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13. LINGUISTIC PRESCRIPTION: FAMILIAR PRACTICES AND NEW PERSPECTIVES

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 April 2003

Edward Finegan
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Abstract

A law student inquires whether a correction of sneaked to snuck suggests misinformation and misguided rigidity. This chapter reports an answer to that question in the context of better information about current legal usage and a perennial tendency to linguistic prescription. It also explores attitudes to current borrowings from English into Japanese and French and distinguishes between language as a vehicle of communication and as a symbol of cultural values. Finally, the chapter indicates the schizophrenic character of linguistic judgments about prescription and description and concludes with a characterization of current guidelines for nonsexist language use as sensible prescription.

Type
CAUSES AND CASES OF LANGUAGE CHANGE
Information
Annual Review of Applied Linguistics , Volume 23 , March 2003 , pp. 213 - 224
Copyright
© 2003 Cambridge University Press

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