| Description | This talk explores hyperstandardization as a language ideology that informs the development of the prescriptive language enterprise over the last century in the U.S. and elsewhere. The term hyperstandardization, introduced in Deborah Cameron’s 1995 book Verbal Hygiene, has achieved little traction in History of English studies, and yet it may help explain some of the ideological challenges in professional and educational settings as we seek to create more linguistically inclusive cultures and practices. The talk presents a case study of eight editions of The New York Times Manual of Style and Usage between 1923 and 2015, during which time the guide expanded from 40 to well over 200 pages. In both the forewords and the entries throughout the Manual, the editors navigate the shifting politics of prescriptive intervention into written usage—including specifically the political project of inclusive language—in a way that exposes important and potentially productive ideological tensions. Anne Curzan is Geneva Smitherman Collegiate Professor of English, Linguistics, and Education and dean of the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts at the University of Michigan. Her research focuses on the history of the English language, attitudes about language change, language and gender, and pedagogy. Her most recent book is Fixing English: Prescriptivism and Language History (2014). She is the featured language expert on the weekly segment "That's What They Say" on local NPR station Michigan Radio. This open lecture is part of the Studies in the History of the English Language Conference. Learn more about the conference at depts.washington.edu…. Accommodation requests related to a disability should be made by May 9, 2022 to the Simpson Center, scevents@uw.edu |
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