COMPONENT 1B - Revision lesson 2 - Example paragraphs 2

Here's what paragraphs 5 and 6 could look like...


P5 -


However, not all attitudes towards non-standard English are negative. In an article by Stephen Fry, the author outlines a descriptive attitude which would go against the ideas I have studied so far in this essay. In the article, Fry describes the variation in the sounds made by the human mouth as 'Euphoric bliss', the low-frequency adjective connoting a very descriptive stance. It would appear that Peter Trudgill would agree with Fry here as he claims that modern dialects are 'part of our environment' and 'should be protected'. As for people who wish to destroy dialects based on their own opinions, Fry says, 'Sod them to Hades'. Here, the expletive colloquial verb 'sod' and proper noun 'Hades' implies that Fry sees these people as standing in the way of language development rather than aiding it. Trudgill categorically states that, in his opinion, "preservation of dialect diversity should be encouraged". This is an interesting view as, like other prescriptivist commentators, Trudgill sees it as our duty to catalogue the changes in dialect as they represent the natural process of language. As David Crystal says, 'you cannot freeze a flowing river.'


Conversely, there are other more outspoken celebrities such as John Humphreys who have caused controversy by likening different dialects to 'raping' the English language. Humphreys' opinion, shown through the emotive present participle verb, reflects MacKinnon's view that some people see language as being 'morally inappropriate', as it is clear that Humphreys equates non-standard language use to one of the most serious crimes in humanity. John Honey mocks descriptivists who claim that encouraging standard English 'does irreparable damage' to young people who speak in a dialect, and this is apparently reflected by Humphreys in his article also. He also mocks descriptivists by saying claiming that they see anyone who seeks to defend language as 'a fuddy-duddy who deserves to be run down.' However, Hunphreys ' attitude shows a very serious and offensive view of language use. Whilst we may not agree with his decision to relate language variation to violent sexual crime, it is, nevertheless, a reflection of how strict the beliefs of a prescriptivist can be.