Many English speakers haunted by prescriptive grammar might be surprised and a little relieved to learn that most scholars who study language today are more interested in what they call "descriptive grammar." Instead of establishing and enforcing lists of rules about language, these scholars try to describe the system by which humans communicate. Indeed, they know from their study of English and other languages that language continually changes and that today's serious writers regularly make what Swift and others would have labeled mistakes in the 1700s.

These modern scholars are known as linguists, people who study language, and they are interested in much more than grammar. Among other areas within the field of linguistics are phonology, the study of sounds used in languages; semantics, the study of meaning; psycholinguistics, the study of the way the brain processes language; and sociolinguistics, the study of language in society, particularly subjects such as dialect, euphemism, and slang. Linguists study language in the same way biologists study plant or animal life. A serious biologist does not say that mammals are not supposed to fly and chastise all the world's bats for breaking the rules; rather, they study an organism's actions and try to understand why it acts as it does. Likewise, linguists try to understand how and why humans communicate through language.

Which is right, prescriptive or descriptive grammar? A better question might be "What can we learn from each?" For example, while today's linguists are careful not to say a word or sentence is "correct" or "incorrect," virtually all professional Americans--including teachers, journalists, doctors, lawyers, politicians, scientists, and business executives--realize that some forms of English are appropriate for business letters, reports, job interviews, resumes, books, and magazines, while others are not. They know to say,"She has never done it" instead "She ain't never done it" when talking to a prospective employer or writing a report. In other words, in their professional dealings, they try to communicate in Standard English--a dialect of English that obeys the "rules" set down by prescriptive grammarians--not because this English is inherently better than other dialects, but because it is widely accepted as the language of professional Americans. Prescriptive grammar, then, can help us master Standard English so that we can communicate effectively when we speak or write to other professionals.

Descriptive grammar, on the other hand, can help us to understand the way humans communicate, even the way we think. By studying the way humans speak, linguists such as Noam Chomsky have reached some interesting and valuable conclusions about subjects such as language acquisition--the process by which babies learn their language. Furthermore, studying the number of ways English speakers package information in words, phrases, and clauses can help students improve their own speaking and writing, making their communication clearer and more engaging. On a broader level, linguistics gives us insights into many other fields. The more we know about dialect, slang, language acquisition, and other linguistic phenomena, the more we know about politics, identity, education, and a hundred other fields. Language plays a role in virtually every human endeavor; we would do well to understand it.

Definitions

• descriptive grammar: the study of the ways human use systems--particularly syntax and morphology--to communicate through language; descriptive grammarians describe and analyze what speakers of a language say. Example: A descriptive grammarian might note that native English speakers say, "She doesn't like apple pie," not "Pie apple she like doesn't."
• prescriptive grammar: a set of "rules" governing the use of a language; prescriptive grammarians tell speakers what they should say. Example: A descriptive grammarian might warn English speakers not to say, "She don't like apple pie" because, according to the rules of Standard English, a singular subject, "She," takes a singular verb, "doesn't."
• Standard English: the form of English taught in schools and used widely by professional Americans, including politicians, journalists, and lawyers. Example: Magazines such as Newsweek and television news programs generally use Standard English.
• linguistics: the study of human language, including subjects such as phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, lexicon, sociolinguistics, and psycholinguistics
• phonology: the study of speech sounds. Example: Phonologists know that some sounds disappear or change because of the ways speakers use them. "I am going to stay" becomes "I'm gonna stay."
• morphology: the study of words, particularly of the inflections that indicate differences in tense, number, case, and other matters. Example: In English, adding the inflection "-ed" to a verb indicates past tense: "walked."
• syntax: word order. Example: In English, we create some questions by changing the syntax. "He is here" becomes "Is he here?"
• semantics: the study of meaning in language. Example: Linguists interested in semantics know that human language can be very imprecise. The word "love" means different things to different people. Moreover, some sentences are ambiguous--that is, they have more than one meaning--because of their syntax: "The chicken is ready to eat."
• lexicon: the stock of words in a language; people who compile lists of these words and their meanings in dictionaries are called "lexicographers." Example: English has an enormous lexicon, but a single speaker uses only a portion of it.
• sociolinguistics: the study of language in social contexts. Example: Sociolinguists study phenomena such as dialect, slang, and register.
• dialect: a form of a particular language. Usually, people who speak different dialects of the same language can understand each other, but they use some different words, pronounce words differently, perhaps even use different inflections or syntax. Example: I grew up in Indiana, where we say things like "Maybe you could turn it on by pushing the button." In North Carolina, however, I hear sentences like "You might could cut it on by mashing the button."
• register: the level of formality used in communication. Example: Most people use a casual register when speaking to friends; they might say, "Me and John are gonna hang out here." When speaking to a teacher or employer, however, people generally speak on a more formal register, saying, for example: "John and I will stay here."

Exercise

MAKING them pens was a distressid tough job, and so was the saw; and Jim allowed the inscription was going to be the toughest of all. That's the one which the prisoner has to scrabble on the wall. But he had to have it; Tom said he'd got to; there warn't no case of a state prisoner not scrabbling his inscription to leave behind, and his coat of arms.

"Look at Lady Jane Grey,'' he says; "look at Gilford Dudley; look at old Northumberland! Why, Huck, s'pose it is considerble trouble?--what you going to do?--how you going to get around it? Jim's got to do his inscription and coat of arms. They all do.''

Jim says:

"Why, Mars Tom, I hain't got no coat o' arm; I hain't got nuffn but dish yer ole shirt, en you knows I got to keep de journal on dat.''

"Oh, you don't understand, Jim; a coat of arms is very different.''

"Well,'' I says, "Jim's right, anyway, when he says he ain't got no coat of arms, because he hain't.''

"I reckon I knowed that,'' Tom says, "but you bet he'll have one before he goes out of this--because he's going out right, and there ain't going to be no flaws in his record.''

Bibliography

Cassidy, Frederic G., et al, eds. Dictionary of American Regional English. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1985-.

Published by the American Dialect Society, DARE is the standard guide to American dialects. The contents, which include maps and definitions, were collected through questionnaries and surveys of Americans across the country.

Cleary, Linda Miller and Michael D. Linn, eds. Linguistics for Teachers. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1993.

This collection of essays by important linguists such as John Algeo introduces non-experts to several important topics in the study of language, including Standard English, Black English, the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis, and the teaching of grammar.

Fowler, H.W. The New Fowler's Modern English Usage. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996.

Considered the bible of prescriptive grammarians, this reference guide makes hundreds of judgments, many of them arcane, about "correct" grammar and usage. While it is too cumbersome and esoteric to be useful as a practical guide, it provides browsers with a clear example of prescriptive grammar.

Fromkin, Victoria, and Robert Rodman. An Introduction to Language. Fifth Edition. Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich College Publishers, 1993.

This clear, engaging text book provides an excellent introduction to phonology, morphology, syntax, grammar, and other elements of linguistics.

New 'who'