Prescriptivism & Descriptivism

Prescriptivism

The practice of championing one variety or manner of speaking of a language against another. This implies that some forms are incorrect, improper, illogical, lack communicative effect, or are of low aesthetic value. These address aspects of language use, such as: spelling, grammar, pronunciation and syntax. This includes judgments on what usages are socially proper and politically correct. 

Its aims may be to establish a standard language, to teach what a particular society perceives is correct language, or to advise on effective communication.

Descriptivism

The work of objectively analysing and describing how language is spoken (or how it was spoken in the past) by a group of people in a speech community. The belief that the linguist's proper role is to observe and describe language behaviours, rather than to prescribe how people should speak.

Prescriptivists:

• Lynne Truss
• John Humphrys
• John Simon

Lynne Truss

Truss wrote a non-fiction book called "Eats, shoots & Leaves". This book highlights her zero tolerance approach towards punctuation. "In the book, published in 2003, Truss bemoans the state of punctuation in the United Kingdom and the United States and describes how rules are being relaxed in today's society. Her goal is to remind readers of the importance of punctuation in the English language by mixing humour and instruction." 

Descriptivists:

• David Crystal
• Jean Aitchison
• Jesse Sheildlower

David Crystal

David Crystal has a metaphor about 'swimming against the tide'. This is where he refers to language change as the sea and says that being prescriptivist and going against what is seen as 'normal' and acceptable, which in this case is language change. He says that going against it is like 'swimming against the tide' because it is too strong and you will never win.

Rastamouse Controversy - Telegraph Article

Rastamouse provokes complaints of racism and teaching bad language

An animated reggae-singing mouse that has become a children's television hit on the BBC has sparked complaints from parents who fear the show is racist and encourages the use of slang.

He is an animated reggae-singing mouse who has become a hit for the BBC, entertaining children with his attempts to fight crime and spread love and respect.

Yet dreadlocked Rastamouse has provoked more than a hundred complaints to the corporation with parents expressing fears the show is racist and encouraging the use of slang.

Mothers on online parenting forums have even raised fears that the programme could result in playground fights if children try to copy the mouse.

One mother on the Mumsnet forum, using the name TinyD4ncer, says she is concerned her child be attacked for repeating some of the Jamaican Patois phrases used by the mouse.

"The thing I'm most worried about is her saying the words like 'Rasta' and going up to a child and saying (these) things ... my child is white and I feel if she was to say this to another child who was not white that it would be seen as her insulting the other child."

Another parent, on Bumpandbaby.com, says: "just watched a couple videos .. i'm going to say it is racist," while a blogger on musicmagazine website describes the show as "a mildly racist take on Rastafarians in the form of a cute mouse".

The BBC has received complaints from six viewers that the animated show stereotypes black people, while another 95 have complained about the language used in the show.

The Rastafarian mouse, who leads a band called the Easy Crew and speaks in Jamaican Patois, uses phrases such as "me wan go" ("I want to go"), "irie" ("happy"), "wagwan" ("what's going on?"). His mission is to "make a bad ting good".

The show has proved to be very popular since it was launched on CBeebies last month, and has been praised for being funny and educational at the same time.

"We wanted to create something contemporary, colourful and fun that would appeal not just to black children, but to other children as well," said Genevieve Webster, who co-authored the books that the show is based on.

"I want children and grown-ups to watch it and enjoy it, be uplifted by the message and the seriously cool music."

A BBC spokesman said: "The Rastamouse books are written in Afro-Caribbean Patois rhyme and this authentic voice has been transferred to the TV series to retain its heart, integrity and distinctive quality.

"Rastamouse is part of a rich and varied CBeebies schedule, which is dedicated to reflecting the lives of all children in this country.

"Although Rastamouse has a particular appeal to young Afro-Caribbean children, its entertaining stories and positive messages - about friendship, respect and community - are intended to be enjoyed by all our young viewers, regardless of their backgrounds."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/bbc/8320549/Rastamouse-provokes-complaints-of-racism-and-teaching-bad-language.html 

1. How is the language issue represented?

"Dreadlocked Rastamouse" - Nominalisation to use his physical appearance as a title for the mouse. This could been perceived as discriminative as the passive perfective stative verb  "dreadlocked" appears before the proper noun "Rastamouse" which means that he has been type casted by his racial attributes.

"encouraging" - progessive dynamic verb - offers positive connotations however, within the context, suggests that the show writers are making people think that the show is positive when actually its having negative effects on children. Using a progressive verb implies that it is still happening.

"Patois" - negative connotations

"seriously cool" - the adverb of degree "seriously" and the evaluative adjective "cool" combines gives a Jamaican style of speech which fives positive connotations of the program and also implies that the opinion could have either, been supplied by a black person or said by a white person who was influenced by the program and so uses the language from it. 

2. How does the author represent himself and others?

"just watched a couple videos" - Grammatically incorrect by missing out "of", suggests a lower social class of people who are complaining about the program. This makes this person's opinion seem less reliable and believable.

"Bumpandbaby.com" - The main type of people who are against the programme are future parents and parents of young children. Suggests they are worried about the effects it will have on the children and whether this will continue into future generations.

The author uses multiple quotes within the article which implies that he is influenced by others' opinions which is the similar issue of what the parents within the article believe is happening to their children.

The author uses high frequency, low register words which suggests that he is trying to target a wider variety of audience. Also, the author uses mainly compound sentences which suggests that he is trying to keep his article simple in order to appeal and target wider variety of audience. 

3. How do they shape the reader's response (audience positioning)?

"contemporary, colourful and fun" - Evaluative adjective triad which suggests to the reader that the program has positive connotations and the use of "contemporary" implies that the program reflects the present time and the issues that are around. This could shape the reader into thinking that the program contains some factual content and could prepare children for the real world. 

"The BBC" - Repetitive use of the proper noun implies the reliability of the opinions being stated within the article as the BBC are well-known and are associated with the news and so an audience are more likely to believe and agree with what they say.

The article is a build up of quotes and opinions from a variety of people which could shape a wide audience as it has positive and negative opinions of the program. 

BBC Voices Poll

Aim
The BBC created a poll to find out people's opinions towards different accents and languages across the British Isles. 5000 people took part in the poll


Methodology
The Poll was commissioned by BBC Audience and Consumer Research for BBC Voices

It was conducted by Greenfield Online and Cardiff University aided with the question design.
Polls were taken between 17th-26th November through the online survey.
Final Sample = 5,010 respondents (all 15+ years)

Gender Proportion = 49:51 (male:female)

Age 25-64 = over-represented

Age 15-24 and 65+ = under-represented
Social Class was not collected
63 local areas were used in the poll to ensure a wide geographical spread (weaknesses identified in Northern Ireland)
The sample isn't balanced for: gender, age, social class or demographics

97% of survey = English was their first language

26 % of survey = Spoke at least one language as well as English


Findings and Analysis
Ranked 1st - Sean Connery with his Edinburgh accent was voted most pleasant to listen to.
Ranked 2nd - Sir Trevor Macdonald (from Trinidad) based on his authoritative tone
Ranked highly - News reporter Moira Stewart and Piers Brosnan (from Ireland)

Respondents preferred accents most local to them...
Scottish respondents - Preferred Ewan Mcgregor (Perthshire accent)
English respondents - Preferred Hugh Grant
Welsh Respondents - Preferred Richard Burton and news reader Huw Edwards
Northern Irish Respondents - Preferred Terry Wogan


59% of respondents wished they had a different accent
66.6% of Northern Irish respondents wished they had a different accent
Most wished for a Standard English accent
7% (12% of Northern Ireland) would rather have a Southern Irish accent


75% think they hear a lot more accents in everyday life and on BBC TV/radio than they used to
78% enjoy hearing a variety of accents


Evaluation
The poll seemed to collect a large sum of results and was conducted by the BBC (a supposedly reliable source), however, it did not prove valid as the spread of respondents didn't take into account gender, age and social class. The poll took responses from a variety of areas within the British Isles, however, the age range was not valid. By over-representing and under-representing age ranges, the opinions were not varied and were limited to particular ages.