Controversy Between Descriptivist And Prescriptivism

Kamryn Mason

ENG 111

Dr. Elizabeth Steere

26 October 2017

The Controversy Between Descriptivism and Prescriptivism Mankind's diverse cultures, individual beliefs, and various opinions are extraordinary and, I believe, underappreciated. However, with contrasting opinions comes serious debate. One of many controversial debates in today's society is between two groups known as descriptivists and prescriptivists. "Descriptive grammarians ask the question, 'What is English (or another language) like--what are its forms and how do they function in various situations?' By contrast, prescriptive grammarians ask 'What should English be like--what forms should people use and what functions should they serve'” (Finegan 1). Typically, prescriptivists

Prescriptivists resist any form of change for the better, while descriptivists aren't afraid to accept the natural progression of linguistics. "English is indeed changing, as it must, but that such change is not debilitating. In fact, English is now changing in exactly the same ways that have contributed to making it the rich, flexible, and adaptable language so popular throughout the world today. Living languages must change, must adapt, must grow. Shakespeare could not have understood Chaucer without study, nor Chaucer the Beowulf poet. Whether change is good or bad is not the question, descriptivists say, for change is inevitable" (Finegan 2). The English language would not have become what it is today without accepting change, millennial jargon, and imperfectly human goofs. Yet these are the things prescriptivists seem to despise the most. The controversy between prescriptivism and descriptivism, I believe, is simply the acceptance—or lack of acceptance—of the nature of mankind. Human beings were created to be unique, to make mistakes, and to grow from those mistakes. These are the attributes that make people and their cultures, beliefs, and opinions so