Linguistic Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Linguistic - Essay ExampleAlthough OED describes itself as descriptive by taking a more objective approach allowing English users to utilize words according to which way they think is more appropriate somehow, it is not as descriptive as other dictionaries like Merriam Websters or American Heritage considering that it subdues itself from adopting slang, newly-created words. For example, both Merriam Websters Dictionary and OED recognizes the word skunk nevertheless, OED sticks with the original meaning while Merriam Websters Dictionary takes a new definition of the word which means an obnoxious or disliked person (Merriam Websters Dictionary, Skunk).OED claims that it traces the development of English from the soonest records, and formally from 1150 AD, up to the present day (Oxford English Dictionary, Guide to The Third Edition of the OED). Anyone can nod as to the looseness of the rules in this dictionary, but still, it has the slightest leanings towards prescriptivism. Acocella ( 5) asserts the nigh curious flaw in the descriptivists reasoning is their failure to notice that it is now they who are doing the prescribing. OED and other descriptivist dictionaries are becoming more of a trendsetter rather than an style to respond to the changing needs of the society. However, OEDs belief that its a descriptivist dictionary but claims it does include information on which usages are, or have been, popularly regarded as incorrect may just be a sign that its not fully descriptivist