Prescriptivism and Descriptivism

Prescriptivism - An approach that sets out rules for what is regarded as correct in language and when those rules are broken, mistakes happen. Some examples of prescriptivist rules are: Don't end a sentence with a preposition, don't split infinitives, don't use the passive voice and don't use the pronoun 'I' in object position. The rules aren't restricted to grammar and can also concern spelling and punctuation. 

Well known prescriptivists - Robert Lowth, John Humphrys, Lynne Truss

John Humphrys - A well known prescriptivist, who compared the misuse of an apostrophe as ‘vandalism’. He said, “Unless you get into the habit of being precise, you will be open to misunderstanding.” He argues that we must safeguard grammar and clarity in an age of texting, slang and hype. He argues that texters are "vandals who are doing to our language what Genghis Khan did to his neighbours 800 years ago. They are destroying it: pillaging our punctuation; savaging our sentences; raping our vocabulary. And they must be stopped."

Descriptivism - The idea that a language is defined by what people do with it and seek to describe objectively what people do with it. They do not subscribe to correct and incorrect language use.

Well known descriptivists - Jean Aitchison, David Crystal

David Crystal - He created his own Tide Metaphor to explain language change. In this, he suggests that language is like a tide – constantly changing. It ebbs and flows, bringing in new words and taking out others in a natural, progressive way. In using this metaphor, Crystal claims that changes are not for the worse, or for the better. “Just changes,” he says.

Rastamouse Controversy

"Leave Rastamouse alone" - (Source - The Telegraph)

I write this with a little trepidation, since I'm aware that it might be risky for a very white Telegraph writer to be pontificating on this subject, but having seen a few episodes of Rastamouse I find it hard to see why this little programme has kicked up such a big row. Certainly it's difficult to see how it's racist, as some viewers have complained. Critics have picked up on the fact that the mice speak in a kind of Jamaican-inflected patois, and taken that to mean that it must be derogatory. Why? Some of the accents seem a little unconvincing, certainly, but then again one can't help but feel that the programme makers' strict verisimilitude was lost at about the same time they decided that they were making a show about talking mice.

In fact, it's very refreshing to see a cool kids' show inspired throughout by Britain's Afro-Caribbean community. Not only the heroes but the baddies and the mayor are the same. There's no tokenism here: these are just mice living in a rasta-culture inspired world. I don't see any part that denigrates or disrespects any community, Rastafarian or otherwise. If anything it is a kind of celebration of reggae culture - the mice are clever, cool, musical. There's more wit in Rastamouse's little finger than in any number of drab, designed-by-committee BBC children's programmes.

The other criticism levelled at the programme is about the mice's unusual language. "They teef me wheels", for instance, translates as "They have stolen my wheels." Some of the worried old ladies on Mumsnet have expressed their fear that their little darlings will parrot Rastamouse's lines to an Afro-Caribbean person and thus cause offence. This fear says so much more about the mothers involved than it does about Rastamouse (whose target audience is under six) or, indeed, Afro-Carribean people, that I hardly know where to begin. Suffice it to say that if Rastamouse is the only education their children are getting, these mothers should probably be spending less time on internet mothering forums and more time, y'know, mothering.

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Comments

Overall, this is quite an informal article on the subject of Rastamouse. It is also highly in defence of the popular kids TV show as the writer claims it 'is difficult to see how it's racist' almost straight away. While the author agrees that the 'accents are a little unconvincing' he also questions why people are bothered about a programme about talking mice. The author further defends the issue of language through sarcasm when referring to the complains from users of Mumsnet - 'Some of the worried old ladies on Mumsnet have expressed their fear that their little darlings will parrot...' He makes out to largely be an issue with the older generations than who the actual target audience is who are under six. By being continually sarcastic throughout the article and consistently critical, it seems that the author almost forces the audience to take his side on the matter because he gives them no other option. However his comments could also provide backlash from the 'worried old ladies on Mumsnet' because of his blunt opinions. The audience positioning could go either way, depending on which audience is reading it.

BBC Voices

Aims

The aim of the BBC Voices survey was to find out how people feel about various accents and languages across the British Isles. A total 5000 people took part in the poll.

Methodology

• Commissioned by BBC Audience & Consumer Research and conducted by Greenfield Online
• Cardiff University advised on the design of some of the questions included in the poll
• Fieldwork was conducted between the 17th and 26th November 2004 via an online survey on the Greenfield website
• The final sample had 5,010 respondents, all of who were age 15+.
• Ratio of Male:Female was 49:51
• 25-64s were over represented whereas the age bracket for 15-24 and 65+ were under represented
• Social Class data was not collected
• There was a wide geographical spread
• 97% of the whole sample said English was their first language
• 26% said they spoke at least one language other than English

Findings and Analysis

Celebrity voices - Sean Connery's Edinburgh accent was the most popular, along with newsreaders voices such as Trevor McDonald. Many respondents favoured accents that were relatively local to them. With the exception of Northern Ireland, Ian Paisley's accent was deemed the most unpleasant.

The respondents own voices - 59% occasionally wish they had a different accent. The most wished for accent is Standard English but 7% said they would rather have a Southern Irish accent. Most people are proud of their own accent, and throughout the country people voted "an accent identical to your own" as one of their favourite accents. Generally people in the north and west of the UK identify with "having an accent" more than those in the south-east. More than 4 in 5 admitted to changing their accent on occasions, especially when meeting new people. 

Attitudes towards accents - Three quarters of people think they hear a lot more accents in daily life and on TV/radio than they used to and 78% enjoy hearing a variety of accents. In general there was a close link between pleasantness and prestige. However there were two anomalies: Whilst a London accent was thought to be helpful career-wise, people did not find it pleasant to listen to. This was in contrast to the Newcastle ('Geordie') accent which people liked the sound of but did not find it very prestigious in job hunting. Scottish and Northern Irish respondents liked Scottish best of all but English and Welsh voters put the Standard English accent on top.

Evaluation

While this poll was interesting and perhaps considered to be reliable because it was commissioned by a reputable company (BBC), you have to question the validity of it. While the sample size seems large if just on its own, when you compare it to how many people are actually in the British Isles - approx. 60+ million - then it could be argued it does not really paint a true picture. However, the gender representations are relatively equal and the spread is about the same as it actually is in real life. On the other hand, the younger and the older of the age groups are not well represented. 

Nevertheless, the findings can still be seen as relevant and important to seeing how people feel about accents.