Copyediting and Philosophy, Part 3: Language, Power, and Copyediting

Copyediting enforces norms even when editors did not originate them, raising concerns about whether standard Englishes crowd out other registers and dialects. Linguistic pedantry and strict spelling and grammar can perpetuate social hierarchies, and copyediting has been criticized as a white supremacist project. Attention to prejudices attached to varieties of English is important, while recognizing that copyediting can facilitate communication in academic philosophical writing, which already operates under norms. Editors can collaborate with authors to anticipate audience difficulties within those norms. A new factor is artificial intelligence, which may embed a new form of prescriptivism into editing practices. Linguistic prescriptivism is clarified by distinguishing prescriptive from normative approaches to grammar rules.

"Copyeditors are enforcers of a particular kind, even if they are not the originators of the norms they're enforcing. Still, we might worry that the practice of copyediting could enforce standard Englishes to the exclusion of other registers and dialects in a pernicious way. Jessica Flanigan, for instance, argues that linguistic pedantry and an overemphasis on conformity with spelling and grammar perpetuates social hierarchies. And a few years ago, an essay by a former copyeditor, Helen Betya Rubinstein, argued that copyediting is a white supremacist project."

"I think it's important to pay attention to prejudices that attach to different varieties of English, whether these be registers, dialects, or "world" or "global" Englishes. At the same time, I think copyediting can be a way to facilitate communication, especially within academic philosophical writing, which is already subject to certain norms. Working within these norms, editors can work with authors to anticipate points of difficulty with their audience."

"However, there is a new kind of copyeditor on the scene, artificial intelligence, and there is potential for a new kind of prescriptivism to be built into editing. Linguistic prescriptivism Before reflecting on the relationship copyeditors have with norms, it's worth getting clear about the concept of linguistic prescriptivism. Linguist Geoff Pullum has argued that we shouldn't confuse "prescriptive" and "normative.""

"Pullum's argument is that grammars are normative-in the sense that there are rules that govern grammar. Certain expressions in a language are ungrammatical or incorrect. Linguists investig"

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