Tag Archives: prescriptivism

On whom/who in a Richard Osman novel again

Posted on December 15, 2025 by Ingrid Tieken

Perhaps my favourite St Nicholas present this year (ok, I also got the latest Asterix and Obelix comic, as well as the first ever Jane Austen graphic novel and lovely house socks, so hard to choose actually) was Richard Osman’s … Continue reading →

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New “History of the English Language” published!

Posted on November 3, 2025 by Ingrid Tieken

Congratulations, Joan Beal (editor) and Raymond Hickey (general editor)! A major new publication, up to date and with a large array of topics by established scholars on the history of the English language. This is Volume III, which consists of … Continue reading →

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Garner on Fowler

Posted on October 14, 2025 by Ingrid Tieken

Next year is a Fowler year. The Fowler year, when we will be commemorating the 100th anniversary of his Modern English Usage. We’re definitely looking forward to it! Anticipating 2026 in this light, Bryan Garner, author of OUP’s well-known Garner’s … Continue reading →

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Fowler narratives?

Posted on October 9, 2025 by Ingrid Tieken

Next year, 2026, will be a Fowler year, just like this year is a Jane Austen year. In Henry Fowler‘s case, 100 years after the publication of his phenomenal Modern English Usage. So I’m looking for Fowler narratives, stories about … Continue reading →

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Prescriptivism in a Dutch news item

Posted on September 19, 2025 by Ingrid Tieken

Last night on the 8 o’clock news: a new gadget was introduced that warned users if a stalker would come too close. A woman was interviewed anonymously about the advantages of wearing such a gadget, saying how happy she was … Continue reading →

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Linguistic Landscaping in Bookshops (5) – Slovenian

Posted on September 18, 2025 by Ingrid Tieken

My request for information and images of how bookshops in other cities than the ones I frequent promote prescriptivism, and in particular usage guides, has met with a response! Thank you, Matjaž Zgonc, for your pictures of the linguistics section … Continue reading →

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Linguistic Landscaping in Bookshops (4)

Posted on August 28, 2025 by Ingrid Tieken

It occurred to me that what I’m doing with this project is similar to what Yorick van Norden did for his book The Platenkast van Paul McCartney (“Paul McCartney’s record collection”) which came out earlier this year. Except that my … Continue reading →

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Linguistic Landscaping in Bookshops (3)

Posted on August 21, 2025 by Ingrid Tieken

I had to be in Leiden for a social event this week, so decided to go a little earlier and visit as many of the bookshops in the city centre as I could manage. Three of them this time, all … Continue reading →

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Linguistic Landscaping in Bookshops (2)

Posted on August 19, 2025 by Ingrid Tieken

So far, I’ve got data from four bookshops, one in the UK (Foyles – London), two in The Netherlands (De Vries van Stockum – The Hague; Boekhandel Broekhuis – Almelo) and one in Germany (Dussmann – Berlin). On the start … Continue reading →

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New feature by Matjaž Zgonc

Posted on July 30, 2025 by Ingrid Tieken

Occasisonally, we publish contributions on topics of general prescriptive interest. I’m happy to announce our latest item, called “Legal Prescriptivism in Slovenia: a case of ipse dixit quantifier scope narrowing which helped sex offenders avoid prison time” which has been posted … Continue reading →

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