The Impact of Notions of Standard Language in Popular Scientific and Scholarly Discourse on Language Attitudes of the Public

This paper is concerned with the discourse on standard language and its consequences. As suggested by the title, particular attention will be given to the conflicting views of linguists and popular scientists, as well as their respective influences on public opinion. In the first section, fundamental definitions will be given to lay the foundations for further discussion. Part (II) will then deal with the discourse of prescriptivists and popular scientists. Correspondingly, I will focus on the scholarly discourse in part (III) and the public discourse in (V). The latter will be preceded by a short excursus (IV) in which I will look at ‘standard’ and ‘nonstandard English’ from different angles by means of (1) some examples of prescriptivism and (2) analysis of the ‘nonstandard’ variety AAVE.