Author Archives: Ingrid Tieken

Was Lowth a purist?

Posted on September 25, 2011 by Ingrid Tieken

When I gave a presentation on my recently published book The Bishop’s Grammar (OUP, 2011) in Cambridge earlier this year, a member of the audience asked if Lowth was ever described as a purist. The only reference I could think of was … Continue reading →

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Refusing to condemn “ain’t”

Posted on September 24, 2011 by Ingrid Tieken

This week’s New York Times Sunday Book Review includes an essay by Geoffrey Nunberg, a linguist from the University of California (Berkeley), called “When a dictionary could outrage“. Nunberg compares the recent decision of the Oxford English Dictionary to adopt … Continue reading →

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“Guardians of the language”

Posted on September 18, 2011 by Ingrid Tieken

Who are the guardians of the English language, and why do they have so much authority? Why are their books so popular, and what are they expecting to gain by it all? These are some of the questions that Flor … Continue reading →

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Prescriptivism and how it all began

Posted on September 17, 2011 by Ingrid Tieken

In the English language, the rise of prescriptivism is closely linked with the publication of Robert Lowth’s Short Introduction to English Grammar, in 1762. One of the new features of this grammar was the appearance of detailed criticism of grammatical … Continue reading →

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Fowler into the OED

Posted on September 16, 2011 by Ingrid Tieken

In 2009, the first edition of Fowler’s Modern English Usage (1926) was reprinted by Oxford University Press, as part of their World Classics Series. In the introduction, David Crystal assesses Fowler’s status as a writer of this popular usage guide, as well as the book … Continue reading →

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The end of prescriptivism?

Posted on September 14, 2011 by Ingrid Tieken

David Crystal wrote the final chapter of Lynda Mugglestone’s The Oxford History of English (OUP 2006), and in that chapter, he focusses on the way English will be developing in the course of the 21st century. One important effect on … Continue reading →

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Special issue of English Today

Posted on September 13, 2011 by Ingrid Tieken

Last year, a special issue appeared of English Today, entirly focussed on usage guides. Topics included how Fowler became “The Fowler”, taboo and purism, the birth of the usage guide, the issue of prescriptivism in a major dictionary like the … Continue reading →

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