Talking Back, Talking Black, John McWhorter
Talking Back, Talking Black, John McWhorter
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Talking Back, Talking Black
Truths About America's Lingua Franca

Author: John McWhorter

Narrator: John McWhorter

Unabridged: 4 hr 19 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 04/30/2019

Synopsis

Linguists have been studying Black English as a speech variety for years, arguing to the public that it is different from Standard English, not a degradation of it. Yet false assumptions and controversies still swirl around what it means to speak and sound "black." In his first book devoted solely to the form, structure, and development of Black English, John McWhorter clearly explains its fundamentals and rich history while carefully examining the cultural, educational, and political issues that have undermined recognition of this transformative, empowering dialect.

Talking Back, Talking Black takes us on a fascinating tour of a nuanced and complex language that has moved beyond America's borders to become a dynamic force for today's youth culture around the world.

About John McWhorter

John McWhorter teaches linguistics, Western civilization, music history, and American studies at Columbia University. A New York Times bestselling author and TED speaker, he is a columnist for CNN.com, a regular contributor to the Atlantic, a frequent guest on CNN and MSNBC, and the host of Slate's language podcast, Lexicon Valley. His books on language include The Power of Babel; Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue; Words on the Move; Talking Back, Talking Black; and The Creole Debate.

Reviews

Goodreads review by William

Is Ebonics a language? It was popularized as a distinct language spoken by some American African-Americans in the 1980’s and 90’s, yet another note in the culture symphony. It’s interesting, and ironically humorous that linguist John McWhorter refers to a ‘Lingua Franca’ in the title of his book, no......more

Goodreads review by Catfish

I first fell in love with John McWhorter through his Great Courses series. I listened to the audio as I weeded gardens, etc. It blew me away that there are 6000+ languages on Earth and that a relatively small percentage of them have a written form. From reading this I found that Americans look at Bla......more

Goodreads review by Mark

I'm multiple McWhorter books in by now, so I wasn't surprised by anything I read. McWhorter is still the best popularizer I know in any field; he's still fascinating to listen to even after literally hundreds of hours of podcasts and books and courses. (Also: I actually got to be a guest on his show......more

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