The power of Babel
by John H. McWhorter · first published 2001
56% recommend44% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Accessible introduction to historical linguistics, tracing how languages change over time. It serves as a good starting point for those curious about language history and how dialects diverge.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
"There are approximately six thousand languages on Earth today, each a descendant of the tongue first spoken by Homo sapiens some 150,000 years ago. How did they all develop? What happened to the first language?". "In this tour of territory too often claimed by stodgy grammarians, linguistics professor John McWhorter ranges across linguistic theory, geography, history, and pop culture to tell the fascinating story of how thousands of very different languages have evolved from a single, original source in a natural process similar to biological evolution. While laying out how languages mix an
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…1. Shakespearean pronunciation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPlpphT7n9s 2. Problems that would be caused by simplifying spelling: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English-language_spelling_refo... 3. Power of Babel: http://www.amazon.com/The-Power-Babel-Natural-Language/dp/00... 4. Toastmasters speech about "Manglish": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDanVi6byKo (Toastmasters has its own version of English, full…
on “English has been my pain for 15 years” ↗…ascendant left are going to be big business around here for the next few years. [1] To be fair: he's also a professional linguist with a real day job as a professor at Columbia. Go find and read his Power of Babel book at some point, it's great.
on “John McWhorter: The Neoracists” ↗If you're into this sort of stuff, John McWhorter describes this theory and many others in his introductory book to (mostly historical) linguistics, The Power of Babel [http://www.amazon.com/Power-Babel-Natural-History-Language/d...].
on “Study finds 'mother of all languages' (spoken in pre-historic Africa)” ↗…no matter what someone who thought they were clever wrote in a book. Yeah, this is a trigger for me. (: Dr. Geoff Lindsey is a great reference. Another is John McWhorter, specifically his books The Power of Babel and Words on the Move. Linguists are scientists of the natural world, not law-makers.
on “A parliament of owls and a murder of crows: How groups of birds got their names” ↗You should read Power of Babel if you like this topic! https://www.amazon.com/Power-Babel-Natural-History-Language/...
on “Finding the Air Cannon” ↗OO i love these threads. I am currently reading "The Power Broker" by Robert Caro and its awesome so far (~150 pgs in). Just finished Zinn's "A people's history". Next up is "Atlas Shrugged" or "The Power of Babel" by John McWhorter.
on “What are you reading?” ↗For what it's worth, I think I recall where I read it. "The Power of Babel" a popular science linguistics book by John McWhorter. I'll see if I can dig up the quote later and report back......
on “Lexical Distance Among the Languages of Europe” ↗…information about slang and its social implications, you might find Deborah Cameron's book "Verbal Hygiene" insightful. For a broader look at how language reflects cultural attitudes, consider reading "The Power of Babel" by John H. McWhorter. https://chat.openai.com/share/3445bc06-1a92-4886-b886-a0004e...
on “Small business owners say they're pressured to hire off-duty cops for security” ↗That sounds right. I appreciate the added detail. I learned what little I know on this from John McWorther's book "The Power of Babel: A Natural History of Language": https://a.co/d/edvzLuB
on “What’s the World’s Oldest Language?” ↗