John McWhorter: "Linguistics to me is toys. So it's a matter of what's fun this week. Let's do it" He says he was on the wrong side of the Abonas debate because he said black kids are having trouble in school due to home lives and neighborhood problems, not difference between isn't and ain't on the page. For questions, we have two mics, one on each side of the room, and I have questions on the iPad. If you start making a speech, I will cut you off.
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