What the SNOOT?

The year is 2016 A.D. Standard Written English (SWE) is completely misused by Illiterate Hillbillies. Well, not entirely… One small group of indomitable prescriptivists still hold out against the invaders. And life is not easy for the Hillbillies who garrison their camps of the internet, newspapers, schools and other sources of written or spoken English… The Usage Wars will continue!

Meanwhile, another small group of students at the University of Hamburg is forced to deal with the essay “The Ongoing Struggles of Garlic-Hangers” by Bryan A. Garner from the year 2009. Some students agree, others bang their heads against the wall, and some don't even care… The following blog entry is an approach of the essay's discussion.

Garner strongly disagrees with the concept that “a native speaker of English cannot make a mistake” (Garner 2009, p. 26) which roughly is the idea of descriptivists about language change and language teaching in a nutshell. They welcome aberrations and variations of English as a chance by saying that linguistic change is inevitable. Some teachers put their focus on the appreciation of literature rather than on classical grammar education. Garner compares this attitude towards English with “epidemiologists who get excited about the spread of new viruses” (Garner 2009, p. 22).

He gives three arguments why the belief that native speakers cannot make mistakes is wrong: (1) people who come across a text which is ill-formed will recognize this as ill-formed; (2) native speakers often admit errors in their speech and correct them; (3) if descriptivists are sure that some poor usage is fine, then why do they use only SWE in their publications? (see Garner 2009, p. 27).

But who is Garner addressing with his accusations of using poor English in the first place? The answer is people who are (or who will be) in a position that dictates the usage of (good) SWE. Academics, journalists, lawyers, politicians and others of this kind who are not able to fit the conventions of proper usage make themselves unreliable. That many, if not most students, will never reach such a position seems not to be in Garners mind. However, it is the context that matters. Facebook and Twitter cannot be regarded as basis for education and should not be a reference for good or bad language usage.

So, what do teachers do with students who have not the luxury of a well educated family and who are not able to follow classical grammar education? Would an approach that puts these students in a literary environment by making them read and write a lot be so bad? The world we are living in, as well as the problems of modern society we are facing, has its price but there is no way in turning back. Instead we should look into the future with serenity.

Literature:

Garner, B.A. (2009). The Ongoing Struggle of Garlic-Hangers. Forum: A Publication of the ALSC. The Latest Illiteracy. (Number 3, Spring 2009), 20-32.