Keeping up with language trends
Image: Breeana Dunbar for Red Pony
For most Australians, 2020 will be forever remembered as the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. For the language geeks among us, it also marked the launch of 3 new national style manuals.
One of these guides, the Australian Government Style manual, has had a particularly long gestation period. The free online version replaces edition 6 which was published back in 2002.
The Australian manual of style is published by Biotext and Macquarie University as an expansion on their previous collaboration, the Australian manual of scientific style. It is an online, subscription-based style manual.
Finally, the Plain English Foundation released the Australian style guide in 2020, also available online and free to use after registering for an account.
Each style manual is subtly different, reflecting their target user base as well as variations in editorial decisions. For the most part however, they are remarkably consistent – something of a relief for writers and editors required to jump between guides for different client projects.
One of the most controversial changes is one that all 3 manuals generally agree on – the use of numerals rather than words for numbers. In the past, the broadly accepted convention has been to write numbers from one to 9 as words. The Style manual and Australian style guide now recommend using words only for zero and one, while the Australian manual of style suggests using numerals for all numbers (except when ‘one’ is acting as an indefinite article). This change takes some getting used to (I’m still adjusting), but is based on evidence that using numerals makes it easier for readers to read and process the information, particularly on websites.
This change is an example of how written style evolves over time, taking into account changes in technology, cultural changes and current research. I’m old enough to remember using the convention of inserting 2 spaces at the end of each sentence – something that made sense in the era of manual typewriters.
Rather than resist, I’d suggest leaning into change. To not do so can make your organisation appear out of touch or, even worse, potentially indifferent to changes that seek to increase accessibility and address discrimination.
This sudden promulgation of credible, Australian-specific and easily accessible style manuals also has implications for organisations maintaining an in-house style guide. If your internal style guide hasn’t been updated since 2020, it’s probably out of date. Rather than ditch it altogether, I’d suggest choosing one of these 3 options guides as your default style guide (for government agencies this should probably be the Australian Government Style manual), then make sure everyone in your organisation has access (this will require a subscription for the other 2 options).
The focus of your in-house style guide should be to document:
where the house style differs from the nominated style manual
any style preferences that are too detailed or specific to be included in the nominated style manual
the mostly commonly used style preferences relevant to your organisation, even if they are also in the nominated style manual (for example, a government agency might include a specific section on citing Acts of parliament).
This way, your in-house style guide becomes a more relevant tool for everyone in your organisation, which in turn makes it more likely they will use it to help produce clearer, more consistent written communications.
