Author Archives: Ingrid Tieken

Just out!

Posted on June 6, 2019

Just out, and yes, the book includes a paper on prescriptivism, my own! The project may be finished, but new publications still appear. So: Ingrid Tieken-Boon van Ostade (2019), Usage guides and the Age of Prescriptivism. In: Birte Bös and … Continue reading →

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Even John le Carré has them

Posted on May 28, 2019

Metalinguistic comments that is, as in the novels of Kingsley Amis, Len Deighton and Ian McEwan. Reading A Most Wanted Man (2008), I came across several references to accent but also one to who/whom: But for how long? And from who? … Continue reading →

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Describing Prescriptivism

Posted on April 25, 2019

Soon to appear (expected publication date: some time in September):  

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More complete?

Posted on April 21, 2019

In 2007, The Dutch Taaladviesdienst (a language advice service run by Genootschap Onze Taal)  published Taal top 100, a collection of the 100 most popular usage problems in Dutch, in the fields of spelling, grammar, lexis , punctuation and style. … Continue reading →

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These ones, those ones

Posted on April 19, 2019

Just finished my article “Of greengrocers, sports commentators, estate agents and television presenters: Who’s in a usage guide and why” for a special issue with papers from Liv Walsh’s workshop In the Shadow of the Standard September last in Nottingham. … Continue reading →

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English Grammar Day 2019

Posted on April 11, 2019

Every year, some time during the summer, UCL organises an English Grammar Day. This time I have been invited to speak, and I decided to do so on the following topic (not yet announced online): No complaint tradition in The Netherlands? … Continue reading →

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Lest best: Viktorija Kostadinova’s thesis

Posted on December 3, 2018

Lying on my desk today is Viktorija Kostadinova’s PhD thesis, the third of the PhD students from the Bridging the Unbridgeable project. My warmest congratulations to her as her supervisor. She will be defending her thesis on 18 December: wish … Continue reading →

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Grassroots Prescriptivism

Posted on November 23, 2018

Yesterday, Morana Lukač defended her PhD thesis called Grassroots Prescriptivism at the University of Leiden. This was the second of the PhD defences from the Bridging the Unbridgeable project. Morana did extremely well, and the committee was most pleased about her performance. … Continue reading →

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Special issue of English Today (34/4)

Posted on November 16, 2018

Just out: our special issue of English Today,  with papers from Carmen Ebner, Lyda Fens-de Zeeuw, Viktorija Kostadinova, Morana Lukač, Robin Straaijer, myself and, as our very special guest, Rebecca Gowers. The issue (34/4) presents the papers we gave at … Continue reading →

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British or American – or doesn’t it matter?

Posted on October 28, 2018

I’d never have thought I would read a Young Adult novel, but I did, and here is why. At ICEHL-20, two months ago in Edinburgh, Jane Hodson presented a paper in the course of which she referred to The Knife of … Continue reading →

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