Prescriptivism and Descriptivism

Prescriptivism and Descriptivism:-

Prescriptivism: the idea that one type of language is more superior than others and that it should be imposed on a particular speech community.
Well known prescriptivists:-

• Lynne Truss
• Robert Lowth
• Henry Fowler

Lynne Truss' view on non-standard English- she believes "that she has a sixth sense for bad punctuation, and feels she should revolt against the masses of illiterate people. It irritates her when bad punctuation is used, or non at all." She thinks that it is right to correct those who use grammatical, punctuality and spelling errors. Lynne Truss has a zero tolerance policy towards these errors and non-standard English as a whole.


Descriptivism: it is a non-judgmental view to language and focuses on how it is actually spoken or written.
Well known descriptivist's:-

• David Crystal
• Joseph Priestly
• Samuel Johnson

David Crystal's view on non-standard English- he believes that texting has not been a disaster for language. It is a new variety of language. Texters use deviant spellings, yet some of these already appeared in the Oxford dictionary. The use of non-standard English by texters was to overcome technology issues, and the abbreviations came as a natural response, and is therefore acceptable. Using non-standard English and abbreviations allows people to be linguistically creative in order to create new words that they are able to use, and it is language evolving, but it will not lead to a generation who grow up to be linguistically challenged.