John McWhorter on Linguistics, Music, and Race (Live at Mason)

2020-03-11 · 79 min · episode 89 · 10 entities

episode page audio

Asserted relationships

→ appeared on Conversations podcast

0.63 · ×2

evidence rules-v4
John McWhorter on Linguistics, Music, and Race (Live at Mason)
→ works at Tyler company

0.48 · ×2

evidence rules-v4
joined Tyler
→ discusses Society & Culture concept

0.40 · ×2

evidence rules-v4
Feed category: Society & Culture
→ discusses Education concept

0.40 · ×2

evidence rules-v4
Feed category: Education
→ hosted by Mercatus Center at George Mason University company

0.40 · ×2

evidence rules-v4
Feed author/publisher: Mercatus Center at George Mason University

Entities found in this episode

companys 4

mentioned Mercatus Center at George Mason University company

0.70 · ×2

evidence rules-v4
Feed author/publisher: Mercatus Center at George Mason University
mentioned Tyler company

0.60 · ×2

evidence rules-v4
joined Tyler
works at Tyler company

0.48 · ×2

evidence rules-v4
joined Tyler
hosted by Mercatus Center at George Mason University company

0.40 · ×2

evidence rules-v4
Feed author/publisher: Mercatus Center at George Mason University

concepts 4

mentioned Society & Culture concept

0.50 · ×2

evidence rules-v4
Feed category: Society & Culture
mentioned Education concept

0.50 · ×2

evidence rules-v4
Feed category: Education
discusses Society & Culture concept

0.40 · ×2

evidence rules-v4
Feed category: Society & Culture
discusses Education concept

0.40 · ×2

evidence rules-v4
Feed category: Education

persons 1

mentioned John McWhorter person

0.66 · ×2

evidence rules-v4
John McWhorter on Linguistics, Music, and Race (Live at Mason)

podcasts 1

appeared on Conversations podcast

0.63 · ×2

evidence rules-v4
John McWhorter on Linguistics, Music, and Race (Live at Mason)

Episode description as stored

Who can you ask about the Great American Songbook, the finer Jell-O flavors, and peculiar languages like Saramaccan all while expecting the same kind of fast, thoughtful, and energetic response? Listeners of Lexicon Valley might hazard a guess: John McWhorter. A prominent academic linguist, he's also highly regarded for his podcast and popular writings across countless books and articles where often displays a deep knowledge in topics beyond his academic training. John joined Tyler to discuss why he thinks that colloquial Indonesian should be the world's universal language, the barbaric circumstances that gave rise to Creole languages, the reason Mandarin won't overtake English as the lingua franca, how the Vikings shaped modern English, the racial politics of Gershwin's Porgy and Bess , the decline of American regional accents, why Shakespeare needs an English translation, Harold Arlen vs. Andrew Lloyd Webber, whether reparations for African-Americans is a good idea, how living in Jackson Heights shapes his worldview, what he learned from his mother and father, why good linguistics students enjoy both Russian and Chinese, and more. Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links. Recorded February 17th, 2020 Other ways to connect Follow us on Twitter and Instagram Follow Tyler on Twitter Follow John on Twitter Email us: cowenconvos@mercatus.gmu.edu Subscribe at our newsletter page to have the latest Conversations with Tyler news sent straight to your inbox.