OXFORD, Miss. – Nationally renowned linguist, scholar,
\nauthor and columnist John McWhorter delivers the 49th annual
\nChristopher Longest Lecture Friday (Oct. 2) at the University of
\nMississippi.
\n
<\/p>\n
\nMcWhorter, senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and adjunct
\nprofessor of linguistics at Columbia University, speaks at 4 p.m. in
\nBondurant Hall auditorium. His free, public presentation is titled “The
\nPower of Babel – And Why We Can’t Fight It in Our Language.” An
\nhourlong reception precedes the lecture.\n<\/p>\n
\nMcWhorter plans to
\nhelp his audience better understand the concept of prescriptivism – or
\ncriticism of deviation from the arbitrary standard merely because it is
\ndeviation – of the English language, which is the main theme of his
\nbook “The Power of Babel: A Natural History of Language.” He says he
\nwill enjoy “seeing light bulbs go off in at least a few people’s heads
\nas to a new conception, under which language is not something most
\npeople use ‘wrong.'”\n<\/p>\n
\n“For several decades, linguists have tried to convince the
\ngeneral public that it is illogical to suppose that people go about
\nmaking ‘mistakes’ in their speech, yet the argument never seems to go
\nthrough,” McWhorter said. “In this talk I want to see if a new approach
\nto the argument can actually change some minds.” \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \n<\/p>\n
\nDonald Dyer, chair and professor of modern languages, said
\nMcWhorter’s upcoming presentation is among the most interesting
\nlectures the department has featured because of the topic and lecturer.\n<\/p>\n
\n“I think it is important to hear somebody of McWhorter’s
\nstanding speak about such controversial issues,” Dyer said. “It’s one
\nthing for a university professor to talk about prescriptivism in the
\nclassroom, but it’s quite another thing for someone who is a well-known
\nspecialist in the field and the author of many books to speak publicly,
\nand of course intelligently, about the topic.”\n<\/p>\n
\nMcWhorter holds a doctorate in linguistics from Stanford
\nUniversity. He taught at Cornell University and the University of
\nCalifornia, Berkeley.\n<\/p>\n
\nSpecializing in language change and language contact, he has
\nauthored a collection of books, including “Doing Our Own Thing: The
\nDegradation of Language and Music in America and Why We Should, Like,
\nCare” and “The Word on the Street,” which focuses on dialects and Black
\nEnglish.\n<\/p>\n
\nHe has written three books on Creole languages and was selected
\nto deliver a 36-lecture audiovisual course called “The Story of Human
\nLanguage,” in 2004. His academic linguistics book, “Language
\nInterrupted: Signs of Non-Native Acquisition in Standard Language
\nGrammars,” was released in 2007, and last year, his books “Our
\nMagnificent Bastard Tongue: Untold Stories in the History of English”
\nand “All About the Beat: Why Hip Hop Can’t Save Black America” were
\npublished.\n<\/p>\n
\nMcWhorter was a weekly columnist for the New York Sun from 2006
\nto 2008. He has written on racial and cultural issues for publications
\nincluding The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The New York
\nTimes, The New York Daily News, The Chronicle of Higher Education, The
\nNational Review, The Los Angeles Times, The American Enterprise, Ebony,
\nVibe, New York Magazine, City Journal and The New Republic. \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\nThe Christopher Longest Lecture Series was established at UM in
\n1960 by Ann Waller Reins Longest, in recognition of Christopher
\nLongest’s distinguished service to the university from 1908 to 1951 in
\nthe departments of Classics and Modern Languages. The annual lecture
\nseries, sheltered in the departments of Modern Languages and English,
\nfeatures scholars speaking in these fields.\n<\/p>\n
\nFor more information or assistance related to a disability, call OXFORD, Miss. – Nationally renowned linguist, scholar, author and columnist John McWhorter delivers the 49th annual Christopher Longest Lecture Friday (Oct. 2) at the University of Mississippi.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[222],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n
\n662-915-7298. To learn more about UM’s departments of Modern Languages
\nand English, visit http:\/\/www.olemiss.edu\/depts\/