(s):  
Nicolau Dols
Keyword(s):  
Oral Language ◽  
Spoken Language ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Bottom Up ◽  
Territorial Conflict ◽  
Personal Competence ◽  
Prescriptive Grammar

Greater attention is paid to oral language by the new prescriptive grammar of Catalan recently issued by the Institut d'Estudis Catalans, and several prescriptive or guiding texts on the same topic published by Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua have put under focus a territorial conflict on language authority and raised questions on the limits between external authority and personal competence in a field (spoken language) especially favorable for the persistence of diversity. This chapter offers a discussion on prescriptivism and standardization in contemporary Catalan, and the conflict experienced on two axes: horizontal or territorial and vertical or bottom-up/top-down options in prescriptivism.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document