tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458341.post3962975294020031910..comments2024-01-06T10:36:04.084-05:00Comments on A Commonplace Blog: Once I was a happy PinkeriteD. G. Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10659136455045567825noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458341.post-74422712611297090862009-06-21T09:37:54.176-04:002009-06-21T09:37:54.176-04:00The second part of a two-part essay by Mark Halper...The second part of a two-part essay by Mark Halpern on "Prescriptivism and Descriptivism: A Descriptivist in Action" is in the June 2009 issue of <a href="http://vocabula.com/" rel="nofollow" rel="nofollow">The Vocabula Review</a> (scroll down to "The Critical Reader" column).Dave Lullhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01053227199985293516noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458341.post-67633387838045442052009-05-17T13:03:00.000-04:002009-05-17T13:03:00.000-04:00The first part of a two-part essay by Mark Halpern...The first part of a two-part essay by Mark Halpern on "Prescriptivism and Descriptivism: What Are They at Root?" is in the May 2009 issue of <A HREF="http://vocabula.com/" REL="nofollow">The Vocabula Review</A> (scroll down to "The Critical Reader" column).Dave Lullhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01053227199985293516noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458341.post-71217312805131567962009-01-19T09:43:00.000-05:002009-01-19T09:43:00.000-05:00I don't remember your mentioning his preface, but ...I don't remember your mentioning his preface, but I noticed it, and read it, when I was looking around <A HREF="http://www-english.tamu.edu/pers/fac/myers/" REL="nofollow">your website</A>. Yours sounds like another book for my to-be-read list.Dave Lullhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01053227199985293516noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458341.post-37797126694007683692009-01-19T09:13:00.000-05:002009-01-19T09:13:00.000-05:00Thank you for the tip, Dave. I am going to order L...Thank <I>you</I> for the tip, Dave. I am going to order <I>Language and Human Nature</I> today. Every book that Jacques Barzun ever wrote a preface to should be distributed and read as widely as possible.<BR/><BR/>Did I mention that Barzun wrote the preface to <A HREF="http://www.amazon.com/Elephants-Teach-Creative-Writing-Since/dp/0226554546/" REL="nofollow"><I>The Elephants Teach</I></A>, or as my two-year-old son Isaac would say it, <I>The Ephalents Teach</I>?D. G. Myershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10659136455045567825noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458341.post-59392325020889647822009-01-19T09:03:00.000-05:002009-01-19T09:03:00.000-05:00Thanks for the tip about Mark Helperin and for the...Thanks for the tip about Mark Helperin and for the nice summary of Mark Halpern's essay.<BR/><BR/>Halpern, by the way, is the author of a book, <A HREF="http://books.google.com/books?id=ThvlwRK4l1oC&pg=PT19&dq=%22mark+halpern%22+%22jacques+barzun%22" REL="nofollow">Language and Human Nature</A>, with a preface by his <A HREF="http://barzuncentennial.murphywong.net/MarkHalpern.html" REL="nofollow">friend</A> Jacques Barzun, who, as you no doubt know, has been criticized by Pinker, et al., for his prescriptivism. In his book, Halpern deals with one such case of <A HREF="http://books.google.com/books?id=ThvlwRK4l1oC&pg=PT141&vq=few+comments+on+Steven+Pinker's+The+language+instinct&dq=%22mark+halpern%22+%22jacques+barzun%22&source=gbs_search_s&cad=0#PPT142,M1" REL="nofollow">Barzun's being criticized by Pinker</A>, in which Pinker says that Barzun "earned an 'F'" because he called the possessive use of a noun an adjective. Halpern quotes from <A HREF="http://books.google.com/books?id=ThvlwRK4l1oC&pg=PT149&vq=award+to+me+of+a+failing+grade&dq=%22mark+halpern%22+%22jacques+barzun%22&source=gbs_search_s&cad=0" REL="nofollow">Barzun's response</A> to Pinker's criticism.Dave Lullhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01053227199985293516noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458341.post-53385212750370087382009-01-17T23:00:00.000-05:002009-01-17T23:00:00.000-05:00Dave,Thanks again for the suggestion of Mark Helpe...Dave,<BR/><BR/>Thanks again for the suggestion of Mark Helpern’s essay. (Helpern goes to amusing lengths on his <A HREF="http://www.rules-of-the-game.com/" REL="nofollow">home page</A> to distinguish himself from the fiction writer Mark Helprin; you’d think that anyone with a name as common as my own would have taken at least some care to do the same.)<BR/><BR/>Helpern’s essay is amusing and persuasive. His best argument is that the linguist (or “descriptivist,” as he calls him throughout) and the grammar maven (or “prescriptivist”) are simply doing different things. Even if linguists’ claim to be practicing a science is granted, it does not follow that they have any standing in commenting on what are really “the constellation of literary-philosophical-social-moral issues that we are talking about when we discuss usage.”<BR/><BR/>Prescriptivists are best understood as literary critics (see my <A HREF="http://dgmyers.blogspot.com/2008/11/literature-very-idea.html" REL="nofollow">post</A> on the relationship of literature to prescriptive grammar), and even if, to the horror of Northrop Frye, criticism is reduced to mere taste, there is no reason to prefer the taste of descriptive “scientists.”<BR/><BR/>When I correct my sons, then, I am acting as a literary critic--trying to get them to follow grammatical rules so automatically that their listeners don’t have to think about them.<BR/><BR/>About the fiction writer Mark Helprin. Much as with Hortense Calisher, I prefer the short stories, especially in <I>Ellis Island</I> and <I>A Dove of the East</I>.<BR/><BR/>Thanks again, Dave.D. G. Myershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10659136455045567825noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458341.post-45787662951819887322009-01-17T07:58:00.000-05:002009-01-17T07:58:00.000-05:00Each of my three children used the contraction "am...Each of my three children used the contraction "amn't". It should be noted that it is not used in the form 'I amn't cold.' Rather, it is used properly in 'I am drawing well amn't I?" I agree with Buce in his observation regarding "reasonable effort".<BR/><BR/>Thank you for your eloquent and insightful posts. Bein' a country boy here in the flat lands of western Kin-tuck I find 'em both entertainin' and just a wee bit challengin'. But, heckfire, tain't that what good writin' is all about? (*Smirk*)William Meloneyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10883000944415604097noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458341.post-2262445136777920472009-01-16T18:23:00.000-05:002009-01-16T18:23:00.000-05:00Mark Halpern ". . . frequently confused with Mark ...Mark <A HREF="http://www.rules-of-the-game.com/index.htm" REL="nofollow">Halpern</A> ". . . frequently confused with Mark Helprin, novelist and sometime contributor to the Wall Street Journal . . . ." I haven't read any of Mark Helprin's fiction. though he's on my to-be-read list. Do you recommend anything in particular?Dave Lullhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01053227199985293516noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458341.post-48803224661607544332009-01-16T18:01:00.000-05:002009-01-16T18:01:00.000-05:00Here’s another example of the rehashing. My wife a...Here’s another example of the rehashing. My wife argues that Spider-man, Batman, <I>et al</I>., are bad for the five-year-olds. If you can believe it, I actually found myself quoting Sidney to her in rebuttal: “What child is there that, coming to a play, and seeing Thebes written in great letters upon an old door, doth believe that it is Thebes?” Who’s the maroon now?<BR/><BR/>Dave, many thanks for the reference to Halpern’s essay. If it weren’t almost Shabbes (<I>gevalt</I>, less than half an hour) I’d chase it down and read it now. Saturday night for sure! (Do you like his fiction?)D. G. Myershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10659136455045567825noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458341.post-65454644851048084562009-01-16T17:49:00.000-05:002009-01-16T17:49:00.000-05:00Your reference to Steven Pinker reminded me of Mar...Your reference to Steven Pinker reminded me of Mark Halpern's essay <A HREF="http://www.rules-of-the-game.com/lin004-linquist.htm" REL="nofollow">"Why Linguists Are Not to be Trusted on Language Usage."</A> Are you familiar with it?Dave Lullhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01053227199985293516noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458341.post-40997451725366049522009-01-16T17:38:00.000-05:002009-01-16T17:38:00.000-05:00What’s odd, Buce, is how much gets rehashed when y...What’s odd, Buce, is how much gets rehashed when you become a dad.D. G. Myershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10659136455045567825noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458341.post-77829146884618061342009-01-16T15:58:00.000-05:002009-01-16T15:58:00.000-05:00A lovely passage that quotation, but I think you d...A lovely passage that quotation, but I think you do not give your kids enough credit. Your kids may say "ranned" and "brang," but they do not say "Swallow" or "Thursday." Their errors are within a tight framework and represent a reasonable effort to come to terms with the framework on its own terms. But now that I think of it, aren't we on the edge of rehashing the underlying debate that has defined linguistics since it was borned?Bucehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16452321114185736762noreply@blogger.com