Myths, Lies, and Half-Truths of Language Usage

De: John McWhorter, The Great Courses

Narrado por: John McWhorter

Conventional wisdom suggests English is going to the dogs, that bad grammar, slang, and illogical constructions signal a decline in standards of usage - to say nothing of the corruption wrought by email and text messages.

But English is a complicated, marvelous language. Far from being a language in decline, English is the product of surprisingly varied linguistic forces, some of which have only recently come to light. And these forces continue to push English in exciting new directions.

These 24 eye-opening lectures dispel the cloud of confusion that clings to English, giving you a crystal-clear view of why we use it the way we do and where it fits into the diverse languages of the world. Like an archaeologist sifting through clues to a vanished civilization, you'll uncover the many features of English that sound normal to a native speaker but that linguists find puzzling and also revealing.

For example, the only languages that use "do" the way English does (as in "do not walk") are the Celtic languages such as Welsh, which were spoken by people who lived among the early English and influenced their language in many subtle ways.

You'll also delight in considering modern controversies about how English is used. For example, "Billy and me went to the store" is considered incorrect, because the subject form, "I," should be used instead of "me." But then why does "Me and Billy went to the store" sound so much more fluent than "I and Billy went to the store"?

These examples and many more represent a few of the flash points in English's long history of defying rules, a process that occurs in all languages. You'll come away from this course with every reason to be a proud, informed, and more self-aware speaker of English.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your My Library section along with the audio.

©2012 The Teaching Company, LLC (P)2012 The Great Courses

John McWhorter at his best

John McWhorter is at his amusing & informative best in this series. He always wields his expertise impressively, and his voice is simply without parallel, but his impish sense of humor is on full display here, conjouring up memorable analogies for otherwise abtruse ideas.

language usage

This is a great history of how we, English speakers in particular, use language.

Mostly interesting

The professor is often as interested in talking about himself as the material, which can be annoying at times.

Interesting and understandable.

Professor McWhorter presented this in a very clear and understandable way, in spite of the vast random and sometimes unfathomable ways our language has formed. I'm glad I'm not graded on these lecture aeries, but I enjoy them.

pure genius. very insightful

loved it. didnt expect it to be humorous as equally informative. glad I purchased. will share

One of my favorite great Courses audiobooks of all

insight into the passage of languages and the origin of all languages. Language history and the understanding of how languages has evolved.

good intro to McWhorter and linguistics

John McWhorter is always funny and this is a fascinating look at some selected linguistic topics. I especially enjoyed the ones on poetry and texting. This would be a good one to listen to if you are new to him, and would be accessible to an interested high schooler. If you have listened to his other Great Courses and books, some of this will be repetitive. In any case, he's always a joy for me to listen to.

Even if you don't agree with him on current politics (I happen to, but it really doesn't come up in these lectures), you will enjoy this offering.

For grammar pedants everywhere

I include myself into this group and I learned so much from this course. The most important lesson is that what I thought to be immutable laws of English grammar are far from it. I am not only humbled but better for this new-found knowledge. Thank you Professor McWhorter as always for another delightful course.

Fantastic! Never expected this to be so much fun

McWhorter is one of the best teachers I have ever had.

Energetic. Funny. Spontaneous! Educational!

Even if you never wanted to learn about the English language, you should listen to this book.

There are so many things in it about history, social history, language (of course), and grammar.

And I will try to use the phrase "obsessive progressive" as much as I can in daily life. (You'll understand when you listen to the book.)

Please, don't let the fact that this is a language course stop you. It's well worth every minute. (Although I confess I listen at 1.5 speed, but his voice doesn't suffer.)

Anyone who enjoys bill Bryson will enjoy Professor McWhorter

Langauge treasures

This course was very interesting! The lecturer takes a rather non-traditional view about modern English language usage. He argues that several common grammar rules are based on preference rather than any sort of logic. His arguments are detailed and informative. He also provides some background on many other languages and explains how the English language is related. There are so many things that I learned about language during this course!