People think of black English as ungrammatical, but it bears the same relationship to standard English as contemporary Hebrew does to ancient Hebrew.
John McwhorterRead
People have been warning us that language was going to the dogs ever since Latin started turning into French. Yet the dogs in question never seem to emerge yelping on the horizon.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Language evolves over time, and concerns about its decline are often exaggerated.
In this quote, John McWhorter reflects on the historical anxiety surrounding the evolution of language, suggesting that despite frequent warnings about its decline, the dire outcomes predicted rarely come to pass. He humorously implies that language change is a natural process and that the fears of degeneration often do not materialize as anticipated.
Themes
LanguageEvolutionChangeCultureCommunication
In practice
Example use cases
This quote would be fitting in a discussion about the future of language in a linguistics class.
More from John Mcwhorter
All quotes →People banging away on their smartphones are fluently using a code separate from the one they use in actual writing, but a code it is, to which linguists are currently devoting articles.
John McwhorterRead
It would be good if teachers could genuinely understand that black English is not mistakes, it's just different English, and that what you want to do is add an additional dialect to black students' repertoire rather than teaching them out of what's thought of as a bad habit, like sloppy posture or chewing with your mouth open.
John McwhorterRead
Similar quotes
Language is one of the greatest gifts man has devised for himself. It ranks, alongside the discovery of fire and the wheel, as a major influence in making modern man what he is today.
Edward R. MurrowRead
Those who sniff decay in every shift of sense or alteration of usage do the language no service. Too often for such people the notion of good English has less to do with expressing ideas clearly than with making words conform to some arbitrary pattern.
Bill BrysonRead
Language is not an abstract construction of the learned, or of dictionary makers, but is something arising out of the work, needs, ties, joys, affections, tastes, of long generations of humanity, and has its bases broad and low, close to the ground
Noah WebsterRead
The living language is like a cowpath: it is the creation of the cows themselves, who, having created it, follow it or depart from it according to their whims or their needs. From daily use, the path undergoes change. A cow is under no obligation to stay
E. B. WhiteRead
A standard international language should not only be simple, regular, and logical, but also rich and creative.
Edward SapirRead
After studying the Hungarian language for years, I can confidently conclude that had Hungarian been my mother tongue, it would have been more precious. Simply because through this extraordinary, ancient and powerful language it is possible to precisely describe the tiniest differences and the most secretive tremors of emotions.
George Bernard ShawRead