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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... slang like funky fresh and macdaddy, and they were perplexed that I would say that phrases like She my sister were systematic language rather than just a sort of jolly ingroup bad habit, like sneaking cigarettes after school. After ...
... slang like funky fresh and macdaddy, and they were perplexed that I would say that phrases like She my sister were systematic language rather than just a sort of jolly ingroup bad habit, like sneaking cigarettes after school. After ...
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... slang terms and expressions come and go all the time. What was “the bee's knees” in the 1920s was “swell” in the 1930s, “keen” in the 1950s, “groovy” in the 1960s, “neat” in the 1970s, “wicked” for a while in the 1980s, and today is ...
... slang terms and expressions come and go all the time. What was “the bee's knees” in the 1920s was “swell” in the 1930s, “keen” in the 1950s, “groovy” in the 1960s, “neat” in the 1970s, “wicked” for a while in the 1980s, and today is ...
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... slang and technical terms would be the least of our worries—more to the point, the very sounds, structure, and word meanings of English would have changed so much that we would have to learn it as a new tongue. Now, seen as history ...
... slang and technical terms would be the least of our worries—more to the point, the very sounds, structure, and word meanings of English would have changed so much that we would have to learn it as a new tongue. Now, seen as history ...
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... slang,” and it is sometimes cited in newspaper complaints about how “English is going to the dogs.” Indeed, the exact meaning of all as used in this construction has become pretty abstract. But to in to sing sounded just as irregular to ...
... slang,” and it is sometimes cited in newspaper complaints about how “English is going to the dogs.” Indeed, the exact meaning of all as used in this construction has become pretty abstract. But to in to sing sounded just as irregular to ...
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... slang in language. In fact, however, the most useful analogy to keep in mind is that a language is like a lava lamp. The “lava” slowly swirls and clumps and rises and falls in its fluid in an eternal, mesmerizing flow. Although ...
... slang in language. In fact, however, the most useful analogy to keep in mind is that a language is like a lava lamp. The “lava” slowly swirls and clumps and rises and falls in its fluid in an eternal, mesmerizing flow. Although ...
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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