W

hen me found out I’d
been hired to work at The
Daily I wuz so excited, I

screemed.

If you cringed while reading this

sentence, then I highly recommend
you consider working as a copy editor
for The Michigan Daily. My interest
in joining Copy can be attributed to
one of the reasons I similarly decided
to become an English teacher: I
enjoy working with the mechanics
of writing — pulling a sentence apart
one word at a time, deciding whether

to use an em dash or a semi-colon and
trying to gauge whether a sentence is
approaching a run-on or not (take this
sentence, for example).

At the same time I began working

at The Daily last fall, I also began to
attend the class English 305: Exploring
the English Language. There I met a
professor and linguist named Anne
Curzan,
who
matched
and
even

exceeded my passion for syntax and
phonetics. She centered the course
by introducing two contrasting ideas:
prescriptive and descriptive grammar.

Prescriptivism
can
best
be

symbolized by the “red pen wielding”
English teacher trope. This teacher
uses “whom” in sentences and says
you may go to the bathroom regardless
of whether you can. A prescriptivist
believes there is a correct way to speak
a language, and in English that correct
way is typically standard English (the
English we see in most academic and
corporate settings).

A descriptivist, on the other hand,

views all the dialects of English equally
in an attempt to understand linguistic

change over time.
This
doesn’t

mean there aren’t
rules
to
each

dialect — quite
the
opposite
—

but the main goal
of
descriptivism

is
to
observe

and
analyze

dialectical
variety
rather

than
to
pass

judgement
or

enforce usage.

While
a

prescriptivist
might say English
is “deteriorating”
with
newer

generations,
a

descriptivist
would
say

it
is
merely

“evolving.”

English
305

came
at
an

amazing time in
my development
as a student and
future
educator.

For
the
first

time,
I
began

to
question

the
“rules”
of

language I had
been
taught

in
schools.
I

soon
realized

I was a descriptivist surrounded by
institutions like print media and
education where prescriptivism has
historically been imposed and, at
times, lauded. Even now, many of
my fellow copy editors rejoice in the
“comforting” laws of the stylebook,
and I empathize with them. I too have
gone to look up how The Daily formats
numbers and I have found solace in a
concrete answer (the answer: Numbers
from one to nine are written out, while
10 and above are numerals).

But it is important to not mistake the

laws of the stylebook with universal
truth. In the process of making an
article more “standard,” am I not
still projecting a voice, a style, a bias?
What we’ve come to know as standard
English is not devoid of connotation,
and it’s important to recognize at
a
prestigious
university
like
the

University of Michigan, where test
scores measuring standard English
literacy play an important role in who
gets to be a part of the Leaders and Best.
I don’t mean to say we shouldn’t teach
or uphold standard English; I believe
there is value in standardization in
certain contexts. But when we perceive
standard English as “unbiased” or
“just reporting the facts,” we cease to
read critically and consider the author
behind the text.

While I still love my position as a

copy editor at The Daily, I’ve begun to
see the stylebook in a more nuanced
light, as both a beneficial resource and
a potential gatekeeper to marginalized
individuals for whom standard English
is a second language. Now, each time I
edit an error in a columnist’s writing, I
am conscious of the system to which I
am adhering in the process.

As writer Rita Mae Brown said,

“Language exerts hidden power, like
the moon on the tides.”

It is the responsibility of readers and

writers alike to consider these hidden
power structures of language, and only
by doing this may we progress in the
right direction.

2B

Managing Statement Editor:

Brian Kuang

Deputy Editors:

Colin Beresford

Jennifer Meer

Photo Editor:

Amelia Cacchione

Editor in Chief:

Alexa St. John

Managing Editor:

Dayton Hare

Copy Editors:

Elise Laarman

Finntan Storer

Wednesday, September 26, 2018// The Statement

Copy That: A descriptivist’s perspective

statement

THE MICHIGAN DAILY | SEPTEMBER 26, 2018

BY KATELYN CARROLL, SENIOR COPY EDITOR

ILLUSTRATION BY EMILY KOFFSKY