released 10/2/2024

Linguist John McWhorter’s 2003 book, Doing Our Own Thing: The Degradation of Language and Music and Why We Should, Like, Care, examines the reasons behind the decline in articulate speech and writing in the late 20th century, particularly spurred by the radical changes in 1960s America. In this Conversation, McWhorter notes that before the change there were at least two languages that people learned: the casual language of everyday life (or, in McWhorter’s words, “beer-drinking speech”), and formal language, which was reserved for public speaking occasions and writing. Since the 1960s, however, which ushered in an unprecedented and persisting rebellion against authority, Americans have largely abandoned formal usage of language. Now casual language dominates spheres of discourse, and people find formal language boring and insincere. Ken Myers talks with McWhorter about the implications of this change in areas such as technology and media, literacy, democracy, and music.

55 minutes

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