Hi Peter,

Descriptive rules are generated from language that native speakers would either create themselves or find perfectly acceptable.  Since neither of your example sentences would ever be created or judged acceptable by natives, they both violate descriptive rules. 

In contrast, native speakers do, indeed, use "ain't" in natural speech (yours truly, for one, in certain circumstances).  Prescriptive rules forbid the word, not because it never appears naturally, and certainly not because it fails to communicate clearly.  It is forbidden because it "shouldn't be" used.  Its usage is, therefore, a status marker.

John

On 4/16/06, Peter Adams <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
On page 41 of Noguchi's Grammar and the Teaching of Writing, he distinguishes between two kinds of rules: descriptive rules of the English language and prescriptive rules about language.  He points out that a sentence like "Girl is the tall." violates descriptive rules and, therefore, is not an English sentence.  On the other hand, "Sam ain't going" violates the prescriptive rule against using "ain't," and so is an English sentence but just doesn't conform to the prescriptive rules.

I'm wondering what Noguchi would say about sentences like the following:

Girl is tall.
An girl is tall.

Which kind of rule do they violate?


Peter Adams
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