Describing Prescriptivism Usage Guides and Usage Problems in British and American English |
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| Author:
| van Ostade, Ingrid Tieken-Boon |
| ISBN: | 978-0-429-56261-7 |
| Publication Date: | Oct 2019 |
| Publisher: | Taylor & Francis Group
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| Imprint: | Routledge |
| Book Format: | Digital (delivered electronically) |
| List Price: | USD $48.95USD $180.00USD $180.00 |
Book Description:
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Describing Prescriptivism provides a topical and thought-provoking analysis of linguistic prescriptivism in British and American English, from a historical as well as present-day perspective. Focusing on usage guides and usage problems, the book takes a three-fold approach to present an in-depth analysis of the topic, featuring:
- a detailed study of the advice provided in usage guides over the years;
Describing Prescriptivism provides a topical and thought-provoking analysis of linguistic prescriptivism in British and American English, from a historical as well as present-day perspective. Focusing on usage guides and usage problems, the book takes a three-fold approach to present an in-depth analysis of the topic, featuring:
- a detailed study of the advice provided in usage guides over the years;
- an authoritative comparison of this advice with actual usage as recorded in British and American corpora, including the HUGE (Hyper Usage Guide of English) database - developed specifically to enable this line of study - as well as more mainstream corpora such as COCA, COHA and the BNC;
- a close analysis of the attitudes to particular usage problems among the general public, based on surveys distributed online through the "Bridging the Unbridgeable" research project's blog.*
With extensive case studies to illustrate and support claims throughout, this comprehensive study is key reading for students and researchers of prescriptivism, the history of English and sociolinguistics.
*Found at https://bridgingtheunbridgeable.com/