ext_31590 ([identity profile] catsittingstill.livejournal.com) wrote in [personal profile] catsittingstill 2010-11-16 10:50 pm (UTC)

Prescriptive isn't so much a particular dialect--but rather the tendency to hold up *a* single dialect as the "right" way to talk.

In England they might be "prescriptive" about "received pronunciation." In the US they might be "prescriptive" about... I'm tempted to say "standard west coast dialect" but I may be wrong about that.

I agree with you about different registers--the language you use in the business world is about what I was thinking of when I think of which dialect tends to be "prescribed" in the US.

However I'm not sure I would describe jargon as "most formal"--most removed from common speech sure, but when I was talking molecular biology with other graduate students we would use curse words we would never have used in front of a judge or even in a department store.

Post a comment in response:

This account has disabled anonymous posting.
If you don't have an account you can create one now.
HTML doesn't work in the subject.
More info about formatting