Full Description
This path-breaking study of the standardisation of English goes well beyond the traditional prescriptivism versus descriptivism debate. It argues that the way norms are established and enforced is the result of a complex network of social factors and cannot be explained simply by appeals to power and hegemony. It brings together insights from leading researchers to re-centre the discussion on linguistic communities and language users. It examines the philosophy underlying the urge to standardise language, and takes a closer look at both well-known and lesser-known historical dictionaries, grammars and usage guides, demonstrating that they cannot be simply labelled as 'prescriptivist'. Drawing on rich empirical data and case studies, it shows how the norm continues to function in society, influencing and affecting language users even today.
Contents
Part I. Norms and Marginsnorms and margins of English Linda Pilliere, Wilfrid Andrieu, Valerie Kerfelec and Diana Lewis; 1. Approaching norms and margins on different levels: going beyond the standard/non-standard divide Sandrine Sorlin; 2. Prescriptive grammar and the rationalist cultural model of standardization Natalia Guermanova; Part II. Norms and Margins: A Historical Perspective: 3. Norms and rules in the history of grammar: French and English handbooks in the seventeenth century Wilfrid Andrieu and Valerie Raby; 4. The end of toleration? Language on the margins in Samuel Johnson's Dictionary of the English Language Lynda Mugglestone; 5. Eighteenth-century pronouncing dictionaries: reflecting usage or setting their own standard? Veronique Pouillon; 6. Setting a standard: authors and sources in the OED Charlotte Brewer; 7. Conflicting linguistic norms in the letters of Virginian soldiers during the American Civil War Gaelle Le Corre; 8. Correcting English: Josephine Turck Baker and the early American usage guide tradition Viktorija Kostadinova; Part III. Norms and Margins: Moving into the Twenty-First Century: 9. The grammatical margins of class Ingrid Tieken-Boon van Ostade; 10. Concepts of correctness and acceptability in British English: exploring attitudes of lay people Carmen Eber; 11. Maori English in Maori literature: standardising the margin into a norm Sonia Dupuy; 12. Imposing a norm: the invisible marks of copy editors Linda Pilliere.
