LINGUISTIC PURISM
GEORGE .THOMAS
nun www Longman London & New York Contents
Key to figures X Preface xi
CHAPTER 1 Introduction 1 Introductory remarks 1 The place of purism in linguistic theory 3 Historicism 3 Descriptivism 4 Functionalism 5 Socio-linguistic empiricism 7 The theoretical status quo 7 Some further theoretical problems 9 Some definitions 10 A review of previous study 13 Statement of objectives 17
CHAPTER 2 The imagery of purism 19 Introduction 19 The purist's self-image 19 The miller 20 The gardener 20 The metallurgist 21 The grinder 21 The physician 22 The genealogist and geneticist 22 The priest 23 The composite image of the purist 23 The notion of purity 24 Genetic and genealogical purity 25 Metallurgical purity 27 CONTENTS
Aesthetic punty 27 Religious purity 29 Towards a unitary notion of purity 30 . Some paradigms for linguistic purism 31
CHAPTER 3 The theoretical foundations of purism 35 Introduction 35 Theoretical framework 37 Rational and non-rational bases 37 Non-rational motivations 39 Aesthetic considerations 39 Social factors 39 The role of national consciousness 43 Psychological impulses 47 Summary 49 Rational explanations 49 The intelligibility argument 49 Socio-linguistic functional criteria 53 The solidarity function 53 The separating function 54 The prestige function 55 Structural arguments 57 Summary 59 The interplay of rational and non-rational factors 59
CHAPTER 4 A typological framework 62 Introduction 62 Linguistic levels 62 Phonology 62 Morphology 63 Syntax 64 Lexico-semantics 65 Phraseology 65 Orthography 65 A descriptive framework 66 The selection of targets 67 The identity of the chief targets 68 Loanwords 68 Internationalisms 69 Caiques 70 Neologisms 72 Dialectalisms 73 Descriptive framework 73 The notion of opening and closure 74 CONTENTS A taxonomy of puristic orientations 75 Archaising purism 76 Ethnographic purism 77 Elitist purism 78 Reformist purism 79 Playful purism 80 Xenophobic purism 80 Anti-purism 81 A framework of puristic orientations 81
CHAPTERS The purification process 84 Introduction 84 Recognition of need 84 Identification of targets 86 Censorship 88 Eradication 91 Prevention 91 Replacement 93 Reception 95 Evaluation 98 Summary 99
CHAPTER 6 The social organisation of puristic intervention 100 Introduction 100 The role of individuals 100 The role of groups and societies 104 The role of language academies 108 The speech community 112 Conclusions 113
CHAPTER 7 The language situation 115 Introduction 115 Language standardisation 115 Stages of standardisation 116 Minimal standardisation 116 Pre-standardisation 117 Standardisation proper 118 Post-standardisation 121 Language contact 122 Pidginisation 123 Bilingualism 124 Language variation 129 Dielossia 129 vii CONTENTS Stylistic register 131 Conclusions 133
CHAPTER 8 The role of extralinguistic factors 135 Introduction 135 Nationalism 135 Aesthetics 139 Literary traditions 140 Literary movements 141 The Renaissance 141 The Baroque 142 The Enlightenment 143 Romanticism 143 Conclusions 144
CHAPTER 9 The diachronic aspect 146 Introduction 146 Theoretical models and practical approaches 147 The clash of tradition and change 149 Explanations of the outcomes 150 Problems of chronology 154 The tempo of change 157 . Patterns of development 158 Marginal purism 158 Moderate, discontinuous purism 158 Trimming purism 158 Evolutionary purism 159 Oscillatory purism 159 Stable, consistent purism 159 Revolutionary purism 159 Summary ' 159
CHAPTER 10 The effects of purism 161 Introduction 161 Measuring the effects of purism 161 Some methodological problems 161 Some case studies using quantitative data 164 The use of puristic profiles 170 Some guidelines for assessing the impact of purism 174 Purism in theory and practice 175 Concrete achievements 177 Long- and short-term effects 178 viii CONTENTS The impact on linguistic consciousness 180 The impact on relations between language varieties 182 The critical appraisal of purism 184
CHAPTER 11 Towards a comparative history of purism 188 Introduction 188 A synthetic framework 188 A comparative-historical model 190 Some general hypotheses about purism 193 Hypothesis 1 195 Hypothesis 2 195 Hypothesis 3 196 Hypothesis 4 200 Hypothesis 5 201 Hypothesis 6 201 Hypothesis 7 202 Hypothesis 8 203 Hypothesis 9 204 Hypothesis 10 206 An historical sketch of purism 209
CHAPTER 12 Purism and language planning 215 Introduction 215 Rational and non-rational purism 216 The organisation of puristic intervention 217 Purification and the objectives of language planning 218 Purism as a language-planning problem 219 Purism and language planning: the case of Yugoslavia 220
Bibliography 226 Index 240