Prescriptivist versus descriptivist?

Question

On this site, particularly if mine is to be the first answer, I believe it is the accepted approach for me to supply an answer to a question in as much detail as I can muster, for example: a) this answer is technically correct but archaic, b) this answer is how it is currently used in modern parlance, c) this is an alternative usage which is not only correct but is also current, although less common, and so on.

I received a comment on one such posting that perhaps it was "time for the prescriptivists to let go".

Seriously, is it? This puzzles me, because I thought that the whole point of EL&U (as well as its sister ELL and their various analogues for other languages) was to give as much information and guidance as possible. As a result, is it not incumbent upon an answerer to give advice on all such uses: what is correct and what is colloquial?

(My own personal axe, as that of so many others, is that because of the ongoing acceptance of hypercorrections because of the general ignorance of (usually) native English speakers who have either been poorly educated or have never properly paid attention in class, "incorrect" usages (for example, the truly cringeworthy form exemplified by "Best wishes from my husband and I"), the English language as currently used is becoming ever uglier.)

So: what is the school of thought here? Dispense with advice on what is "correct" and merely tell questioners what is in general use by the contemporary multitudes on internet fora?

No doubt this question has been asked before, but I have not been able to find it, or any discussion on the matter on this forum. Please flag up if it is a duplicate. I'd be surprised if it isn't, because this subject is bound to have come up at some stage.

Answer 1

A consistent descriptivist has to acknowledge that among the many ways of speaking English, there is the jargon of prescriptivists. The most visible characteristic of that jargon is that the words such as correct and incorrect are used very frequently. Such words are, on the other hand, eschewed by descriptivists, in their own jargon.

Now, one curious thing about descriptivists is that, even though they take great pride in their acceptance of, and respect for, the many different dialects and kinds of slang, jargon etc., that a language such as English may have, there is one kind of jargon that their acceptance and respect do not extend to: the jargon of prescriptivists. Many descriptivists positively bristle with hatred if anybody dares to speak in their presence in the manner of prescriptivists. That hatred manifest itself from time to time on this site.

What prescriptivists say, however, often has a descriptivist counterpart. For example, where a prescriptivist might say

the expression x is incorrect, and you must never use it,

a descriptivist would say

the expression x belongs to the slang spoken by such-and-such social group, and its use is likely to be perceived as a sign that the speaker belongs to that group,

or perhaps,

the expression x often appears in casual conversations, but never in academic publications.

Whatever descriptivists may feel about the ways in which prescriptivists express themselves, there is no reason for them to be dismissive of the insights that are behind prescriptivists' pronouncements, as many of these insights can be restated in the jargon of descriptivists, and need to be acknowledged in a full, accurate description of the language. Undue focus of some contributors to this site on whether somebody has used the words that are associated with prescriptivism may get in the way of appreciating the real point that the person was trying to make.

Answer 2

This is a site for linguists and etymologists as well as serious language enthusiasts.

For such people, the idea that there is correct usage on one side and colloquial usage on the other is worse than cringe-worthy. It is an embarrassment.

Even worse are proclamations about the standard of English deteriorating and or the language getting uglier. Users who wish to indulge in such piffle should do so elsewhere. Sorry, but that's the way it is.