Correct vs proper language use. Comments in the context of The Dictionary of Proper Uses of Language

Abstract

The author proposes that the notion of correctness would be replaced with the notion of proper language use. In this approach, the linguistic element (meaning, form, structure) is assessed in a specific statement, in given communicative circumstances, and not in isolation – in an absolute manner. In practice, in orthoepic dictionaries, this aspect is actually omitted or the decisions on this issue are sometimes arbitrary, and as a result, the assessment is universal (without being dependent on the context). In the light of the available representative text samples, we are able today to precisely define the scope of possible limitations in the occurrence of words, their meanings, structures, forms and combinations. The role of a linguist who popularizes the culture of language is to describe the aforementioned limitations as precisely as possible, by building their profile (stylistic, chronological, environmental, domain, politeness, etc.).