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 19
... sure that a few inches away , other pieces are joining together . At any given point , we do not see the present configuration of the lava clump as somehow " bet- ter " than the one thirty seconds ago - the joy is in the infinite ...
... sure that a few inches away , other pieces are joining together . At any given point , we do not see the present configuration of the lava clump as somehow " bet- ter " than the one thirty seconds ago - the joy is in the infinite ...
Page 80
... sure that if Esperanto were spoken by a substantial community for centuries run- ning , then it would quickly develop them . Yet we do not curse the languages we learn for being full of mistakes . What it comes down to is that treating ...
... sure that if Esperanto were spoken by a substantial community for centuries run- ning , then it would quickly develop them . Yet we do not curse the languages we learn for being full of mistakes . What it comes down to is that treating ...
Page 105
... sure that " —in other words , Polonius is not giving the rather oblique advice that the best thing to do in a argument is to " cope , " but to make sure to do it well . " Take each man's censure , but reserve thy judgement . " Turn the ...
... sure that " —in other words , Polonius is not giving the rather oblique advice that the best thing to do in a argument is to " cope , " but to make sure to do it well . " Take each man's censure , but reserve thy judgement . " Turn the ...
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