Prescriptivism is comparing one variety/ way of speaking a particular language against another. It could imply the view that some forms of speech/ language are incorrect, improper, lacking in communicative effect or have a low aesthetic value.
These practices could address certain aspect of how language is used, for example; spelling, grammar, pronunciation or syntax. It may also include judgements on which are socially proper and/or politically correct.
Its aims can be to establish a standard language/ teach what a particular society thinks is correct language or to advise on effective communication. Prescriptive approaches to language are often contrasted with the alternative approach of descriptive linguistics.
Leading figures in Prescriptivism:
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Guy Deutscher
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Peter Trudgill
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Jean Paul
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Lynn Truss
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James Cochrane
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Jacob Grimm
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Sir William Jones
Descriptivism
However descriptive linguistics concerns analysing and describing how language is spoken/ how it was spoken in the past by the group of people in a speech community. All of the research based in linguistics is descriptive and its aim is to observe the linguistic ‘world’ as it is, unbiased from preconceived ideas about how it should be, modern descriptive linguistics are based on a structural approach to language and are often contrasted to prescriptive linguistics.
Leading figures in Descriptivism:
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James Milroy
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Jean Aitcheson
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Ray Harlow
Prescription and Description are complementary but each have different priorities and are therefore seen to be in conflict at times.
Conclusion
SO in simpler terms; prescriptivism is being perfectly happy to stick to the grammar rules that we have been using throughout and descriptivism is being alright to change or adapt your grammar to modern speech. One is relatively formal and the other is quite informal.
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