Gloom and Doom Are Not Supported by Data

            In 1712, Johnathan Swift wrote the following:  “I do here in the Name of all the Learned and Polite Persons of the Nation, complain to your Lordship, as First Minister, that our Language is extremely imperfect; that its daily Improvements are by no means in proportion to its daily Corruptions; and the Pretenders to polish and refine it, have chiefly multiplied Abuses and Absurdities; and, that in many Instances, it offends against every Part of Grammar.”  What Swift saw as “corruptions” of speech, modern linguists recognize as the inevitable evolution of the English language.  Yet, this fact doesn’t dissuade people who want to believe that their privileged language is under attack by barbarians.  Contemporary prescriptivist Edwin Newman once wrote, “Language is in decline. Not only has eloquence departed but simple, direct speech as well, though pomposity and banality have not.”  One wonders what Newman would make of our current political discourse.  No doubt, speakers of Middle English in the 15th century thought the shift to Early Modern English heralded the end of civilization.  There’s just no pleasing some people.

            Lunsford and Lunsford’s article “Mistakes Are a Fact of Life” debunks the commonly held notion that English speakers and composers are going to linguistic hell in a hand basket.  The authors note that today’s students are writing more – a good thing in light of our understanding from Lindemann that one becomes a better writer by writing.  Their 2006 study also found that students are writing the kinds of papers that “require inquiry and investigation as well as reflection,” (793) and I think most would agree such critical thinking is also a good thing.  What students are not doing is including IM terminology (LOL, LMFHO, YOLO, etc.), images, and alternative discourse styles in their academic work (Nobody tell Dr. Sherman, K).  Their most important finding is that the number of errors has not increased in the last 100 years although the types of errors have altered in frequency.  The hand wringing over the decline of English, a concern ever since regional dialects arose from its origins in Low German, is just not supported by the facts IMHO.