Wordsmith Talk |
About Us | What's New | Search | Site Map | Contact Us | |||
Register Log In Wordsmith.org Forums General Topics Q&A about words Peckerwood
Previous Thread
Next Thread
Print Thread
Originally Posted By: twosleepyYou are right, Fal; I meant descriptivism. I edited it so as not to confuse future readers. Thanks for catching that.
Grammatical descriptivism looks at the language as it is used by native speakers and derives the rules from that usage. Etymology is much the same in one respect. We look at the evidence and make our best guesses as to the history of a word. Folks can come up with all kinds of ideas about what the origin of a word is, but if an idea doesn't have good evidence to support it it remains suspect. Similarly with grammatical usages, people can make mistakes and they are not seen as "good grammar" just because someone spoke them. Someone can say, "I ain't got no problems" and that is perfectly good grammar in some speech communities. Someone says, "I no have problems" and that is just a mistake or something that came from a non-native speaker.
Grammar is variable from dialect to dialect and can change over time. Etymology is pure fact. We don't necessarily know what the facts are but wrong guesses are wrong guesses.
Entire Thread Subject Posted By Posted Peckerwood wow 09/01/08 04:03 PM Re: Peckerwood Faldage 09/01/08 09:27 PM Re: Peckerwood tsuwm 09/01/08 09:43 PM Re: Peckerwood The Pook 09/02/08 02:14 AM Re: Peckerwood tsuwm 09/02/08 03:32 AM Re: Peckerwood Faldage 09/02/08 11:33 AM Re: Peckerwood TheFallibleFiend 09/02/08 01:10 PM Re: Peckerwood Myridon 09/02/08 02:33 PM Re: Peckerwood wow 09/02/08 09:08 PM Re: Peckerwood TheFallibleFiend 09/02/08 09:32 PM Re: Peckerwood Faldage 09/03/08 01:40 AM Re: Peckerwood twosleepy 09/03/08 02:10 AM Re: Peckerwood morphememedley 09/03/08 04:01 AM Re: Peckerwood Faldage 09/03/08 10:42 AM Re: Peckerwood twosleepy 09/03/08 06:03 PM Re: cracker AnnaStrophic 09/04/08 01:10 PM Re: cracker tsuwm 09/04/08 02:45 PM Re: cracker twosleepy 09/04/08 03:22 PM Re: cracker Faldage 09/05/08 12:23 AM Re: cracker twosleepy 09/05/08 03:13 PM Re: cracker Faldage 09/05/08 11:47 PM Re: cracker twosleepy 09/06/08 12:41 AM Re: cracker Faldage 09/06/08 01:20 PM Re: cracker BranShea 09/06/08 05:47 PM Re: cracker The Pook 09/06/08 12:49 AM Re: cracker BranShea 09/06/08 11:52 AM Re: cracker The Pook 09/05/08 12:37 AM Re: Peckerwood Jackie 09/10/08 02:02 AM
Moderated by Jackie
Link Copied to Clipboard
Forum Statistics Forums16Topics13,913Posts229,351Members9,182 Most Online3,341
Dec 9th, 2011
Newest Members Ineffable, ddrinnan, TRIALNERRA, befuddledmind, KILL_YOUR_SUV
9,182 Registered Users
Who's Online Now 0 members (), 775 guests, and 0 robots. Key: Admin, Global Mod, Mod
Top Posters(30 Days) A C Bowden 22ddrinnan 1
Top Posters wwh 13,858Faldage 13,803Jackie 11,613wofahulicodoc 10,549tsuwm 10,542LukeJavan8 9,918Buffalo Shrdlu 7,210AnnaStrophic 6,511Wordwind 6,296of troy 5,400
Forum Rules · Mark All Read Contact Us · Forum Help · Wordsmith.org