>For another thing, the very language in which today's socialist, feminist, minority, gay, and environmentalist movements frame their sides of political debates is informed by the Descriptivist belief that traditional English is conceived and perpetuated by 'Privileged WASP Males' and is thus inherently capitalist, sexist, racist, xenophobic, homophobic, elitist: unfair. Think Ebonics. Think of the involved contortions people undergo to avoid 'he' as a generic pronoun, or of the tense deliberate way white males now adjust their vocabularies around non-w.m.s. Think of today's endless battles over just the names of things "Affirmative Action" vs. "Reverse Discrimination," "Pro-Life" vs, "Pro-Choice," "Undercount" vs. "Vote Fraud," etc.
that would be prescriptivism, not descriptivism. so no.
Angel Ward
I don't think it would user. A prescriptivist would argue that the generic pronoun 'he' is a rule that cannot be broken, whilst the descriptivist would challenge the rule - as Wallace has written. You could say that attempts to reinforce a new generic pronoun that isn't 'he' could be prescriptivist in their nature, but in the context of the essay DFW is correct.
Aiden Cooper
>English is conceived and perpetuated by 'Privileged WASP Males' and is thus inherently capitalist, sexist, racist, xenophobic, homophobic, elitist: unfair
Holy shit. Was he right?
Easton Perry
nah, just knew the way the world was turning
David Perez
wtf i love dfw now
Nathan Foster
>traditional English is conceived and perpetuated by 'Privileged WASP Males' and is thus inherently capitalist, sexist, racist, xenophobic, homophobic, elitist: unfair.
He's right. Though pronouns and whatnot are not even scratching the surface. Terms like "Human nature", "contribution to society", "entitlement" - all monstrous spells used to perpetuate misery.
Hudson Sanchez
>quoting dead white males
Blake Martinez
How so
Parker Robinson
Newfound respect for DFW. I love his interviews, and it's awesome to see that he seen the oncoming BS of third-wave feminists and SJWs.
Daniel Sanchez
Everything is a spook
Sebastian Scott
oh yeah i misread the quote, you're right
Camden Anderson
...
Kayden Peterson
It's important how the rule is challenged. In my dialect (not that my dialect is special) we use "they" often in casual speech. To argue for this as a neutral pronoun is descriptivism, because it's what is actually used. "He" and especially "xir" are both prescriptivist.
Maybe I need more context but I don't understand what he means here. Any "descriptivist" view of our language that would propose tortured alternatives to challenge inherent WASP privilege is very obviously just another stripe of prescriptivism.
Robert Morgan
Firstly, what does WASP mean here, and what is w.m.s.? I'm guessing WASP may mean White Anglo-Saxon People and w.m.s. white male ... something?
Secondly, I don't get people going "OMG SO REDPILLED" when his quote may as well be interpreted neutrally or in favor of the leftist positions?
What is the context of the quote?
Bentley Clark
How the fuck does le ebin redpill come into this? It could have gone without saying that minority identitarianists seek to distinguish themselves through semantics. Whatever DF Wallace told here, if you ask an unread non-academic passing by on State Street in Mediumtown, USA, they would get to the same point in mean language. Also, if dubs, "they" is forever the only correct construct for second-person singular where gender is unknown or irrelevant.
Carter White
Yeah you were right about WASP and I think w.m.s is just 'white males'. Not too sure though.
I only really used redpilled because it's a good way to start discussion on this site. Suppose a better description would be 'ahead of his time', but whatever.
I disagree with your point about 'they' though, because it can also be a plural pronoun which leads to confusion. Easier to just use 'he' as that has always been the custom and serves its purpose as long as people don't get too sensitive.
Jayden Cruz
I don't know if I'm reading you right, but it sounds like you're mixing up prescriptivist and descriptivist arguments. If 'they' is the accepted neutral singular in your dialect then it would be a prescriptivist defending its use. If 'he' is the 'new' neutral singular in your dialect then it would be a descriptivist arguing for it.
Benjamin Butler
A descriptivist doesn't argue for any particular usage of language. She/he neutrally observes its usage.
Jacob Evans
WASP Means White-Anglo-Saxon Protestant. Mainly American term to describe rich white people from the Northeastern USA/New England, who tended to be rich and have large amounts of influence.
Thomas Cruz
LOL, pretty close but switch the P(eople) for Protestants
Elijah Murphy
They'd argue for the protection of language from prescriptivist confinement, so in a sense they are prescriptivists of their own sort.
