The Social Loss of Languages

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If the world loses most of it, say, 6,000 languages right now, is that a social loss? Should we be concerned about that? You know, that's a tough one too. And here's my real answer. My answer is not going to be that each language is a window into the souls of its speakers. That idea is surprisingly dangerous despite all of its attractions. For any cool thing you can say about a language, there's something uncoolYou can say about it and you have to saddle the speakers with that as well.

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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