Deskriptive statt präskriptiver Sprachwissenschaft!? [Descriptive instead of prescriptive linguistics!?]
Abstract
It is one of the main aims of modern linguistics to describe rather than prescribe linguistic forms and their uses. Normally, descriptive and prescriptive ways of reflecting on language are seen as antagonistic; e.g. a grammarian is either a descriptivist or a prescriptivist. In contrast to this antagonistic conception, the paper argues that the designation of a grammar as descriptive or prescriptive is rather a matter of scale than of antagonism. To hold this thesis, four dimensions are investigated in detail. A grammar might be classified as descriptive or prescriptive by analyzing the intention of its author (Autordimension), its reception (Rezipientendimension), its formulation as a text (Textdimension) and the ways a grammar extracts and treats linguistic data (Datendimension). On the basis of this assumption prescriptive ways of thinking about language are seen as inevitable even for modern linguists. This might be less of a problem than modern linguists have always presumed.
Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG
Articles in the same Issue
- Makrostrukturelle Planungsprozesse in Erzählungen [Macrostructural planning processes in narratives]
- Wo in Relativsätzen – eine korpusbasierte Untersuchung [Wo in relative clauses]
- Deskriptive statt präskriptiver Sprachwissenschaft!? [Descriptive instead of prescriptive linguistics!?]
- Das Wörterbuch der deutschen Präpositionen [The lexicon of German prepositions]
- Zeitgeschichtliches Wörterbuch der deutschen Gegenwartssprache [Contemporary-historical lexicon of present-day German]
- Thorsten Pohl: Was ist linguistische Aufklärung? Kolloquium in Siegen 18./19. Juni 2004 [What is linguistic enlightenment? Colloquium in Siegen, 18-19 June 2004]
- Internationales Kolloquium in Helsinki 21./22. Mai 2004 [International colloquium in Helsinki, 21-22 May 2004]
- Morphologie im Internet [Morphology in the Internet]
- Neue Bücher 2003 (Nachtrag) [ New Books 2003 (Supplement)]
- Zeitschriftenschau
Articles in the same Issue
- Makrostrukturelle Planungsprozesse in Erzählungen [Macrostructural planning processes in narratives]
- Wo in Relativsätzen – eine korpusbasierte Untersuchung [Wo in relative clauses]
- Deskriptive statt präskriptiver Sprachwissenschaft!? [Descriptive instead of prescriptive linguistics!?]
- Das Wörterbuch der deutschen Präpositionen [The lexicon of German prepositions]
- Zeitgeschichtliches Wörterbuch der deutschen Gegenwartssprache [Contemporary-historical lexicon of present-day German]
- Thorsten Pohl: Was ist linguistische Aufklärung? Kolloquium in Siegen 18./19. Juni 2004 [What is linguistic enlightenment? Colloquium in Siegen, 18-19 June 2004]
- Internationales Kolloquium in Helsinki 21./22. Mai 2004 [International colloquium in Helsinki, 21-22 May 2004]
- Morphologie im Internet [Morphology in the Internet]
- Neue Bücher 2003 (Nachtrag) [ New Books 2003 (Supplement)]
- Zeitschriftenschau
