tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3643556495084083743.post1341595650792419442..comments2022-12-09T08:52:54.666-08:00Comments on Skeptic Wonder: Reddit > Fark; and a note on prescriptive grammarPsi Wavefunctionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10829712736757471647noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3643556495084083743.post-56148749862167838322009-04-14T11:40:00.000-07:002009-04-14T11:40:00.000-07:00In fact, I'm gonna go 'enhance' my pos...In fact, I'm gonna go 'enhance' my post with parts of my comment there... otherwise it looks devoid of any real content. <_<Psi Wavefunctionhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10829712736757471647noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3643556495084083743.post-16410949978000247172009-04-14T04:30:00.000-07:002009-04-14T04:30:00.000-07:00The issue with prescriptive grammar is that:
a) to...The issue with prescriptive grammar is that:<br />a) to linguists it tends to be of little interests as it does not reflect the innate tendencies of language speakers, which is what the study of language mainly focuses on. Prescriptive grammar is largely ceremonial.<br />b) English has a particularly bad case of prescriptive grammar being based on the grammar of some [mildly] distant language, eg. Latin. Take, for example, the law against split infinitives. The only reason it exists is that in Latin, it is impossible to ever split one due to it being comprised of a single morpheme. No reason to be so against it in English! Often, it's less awkward to simply ignore such relics of the medieval days of Latin scholarship.<br /><br />Prescriptive grammar (and to some extent, prescriptive style) isn't particularly productive in helping people write better. Even linguistics background can get in the way sometimes -- I've encountered several linguists who...erm, don't quite put it into practice very well <_< . Of course, that may just be my luck...<br /><br />Good writing comes from reading good writing, and reading critically. Critiquing other people's essays, I believe, is a good exercise -- you really start thinking about WHY a certain sentence is awkward, or difficult to read. You then make generalisations that make sense to you. And hopefully learn from them.<br /><br />Not something you can put in a book, but I don't think it's really something you can shortcut around. Language is simply too complex an organism (I like the language symbiont theory... should blog about it, eventually...) to explain in a series of books. Even modern theories of linguistics don't quite capture it entirely just yet. Especially for non-IndoEuropean languages. That's why many linguists get so annoyed by grammar advice: first off, the self-proclaimed guardians of good language tend to fail at comprehending the very thing they profess to be experts at; but most importantly -- language is an organism, even to those who don't acknowledge it explicitly. There's no right or wrong way to be, and selective pressures generally keep it functional. Languages change. Traits that are susceptible to neglect are lost, while others persist. (There was a Nature paper where they actually measured that an irregular verb was far more likely to be regularised if it was seldom used!)<br /><br />To linguists, prescriptive grammar is much like 'primitive organisms' are to us! <br /><br /><br />But the point was to demonstrate the superiority of Reddit. Actually, that's irrelevant -- the point was to publicly announce that my friend was wrong. Just for kicks. He deserves it =P<br /><br />Once again, I can comment in better detail than I can blog... WTF. I should just post my comments instead, or something...<br /><br />-Psi-Psi Wavefunctionhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10829712736757471647noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3643556495084083743.post-23218072065114888822009-04-13T18:19:00.000-07:002009-04-13T18:19:00.000-07:00I must take issue with the notion that prescriptiv...I must take issue with the notion that prescriptive grammar advice is necessarily a big wad of fail. I mean, is it possible to give grammar advice that is not prescriptive? If so, is it really desirable? Keep in mind how the people who are most in need of grammar advice tend to write....<br /><br />As for the article itself, it does not say much at all about the value of any kind of grammar advice. Rather, it asserts (and demonstrates) that the most-used style guide in the US discusses grammar at least as much as style, and discusses both poorly.<br /><br />Sorry for jumping on that so hard. In other news, the Language Log rocks my world.Opisthokonthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09962363962978125098noreply@blogger.com