Quote:
Originally Posted by Nyororin
But WHO decides the "proper" use of English? Language is fluid, and constantly changing. The proper use in one social group differs from that of another - Just as it does between different ages, different locations, etc.
Language simply doesn`t change to become less useful - it evolves to make it the most suitable for the times and the people using it. The trends of language can really show you a lot about that era - and I do not mean that in a negative way.
Something we have to keep in mind; The language we use and consider "proper" now only became so because the people who were around before us (people we learned from) used it. Some large chunk of the language they used came from those who came before, but the remainder was coined by their peers. Over generations and generations, language changes dramatically. The "mutilation" that stuck around is exactly what we are now using as "proper". I mean, look back 200 years, 500 years, 1000 years...
Another surprising bit might be that many things you consider "deterioration" are actually parts of the language that have been around longer than the "proper" bits.
Sorry to drop so off topic, but... Well, I`m an actual linguist.  |
Exactly. And things our parents didn't use but their parents did sounds "weird" or "stilted" or "too formal" or something. Then years before that you get another generation's vocabulary which sounds archaic to us.
I am almost exclusively a descriptivist, but take on the color of a prescriptivist occasionally. Language exists primarily as communication, so prescriptive language is necessary only to facilitate communication. In other words, if you're not an experienced writer, you need to be taught rules in order for you to initially learn
how to communicate in writing.
For example, if I had never been taught, I might have just assumed "foo" was a word everyone would understand. Cromulent (hehe) language that would have harmed communication with some audiences.