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 55
... actually a bundle of different varieties , with the grand , unitary - sounding name of English or Japanese or Swahili actually serving as a convenient umbrella term for all of them . Look a little closer , and you see that where these ...
... actually a bundle of different varieties , with the grand , unitary - sounding name of English or Japanese or Swahili actually serving as a convenient umbrella term for all of them . Look a little closer , and you see that where these ...
Page 67
... actually we should say " It is I , " the justifica- tion being that " the verb ' to be ' takes a nominative pronoun . " Blissfully , this rule is an example of the fact that some of the prescriptivist fiats have more pull than others ...
... actually we should say " It is I , " the justifica- tion being that " the verb ' to be ' takes a nominative pronoun . " Blissfully , this rule is an example of the fact that some of the prescriptivist fiats have more pull than others ...
Page 104
... Actually , however , look used to be an interjection roughly equivalent to " see that you do it well " ; language change has simply flushed it out . And character — if he isn't telling Laertes that he's full of the dickens , then what ...
... Actually , however , look used to be an interjection roughly equivalent to " see that you do it well " ; language change has simply flushed it out . And character — if he isn't telling Laertes that he's full of the dickens , then what ...
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