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Subject:RE: In Defense of Bourgeois Pedants From:mpriestl -at- ca -dot- ibm -dot- com To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Tue, 5 Dec 2000 10:33:34 -0500
Rick Kirkham writes:
>Here's a way to test your theory: Find a language in which prescriptive
>grammars became widespread (among the literate, at least, if not among
mere
>speakers) and *subsequently* that language was powerfully influenced by
>another language (the way English was by French after the Norman
conquest).
I'm neither a historian nor a linguist, but how about Latin? I think its
rules were pretty well defined, but it's still a dead language with only
historical connections to modern Italian.
On another note related to Latin, much of the "prescriptive grammar"
foisted on us by the bourgeoisie pedants was actually Latin grammar
retrofitted onto English. That's what gives us rules like "don't end
sentences with a preposition" - a given in Latin, and a pointless
imposition on English sentence structure. (I'll punt to Fowler if you want
more discussion of this.) To quote Emerson, "foolish consistency is the
hobgoblin of little minds" - I think prescriptive grammar has its place
(I'm a staunch defender of the subjunctive) when it preserves flexibility
or expressiveness. I think it's totally out of place when it preserves
nothing except the rules of a dead language, brought back from beyond the
grave to suck vampirically on the caged souls of aspiring English students.
Speaking on my own behalf,
Michael Priestley
IBM Toronto Lab
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