prescriptivism
Enforcing grammar rules
Prescriptivism is the belief that language should follow established rules and standards rather than simply describing how people actually speak and write.
A prescriptivist might insist that "whom" is correct in To whom it may concern or that splitting infinitives is wrong.
The term is often used critically by linguists who favor descriptivism—the view that dictionaries and grammars should document actual usage rather than dictate it.
Prescriptivist attitudes tend to preserve traditional forms but can stigmatize natural language change as error.
Agreed standard of behavior
- customHabitual group practice
- heritageInherited cultural legacy
- precedentPrior authoritative example
- establishmentFounded organization or venue
classicism · purism · conservatism · archaism · Latinism · Queen's English · Académie française · style guide
Implementing uniform technical specifications
- codificationOrganizing rules into system
- regulationOfficial rules governing conduct
- enforcementCompelling compliance with rules
- mandateFormal authoritative directive
compliance · directive · edict · decree · dictum · fiat · governance · jurisdiction
Rules for arranging words
- morphologyStudy of structural forms
- punctuationWritten clarity symbols
- conjugationVerb form variation system
- declensionNoun form variation
inflection · agreement · tense · aspect · mood · voice · split infinitive · dangling modifier
Language's structural rules
- orthographyStandard writing conventions
- proprietyCorrectness of conduct
- purityUncontaminated quality
- accuracyDegree of correctness
precision · exactness · conformity · consistency · formality · punctiliousness · meticulousness · rigor
Documenting actual language use
- linguistic purismResistance to language change
- standard languageCodified, official linguistic form
- language policingControlling acceptable expression
Disparaging others' speech patterns
- monolingualismOne-language fluency only
- AnglicizationAdapting to English conventions
convention
Agreed standard of behavior
establishment · classicism · purism · conservatism · archaism · Latinism · Queen's English · Académie française · style guide · Strunk and White
standardization
Implementing uniform technical specifications
- codificationOrganizing rules into system
- regulationOfficial rules governing conduct
- enforcementCompelling compliance with rules
mandate · compliance · directive · edict · decree · dictum · fiat · governance · jurisdiction · canon
syntax
Rules for arranging words
- morphologyStudy of structural forms
- punctuationWritten clarity symbols
- conjugationVerb form variation system
declension · inflection · agreement · tense · aspect · mood · voice · split infinitive · dangling modifier · subjunctive
grammar
Language's structural rules
- orthographyStandard writing conventions
- proprietyCorrectness of conduct
- purityUncontaminated quality
accuracy · precision · exactness · conformity · consistency · formality · punctiliousness · meticulousness · rigor · elegance
descriptivism
Documenting actual language use
- linguistic purismResistance to language change
- standard languageCodified, official linguistic form
- language policingControlling acceptable expression
language shaming
Disparaging others' speech patterns
- monolingualismOne-language fluency only
- AnglicizationAdapting to English conventions
- language normscorrectness, usage, standard language, proper grammar, descriptivism
- Language Standardsstandard language, proper grammar, proper usage, correctness, codification
- 18th Century EnglishJonathan Swift, Augustan age, lexicography, Alexander Pope, heroic couplet
- language biasregional bias, language shaming, language snobbery, linguistic purism, language policing
- language reformspelling reform, phonetic spelling, simplification, romanization, pinyin
- metaethicsnon-cognitivism, cognitivism, moral relativism, moral truth, externalism