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Prescriptivism and descriptivism: Difference between revisions
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(Created page with "{{Needs work|Vetting, references}} In {{w|linguistics}}, '''prescriptivism''' involves belief about how language "ought" to be, and attempts to ''prescribe'' a preferred form of a language, sometimes based on {{w|Linguistic purism|purism}}. Prescriptivism is not always a bad thing,<ref group="lower-alpha">For example, one might prescribe {{w|inclusive language}} to avoid causing or perpetuating undue harm.</ref> but often is poorly founded and has harmful eff...") |
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==In teaching==
The concepts of prescriptivism and descriptivism can be confusing in [[teaching]]. Comments on whether a learner's use of the language is "correct" may be taken as prescriptivist. In reality, while such phrasing is not ideal, there is more nuance.
Descriptivism is not a free-for-all; it still describes the rules{{wh|better term?}} and standards that proficient speakers have internalized. Generally, the goal is to teach Toki Pona as it is most widely used,<ref name="lipamanka" /> so that the learner can communicate effectively; and perhaps so that, if they still want to break the rules, they can do so skillfully and with a sense of how it will be interpreted. Telling a learner that they won't be understood, or are using an uncommon [[style of Toki Pona]], is descriptive, and {{tok|lipamanka}} recommends using such wording instead of calling an utterance "wrong".<ref name="lipamanka" />
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