Usage guides are a controversial topic among linguists because of their function to present a norm of correctness to whoever wishes to consult them. Linguistics as a discipline, however, is concerned with describing rather than prescribing usage. Nevertheless, usage guides are extremely popular with the general public, and even increasingly so despite centuries of prescriptivism and, these days, many online usage advice tools.
This blog aims to provide – but primarily to receive – feedback on all sorts of usage questions, such as why people should object to split infinitives or to the use of like as in “I’m like, pat my hair? Ok, I guess”. So tell us what features in the English language – spelling, grammar, pronunciation or words – you dislike and why you are having problems with them. We’d also be interested in learning about what usage guides you use, how often you consult them, and what you consult them for. We will present news and information on usage guides, recently published ones but also on those that have been around for a while. But we would also like you to share new developments that you know about with us here. In addition, we would invite you to fill in our usage polls.
All this has served as input for a research project, financed by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO), which ran at the Leiden University Centre for Linguistics between August 2011 and December 2016. Its principal investigator was professor Ingrid Tieken-Boon van Ostade, and the projects full title was Bridging the unbridgeable: linguists, prescriptivists and the general public. The primary aim of this project was to try and bridge the gap between the three main players in the field of prescriptivism: linguists, prescriptivists (as writers of usage guides) and those who depend upon such manuals, the general user. Though the project ended in late 2016, the research of many of us continues, and articles and other publications continue to appear, as you will see in our list of Publications. Even blogposts are still occasionally written, and the usage polls have been kept open for anyone interested in contributing. And access to our HUGE database may still be applied for.
You may email us if you wish through Ingrid Tieken’s university email address: i.m.tieken@hum.leidenuniv.nl.
Surface mail:
Bridging the Unbridgeable/Prof. Ingrid Tieken-Boon van Ostade
Leiden University Centre for Linguistics
P.O. Box 9515
2300 RA Leiden
The Netherlands
Bridging the Unbridgeable 