Verbal hygiene

Abstract

This chapter discusses the concept of “verbal hygiene”, which was first introduced in the mid-1990s. It examines the relationship between verbal hygiene and the more established category of prescriptivism, considering the arguments made for the utility of the new term, and goes on to look at the way discussions of verbal hygiene have developed among linguists and others since its introduction. It also examines recent trends in verbal hygiene itself, asking what these may have to tell us about continuity and change in the concerns which are symbolically addressed by verbal hygienists, and in the workings of linguistic authority

Topics & Concepts