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. |
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... language also naturally reinforces our sense that our personal perceptions of it are correct. We cannot help but be ... change our entire perspective on what comes out of our mouths all day are generally dwelt on long enough to entertain and ...
... language also naturally reinforces our sense that our personal perceptions of it are correct. We cannot help but be ... change our entire perspective on what comes out of our mouths all day are generally dwelt on long enough to entertain and ...
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... Language. One of the most frustrating things for any linguist is a virtually ... change. I will show here what has led linguists to consider all fluent human ... language, with which we must make a deep and lasting peace: Language is ...
... Language. One of the most frustrating things for any linguist is a virtually ... change. I will show here what has led linguists to consider all fluent human ... language, with which we must make a deep and lasting peace: Language is ...
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... language is also always changing in a much deeper and more significant sense than mere colorful words and idioms. Sounds are always wearing off, other sounds are always evolving into different ones; endings are constantly wearing off ...
... language is also always changing in a much deeper and more significant sense than mere colorful words and idioms. Sounds are always wearing off, other sounds are always evolving into different ones; endings are constantly wearing off ...
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... change was not something unusual, connected to something like the rise of ... language. It was still Latin. Latin only developed into French (and Spanish ... language to modern Romanian ears. What is especially crucial for us, however, is ...
... change was not something unusual, connected to something like the rise of ... language. It was still Latin. Latin only developed into French (and Spanish ... language to modern Romanian ears. What is especially crucial for us, however, is ...
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... language in the world and always has. Singin' is no more sloppy or avoidable than the coming of spring. Thus singin ... change that any language undergoes. Some readers may find it hard to swallow that the way language changes is via ...
... language in the world and always has. Singin' is no more sloppy or avoidable than the coming of spring. Thus singin ... change that any language undergoes. Some readers may find it hard to swallow that the way language changes is via ...
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Word On The Street: Debunking The Myth Of A Pure Standard English John Mcwhorter Limited preview - 2000 |
Common terms and phrases
actually African Americans AfricanAmerican children AfricanAmerican students Afrocentric ain’t American English audience basic bidialectal bilingual Black and standard black children Black English black speech black students bridging advocates bridging approach classroom codeswitching complex Creole languages Creolist culture developed dialect of English dialect readers endings English dialects English speakers example expression fact French genderneutral German grammar Gullah habitual Haitian immersion issue Jamaican patois John Rickford language change language mixture Latin Level linguists means Media Lengua modern nonstandard dialects noun Oakland controversy Old English patterns person pidgin play prepositions problem pronoun Quechua reading Rickford Romance languages rules Saramaccan seen sense sentence structures separate language Shakespeare Shirley simply singular slang slaves sound system Spanish speak speech variety Sranan standard dialect standard English sure Swiss German teachers teaching tense things translation verb vowel walk West African languages words writing