Ingrid Tieken‐Boon van Ostade
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199579273
- eISBN:
- 9780191595219
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199579273.003.0007
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Historical Linguistics, English Language
Lowth's awareness of grammatical appropriateness to context as determined by style and addressee. It links actual usage in the letters to the norm presented in the grammar, showing the fallacy of the ...
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Lowth's awareness of grammatical appropriateness to context as determined by style and addressee. It links actual usage in the letters to the norm presented in the grammar, showing the fallacy of the assumption that his rules were based on his own usage, and also that the language of the aristocracy served as his model of correctness.Less
Lowth's awareness of grammatical appropriateness to context as determined by style and addressee. It links actual usage in the letters to the norm presented in the grammar, showing the fallacy of the assumption that his rules were based on his own usage, and also that the language of the aristocracy served as his model of correctness.
Viktorija Kostadinova
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- December 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780198808206
- eISBN:
- 9780191845888
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198808206.003.0010
- Subject:
- Linguistics, English Language, Lexicography
This chapter explores the complexity of attitudes to the usage problems ain’t, literally, and like in American English, from the point of view of both prescriptivist discourse found in usage guides ...
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This chapter explores the complexity of attitudes to the usage problems ain’t, literally, and like in American English, from the point of view of both prescriptivist discourse found in usage guides and speakers’ ideas about these usage problems. I argue that the stakes for speakers involved in using certain usage problems are different in different contexts, and that these usage problems merit more serious sociolinguistic attention. I pay particular attention to how the attitudes of speakers towards the usage problems considered in this chapter differ from those expressed in usage guides. One of the conclusions of this analysis is that different usage problems have different social implications for different speakers. Grammatical usage problems in particular seem to be more closely associated with education, although regional and language context sensitivity play a role as well.Less
This chapter explores the complexity of attitudes to the usage problems ain’t, literally, and like in American English, from the point of view of both prescriptivist discourse found in usage guides and speakers’ ideas about these usage problems. I argue that the stakes for speakers involved in using certain usage problems are different in different contexts, and that these usage problems merit more serious sociolinguistic attention. I pay particular attention to how the attitudes of speakers towards the usage problems considered in this chapter differ from those expressed in usage guides. One of the conclusions of this analysis is that different usage problems have different social implications for different speakers. Grammatical usage problems in particular seem to be more closely associated with education, although regional and language context sensitivity play a role as well.
Ingrid Tieken-Boon van Ostade (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- December 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780198808206
- eISBN:
- 9780191845888
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198808206.001.0001
- Subject:
- Linguistics, English Language, Lexicography
Usage guides, or language advice manuals, are being published in large numbers, both in Britain and the US. The first titles that usually spring to mind are Fowler’s Modern English Usage (1926) or ...
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Usage guides, or language advice manuals, are being published in large numbers, both in Britain and the US. The first titles that usually spring to mind are Fowler’s Modern English Usage (1926) or Sir Ernest Gowers’s Complete Plain Words (1954). Yet as a phenomenon, they are much older than that: the first English usage guide was published in 1770, and the first American one in 1847. Today, new titles come out almost every year, while old works are revised and reissued. At the same time, usage advice can be readily found on the internet: Grammar Girl, for instance, is a good example of what is in effect an online usage guide, and there are many others about. Remarkably, however, the kind of usage problems that have been treated over the years are very much the same, and attitudes towards them, by usage guide writers and the general public alike, are slow to change. Remarkably also, usage guides continue to be published despite easy online access to usage advice: there is clearly a market for them, and especially the more controversial ones sell well. How are usage guides compiled and revised? Who writes them? How do they do they differ from, say, grammars and dictionaries? How do attitudes to usage problems change? Why does the BBC need its own style guide, and why are usage guides published to begin with? These are central topics in the book.Less
Usage guides, or language advice manuals, are being published in large numbers, both in Britain and the US. The first titles that usually spring to mind are Fowler’s Modern English Usage (1926) or Sir Ernest Gowers’s Complete Plain Words (1954). Yet as a phenomenon, they are much older than that: the first English usage guide was published in 1770, and the first American one in 1847. Today, new titles come out almost every year, while old works are revised and reissued. At the same time, usage advice can be readily found on the internet: Grammar Girl, for instance, is a good example of what is in effect an online usage guide, and there are many others about. Remarkably, however, the kind of usage problems that have been treated over the years are very much the same, and attitudes towards them, by usage guide writers and the general public alike, are slow to change. Remarkably also, usage guides continue to be published despite easy online access to usage advice: there is clearly a market for them, and especially the more controversial ones sell well. How are usage guides compiled and revised? Who writes them? How do they do they differ from, say, grammars and dictionaries? How do attitudes to usage problems change? Why does the BBC need its own style guide, and why are usage guides published to begin with? These are central topics in the book.
Ingrid Tieken-Boon van Ostade
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- December 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780198808206
- eISBN:
- 9780191845888
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198808206.003.0001
- Subject:
- Linguistics, English Language, Lexicography
Usage guides are an extremely popular genre, as is evident from new titles being published year after year and established ones being revised and reprinted. They are a marketable product, as both ...
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Usage guides are an extremely popular genre, as is evident from new titles being published year after year and established ones being revised and reprinted. They are a marketable product, as both writers and publishers know. The genre did not start with Fowler, despite what many people think; it has a long history going back to the late eighteenth century. Usage advice today is also found online, while it was already the subject of satire in Punch during the nineteenth century. Yet how many usage problems there are is something authors—journalists, writers, but also linguists—show no consensus on. Usage problems come and go, and attitudes to them, expressed both by the general public and by usage guide writers, are found to change over the years. Some works remain remarkably conservative, which appears to be what is desired by readers who often feel insecure about what exactly proper English is.Less
Usage guides are an extremely popular genre, as is evident from new titles being published year after year and established ones being revised and reprinted. They are a marketable product, as both writers and publishers know. The genre did not start with Fowler, despite what many people think; it has a long history going back to the late eighteenth century. Usage advice today is also found online, while it was already the subject of satire in Punch during the nineteenth century. Yet how many usage problems there are is something authors—journalists, writers, but also linguists—show no consensus on. Usage problems come and go, and attitudes to them, expressed both by the general public and by usage guide writers, are found to change over the years. Some works remain remarkably conservative, which appears to be what is desired by readers who often feel insecure about what exactly proper English is.
Ingrid Tieken-Boon van Ostade
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- December 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780198808206
- eISBN:
- 9780191845888
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198808206.003.0004
- Subject:
- Linguistics, English Language, Lexicography
The famous English novelist Kingsley Amis also wrote a usage guide, called The King’s English, published posthumously in 1997. This title refers to his illustrious predecessor Henry Fowler, who is ...
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The famous English novelist Kingsley Amis also wrote a usage guide, called The King’s English, published posthumously in 1997. This title refers to his illustrious predecessor Henry Fowler, who is frequently quoted in the book and even has an entry of his own—unusual for the genre. In this chapter I will argue that Amis’s The King’s English is not a typical usage guide. Though it does offer language advice, most of the entries read like brief linguistic—often humorous—narratives rather than typical usage items. His section on Americanisms, is an example of this; and he also published instances of usage advice elsewhere, as on the once controversial hopefully. This chapter therefore argues that the book was actually a publisher’s project, aiming to profit both from Amis’s reputation when he was still remembered well by the public and from the growing market for usage advice literature at the time.Less
The famous English novelist Kingsley Amis also wrote a usage guide, called The King’s English, published posthumously in 1997. This title refers to his illustrious predecessor Henry Fowler, who is frequently quoted in the book and even has an entry of his own—unusual for the genre. In this chapter I will argue that Amis’s The King’s English is not a typical usage guide. Though it does offer language advice, most of the entries read like brief linguistic—often humorous—narratives rather than typical usage items. His section on Americanisms, is an example of this; and he also published instances of usage advice elsewhere, as on the once controversial hopefully. This chapter therefore argues that the book was actually a publisher’s project, aiming to profit both from Amis’s reputation when he was still remembered well by the public and from the growing market for usage advice literature at the time.