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 37
... French is spoken alongside English in Canada and is full of English influences , from words like badloque for " bad luck " to expres- sions some have been found to use like sur la télévision for " on TV , " using the word sur " on ...
... French is spoken alongside English in Canada and is full of English influences , from words like badloque for " bad luck " to expres- sions some have been found to use like sur la télévision for " on TV , " using the word sur " on ...
Page 211
... French has forms pronounced " vay , " " va , ” and “ va ” with I , you and he , respectively , Canadian French uses " va " for all three ( spelled " vas , " with I and you ) , reminiscent of the extension of was to all persons in Black ...
... French has forms pronounced " vay , " " va , ” and “ va ” with I , you and he , respectively , Canadian French uses " va " for all three ( spelled " vas , " with I and you ) , reminiscent of the extension of was to all persons in Black ...
Page 270
... French that would have been unthinkable in its mother , Latin . Where a Roman would have said Feminae id dedi for " I gave it to the woman , " the French speaker says Je l'ai donné à la femme . To the Roman , using the Latin source of ...
... French that would have been unthinkable in its mother , Latin . Where a Roman would have said Feminae id dedi for " I gave it to the woman , " the French speaker says Je l'ai donné à la femme . To the Roman , using the Latin source of ...
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-American children African-American students Afrocentric ain't American English audience basic Black and standard black children Black English Black English sound black speech black students bridging advocates bridging approach classroom code-switching complex creole languages culture dard developed dialect of English dialect readers endings English dialects English speakers example expression fact French gender-neutral pronoun glish grammar guage Gullah Haitian Haitian Creole issue Jamaican patois John Rickford language change language mixture languages spoken Latin less linguistic means Media Lengua nonstandard dialects noun Old English patterns person play prepositions problem pronoun Quechua reading reason rules Saramaccan Scots seen sense sentence structures separate language Shakespeare Shirley simply singular slang slaves sound system Spanish speak speech variety Sranan standard dialect standard English sure teachers tense things tion translation verb vowel walk West African languages words writing