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