Speech patterns that deviated from the written rules were considered corruptions, or signs of low social status,
而那些偏离了书面语语法的口语则被认为是错误的，或者是社会地位低下的表现，
and many people who had grown up speaking in these ways were forced to adopt the standardized form.
于是许多从小就按照这一规则说话的人被迫开始接受标准的语法规则。
More recently, however, linguists have understood that speech is a separate phenomenon from writing with its own regularities and patterns.
直到最近，语言学家才意识到口语和书面语完全是两码事，口语有它自己的规律性和模式。
Most of us learn to speak at such an early age that we don't even remember it.
在我们还不能记事的时候就开始学习说话了。
We form our spoken repertoire through unconscious habits, not memorized rules.
那个时候更多是通过下意识的行为来构建说话技能，而不是记住那些规则。
And because speech also uses mood and intonation for meaning, its structure is often more flexible,
由于口语也会用到语气和语调来传达意思，所以它的结构更加地多样化，
adapting to the needs of speakers and listeners.
会根据说话者和听者的需求进行调整。
This could mean avoiding complex clauses that are hard to parse in real time,
这就意味着在说话时应该避免一些难以理解的复杂句子，
making changes to avoid awkward pronunciation, or removing sounds to make speech faster.
做出适当调整避免一些尴尬的发音或是通过略读让语速加快。
The linguistic approach that tries to understand and map such differences without dictating correct ones is known as descriptivism.
尝试去理解和比对语法上的这些差异却不定义对错的语言学方法被称为描写主义。
Rather than deciding how language should be used, it describes how people actually use it,
相比于决定该如何使用语言，描写主义更倾向于叙述人们实际上是怎样使用语言的，
and tracks the innovations they come up with in the process.
并追溯在这一过程中出现的一些新方法。
But while the debate between prescriptivism and descriptivism continues, the two are not mutually exclusive.
尽管描写主义和规定主义之间的争论会一直持续下去，但它们二者之间并不是互相排斥的。
At its best, prescriptivism is useful for informing people about the most common established patterns at a given point in time.
规定主义可以在某个特定的时间点告诉人们最为通用的确定模式。
This is important, not only for formal contexts, but it also makes communication easier between non-native speakers from different backgrounds.
这一点不仅在正式场合很重要，也使得来自不同国家不同背景的非母语人士交流起来更加容易。
Descriptivism, on the other hand, gives us insight into how our minds work and the instinctive ways in which we structure our view of the world.
另一方面，描写主义会让我们看到自己的想法如何运作以及如何本能地构建自己的世界观。
Ultimately, grammar is best thought of as a set of linguistic habits that are constantly being negotiated and reinvented by the entire group of language users.
从根本上说，语法顶多被认为是一系列不断被所有的语言使用者争论和改造的语言习惯。
Like language itself, it's a wonderful and complex fabric woven through the contributions of speakers and listeners,
就像语言本身就像一匹精美复杂的布，经由从古至今的说话者，听众，
writers and readers, prescriptivists and descriptivists, from both near and far.
作者，读者，规定主义者和描写主义者们的共同努力编织而成。
