Prescribing & Describing language

1. Major: English Language and Literature
Applied Linguistics
Session 2 (Prescribing & Describing language)
Dr. Badriya Al Mamari
Academic year 2021/2022

2. Prescribing and Describing:
Popular and academic views of
“correctness”

3. In an attempt to relate theory to practice in linguistics and applied
linguistics fields, there is a constant tension between language as
viewed by the expert and language as everyone/user’s experience. This
is very clear in the beliefs concerning the language education of children
and the problematic issues with which applied linguistic enquiry engages.

4. Children’s language at home :
As parents know, young children speak idiosyncratically.
For example, a child growing up in an English-speaking family might say ‘I
brang it’, although those who around him/her/them say ‘I brought it’, but they
may still be unable to pronounce the words as adults do. They might, for
example, say ‘I bwort it’. Nevertheless, parents are usually indulgent of such
deviations. These idiosyncrasies disappear without forcing children or asking
them to do so.

5. At school, the situation is very different. Here the child is expected, and
taught, to use language ‘correctly’. The English-speaking children are not
expected to say the words ‘I brought it’ clearly and properly pronounced, but
also to write them correctly spelt and punctuated.
Accordingly, all; ‘ I brang it’, ‘I brort it’, and ‘I brought, it’ are wrong. In
many people’s views, teaching children their own national language is
synonymous with eliminating such deviations.
Children’s language at school:

6. •However, in school the issue of what considered to be correct or incorrect is
much more complex.:
•1.What of the child who, through some speech impediment, never does make
the transition from ‘bwort’ to ‘brought’ ?
•2.What of the child who pronounces ‘I brought it’ in a regional accent with an
ah sound as ‘I brart it’ or a child who says ‘I seen it’ instead of ‘I saw it’ not for
specific reason(s), but because this what their family and friends actually say.
•3.What of the child who has recently moved to Britain from the USA and says,
as their parents do, ‘I’ve gotten it’ instead of ‘I’ve got it’, and and writes ‘color’
instead of ‘colour’.

7. •The question is : should the teacher eliminate these dialectal and regional
variations, seeming to correct parents as well ?
•The matter is also complicated when we look into peer groups and one can
see they speak louder and use ‘RU’ instead of ‘are you’ in text messages;
• They give words different fashionable senses, invent new ones, and include
slang or swear words. These questions lead to the controversial issue of
involvement of Standard and Dialects.

8. Standard language VS Dialects
• We know that Standard language is used in written
communication, taught in schools, and codified in dictionaries and
grammar books.
• Dialects are regional and social-class varieties of the language.
They differ from Standard in pronunciation, grammar, and
vocabulary.

9. The teaching of the Standard can be viewed in two quite contradictory
ways:
•1.On one hand, it offers an unfair advantage upon those children who
already speak a variety close to it. This means it denies what other
dialects deserve, and damages the heritage of those children who speak
them.

10. •2.On the other hand, having prestige and power and provide a gateway to
written knowledge, teaching it helps to give an equal opportunity to all.
•This debate has been further aggravated and complicated by educational
sociologist, Bernstein’ s view, who claims that social class variations
indicate not only differences, but deficits and that the language used in
some sections of society is a restricted code lacks resources of the
standard

11. •Whatsoever the case, schools are a good barometer of both language use and
social values, and their approach to teaching the national language(s) arises from
two interesting facts :
•1.A language is subject to enormous variation, i.e. there are differences
between individuals, social groups, generations, and nations. Also, language is
used differently in spoken and written modes.
•2.Many people are intolerant of this variation. Hence, struggling for standard
form to be achieved. Although there is a general agreement over the need for
standard, but there is disagreement over the details.

12. •In conclusion, there seems to be debates on differences, on the
acceptable forms of language(s) to be used in such contexts and
applied linguistics needs to approach such debates with both caution
and respect.

13. Description versus prescription

14. Linguists tend to favour description (saying what does happen over prescription
(saying what ought to happen). They further argue that the standard is neither
superior nor more stable than any other variety.

15. To justify their linguistic viewpoints, they point to the following :
1.If there was any deviation from the norm, then languages would never
change. We would all still be saying “wherefore art thou?”
(Shakespears’s most famous line), Instead of why are you?
2.If a single standard was absolute and unassailable then regional standards
would never gain independence.

16. 3.Some dialectal grammatical rules(e.g. double negative form) are used
consistently in standard languages (Italian).
4.Standard forms are dominant because of political rather than linguistic
reasons on the basis of balance of power. Consequently, when this
balance of power changes, So does the notion of standard (American
English).

17. •5.The grammar of written language differs considerably from that of speech
and writing is more prestigious and authoritarian than speech.
•6.Some supposedly correct forms invented and imposed by grammarians
through analogy with another language. For example, in Latin one says: “This
is I” instead of “This is me”. Applied Linguists have a responsibility to
investigate the reasons behind the impasse between descriptivists and
prescriptivists.

18. •They have the very difficult task of trying to find points of contact in the contrary
views, so that necessary decisions can be made. In such cases like Speech
Therapy and Foreign language teaching, there must be some yardstick to see how
the activity works. It is the task of Applied linguistics to bring out these
criteria of correctness that are useful to professionals such as teachers and
speech therapists.

19. Home Assignment:
•Choose Arabic or English language and:
•1.Provide some idiosyncratic examples of words (sounds)/ expressions
expected from an Arab /or English child at home.
•2.Provide some idiosyncratic examples of sentences/phrases expected from an
Arab /or English child at home.
•3.Provide some example words that can be found in peer group-speakers.

20. References:
• Cook, G. (2003). Applied linguistics. Oxford University Press.