Prescriptivists believe that there are rules to define how language should be used and mistakes occur from when these rules are broken. Some of these rules include:
It includes judgements on what is socially proper and politically correct and often resistant to language change. They want to establish a standard language which is seen as the 'correct language'.
Lyn Truss
John Humphreys
John Honey
Descriptivism:
A non judgmental approach to language that focuses on how it is actually spoken and written. Descriptivist believe language is defined by what people do with it. They begin by studying and listening to native speakers. Then, when you notice patterns in the ways that they communicate, you can record those patterns as guesses about the principles of a language. They believe that language change is a good thing and is always going to happen.
Jean Aichison
David Crystal
David Crystal: He was a descriptivist and argued, "A world of unchanging linguistic excellence... exists only in fantasy." He created his own Tide Metaphor to explain language change. In this, he suggests that language is like a tide – constantly changing. Using this metaphor he claims 'language change is not for the worse, but for the better.'
