ESSAY 4: LANGUAGE WARS; OR, THE PRESCRIPTIVIST AND DESCRIPTIVIST WARS;
OR, THE BROMANTIC AND BRENEMY LANGUAGE FACETS
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Due:
In print, beginning of class on Thursday, March 28.
Deadline for Email Feedback:
(9:30 a.m.) Tuesday, March 26
Deadline for Writing Assistance Center Visit: Wednesday, March 27
Late Work:
Paper will be docked one full letter grade per class period late.
Assignment:
Choose one of the prompts below; identify the prompt on the paper.
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Prompt 1. Develop a list of 10-15 words you feel should be included in current descriptivist dictionaries,
according to latest usage in spoken language. (In other words, this is an overview of trends in slang and/or new
contexts and connotations.) Your entry should identify the word, its part of speech, definition(s), two contextual
examples, and at least one synonym and antonym. For an example, see the howling fantods entry below.
Then, in a minimum of 2 pages, reflect on the language debate. Outline the two camps’ arguments and
provide your own perspective on the debate. Be sure to provide textual evidence from Wallace’s essay.
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Howling Fantods
noun
Definition of HOWLING FANTODS
: an intense state of unease or extreme nervousness
: nervous hysteria
: an extreme emotional outburst; a fit
Examples of HOWLING FANTODS
1. When people use the term “Belieber” without irony, it gives me the howling fantods.
2. When I briefly considered becoming a hipster, my body was overtaken by a howling fantod.
3. Lines at the Apple store on iPhone release days are known for epic displays of the howling fantods.
Related to HOWLING FANTODS
Synonyms
heebie-jeebies, unease, disconcerted, discomfited, frenzy, conniption, outburst
Antonyms
calm, at ease, composed, placid
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Prompt 2. Expand on your original language research to develop an account of 10-15 words that have been added
to the dictionary in the past decade. Follow the formatting in the entry above. Then, in a 2-page reflection, briefly
outline the two language camps’ arguments and provide your own perspective on the debate, including your
assessment of the inclusion of your listed words. Be sure to provide textual evidence from Wallace’s essay.
Prompt 3. Using the BHSU Tuesday and Thursday Spring Advanced Writing Section from Jonas 206 Official
Dictionary, 1st Edition, compose a 4-page meditation on the state of language today. In other words, outline the
debate between the prescriptive and descriptive camps and offer your own stance. The trick, however, is to
incorporate at least 15 words from the class’s compilation—with or without irony. (Please use emphasis
techniques so that your professor may identify these words within the text.) Provide sufficient textual evidence
from Wallace’s essay to support your claims.
Prompt 4. Rewrite two pages of Baudrillard in a dialect of a discourse community to which you belong. Then
reflect on the two texts: what is lost when the text is taken out of standard written English? What is gained? What
prescriptivist or descriptivist arguments came to light during this exercise? Finally, where do you stand in the
debate regarding the fate of SWE?