ABSTRACT
Would I allow my sister to marry a linguist? It is a good question. And I suppose, if I am honest, I must admit that I would much prefer not to have a linguist in the family. But at least I would not forbid the banns-as Lincoln Barnett, for example, would certainly do. Here is a specimen passage from Barnett's informative if unprofessional The Treasure of Our Tongue (New York, 1964):
To almost everyone who cherishes the English language for its grace and beauty, its combination of precision and flexibility, the social philosophy of the Structural Linguist seems past comprehension--epitomizing indeed the 'anti-intellectualism of the intellectual'. Among all the forces of cultural vandalism at work in the country, their influence has been, perhaps, the most insidious. The vulgarities of advertising and mudflows of jargon can be shoveled aside. But the impact of the Structural Linguists is like that of slow atomic fallout: through their influence on teachers' colleges and teachers, hence on the schools and the pupils within them they are incapacitating the coming generation. (pp. 285-6) Mr Barnett is, of course, an American and the linguists who supply
him with the monstrosities of prose style that he has collected in his book are also Americans. But one knows what he means, and the vandalism has, I am afraid, begun to infect some English linguists too.
