Book contents
- Standardising English
- Standardising English
- Copyright page
- Contents
- List of Figures, Maps and Tables
- List of Contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Part I Norms and Margins: Ideology and Concepts
- Part II Norms and Margins: A Historical Perspective
- Part III Norms and Margins: Moving into the Twenty-First Century
- 10 The Grammatical Margins of Class
- 11 Concepts of Correctness and Acceptability in British English: Exploring Attitudes of Lay People
- 12 Maori English in Maori Literature: Standardising the Margin into a Norm
- 13 Imposing a Norm: The Invisible Marks of Copy-Editors
- Author Index
- Subject Index
- References
13 - Imposing a Norm: The Invisible Marks of Copy-Editors
from Part III - Norms and Margins: Moving into the Twenty-First Century
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 March 2018
Book contents
- Standardising English
- Standardising English
- Copyright page
- Contents
- List of Figures, Maps and Tables
- List of Contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Part I Norms and Margins: Ideology and Concepts
- Part II Norms and Margins: A Historical Perspective
- Part III Norms and Margins: Moving into the Twenty-First Century
- 10 The Grammatical Margins of Class
- 11 Concepts of Correctness and Acceptability in British English: Exploring Attitudes of Lay People
- 12 Maori English in Maori Literature: Standardising the Margin into a Norm
- 13 Imposing a Norm: The Invisible Marks of Copy-Editors
- Author Index
- Subject Index
- References
Summary
Printing and publishing have historically played an important role in standardising the English language but the role of copy-editors has remained largely unexplored. This chapter examines the influence of American English copy-editors on recent works of British fiction and more specifically the interplay between usage/style guides and editorial practice. The results of an online questionnaire sent out to copy-editing associations and forums are presented, and the following research questions addressed: Did the changes made to British English (BrE) texts reflect values shared by all AmE copy-editors? Did BrE copy-editors evaluate the changes that were made differently to AmE copy-editors? How far did the choice of copy-editors reflect the values of style/usage guides and how far did those values differ from those of linguists? The participants provided reasons for their preferences thus making it possible to analyse whether the copy-editors identified the changes as reflecting dialectal differences, grammatical rules, or the values of style and usage guides.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Standardising EnglishNorms and Margins in the History of the English Language, pp. 251 - 276Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2018
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