Descriptive Prescribers

Reading The New York Times’ article Which Language Rules to Flout. Or Flaunt? Makes me really confused. It was very hard for me to understand the text. After I discussed it with some friends and read it a second time, my confusion cleared up.

According to Robert Lane Greene in the first paragraph of the article, he says that “By now we know the battle lines.” Which are

·      As a descriptivist: “I try to describe language as it is used.”

·      And as a prescriptivist: “You focus on how language should be used.” (Which by the way the word is underlined with a red zig- zagged snake on my word document)

This article is a debate between two authors, Robert Lane Greene, and Bryan A. Garner, in which each writer gives their opinions of being either a descriptivist or a prescriptivist. Greene being both, and Garner being a prescriptivist.

I would consider myself a both of them, just like Greene. Of course I do describe language as it is used but I also tend on inventing words that fit the sentence, even though it doesn’t make sense. But that’s just sometimes, so I agree more with being a descriptivist. The two authors have really strong points, which makes me undecided on which side to choose.
Greene once wrote: “There is a set of standard conventions everyone needs for formal writing and speaking. Except under unusual circumstances, you should use the grammar and vocabulary of standard written English for these purposes.” Reading this quote made me agree with Greene. We have a language that has a set of rules for people to understand you, and they should be used.
But then Garner describes descriptivists as “quantitative social scientists with no interest in literary style who nevertheless study language, reporting all findings in maladroit, leaden prose, fallaciously insisting, through a misguided relativism, that all forms of language are equal and berating anyone who dares to say that the nonstandard use of a word or phrase is “incorrect.” Which is also a very valid point that defends people who want to speak as they wish but are corrected.

The article gets very intense. Each author giving strong ideas and opinions about “Language Wars” on the topic, referring directly to each other makes me really curious about these rules. However, in my opinion, each one has a different and strong point of view, which needs to be respected. Or as Greene states at the end of the article: “The fighting must stop.”