Linguists don’t say varieties are right or wrong (even though they might have private aesthetic opinions like everyone else). That would be like a biologist saying dogs are the correct version of mammals and cats are wrong and/or don’t exist.

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menage 6 days ago | parent | next [-]

Biologists actually say the opposite of that!

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/cats-are-perfect-...

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MarkusQ 6 days ago | parent [-]

Just because someone has a degree and a job in the field doesn't mean they understand how science works. Prescriptive biology is even sillier than prescriptive linguistics.

	▲	mcphage 6 days ago \| parent [-]
		I think her tongue is planted firmly in cheek.

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simiones 5 days ago | parent | prev [-]

There do exist prescriptivist linguists, who do exactly that: they try to divine "correct" from "incorrect" usage of language.

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umanwizard 4 days ago | parent [-]

> There do exist prescriptivist linguists

That is not true, at least in mainstream serious academia. Prescriptive linguistics doesn’t exist any more than prescriptive biology or astronomy.

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simiones 4 days ago | parent [-]

Maybe in the USA. But bodies like the French Academy and many similar ones in other countries very much do issue opinions on correct grammatical (and vocabulary) usage. And members of these institutions are very much considered the top of their field in their countries.

	▲	umanwizard 4 days ago \| parent [-]
		The members of the French Academy are not linguists. They are mostly writers or academics from other fields (history, philosophy, etc). If you can read French, check here: https://www.academie-francaise.fr/les-immortels/les-quarante... > And members of these institutions are very much considered the top of their field in their countries. Maybe, but their field isn't linguistics.