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From: steiny@scc.UUCP (Don Steiny)
Newsgroups: net.nlang,net.women
Subject: Re: Re: Gender-Specific Pronouns
Message-ID: <315@scc.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 15-Jan-85 00:55:03 EST
Article-I.D.: scc.315
Posted: Tue Jan 15 00:55:03 1985
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Organization: Personetics, Inc. - Santa Cruz, Calif.
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> 
> Is the proper role of grammarians to define what *proper* usage is or to
> record what common usage is?  
> 
	That depends.   In most schools we are given books called
"grammar books" with rules of "correct grammar" that must be memorized.
This is called "perscriptive grammar".  A linguist seeks to describe
a language.  That description is called "a grammar of the language."
A linguist's grammar *describes* the language and makes no value
judgements about what is "correct."
-- 
scc!steiny
Don Steiny - Personetics @ (408) 425-0382
109 Torrey Pine Terr.
Santa Cruz, Calif. 95060
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