LINGUIST List 8.1721

Mon Dec 1 1997

Disc: Re: 8.1657: Prescriptivism

Editor for this issue: Martin Jacobsen <martylinguistlist.org>

Directory

1. Di Kilpert, Re: 8.1657: Prescriptivism

Message 1: Re: 8.1657: Prescriptivism

First, thanks for the helpful and supportive messages I received from
Suzanne Kemmer, Jason Haugen, Robert Knippen, Rob Pensalfini, Bradley
Harris, Sharon Millar and Colin Whiteley in response to my 18 Nov
posting.

I WAS hoping for a bit of opposition, so here's a restatement of my
position, in the hopes of drawing some enemy fire:

"My concern is that outsiders' misunderstanding of linguists'
anti-prescriptivism has damaged the image of linguistics. I also have
a sneaking suspicion that there is no such thing as pure description
in linguistics. The anti-prescriptivist stance seems to me
responsible for a lot of linguistic split personalities."

Second, I would be very happy to hear from anyone who is into the
works of Roy Harris.

Di Kilpert