Earlier quoted context omitted.
There should be a middleground between "The dictionary is law" and "Any native speaker can redefine a language". At the very least the direct consequence of >If the grammar rules you learned in school disagree with (any!) native speaker, the rules are wrong. is that every language has as many dialects as speakers. Imo dictionaries are descriptive rather than prescriptive not because it is impossible to have prescript…
> is that every language has as many dialects as speakers. This is actually treated as linguistic fact, although we call them "idiolects" when we're talking about that level of granularity. > not because it is impossible to have prescriptive definitions or grammar, it is just that dictionaries do not even try They don't try because the field of linguistics has arrived at the conclusion that the role of the linguist i…
My issue is with the claim that there is no sense in which a native speaker can make a grammar error. Maybe we should call them "idiolect incongrueces" I do not care.
In my language there is a verb tense that is often misused, I often misuse it and I can hear the resulting sentence I say feel wrong. That is a grammar mistake the same way missing a note in a song is a mistake.
If linguists want to work towards reducing the stigma issues of standardized grammars I commend them and wish them good luck. But that is different from saying that grammar mistake do no exist.