Abstract
Usage guides are a phenomenon which receives a lot of attention from linguists studying prescriptivism (see, e.g., Anderwald 2012; Tieken-Boon van Ostade 2010, 2011; Lukač 2018). Such research focuses on the pronouncements they contain and their influence on past language change; however, the role usage guides play in current metalinguistic discussion is less clear. In this chapter, I draw on data from the HUGE database (Straaijer 2014) and the website Reddit to examine metalinguistic discussion of emphatic literally. I explore what influence, if any, usage guides have on current metalinguistic discourse online. A comparison of the supporting justification advocates and opponents of emphatic literally provide to support their position suggests that usage guides may have some influence in the nature of the arguments made online; however, usage guides themselves do not serve as supporting authorities in that space.
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Notes
- 1.
I thank Ingrid Tieken-Boon van Ostade for granting me access to the HUGE database.
- 2.
Project number CF15/2437 – 2015000980.
- 3.
Examples are repeated verbatim and retain original spelling, grammar, and punctuation.
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Appendix: Usage Guides from 1918–2010
Appendix: Usage Guides from 1918–2010
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Fowler, H. W. (1965). A Dictionary of Modern English Usage. 2nd edn. [Revised by Ernest Gowers]. New York: Oxford University Press.
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Morris, W. & Morris, M. (1975). Harper Dictionary of Contemporary Usage. London: Harper & Row.
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Severin, A.A. (2020). Language Literally Changes: Usage Guides and Their Influence on Language Attitudes. In: Allan, K. (eds) Dynamics of Language Changes. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-6430-7_5
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