Chapter Summary: The Language Wars

There is a chapter in Do you speak American by Robert MacNeil and William Cran that stands out to me and that chapter is “The Language Wars”. Doubleday Publishing published “The Language Wars” in Westminster, MD. Within this specific chapter of Do you speak American the main point that MacNeil and Cran make that stands out to me is that impact that technology is having on all languages. Language is how a person is first judged before anything else because in every situation a person’s language matters. Sheidlower’s statement “Language is what it is.” in my opinion could not be put into better words, the statement is clear that language has and will continue to change but it is what it is; there should not be the war between prescriptivists
Jesse Sheidlower does not agree with Simons but he doesn’t disagree either. He states, “No, it is not being ruined. Language is what it is.” He points out the fact that it is technology that is changing language. He believes that language has always been informal to a point but it is the fact that language is becoming informal in publications that is leading people to believe language is in decline. Sheidlower believes that people like Simon’s that believe language is in decline are misguided because “language change happens and there’s nothing you can do about it.” Macneil and Cran wrote this article to appeal to the reader’s emotions because they do not use much evidence to support their ideas instead they use people’s opinions and publications. Some people could consider the several publications mentioned in the article evidence, but to me I believe Macneil and Cran are simply trying to give information on their ideas rather than using specific evidence. I believe that they want to appeal to the reader’s emotions and try to get the reader to see what they believe about language and get the reader thinking about what they might