A Very Quick Note on Grammar and Cormac McCarthy

Brain Drop: 

Free write about one of these prompts for 5 minutes.

Is it acceptable to pronounce the word ask like the word ax? Why?

 

How do you speak when you are kicking it with the homies? How do you speak when you are at school? Are they different? If so, why?

 

A Young Cormac McCarthy

In some of the exit slips about The Road and Cormac McCarthy's aesthetic, I noticed that there was a tendency to brand McCarthy's grammar "incorrect" or "improper."  

I know that this may shock you to hear from an English teacher: there is no such thing as incorrect grammar (in Mr. Wermeling's not-so-humble opinion).

Here is why:

First, watch this video.
 

Then, ask yourself this: Why do we have language? What does language do?

Generally speaking, language serves two functions:

1) Communication

2) Expression of Identity

·         Unlike other languages (including French and Italian), English does not have a language academy. There is no authoritative body that decides what is "right" and "wrong" to say in English. The only "institutions" that prevail are social flights of fancy.

·         Language is not fixed. Language is always changing across time and space, and there is not much humanity can do about it. What is "improper" today will likely become "the norm" tomorrow.

             Consider the selfie.

Norman Rockwell's epic selfie: Triple Self-Portrait

 

Another example of our changing language:

A notable feature of what linguists call African American English is S-cluster metathesis of final consonant clusters starting with /s.  

Ask	→ /ˈæks/  (so "ask" becomes "axe")

Some uptight weirdos may find this linguistic trait offensive or incorrect, arguing that it is a crass deviation from “standard English” (whatever "standard English" means). 



This is breathtakingly clever. Thank you for telling me how to speak correctly, Lord of Language.

It may surprise you to learn that Geoffrey Chaucer, "The Father of English Literature" and the greatest English poet of the Middle Ages, used “ax” in the same way.

"Ax Chaucer Aboute His Sweet Horse" 

This brings us to another point:
 

Frequently, grammar is used as a way to enforce racist, classist, and regionalist sentiments, often having nothing to do with clarity of language or coherence.  (Think about it: we call uptight grammarians “grammar Nazis” for a reason.) Remember: language is an expression of identity and thus an expression of culture. Just as the notion of "purity of culture" is deeply problematic, so to is the notion of "purity of language."

Here is a piece from NPR about "ax" as it was used by Chaucer and others.  

            As Fry noted, all of this is not to say that we should descend into linguistic anarchy. We “dress up” our language in various discourse contexts, including the academic realm and the workplace. When I prepare to teach a class, I dress up. I throw on my dainty pair of burnt sienna wingtips, my signature faux-prep sweater, and my slick socks. When I get dressed in the morning, I am attempting to cultivate my ethos as an educator and as an intellectual. In class, I dress up my language too.

For better or worse, your precision of language is deeply connected to your ethos, not just as a writer or student or employee, but as a person.

 

 

There are two ways to look at grammar:

·         Prescriptive: a set of rules and examples dealing with the syntax and word structures of a language, usually intended as an aid to the learning of that language. Prescriptive grammar refers to the structure of a language as certain people think it should be used.

·         Descriptive: the systematic study and description of a language. Descriptive grammar refers to the structure of a language as it is actually used by speakers and writers.

Which school of thought do you think Mr. Wermeling abides by?