atw: Re: Spelling Society centenary

In response to Stephen Nason:

Standardisation of spelling was an inevitable consequence of the mass =
production of books. In English, the first problem was to get the dialect =
choices right; Caxton had to choose between "eyren" and "eigies" for the =
things we now call "eggs". (Note that, even now, with child, ox, and =
sometimes brother, we have -[r]en plural forms.) But, once that choice was =
made, the process began of propagating spelling standards throughout =
literate society. The attitudes expressed by Johnson and Chesterfield =
weren't unduly extreme for their time, but they didn't become fully =
entrenched until the advent of mass education in the C19th.

As for grammar, there's a common confusion between what it is and how it =
is taught. All languages have grammar -- consistent patterns that allow us =
to say different things with a measure of economy. (Grammar allows us to =
distinguish between "John hit Fred" and "Fred hit John".) But the mongrel =
character of English caused discomfort among grammarians of the C17th and =
thereabouts (thenabouts?); residual (albeit utterly misguided) ideas about =
Latin as a perfect or ideal language led to attempts to impose the =
patterns of Latin onto the English language. Trouble is, English remains =
at heart a Teutonic language, grammatically far removed from the Romance =
languages descended from Latin. So we get those absurd ideas about what =
constitutes an infinitive, and where a preposition might properly go.=20

Trouble is, those quaint ideas have been perpetuated by primary teachers =
who have themselves learnt the rules with no understanding of the =
realities, so many people still believe those rules. In effect, while =
grammarians now know that they aren't grammatical rules, many people use =
them as criteria of good language. In other words, they've become rules of =
formal style.




Michael Lewis
Lecturer, Writing Skills Advisor, and=20
Coordinator of Postgraduate=20
Editing and Publishing programs,
Department of Linguistics
MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY NSW 2109

Phone: +61 (0)2 9850 7856
Mobile: +61 (0)414 887782
Fax: +61 (0)2 9850 9199
www.ling.mq.edu.au

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This message is intended for the addressee named and may contain confidenti=
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and notify the sender.  Views expressed in this message are those of the =
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Linguistics or Macquarie University.


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