" So is language change progress or degeneration? It is neither, of course. To assert that language change is for the better or worse requires some measure of what " good" or " bad" language is, and the issue of language change needn't come into question here. But no coherent criterion has ever been given: upon examination, the pronouncements of the self-appointed pundits are always a mix of cultural biases, half-understandings of languages, and an obvious compulsion for telling people what to do. "