The Evolution of the Pigeon Language

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English is going to stay the way it is because we have literacy. Once you have widespread education and literacy, the pull of the written word makes it so that it's harder for a language to be streamlined like colloquial Indonesian. Why does Chinese grammar seem to be so simple? You could get in trouble for that. But Mandarin is one of a handful of languages where geopolitical developments meant that for a while, as many people were probably learning it as a second language or first.

Who can you ask about the Great American Songbook, the finer Jell-O flavors, and peculiar languages like Saramaccan all while expecting the same kind of fast, thoughtful, and energetic response? Listeners of Lexicon Valley might hazard a guess: John McWhorter. A prominent academic linguist, he’s also highly regarded for his podcast and popular writings across countless books and articles where often displays a deep knowledge in topics beyond his academic training.

John joined Tyler to discuss why he thinks that colloquial Indonesian should be the world's universal language, the barbaric circumstances that gave rise to Creole languages, the reason Mandarin won't overtake English as the lingua franca, how the Vikings shaped modern English, the racial politics of Gershwin's Porgy and Bess, the decline of American regional accents, why Shakespeare needs an English translation, Harold Arlen vs. Andrew Lloyd Webber, whether reparations for African-Americans is a good idea, how living in Jackson Heights shapes his worldview, what he learned from his mother and father, why good linguistics students enjoy both Russian and Chinese, and more.

Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links.

Recorded February 17th, 2020 Other ways to connect

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