The Indifferent Cadences of Speech
Emily Eaken on University of California linugistics professor John McWhorter: “As a linguist, he says, he knows that grammatical rules are arbitrary and that in casual conversation people have never abided by them. Rather, he argues, the fault lies with the collapse of the distinction between the written and the oral. Where formal, well-honed English was once de rigueur in public life, he argues, it has all but disappeared, supplanted by the indifferent cadences of speech and ultimately impairing our ability to think.” Eakin quotes Robin Lakoff (ex-wife of George), who criticizes Whorton: “people like John compare an imaginary golden age of only high culture products with what we have today, when low culture's products exist for posterity on tape.”
