In the article linked at the bottom, there are a range of examples of prescriptive attitudes throughout. I can apply Jean Aitchison's 'Damp Spoon' metaphor to the text as the metaphor is all about how society has became lazy with language and don't use as many words as we used to. The article stated that parents don't understand 'text speak' anymore as it has evolved to keep parent's 'in the dark' from their children's lives, both online and off.
A quote I found which showed the prescriptive attitude is, "unfathomable words". The "unfathomable words" that the writer is talking about are "bae" and "fleek" which are now very common words and young adult/ teenage speak. The writer seems to imply that these words are negative because of the group of people who use them. He appears to be stereotypical by calling the words unfathomable and then linking that to the users. Teenagers have the stereotype of the older generation not understanding them and so their language use isn't correct when really it's just non-standard. By using the word "unfathomable" he's saying that you can't understand the words and so they are wrong; it's unlikely that he would use that word is an adult said those words. If it was a descriptivist talking about the words then they would have just said that it's the evolution of language.
My next example which shows that the article has a prescriptive attitude is "these words are now effectively extinct". "Extinct" is a word that is commonly used in language by both people who have prescriptive attitudes and descriptive attitudes, that's not what the issue is. The issue with this quote is that the writer is stating the fact that the words "gr8" and "m8" are extinct. By stating this fact he's suggesting that using them now will be wrong as they "are extinct". Also, they aren't extinct, they are just not used as frequently as they are used today.
My last example is when he uses the phrase "caveman-form". The use of the words caveman has many negative connotations, it appears to be describing something as pre-historic and not correct. Saying that something is wrong is a prescriptive attitude as they have a set idea of what's right and what's wrong. This also links to when he says "today's youth" which has negative connotations.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3063455/English-language-changing-fast-words-majority-not-understand.html
My next example which shows that the article has a prescriptive attitude is "these words are now effectively extinct". "Extinct" is a word that is commonly used in language by both people who have prescriptive attitudes and descriptive attitudes, that's not what the issue is. The issue with this quote is that the writer is stating the fact that the words "gr8" and "m8" are extinct. By stating this fact he's suggesting that using them now will be wrong as they "are extinct". Also, they aren't extinct, they are just not used as frequently as they are used today.
My last example is when he uses the phrase "caveman-form". The use of the words caveman has many negative connotations, it appears to be describing something as pre-historic and not correct. Saying that something is wrong is a prescriptive attitude as they have a set idea of what's right and what's wrong. This also links to when he says "today's youth" which has negative connotations.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3063455/English-language-changing-fast-words-majority-not-understand.html
Good range of points and some very good contextual understanding. Try and get in more terminology by identifying word classes. Get in more theory by looking at how the writer's language is powerful and well-suited to the GRAPE. When you say 'negative connotations', give two or three to illustrate this. Are there any more links to wider reading that you could make?
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