True descriptivism¶
Bibliography
R. M. W. Dixon, 'The Semantics of Clause Linking in Typological Perspective', in The Semantics of Clause Linking: A Cross-linguistic Typology (Oxford, 2009), 1–55.
⸻, A Semantic Approach to English Grammar (2nd edn, Oxford, 2005).
It's customary today for grammarians to pay lip service to descriptivism and then seek refuge in an ill-defined 'standard language'.
Example
CGEL, for instance, describes it as the dialect 'used for public information announcements, newscasts, commentaries to broadcasts of national events … confirmed by the writing found in magazines, newspapers, novels, and non-fiction books; by the editing and correcting that is done by the publishers of these; and by the way writers for the most part accept such editing and correcting of their work' and goes on to pounce on 'usage manuals', as if the editorial process all these genres have to go through isn't prescriptive enough.
What's actually found in grammars is usually the edited version of the wriiten language and of written simulation of the spoken language. Since the vast majority of written and spoken material produced by native speakers doesn't undergo professional editing, such grammars do not reflect the usage of most speakers.
Warning
The danger of true descriptivism is shown by Chang, a grammar which makes copious use of unedited material: much of what one will find there is no longer acceptable in educated speech, rendering it a description of period usage.
Self-editing¶
Dixon (2009: 51) doesn't hesitate to use however as a conjunction in a typological work:
I was only six years old, however I do remember it well.
but switches to the more 'correct' adverb in Dixon (2005: 390), a book on English grammar:
John had voted Labour; however, his brother had voted Conservative