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Tuesday 28 April 2015

Linguistic prescription and normative grammar

Normative Grammar is a linguistic system which establishes rules for the historical and aesthetic models of language use. These rules seek to define a default language whose use should extent to all social layers as opposed to its limited use within the upper classes. In a nutshell, it assumes that there is something of a righteous language use whose proponents frown upon linguistic varieties which deviate from a major standard variety.

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In order to manage the upkeep of a language and, to a greater extent, that of foreign languages, some linguists advocate for the codification of rules for language use, thus lobbying for the implementation of a "right way" of using it in daily speech.On the other hand, descriptive grammar thus seeks to limit language use by describing how written and spoken language should be, banning non-standard varieties in the process.

Said normative grammar advocates also admonish institutions dedicated to regulating language use in other countries such as the Académie Française in Paris and real Academia Española in Madrid. The proponents believe that some language variations offer more resources than others, which in turn allow for a better thought process formation. The apparent dichotomy between normative and descriptive systems does not mean however that descriptive grammar should be deprived of rules, since any actual codofication has normative power.

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