Linguistics Theory, Foundations, and Modern Development

An Overview of Linguistics and Linguistic Applications

On the Origins of Linguistics

Interlude: Grammarians

On the Origins of Linguistics

Linguistics as a Discipline: Nineteenth Century and the Early Twentieth Century

Spiritualism and Materialism

Interlude: Grammarians

Throughout the history of linguistics as a philosophical pursuit, there have been people telling others how their language should be spoken. However, there were no published rules for this until the Enlightenment in the eighteenth century, beginning with Bishop Robert Lowth's publication. Mark Twain wrote "I cannot imagine that God speaks anything but the Queen's own English." Although this is a tongue in cheek view, Twain pinpointed the flaw of all prescriptivists. The assumptions made are that the language is perfect in the form in which it is taught (i.e., it is static), and that change is not good, it is corruption.

It is important to note that prescriptivist grammarians became important only because there was a large, new class which found it important to read and write and to "speak properly," the nouveau riche. This was, to their way of thinking, their only way of being accepted into the upper class by the upper class (at that time, the nobility). As schooling became somewhat more standardized over time, these prescriptivist grammarians became almost Biblical in proportion, even to the point that during the Colonial period the aboriginals were discouraged from speaking their own language because it was uncouth, uncivilized, imperfect, and perhaps most importantly, non-Christian.

Prescriptivist grammarians were not interested in studying the language, but legislating the language (at least as near as they could do so). This was not found only in English, but in most languages at the time, and even in some languages still today (such as French, which is to some degree regulated by a language commission).

On the Origins of Linguistics

Linguistics as a Discipline: Nineteenth Century and the Early Twentieth Century

Spiritualism and Materialism

Linguistics Index

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