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Category Archives: Uncategorized
Prescription conference: reminder of call for papers
This is to remind those who are interested in attending the Prescription conference here at Leiden in June next year that the deadline for the call for papers is on Sunday (15 December). We have had quite a few very … Continue reading
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Prescriptivism in literary fiction
Is prescriptivism a topic among the general public, one of the target groups of our research? I would say: yes. For reading David Lodge‘s Deaf Sentence (Penguin 2008), I came across this: … he [son-in-law] thinks you must be silently criticising his English all … Continue reading
Researching John Honey
One of the things I’m interested in connection with the research for the Bridging the Unbridgeable project is John Honey, the author of Language is Power (1997) and the earlier pamphlet The Language Trap (1983) (as well as several other publications). Honey’s publications … Continue reading
Euro English
Dear all, We will all become witnesses of the rise of a new English variety: Euro English. Those of you, who are not yet familiar with the term or the variety, do not panic. To cut a long story short, … Continue reading
Speaking correctly and French
This blog is primarily concerned with correctness and attitudes to usage in English, but English is not the only language in which correctness in language is an issue – has been an issue for centuries: French is well-known for having … Continue reading
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Tagged correctness in language, French Academy, prescriptivism, purism, Wendy Bennett
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Jack Lynch on proper English
Clearing up my mail box, I found a New York Times book review of Jack Lynch’s book THE LEXICOGRAPHER’S DILEMMA. The Evolution of ‘Proper’ English, From Shakespeare to ‘South Park’ (Walker & Company, 2009). Useful for anyone interested in our … Continue reading
Touchy about questions of usage
In a wonderful new book that came out last year, called The Language Wars: A History of Proper English, Henry Hitchings writes that “English-speakers are touchy about questions of usage” (p. 4). What English speakers does he mean, I wonder, Brits, … Continue reading
Creativity and/or Prescriptivism
In a cult sketch on language, Stephen Fry compares the inexhaustible creative potential of language to that of music. The structure of language comprises a limited set of parts, just as a piano keyboard has a limited set of keys. … Continue reading
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Tagged Allan Metcalf, attitudes to usage, language rules, prescriptivism, Stephen Fry
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English spelling – A nightmare?
English spelling is amazing! I might be one of the few who think that way but given my natural curiosity poems such as The English Lesson by Richard Krogh are just my cup of tea. Having learned English as a … Continue reading
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