Prof. McWhorter, former student of yours here (this spring)! Can you recall other periods in American (or global) history when language has been such a cultural flashpoint? Recent years have produced a kind of social prescriptivism that connects language use (and many specific words) to politics and social beliefs. Do you think this is a passing phenomenon? Or is has language been ‘discovered’ as an important tool for social change?
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Prof. McWhorter, former student of yours here (this spring)! Can you recall other periods in American (or global) history when language has been such a cultural flashpoint? Recent years have produced a kind of social prescriptivism that connects language use (and many specific words) to politics and social beliefs. Do you think this is a passing phenomenon? Or is has language been ‘discovered’ as an important tool for social change?
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