Write for Vocabula

[Robert Hartwell Fiske]

The Vocabula Review -- not meant to be solely a  forum for the editor's
prejudices -- invites readers to submit articles  about issues related to the
English language. In the spirit of thoughtful  inquiry and personal essays, we wish
to encourage writers to submit articles  about what they themselves think.
Well-written, insightful, creative articles  are far more appealing to us than
overreferenced, overannotated articles. What's  important to us is not what
everyone else has ever thought but a clear  presentation of one's own thoughts.
Today, there are few opportunities for  people to enjoy the freedom that comes
with writing for oneself and others in a  nonacademic way. The Vocabula Review
offers one such opportunity.


As an example, in March, we published "How Grammaticality Eludes: The
Relationship Between Nonstandard and Evolving Language" by  Donald L. Dyer:


Numerous undeniable facts about languages and the way they behave cause
society great consternation, among which are that languages change, they change
constantly, and they can change rather quickly.

Certain things cloud the reality of language and tend to diminish the
grandeur of its infinitely varied and intertwined forms. Not the least of which  are
commonly held though wrong-headed views on the relationship between language
use and intelligence and misguided attitudes toward language variation and
educational standards. In this article, using examples from a selection of
contemporary languages, for the most part English, I make the claim that many
instances of nonstandard language use have little to do with a lack of one's
intelligence or one's educational background. Instead, the forms in question are
 examples of natural language evolution, which far from deserving societal
ridicule should be accepted as forerunners of a future grammar, which in their
turn some day will frame the standard. ...

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Robert  Hartwell Fiske
Editor and Publisher
The Vocabula  Review
www.vocabula.com

5A Holbrook Court
Rockport, MA  01966
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