You've argued against the notion of a standard English. Yet if you ever try to take a taxi cab, say in India, one ends up really quite longing for some kind of standard English. Why is the grammar of Malay so much more complicated than that of Indonesia? But Malay, Indonesian, it was a lingua franca for 2000 years. It's been shaven of the nonsense. And then once it's colloquial, it's just this beautiful thing. This human language as she should be spoke.
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