The Correctness of English: A Decaying Language - Comments

I apologise in advance if I've misinterpreted your article, but as far as I can see, prescriptivists kind of have the right idea.......when I think of decay of language, texting and Facebook immediately spring to mind. There needs to be some sort of organisation or movement aiming to reinforce and strengthen proper English language and grammer. English is the universally accepted language of this world, and some sort of standards need to be set, if not for preserving the integrity of literature etc, then for establishing an overall defined communication level which everyone can aspire to.

Personally, I think it's a shame that Shakespearian English ever went out of fashion...XD

Thats the exact point of the article, I'm not attempting to say language should not change and the pristine, perfect form of English is correct, I'm saying it is wrong to limit people for the sake of dialect when to them it is completely correct. Perscriptivists hate slang, If you want to read about them? Google, Queens English Society, visit the 'Academy for Contemporary English' you'll understand where I'm coming from.

I learned about language in my anthropology class last semester. To say that we MUST preserve the high standards of English and to reach higher levels of education is to create an "us vs. them" scenario. It's not wrong for dialects to exist. Different forms of speaking English are becoming more and more legitimate as they begin to define entire populations and generations. As an educational system, we need to adapt to these dialects and use them as a channel to teach these populations.

To say that standard English is the best form of English is discriminatory. It implies a certain air of "I'm educated; my way is the right way; I'm associated with high levels of culture; I'm better than you". No. Absolutely not.

Just as a side note, this is a universal comment on the subject, not a direct response to the article.

Thanks, Im glad you showed interest, any point is valid provided it is well argued, I studied this for my A-Level course in Sixth Form, So you go deep and get very different opinions. But of course, as said, I believe in a set standard of English, I just dont believe in trying to prevent language change, as some people do.

This is interesting. I do agree that language changes, but I also feel that there is a limit to how much it should change within a period of time, for practicality's sake. There are many students in my school who aren't able to understand parts of recently published books (1990s and on) because they don't actually understand much about sentence structure and especially what commas signify. They behave as though comma use is rocket science, and their writing is difficult to read due to this lack of understanding as well as confusion about word order. Teachers actually have to send their papers back because they don't make any sense.

I don't think there's an excuse for that, honestly.

So I think most of the complaining about the decaying of the English language wouldn't be here if the change was happening at a reasonable rate. As it is, though, the change is becoming a real problem.

Anyway, sorry about the long ramble, haha. This is a good article, and you make good points. :)

Pardon my mistake 'Affectation'