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Linguists can generally be divided into two groups: prescriptivists, or those who hold that language is governed by fixed rules of grammar, and descriptivists, or those who believe that patterns of actual usage reflect the way the language is used. In extremely broad strokes, if prescriptivists are anal retentive, then descriptivists are free-to-be-you-and-me.

This article describes the debate between prescriptivists and descriptivists in terms of language use and change. Prescriptivists believe in traditional grammar and vocabulary while descriptivists analyze how language evolves over time. The article goes on to talk about how language changes naturally but remains cohesive due to its systematic nature.

This article explored who has control over language. It touches upon how certain words eventually get used in contexts that it was not originally intended to be. It concludes that language is too complex for anyone to attempt to manage. Language is a genius self-regulating system.

Wallace's erudite essay explores the conflict between prescriptivists and descriptivists. Lengthy, but a worthy read!.

Prescriptivist vs. descriptivist views of language. Grammatical rules are akin to dress codes: They were once dogma, but now are in a constant flux.

Semantic Sustainability

Here's a followup on the Economist's language blog: http://www.economist.com/blogs/johnson/2011/04/change . The comments are pretty interesting, too.