I have noticed an increasing
trend in psychological writing whereby, perhaps either a) in a misguided attempt
by those lacking a Classical education to sound 'posh', or b) in a misguided overgeneralisation
by those who have just discovered that 'data' is plural, 'schema' is used as though
it is the plural of the non-word 'schemum' rather than the singular of 'schemata'
(or 'schemas': not strictly correct, but less pretentious). Worse, it is sometimes
being used as an uncountable noun: one would never say 'I like writing letter',
but one increasingly reads 'I like studying schema'. I know English is a flexible
and constantly-developing language, but I hope not to the extent where illiteracy
becomes permissible.