Authority and American Usage
E1009700
"Authority and American Usage" is an essay by David Foster Wallace that examines prescriptive versus descriptive approaches to English grammar and usage within the broader context of American culture and politics.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Authority and American Usage canonical | 1 |
Statements (48)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
essay
ⓘ
non-fiction work ⓘ |
| addresses |
educated general readers
ⓘ
students of English ⓘ writers and editors ⓘ |
| aimsTo |
connect grammar debates to cultural issues
ⓘ
explore ethics of language authority ⓘ interrogate assumptions about correct usage ⓘ |
| author | David Foster Wallace NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| concerns |
American English
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
standard American usage ⓘ |
| countryOfOrigin |
United States of America
ⓘ
surface form:
United States
|
| discusses |
descriptivism
ⓘ
dictionaries ⓘ language norms ⓘ lexicography ⓘ linguistic elitism ⓘ political correctness ⓘ prescriptivism ⓘ usage guides ⓘ |
| examines |
relationship between language and class
ⓘ
relationship between language and identity ⓘ relationship between language and politics ⓘ relationship between language and power ⓘ |
| genre |
linguistic essay
ⓘ
literary essay ⓘ |
| hasForm | first-person essay ⓘ |
| hasNotableFeature |
digressive style
ⓘ
extended footnotes ⓘ metafictional commentary on language ⓘ |
| hasPerspective |
critical of purely descriptive approaches
ⓘ
sympathetic to careful prescriptive standards ⓘ |
| language | English ⓘ |
| mainTopic |
American culture
ⓘ
American politics ⓘ English grammar ⓘ class and language ⓘ descriptive grammar ⓘ education and language ⓘ language usage ⓘ linguistic authority ⓘ prescriptive grammar ⓘ race and language ⓘ sociolects ⓘ standard written English ⓘ |
| tone |
analytic
ⓘ
argumentative ⓘ essayistic ⓘ |
Referenced by (1)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.