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 75
... expression of conviction on her face as the sun sets behind her — but surely in this case , no one would ever mean something this odd by the sentence . The " incorrect " meaning is in fact the only one any sane person could intend ...
... expression of conviction on her face as the sun sets behind her — but surely in this case , no one would ever mean something this odd by the sentence . The " incorrect " meaning is in fact the only one any sane person could intend ...
Page 101
... expression to wit , but also in the old expression mother wit , which refers to innate common sense , not a mother who glides around quoting Oscar Wilde . Even dictionaries still include the " knowledge " meaning . But today , this is ...
... expression to wit , but also in the old expression mother wit , which refers to innate common sense , not a mother who glides around quoting Oscar Wilde . Even dictionaries still include the " knowledge " meaning . But today , this is ...
Page 139
... expression ( those of us who took Latin will remember this as the " I will have talked " construc- tion ) . The Black English form is be done , as in I be done washed the car by the time Jojo gets back with the sodas , which means that ...
... expression ( those of us who took Latin will remember this as the " I will have talked " construc- tion ) . The Black English form is be done , as in I be done washed the car by the time Jojo gets back with the sodas , which means that ...
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