The usage of a
language
Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of ...
is the ways in which its
written and
spoken variations are routinely employed by its speakers; that is, it refers to "the collective habits of a language's native speakers",
as opposed to idealized models of how a language works or (should work) in the abstract. For instance,
Fowler characterized usage as "the way in which a word or phrase is normally and correctly used" and as the "points of
grammar
In linguistics, the grammar of a natural language is its set of structure, structural constraints on speakers' or writers' composition of clause (linguistics), clauses, phrases, and words. The term can also refer to the study of such constraint ...
,
syntax,
style, and the choice of words."
In the
descriptive tradition of language analysis, by way of contrast, "correct" tends to mean functionally adequate for the purposes of the speaker or writer using it, and adequately
idiomatic to be accepted by the listener or reader; usage is also, however, a concern for the
prescriptive tradition, for which "correctness" is a matter of arbitrating style.
Common usage may be used as one of the criteria of laying out
prescriptive norms for
codified standard language usage.
Modern
dictionaries are not generally prescriptive, but they often include "usage notes" which may describe words as "formal", "informal", "slang", and so on. "Despite occasional usage notes,
lexicographers generally disclaim any intent to guide writers and editors on the thorny points of English usage."
History
According to Jeremy Butterfield, "The first person we know of who made ''usage'' refer to language was
Daniel Defoe, at the end of the seventeenth century". Defoe proposed the creation of a
language society of 36 individuals who would set
prescriptive language rules for the approximately six million English speakers.
The Latin equivalent ''usus'' was a crucial term in the research of Danish linguists
Otto Jespersen
Jens Otto Harry Jespersen (; 16 July 1860 – 30 April 1943) was a Denmark, Danish linguistics, linguist who specialized in the grammar of the English language. Steven Mithen described him as "one of the greatest language scholars of the ninetee ...
and
Louis Hjelmslev
Louis Trolle Hjelmslev (; 3 October 189930 May 1965) was a Danish linguist whose ideas formed the basis of the Copenhagen School of linguistics. Born into an academic family (his father was the mathematician Johannes Hjelmslev), Hjelmslev studie ...
.
They used the term to designate usage that has widespread or significant acceptance among speakers of a language, regardless of its conformity to the sanctioned standard language norms.
See also
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Error (linguistics)
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English writing style
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Common English usage misconceptions
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List of English words with disputed usage
References
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{{Authority control
Sociolinguistics
Applied linguistics
Grammar
Language varieties and styles