Word On The Street: Debunking The Myth Of A Pure Standard EnglishThough there is a contingent of linguists who fight the fact, our language is always changing--not only through slang, but sound, syntax, and words' meanings as well. Debunking the myth of "pure" standard English, tackling controversial positions, and eschewing politically correct arguments, linguist John McWhorter considers speech patterns and regional accents to demonstrate just how the changes do occur. Wielding reason and humor, McWhorter ultimately explains why we must embrace these changes, ultimately revealing our American English in all its variety, expressiveness, and power. |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 22
Page 13
Sorry, this page's content is restricted.
Sorry, this page's content is restricted.
Page 22
Sorry, this page's content is restricted.
Sorry, this page's content is restricted.
Page 39
Sorry, this page's content is restricted.
Sorry, this page's content is restricted.
Page 40
Sorry, this page's content is restricted.
Sorry, this page's content is restricted.
Page 44
Sorry, this page's content is restricted.
Sorry, this page's content is restricted.
Contents
Introduction | 1 |
Lava Lamps and Language | 7 |
The Linguistic Melting Pot | 35 |
The Speech Error Hoax | 61 |
Pronouns and | 117 |
Is You Is or Is You Aint a Language? | 127 |
Black | 155 |
Black English in | 201 |
Other editions - View all
Word On The Street: Debunking The Myth Of A Pure Standard English John Mcwhorter Limited preview - 2009 |
Common terms and phrases
actually African Americans African-American children African-American students Afrocentric ain't American English audience basic Black and standard black children Black English Black English sound black speech black students bridging advocates bridging approach classroom code-switching complex creole languages culture dard developed dialect of English dialect readers endings English dialects English speakers example expression fact French gender-neutral pronoun glish grammar guage Gullah habitual Haitian Haitian Creole issue Jamaican patois John Rickford language change language mixture languages spoken Latin less linguistic look means Media Lengua nonstandard dialects noun Old English patterns person play prepositions problem pronoun Quechua reading reason rules Saramaccan Scots seen sense sentence structures separate language Shakespeare Shirley simply singular slang slaves sound system Spanish speak speech variety Sranan standard dialect standard English sure teachers tense things tion translation verb vowel walk West African languages words writing