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>'Don't fix what ain't broke': Incongruent attitudes between descriptive aspirations of lexicographers and prescriptive expectations of the public.
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'Don't fix what ain't broke': Incongruent attitudes between descriptive aspirations of lexicographers and prescriptive expectations of the public.
The role of lexicography in "fixing" a language has been debated since the appearance of the first English dictionaries. Today, English language lexicography is said to have abandoned its original role of prescribing the "correct" language and moved towards describing language in use. This paper exposes the deeply-rooted incongruence between dictionary makers and dictionary users in their attitudes on the role of lexicography. This paper also suggests that in spite of the common belief that lexicography has radically changed its direction from prescribing language standards to describing language use, the history of lexicography demonstrates that from the very onset of the English lexicographical tradition, dictionary makers have aspired to describe the natural use of language. Finally, this paper addresses the impact of the socio-cultural ideologies on the prescriptive and descriptive practices in lexicography.;Chapter (I), "Aegean Stable," traces the roots of prescriptivism to the times of the extreme dissatisfaction with the "barbarity" of the English language.;Chapter (II), "The Four Immortals," examines application of prescriptive and descriptive approaches within such influential works of lexicography as Samuel Johnson's Dictionary, contributions of Noah Webster, Oxford English Dictionary, and Webster's Third New International Dictionary.;Chapter (III), "How Harmless is a Drudge," presents a list of seven changing trends in lexicography that have caused the unfavorable reaction of the public and led to the current "demystification" of lexicography.;Chapter (IV), "Discussion," recapitulates the previous chapters to reveal the impact of socio-cultural changes, both on language and in the field of lexicography and to highlight the tension in the interchange between dictionary makers and dictionary users.;Concluding chapter (V), "The Future of Lexicography," offers a brief discussion on the new and future trends in lexicography that offer hope in alleviating the incongruence and acceding to both the aspirations of lexicographers and expectations of the dictionary users. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)
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