The Word On The StreetIn The Word on the Street, John McWhorter reveals our American English in all its variety, beauty, and expressiveness. Debunking the myth of a "pure" standard English, he considers the speech patterns and accents of many regions and ethnic groups in the U.S. and demonstrates how language evolves. He takes up the tricky question of gender-neutral pronouns. He dares to ask, "Should we translate Shakespeare?" Focusing on whether how our children speak determines how they learn, he presents the controversial Ebonics debate in light of his research on dialects and creoles. The Word on the Street frees us to truly speak our minds. It is John McWhorter's answer to William Safire, transformed here into everybody's Aunt Lucy, who insists on correcting our grammar and making us feel slightly embarrassed about our everyday use of the language. ("To whom," she will insist, and "don't split your infinitives!") He reminds us that we'd better accept the fact that language is always changing - not only slang, but sound, syntax, and words' meanings - and get on with the business of communicating effectively with one another. |
From inside the book
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Page 83
... Actually , however , the original mean- ing of infer is " to conclude . " " From the particular facts he brought up , we can infer that he read the November report , not the October one . " What one does with the tone of one's voice is ...
... Actually , however , the original mean- ing of infer is " to conclude . " " From the particular facts he brought up , we can infer that he read the November report , not the October one . " What one does with the tone of one's voice is ...
Page 90
... actually being there , how many of us do not start to feel our posteriors aching after about the first three scenes of the play , and how anxious are we to get back to the play after intermission ? We all esteem Shakespeare , but how ...
... actually being there , how many of us do not start to feel our posteriors aching after about the first three scenes of the play , and how anxious are we to get back to the play after intermission ? We all esteem Shakespeare , but how ...
Page 136
... actually more complex than it is in standard English . Specifically , its sensitivity to habituality actually makes Black En- glish more complex in this area than standard English . A Martian learning how to express the present tense ...
... actually more complex than it is in standard English . Specifically , its sensitivity to habituality actually makes Black En- glish more complex in this area than standard English . A Martian learning how to express the present tense ...
Contents
Introduction | 1 |
Lava Lamps and Language | 7 |
The Linguistic Melting Pot | 35 |
Copyright | |
8 other sections not shown
Other editions - View all
Word On The Street: Debunking The Myth Of A Pure Standard English John Mcwhorter Limited preview - 2000 |
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 Language System African-American children African-American students Afrocentric ain't Ameri American English basic bidialectal Black and standard black children Black English Black English sound black speech black students bridging advocates bridging approach child claim that Black classroom code-switching complex creole creole languages culture dard dialect of English dialect readers divergence English dialects example fact French glish grammar guage Gullah habitual Haitian Haitian Creole home dialect issue Jamaican patois John Rickford language change language mixture Latin less linguistic means Media Lengua nonstandard dialects Old English past patterns person problem pronoun Quechua reading rural Southern seen sense sentence structures separate language Shakespeare Shirley simply slang slaves sound system Spanish speech variety spoken Sranan standard dialect standard English standard German sure Swiss German teachers teaching tense things tion translation verb vowel walk West African languages words writing