Linguistics Theory, Foundations, and Modern Development

An Overview of Linguistics and Linguistic Applications

Linguistic Assumptions and Principles

Grammars

Prescriptive Grammars

Grammars

Teaching Grammars

Descriptive Grammars

Prescriptive Grammars

This is precisely the opposite of a descriptive grammar in application. Like a descriptive grammar, it proposes rules that describe the language. In contrast to a descriptive grammar, it prescribes these rules as the "proper" way to speak or write, and argues that change in a language is corruption of the language and should be avoided at all costs. The source for prescriptive grammar initially came from the desire of the nouveau riche middle class to have their children speak like those of the upper classes. (Bishop Robert Lowth wrote the first English prescriptive grammar, A Short Introduction to English Grammar with Critical Notes, which combines English and Latin grammars with his personal preferences. Prior to the publication of his work in 1762, nearly everyone spoke in the same style [vulgate]; only with the publication of this work did both the rising middle class and the upper classes begin diverging from what was then standard grammar to the new prescribed grammars [Fromkin and Rodman, 15].)

Grammars

Teaching Grammars

Descriptive Grammars

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