|
Research project
In German-speaking countries one way of resolving an argument about what is correct German is to appeal to the Duden, the collective name of a large range of language reference works, including dictionaries, pronunciation guides and grammars. What the Duden says is taken as gospel. However, investigations into the norm knowledge of German teachers (e.g. Davies 2001, Davies 2005) show that their beliefs about what is in the Duden (and is therefore 'proper' German) do not always correspond to the reality, i.e. the Duden has not always given its seal of approval to constructions which teachers believe are now correct, because in the Duden, and would therefore be accepted by them in pupils' work. It is also striking that, although many reference works are written by trained linguists and explicitly adopt a descriptive stance (aiming to describe what people say rather that what they should say), the users often interpret them as prescriptive, i.e. they fix on any indication that one form is better than another and opt for that one. It seems that despite the linguists' best attempts to provide a more flexible norm, lay users of the works persist in looking for authoritative yes/no answers. For the new research project ‘Use of language reference works by lay people,' for which Dr Davies has received £2,322 from the University Research Fund, she will be spending time in Mannheim, studying how people actually use language reference works and trying to establish how much influence they really have on usage.
|
