基本説明
New in paperback. Hardcover was published in 2005. Is today's language at an all-time low? Re-examining debates over relativism in language. Battistella argues that we should view language as made up of alternative forms of regularity and orderliness, which require informed engagement with usage.
Full Description
Is today's language at an all-time low? Edwin Battistella argues that it is wrong to think of slang, regional dialects and nonstandard grammar as simply breaking the rules of good English. Reexamining debates over relativism in language, Battistella argues that we should view language as made up of alternative forms of regularity and orderliness, which require informed engagement with usage.
Contents
Preface
Bad Language: Realism versus Relativism
Anything Goes
A Culture of Engagement
Bad Writing
The Craft of Writing
Clear and Direct
The Relativity of Style
What is Good Writing?
Bad Grammar
Prescriptive Grammar
The Emergence of Prescriptivism
The Doctrines of Usage and Utility
The English Language Arts and Beyond
Conservatives and Progressives
The Necessity for Grammar
Bad Words
Cursing in the Media and the Arts
Offensive Language
Bad Words as a Social Construction
Slang as Bad Language
Political Correctness
Conventionalism and Comfort Levels
Bad Citizens
Birth of a Nation
Native American Languages
Manualism versus Oralism
Restrictions on Foreign Languages
Bilingual Education
English Only
One Flag, One Language
Bad Accents
Broken English
Attitudes Toward Regional Dialects
Ebonics
Accomodating to the Idealized Mainstream
Images and Engagement
Imagining Language
English Made Hard
Beyond Simplistic Characterizations
Notes
Reference
Index
