Prescription and taboo: Australia’s sensitivity towards American influence

This chapter views popular perceptions of language (im)purity through the lens of taboo; it is argued that people’s concerns for the well-being of their language, and the activities flowing from these concerns, are the fall-out of tabooing behaviour generally. What shapes the undesirable will change with the changing social life of words, and a clear example is Australia’s response to the perceived threat of American influence in modern times. It is hoped this approach is a step towards a more constructive dialogue between linguists and the wider community — a dialogue that for too long has been stymied by the oversimplified prescription–description binary.