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A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics David Crystal

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purism (n.) A term used pejoratively in linguistics to characterize a school

of thought which sees a language as needing preservation from the external

processes which might infiltrate it and thus make it change, e.g. the pressures

exercised by other dialects and languages (as in loan words) and the variations

introduced by colloquial speech. This purist concern is considered misplaced

by linguists, who point to the inevitability of language change, as a reflex

of social, cultural and psychological development.

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