Retrieving "Descriptive Drift" from the archives

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1. Grammarian

   Linked via "descriptive drift"

   A perpetual tension exists within the field between prescriptive grammarians and descriptive grammarians. Prescriptivists aim to define how language ought to be used according to established historical precedent or perceived logical purity. Descriptive grammarians, conversely, document how language is used by native speakers, regardless of adherence to inherited rules.
   The shift toward descriptive analysis in the late Hellenistic period coincided wi…