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Talking Back, Talking Black: Truths About America's Lingua Franca
It has now been almost fifty years since linguistic experts began studying Black English as a legitimate speech variety, arguing to the public that it is different from Standard English, not a degradation of it. Yet false assumptions and controversies still swirl around what it means to speak and sound “black.” In his first book devoted solely to the form, structure, and development of Black English, John McWhorter clearly explains its fundamentals and rich history, while carefully examining the cultural, educational, and political issues that have undermined recognition of this transformative, empowering dialect. Talking Back, Talking Black takes us on a fascinating tour of a nuanced and complex language that has moved beyond America’s borders to become a dynamic force for today’s youth culture around the world.
John McWhorter teaches linguistics, Western civilization, music history, and American studies at Columbia University. A New York Times best-selling author and TED speaker, he is a columnist for Time and regular contributor to the Atlantic, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post. His books on language include The Power of Babel, Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue, What Language Is, The Language Hoax, and Words on the Move.
John McWhorter teaches linguistics, Western civilization, music history, and American studies at Columbia University. A New York Times best-selling author and TED speaker, he is a columnist for Time and regular contributor to the Atlantic, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post. His books on language include The Power of Babel, Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue, What Language Is, The Language Hoax, and Words on the Move.
5 pages, Audiobook
First published December 19, 2016
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About the author
John McWhorter
47 books1,712 followersJohn Hamilton McWhorter (Professor McWhorter uses neither his title nor his middle initial as an author) is an American academic and linguist who is Associate Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University, where he teaches linguistics, American studies, philosophy, and music history. He is the author of a number of books on language and on race relations. His research specializes on how creole languages form, and how language grammars change as the result of sociohistorical phenomena.
A popular writer, McWhorter has written for Time, The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, The Chronicle of Higher Education, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The New Republic, Politico, Forbes, The Chicago Tribune, The New York Daily News, City Journal, The New Yorker, among others; he is also contributing editor at The Atlantic and hosts Slate's Lexicon Valley podcas
A popular writer, McWhorter has written for Time, The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, The Chronicle of Higher Education, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The New Republic, Politico, Forbes, The Chicago Tribune, The New York Daily News, City Journal, The New Yorker, among others; he is also contributing editor at The Atlantic and hosts Slate's Lexicon Valley podcas
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 196 reviews
June 28, 2020
This book has just one aim: to get Americans, white Americans, to recognise that Black English is a variety of English with its own accent and grammar and is in no way less a 'real' language than any other. It is not a patois, or dialect, or slang, or uneducated ghetto-speech, or worse, schooling should be in it implying that the speakers would find school 'easier' since they are somehow more challenged than any other group that speaks something different at home. Racism.
All African-Americans can speak it, whether or not they choose to do so outside of the home and Black events. It is the same language all across America. Barack Obama speaks standard English in public, rap stars speak Black English publicly and Maya Angelou did both, depending on the occasion.
Almost everyone is bilingual, as is almost everyone who lives in the US who speaks a different language at home but is educated in America. Those that can't pick up standard American, whether African-American, Spanish or from anywhere else are likely to have inadequate teaching and, or be from very deprived backgrounds that has hurt them academically, not intellectually, that the schools are not addressing.
John McWhorter makes his case very well. It's not a 5 star because it was a one-subject book and a bit too exhaustively persuasive for one already persuaded. It's no different where I live. The locals speak one way but learn standard English in school. They generally speak to me, the white woman, in a modified local version, they tone down the accent and leave out the non-English words except ones that are in common usage (even by the standard English speakers like me). Much like Black Americans speaking to White people.
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Notes on Reading
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All African-Americans can speak it, whether or not they choose to do so outside of the home and Black events. It is the same language all across America. Barack Obama speaks standard English in public, rap stars speak Black English publicly and Maya Angelou did both, depending on the occasion.
Almost everyone is bilingual, as is almost everyone who lives in the US who speaks a different language at home but is educated in America. Those that can't pick up standard American, whether African-American, Spanish or from anywhere else are likely to have inadequate teaching and, or be from very deprived backgrounds that has hurt them academically, not intellectually, that the schools are not addressing.
John McWhorter makes his case very well. It's not a 5 star because it was a one-subject book and a bit too exhaustively persuasive for one already persuaded. It's no different where I live. The locals speak one way but learn standard English in school. They generally speak to me, the white woman, in a modified local version, they tone down the accent and leave out the non-English words except ones that are in common usage (even by the standard English speakers like me). Much like Black Americans speaking to White people.
____________________
Notes on Reading
___________________
July 10, 2019
Is Ebonics a language? It was popularized as a distinct language spoken by some American African-Americans in the 1980’s and 90’s, yet another note in the culture symphony.
It’s interesting, and ironically humorous that linguist John McWhorter refers to a ‘Lingua Franca’ in the title of his book, not a ‘language.’ ‘Lingua Franca’ means literally, ‘French Language’ and connotes any universally understood tongue – as French virtually was in Europe in the years around World War I. That irony captures the light and sometimes humorous tone McWhorter takes toward the subject of African-American, or black speech in America.
He studies “black speech” in this book, he says, because that carries a specific ethnographic meaning. It refers to the descendants of black slaves in America. Afrikaans-speaking US citizens, for example, people who immigrated from South Africa, are also “African-Americans,” but we don’t call them that. He’s interested in what’s called “African-American Vernacular,” Sometimes he calls it black dialect.
“Ain’t nobody can diss my ride, you feel me?” I understand that sentence but intelligibility is not the only criterion for defining a language according to ISO Standard 639-3. Just as important is for communicators to have a “common literature or a common ethnolinguistic identity.” Having “distinct ethnolinguistic identities can be a strong indicator that [the groups’ speech] should nevertheless be considered to be different languages.” On that criterion, one could argue that there is indeed a distinct black language. It’s a difficult definition.
McWhorter’s main point is that whether characteristically black American speech is considered a language, a dialect, or a vernacular, it is a distinct and legitimate form of speech and above all NOT a devolution of “standard” American English. He labors to make this point: Black speech is in no way inferior to Standard English. He brings forth plentiful historical and linguistic evidence for this argument and even demonstrates how black speech is sometimes more rich in expression than Standard English. I believe him. Why doesn't everyone?
That’s exactly the thesis that makes this book and McWhorter’s point of view controversial. Even educated black people, he says, even his close friends, do not admit that there is a distinctly black way of speaking, even though it is patently obvious that there is. Why? Because black speech patterns are considered, by educated, “proper” society to be vulgar, inferior, low-class, uneducated and degenerate. And why that judgment? Racism, pure and simple.
Most educated black people don’t even like to admit there is a black accent, or “blaccent,” as McWhorter names it, though a simple test is to listen to a television program with your eyes closed and pick out the black voices then look to confirm. Anyone can do this. But again, to admit that black people have a blaccent is to implicitly make a judgment that black speech, and therefore black people, are inferior to the (white) standard.
McWhorter’s mission is to overcome these racial biases with reason and evidence. Black accent, vocabulary, and grammar, are not a matter of slang, not merely a Southern dialect, and not a product of ignorance. Black speech has legitimate historical roots and is organic to a particular ethnicity, and should be taken as a legitimate vernacular of its own.
Besides all that, code-switching is common. Most black people can speak Standard English perfectly well if circumstances call for it (very funny examples are often found in the work of Eddie Murphy, Chris Rock, Dave Chappelle and many others). Just as interesting, many black speakers, like McWhorter (I’ve heard many recorded lectures by him) have no discernible blaccent yet can speak black vernacular at will. Barack Obama was once criticized for exactly that.
I was fascinated by the historical and linguistic evidence, for example, from early 19th century recordings of black speech, that McWhorter describes as sounding like Irish or Scottish, nothing like today’s black vernacular. Language, any language, is alive, always changing, never static.
I’m a huge McWhorter fan. It was from him that I came to understand proto-Indo-European, and much else. Since I was already on board with him concerning the uniqueness and legitimacy of black speech, it’s hard for me to evaluate how convincing his arguments are. I'm convinced, but racism is not an evidence-based attitude so I don’t think he’ll change any minds. But he might give pause for thought among those willing to listen, because the topic of black vernacular is widely misunderstood. I admire him for the effort.
It’s interesting, and ironically humorous that linguist John McWhorter refers to a ‘Lingua Franca’ in the title of his book, not a ‘language.’ ‘Lingua Franca’ means literally, ‘French Language’ and connotes any universally understood tongue – as French virtually was in Europe in the years around World War I. That irony captures the light and sometimes humorous tone McWhorter takes toward the subject of African-American, or black speech in America.
He studies “black speech” in this book, he says, because that carries a specific ethnographic meaning. It refers to the descendants of black slaves in America. Afrikaans-speaking US citizens, for example, people who immigrated from South Africa, are also “African-Americans,” but we don’t call them that. He’s interested in what’s called “African-American Vernacular,” Sometimes he calls it black dialect.
“Ain’t nobody can diss my ride, you feel me?” I understand that sentence but intelligibility is not the only criterion for defining a language according to ISO Standard 639-3. Just as important is for communicators to have a “common literature or a common ethnolinguistic identity.” Having “distinct ethnolinguistic identities can be a strong indicator that [the groups’ speech] should nevertheless be considered to be different languages.” On that criterion, one could argue that there is indeed a distinct black language. It’s a difficult definition.
McWhorter’s main point is that whether characteristically black American speech is considered a language, a dialect, or a vernacular, it is a distinct and legitimate form of speech and above all NOT a devolution of “standard” American English. He labors to make this point: Black speech is in no way inferior to Standard English. He brings forth plentiful historical and linguistic evidence for this argument and even demonstrates how black speech is sometimes more rich in expression than Standard English. I believe him. Why doesn't everyone?
That’s exactly the thesis that makes this book and McWhorter’s point of view controversial. Even educated black people, he says, even his close friends, do not admit that there is a distinctly black way of speaking, even though it is patently obvious that there is. Why? Because black speech patterns are considered, by educated, “proper” society to be vulgar, inferior, low-class, uneducated and degenerate. And why that judgment? Racism, pure and simple.
Most educated black people don’t even like to admit there is a black accent, or “blaccent,” as McWhorter names it, though a simple test is to listen to a television program with your eyes closed and pick out the black voices then look to confirm. Anyone can do this. But again, to admit that black people have a blaccent is to implicitly make a judgment that black speech, and therefore black people, are inferior to the (white) standard.
McWhorter’s mission is to overcome these racial biases with reason and evidence. Black accent, vocabulary, and grammar, are not a matter of slang, not merely a Southern dialect, and not a product of ignorance. Black speech has legitimate historical roots and is organic to a particular ethnicity, and should be taken as a legitimate vernacular of its own.
Besides all that, code-switching is common. Most black people can speak Standard English perfectly well if circumstances call for it (very funny examples are often found in the work of Eddie Murphy, Chris Rock, Dave Chappelle and many others). Just as interesting, many black speakers, like McWhorter (I’ve heard many recorded lectures by him) have no discernible blaccent yet can speak black vernacular at will. Barack Obama was once criticized for exactly that.
I was fascinated by the historical and linguistic evidence, for example, from early 19th century recordings of black speech, that McWhorter describes as sounding like Irish or Scottish, nothing like today’s black vernacular. Language, any language, is alive, always changing, never static.
I’m a huge McWhorter fan. It was from him that I came to understand proto-Indo-European, and much else. Since I was already on board with him concerning the uniqueness and legitimacy of black speech, it’s hard for me to evaluate how convincing his arguments are. I'm convinced, but racism is not an evidence-based attitude so I don’t think he’ll change any minds. But he might give pause for thought among those willing to listen, because the topic of black vernacular is widely misunderstood. I admire him for the effort.
November 21, 2020
I love linguistics — I minored in it in college — and I haven’t run into many linguistics books aimed at the general population.
McWhorter examines the Black American dialect. He argues that it is not racist to notice it. Nor does it mean that blacks who use it don’t know how to use “standard” English. It’s a true dialect with its own grammar and morphological markers. Most people in the world speak more than one dialect, depending on the situation.
There’s also a phonological system, which is why a voice “sounds black” even when using standard English. Of course, not all black people use this dialect. It’s more common in communities that have more blacks, but it can be heard anywhere in America because of the sense of community it means. He covers a lot of sociolinguistics in this area.
He also goes into the history of English and Black American English, discussing how “minstrelese” came to be and how that mockery is so repugnant today that many think it’s racist to notice the real black dialect.
He speaks in layman’s terms, avoiding the linguistic terms I’ve used here, (though I selfishly wish he would have used phonological terms like tense, lax, and aspiration to be more exact). Linguistics people and English people don’t get along. You may get a sense of that here. Linguistics people believe all forms of speech are valid and equal; English people swear by the rules of the “standard” language and consider anything else wrong. Maybe it’s strange that I’m a grammar nazi in writing but a linguist in real life.
I want you to be truly comfortable with the idea that there is indeed a black way of speaking, that there isn’t anything wrong with it, that it would be bizarre if such speech did not exist, and that it is spoken alongside Standard English, not in opposition to it.
So if you’re black, feel free to use your “blaccent” however you want. If you’re not, don’t assume blacks are stupid for using it or incapable of using the standard dialect.
There are some typos, mostly punctuation. Clean content, other than a discussion of a– and n-----.
McWhorter examines the Black American dialect. He argues that it is not racist to notice it. Nor does it mean that blacks who use it don’t know how to use “standard” English. It’s a true dialect with its own grammar and morphological markers. Most people in the world speak more than one dialect, depending on the situation.
There’s also a phonological system, which is why a voice “sounds black” even when using standard English. Of course, not all black people use this dialect. It’s more common in communities that have more blacks, but it can be heard anywhere in America because of the sense of community it means. He covers a lot of sociolinguistics in this area.
He also goes into the history of English and Black American English, discussing how “minstrelese” came to be and how that mockery is so repugnant today that many think it’s racist to notice the real black dialect.
He speaks in layman’s terms, avoiding the linguistic terms I’ve used here, (though I selfishly wish he would have used phonological terms like tense, lax, and aspiration to be more exact). Linguistics people and English people don’t get along. You may get a sense of that here. Linguistics people believe all forms of speech are valid and equal; English people swear by the rules of the “standard” language and consider anything else wrong. Maybe it’s strange that I’m a grammar nazi in writing but a linguist in real life.
I want you to be truly comfortable with the idea that there is indeed a black way of speaking, that there isn’t anything wrong with it, that it would be bizarre if such speech did not exist, and that it is spoken alongside Standard English, not in opposition to it.
So if you’re black, feel free to use your “blaccent” however you want. If you’re not, don’t assume blacks are stupid for using it or incapable of using the standard dialect.
There are some typos, mostly punctuation. Clean content, other than a discussion of a– and n-----.
they-told-me-to-read-it
June 4, 2025Rec via carlysgrowingtbr
August 18, 2019
I first fell in love with John McWhorter through his Great Courses series. I listened to the audio as I weeded gardens, etc. It blew me away that there are 6000+ languages on Earth and that a relatively small percentage of them have a written form.
From reading this I found that Americans look at Black English in a strange way: rather than seeing it as the complicated dialect of English with its own grammar and accent and its speakers diglossic, people see it as bad grammar and not a normal change in language. The book is intended as an intro, as groundwork to further research (Geneva Smitherman, Lisa Green, etc).
This little book mentions many important concepts like code-switching (or changing one's register), i.e. speaking differently in different situations/groups, as well as similarities in context to the many Arabics: one speaks Egyptian Arabic in the house and informally and switches to Standard Arabic in formal situations--a person growing up and speaking the mothertongue in the household learns the standard version early in school and is perfectly capable of switching back and forth.
Of course McWhorter touches upon racism and minstrel parody of Black English and its effects on how we view the language today. This book is totally fascinating and I'm going to move to Lisa Green's African American English: A Linguistic Introduction next.
From reading this I found that Americans look at Black English in a strange way: rather than seeing it as the complicated dialect of English with its own grammar and accent and its speakers diglossic, people see it as bad grammar and not a normal change in language. The book is intended as an intro, as groundwork to further research (Geneva Smitherman, Lisa Green, etc).
This little book mentions many important concepts like code-switching (or changing one's register), i.e. speaking differently in different situations/groups, as well as similarities in context to the many Arabics: one speaks Egyptian Arabic in the house and informally and switches to Standard Arabic in formal situations--a person growing up and speaking the mothertongue in the household learns the standard version early in school and is perfectly capable of switching back and forth.
Of course McWhorter touches upon racism and minstrel parody of Black English and its effects on how we view the language today. This book is totally fascinating and I'm going to move to Lisa Green's African American English: A Linguistic Introduction next.
February 5, 2022
I'm multiple McWhorter books in by now, so I wasn't surprised by anything I read. McWhorter is still the best popularizer I know in any field; he's still fascinating to listen to even after literally hundreds of hours of podcasts and books and courses. (Also: I actually got to be a guest on his show, and he on mine—sort of!)
The most valuable idea I'll take away from this book is a method of popularizing something I already knew, and knew in large part through McWhorter. It's to say that, as with countless other dialects around the world, Black English isn't "less than" Standard American English; it's *more than.* That is, nearly all speakers of Black English Vernacular can reproduce SAE, and every single one of them can understand it. That people pick up a lingo unique to their subculture is unsurprising; it's common around the world. Indeed, as McWhorter says, it would be bizarre if they didn't. The only reason we don't say that about SAE is that it's not a subculture; numerically speaking, it's the culture.
Sometimes I get frustrated that more educated people don't understand what I take to be basic principles of linguistics. Without McWhorter to teach the topic, I wonder how much worse off we'd be.
The most valuable idea I'll take away from this book is a method of popularizing something I already knew, and knew in large part through McWhorter. It's to say that, as with countless other dialects around the world, Black English isn't "less than" Standard American English; it's *more than.* That is, nearly all speakers of Black English Vernacular can reproduce SAE, and every single one of them can understand it. That people pick up a lingo unique to their subculture is unsurprising; it's common around the world. Indeed, as McWhorter says, it would be bizarre if they didn't. The only reason we don't say that about SAE is that it's not a subculture; numerically speaking, it's the culture.
Sometimes I get frustrated that more educated people don't understand what I take to be basic principles of linguistics. Without McWhorter to teach the topic, I wonder how much worse off we'd be.
February 26, 2020
19th book for 2020.
A fascinating short book by the linguist John McWorther, making the public case—amongst linguists there is no case to be made—for why American Black English should be regarded as a proper dialect of English.
My only complaint is that I would have liked an even more in depth discussion of the similarities and differences between the Black and Standard American dialects; perhaps with some side discussion/comparisons of other English dialects.
3-stars.
A fascinating short book by the linguist John McWorther, making the public case—amongst linguists there is no case to be made—for why American Black English should be regarded as a proper dialect of English.
My only complaint is that I would have liked an even more in depth discussion of the similarities and differences between the Black and Standard American dialects; perhaps with some side discussion/comparisons of other English dialects.
3-stars.
February 28, 2017
McWhorter spends about 85% of his words on complaining and arguing about the way Black English has been treated by the popular news and entertainment media. If instead he had spent 85% of his words talking about the grammar and vocabulary of Black English, you might be reading a 4-star review.
McWhorter is one of those writers who subscribe to the idea that before you tell the reader what the reader showed up to read, you should first spell out for the reader what you are planning to tell the reader. This insults the intelligence of the reader. We have already gleaned from the dust jacket the alleged purpose of the text. Look, it says right here on the back of the book: "Talking Back, Talking Black takes us on a fascinating tour of a nuanced and complex language...." If we open the book, it is because we are interested in the information itself -- not in the author's assurances that he has a plan to share the information later in some subsequent chapter.
When we do, with the exercise of some patience, reach some actual information -- even though it is presented anecdotally rather than systematically -- it can in fact actually be interesting. But it would be a much better read if we didn't have to sift through so much non-information to get to it.
McWhorter is one of those writers who subscribe to the idea that before you tell the reader what the reader showed up to read, you should first spell out for the reader what you are planning to tell the reader. This insults the intelligence of the reader. We have already gleaned from the dust jacket the alleged purpose of the text. Look, it says right here on the back of the book: "Talking Back, Talking Black takes us on a fascinating tour of a nuanced and complex language...." If we open the book, it is because we are interested in the information itself -- not in the author's assurances that he has a plan to share the information later in some subsequent chapter.
When we do, with the exercise of some patience, reach some actual information -- even though it is presented anecdotally rather than systematically -- it can in fact actually be interesting. But it would be a much better read if we didn't have to sift through so much non-information to get to it.
May 21, 2017
Really more like 3.5 starts.
It’s well-written, but really short. And despite being so short, it feels slightly padded. Maybe it’s best to think of it as a series of essays more than a book.
His main point is that “Black English” (or African American Vernacular English or Ebonics or whatever) is a genuine language, with grammar rules and such. It is not just a lazy or slangy version of “standard English.” He makes an interesting and good analogy with Arabic, where there is a standard language throughout the Arab world, but the spoken language is quite different in Egypt, Morocco, Palestinian territory, etc. He goes into the meme that “Well, you wouldn’t speak that way in a job interview,” explaining that---like Arabs---people easily switch between two modes of speaking.
A couple of subjects I’d’ve liked him to address: clearly, some people can’t go back and forth between two languages, or we wouldn’t have the Ebonics controversy, putting blacks into ESL classes, and we wouldn’t have the witness in the Trayvon Martin trial being treated like an idiot. Also, it just doesn’t seem very plausible (to me) that different parts of the country somehow had Black English evolve in parallel; I sort of accept that that is indeed what happened, but I would have liked him to address this better.
It’s well-written, but really short. And despite being so short, it feels slightly padded. Maybe it’s best to think of it as a series of essays more than a book.
His main point is that “Black English” (or African American Vernacular English or Ebonics or whatever) is a genuine language, with grammar rules and such. It is not just a lazy or slangy version of “standard English.” He makes an interesting and good analogy with Arabic, where there is a standard language throughout the Arab world, but the spoken language is quite different in Egypt, Morocco, Palestinian territory, etc. He goes into the meme that “Well, you wouldn’t speak that way in a job interview,” explaining that---like Arabs---people easily switch between two modes of speaking.
A couple of subjects I’d’ve liked him to address: clearly, some people can’t go back and forth between two languages, or we wouldn’t have the Ebonics controversy, putting blacks into ESL classes, and we wouldn’t have the witness in the Trayvon Martin trial being treated like an idiot. Also, it just doesn’t seem very plausible (to me) that different parts of the country somehow had Black English evolve in parallel; I sort of accept that that is indeed what happened, but I would have liked him to address this better.
April 8, 2017
Short book about Black English, its complex rules, its history, how it varies from standard English, and why it's just as "good" as standard English. Nearly all speakers of Black English know it isn't best for formal situations and are perfectly capable of switching to Standard English when required. Also an interesting section about why the vocal timbre of white Americans tends to be different than African Americans, such that most of us can easily identify "race" over the phone even if there is no difference in the words used. Good comparisons to other dialects of languages, such as Sicilian (Italian). A bit repetitive given that it's such a short book anyway.
December 14, 2016
In this fascinating book, linguist John McWhorter presents a compelling argument - that the spoken language of the majority of black Americans is not a broken or error-filled English, but is a separate dialect from what he terms Standard English. Linguistic scholars currently refer to this dialect as African-American Vernacular English, which is quite a mouthful and sounds very academic, so the author refers to it as Black English. TALKING BACK TALKING BLACK, in an introduction and five chapters (totaling less than 200 pages), addresses many of the preconceptions of Black English, proposes a cultural and linguistic heritage for Black English, gives examples of the systematic grammar and speech patterns that qualify this as a distinct dialect of Standard English, and includes many historic and modern references to illustrate the dialect throughout time. The overarching idea is that, just as the English Language has grown and changed over time, due to various influences and interminglings, so has Black English. They are both rich and complex languages and are deserving of study and celebration.
January 7, 2017
A near perfect collection of linguistics essays about Black English Vernacular. Whether he's talking about the origins of English or the use of texted "lol" as an empathy marker, John McWhorter is always insightful, thoughtful, and accessible. He's also one of a very small number of linguists who can make you laugh out loud in a coffee shop. (Or, at least, he has that effect on me.) His essays showcase the history, depth, and complexity of a vibrant American dialect--one that often gets dismissed as slang/failed Standard English--while weaving together engaging case studies of BEV's intimacy markers, narrative tense, vowel shifts, dismissive/emphatic dismissive pronouns, and other complexities. Fast and fascinating read!
August 15, 2021
I was not the target audience for the basic message of this book, as I didn't need to be convinced that Black English is a legitimate systematic way of speaking, and not a manifestation of ignorance or mistakes. And of course Black people who speak Black English in informal situations are fully able to speak Standard English when the situation makes it appropriate to do so. It never even crossed my mind to think that White man's "Minstrelese" might have been the basis for Black English. But I suppose that there a lot of misconceptions about these things even today, so I do think that it is good to start a book about Black English with a careful explanation of these basic points so that readers can come to table with a common understanding.
There was a lot here that I didn't know. I didn't have a clear understanding of the functions of "be" and "done" in Black English usage. And though I had an intuitive sense of being able to identify a Black speaker, even when the person is speaking with Standard English vocabulary and pronunciation, I had not understood how the timbre of a person's voice can make this possible. Mr. McWhorter gives clear in depth explanations that will be new and interesting to all but the most knowledgeable students of linguistics.
One of the things that I found most interesting is how different Nineteenth Century Black English was from the language today. It is a given for linguists that every language evolves over time, sometimes more quickly than we might expect. Recordings of former slaves from the early days of sound recording reveal that Black people of that era spoke in a way that almost sounds like a Scots accent with a touch of Caribbean added. This feels odd to us today, so that modern portrayals of Nineteenth Century Black Americans in films and television typically use an accent that sounds more familiar to us today, even though it may actually be inauthentic. I have noticed something similar in costume dramas where the actresses are given carefully authentic hair and dress, but are put in modern makeup so that we can more easily see them as beautiful by today's standards and therefore fit them better into the story in our minds.
There was a lot here that I didn't know. I didn't have a clear understanding of the functions of "be" and "done" in Black English usage. And though I had an intuitive sense of being able to identify a Black speaker, even when the person is speaking with Standard English vocabulary and pronunciation, I had not understood how the timbre of a person's voice can make this possible. Mr. McWhorter gives clear in depth explanations that will be new and interesting to all but the most knowledgeable students of linguistics.
One of the things that I found most interesting is how different Nineteenth Century Black English was from the language today. It is a given for linguists that every language evolves over time, sometimes more quickly than we might expect. Recordings of former slaves from the early days of sound recording reveal that Black people of that era spoke in a way that almost sounds like a Scots accent with a touch of Caribbean added. This feels odd to us today, so that modern portrayals of Nineteenth Century Black Americans in films and television typically use an accent that sounds more familiar to us today, even though it may actually be inauthentic. I have noticed something similar in costume dramas where the actresses are given carefully authentic hair and dress, but are put in modern makeup so that we can more easily see them as beautiful by today's standards and therefore fit them better into the story in our minds.
November 3, 2025
An entertaining and in-depth analysis of Black English, and how Americans seem to be the only country uncomfortable with addressing the fact that they have a sister language that's viable, grammatically complex, and ever-changing. I loved the comparisons to other country's languages, which also have entirely different dialects, and could be seen as different languages entirely (German/Swiss or English/Scots for example). This book assures and proves to Americans just how important and nuanced Black English is, and asks the question, "Why do Americans view Black English as 'wrong' when the concept of different dialects has always existed without this label?"
December 5, 2020
I've been converted. I used to think that Black English was sub-par speech. McWhorter uses all his brilliance in linguistics to convince the reader that Black English has its own system of grammar. His main point is that Black English is not Standard English spoken badly.
Oh my goodness, his section on the difference between ask and aks had light bulbs exploding in my brain. (For one basic thing: I've always assumed aks was spelled ax, haha!) He brings to the table a knowledge about languages and dialects from across the globe. I was flat out fascinated.
Happy me: I own a Great Course of McWhorter's that I will listen to soon and very soon.
Fun quote extracted from a larger thought:
Oh my goodness, his section on the difference between ask and aks had light bulbs exploding in my brain. (For one basic thing: I've always assumed aks was spelled ax, haha!) He brings to the table a knowledge about languages and dialects from across the globe. I was flat out fascinated.
Happy me: I own a Great Course of McWhorter's that I will listen to soon and very soon.
Fun quote extracted from a larger thought:
...I think all young people should be taught to abstain from using like when seeking to sound authoritative, given that logic simply cannot prevent Americans from hearing "It was, like" as unauthoritative...
February 15, 2021
Read this for a research paper on Black English. This is so good!! It outlines Black English clearly, gives the history of it, compares it to other English dialects, and makes a case for 1) people calling it Black English 2) for people to understand that it is an ACTUAL DIALECT and not "internet slang" or broken English. I would not be mad if they started teaching this in schools during lessons on grammar. Too few people know Black English has a slightly different grammatical system than Standard American English.
May 26, 2023
I am a big McWhorter fan, but this book rather disappointed me. He has some nice points, and I especially appreciated his inclusion of that eerie phenomenon where you know the speaker is Black but can not analyse why. But then he beats the subjects to death with lots of repetition and rather extraneous discussion. There are even a few grammatical errors, which was a shock from McWhorter.
February 2, 2017
Linguistics for the people!
I really enjoyed this book, and I hate linguistics. it opened my eyes to a way of speech and communication that I did find odd. McWhorter does a great job explaining language and dialects via a case study on Black English.
I really enjoyed this book, and I hate linguistics. it opened my eyes to a way of speech and communication that I did find odd. McWhorter does a great job explaining language and dialects via a case study on Black English.
April 1, 2025
Maybe it wasn’t for me — thought it was generally redundant and written for white skeptics. I was expecting a celebration of Black language.
November 29, 2021
I was raised by a bigot who used minstrel-speak anytime he was indicating that someone was poor, uneducated, or stupid. He taught me that Black English was all slang and jive, lacking in grammar, structure and merit. He teamed up with the media to convince me that people who spoke Black English were lazy, and wanted a culturally unassailable excuse for their sloth. They tried to indoctrinate me with their hateful lies. Luckily, my best friend growing up was Haitian, and I never bought into that prejudicial horse shit. Unfortunately, I also never had the facts and means to show the bigots they were wrong.
Thank goodness for a book like this! This title doesn't make conjecture. It doesn't put forth any theories, or require any sort of cultural understanding. It simply proves that Black English is a full language, complete with grammatical rules, declensions, and versatile narrative devices. McWhorter demonstrates though science, and academic presentation that Black English is not only complete, but often more versatile than typical colloquial modern English!
This illuminating book not only serves to illustrate Black English as viable, useful, and rich, but as accessible and understandable to those not raised speaking it. I came away with a much greater understanding and appreciation for the nuances of Black English, and thus a greater ability to understand the way in which so many people naturally express themselves.
I highly recommend this book to anyone living in America. I include my Black and African-American friends in this, as I feel the book presents useful tools for teaching and sharing. It's very much presented as a concise refutation of many incorrect and/or racist ideas about speech, and therefore makes for an accessible teaching text.
Thank goodness for a book like this! This title doesn't make conjecture. It doesn't put forth any theories, or require any sort of cultural understanding. It simply proves that Black English is a full language, complete with grammatical rules, declensions, and versatile narrative devices. McWhorter demonstrates though science, and academic presentation that Black English is not only complete, but often more versatile than typical colloquial modern English!
This illuminating book not only serves to illustrate Black English as viable, useful, and rich, but as accessible and understandable to those not raised speaking it. I came away with a much greater understanding and appreciation for the nuances of Black English, and thus a greater ability to understand the way in which so many people naturally express themselves.
I highly recommend this book to anyone living in America. I include my Black and African-American friends in this, as I feel the book presents useful tools for teaching and sharing. It's very much presented as a concise refutation of many incorrect and/or racist ideas about speech, and therefore makes for an accessible teaching text.
February 18, 2025
This book was written by an American who has experienced living outside of the United States, and it addresses mostly monolingual Americans who may not have left their country in their lifetime. There is something in US culture that, for all that it is highly individualistic in many ways, craves uniformity and conformity to a norm. People have real issues with being "different" and with things that are "different". And language is no exception to this rule, which is why it is so easy for them to dismiss Black English as simply wrong. It ain't.
My main takeaways:
- Black English is not wrong English. It is a separate dialect.
- There are rules to Black English which differ from rules in standard English. Which means there is a wrong way to speak Black English in the same way that there is a wrong way to speak standard English.
- Code-Switching is normal.
- Languages evolve constantly.
- How languages evolve is mostly random.
- BLACK ENGLISH IS NOT WRONG ENGLISH. IT IS A SEPARATE DIALECT. (Louder, for the people in the back.)
Now, I say "dialect" where I could also say "language"; famously, according to Yiddish scholar Max Weinreich, "a language is a dialect with an army and a navy", meaning that the distinction is not very rigorous from a linguistic standpoint.
Anyway, as you can tell, I thoroughly enjoyed nerding out with the author about linguistics, and I greatly appreciate the insight into some of the peculiarities of Black English. It is important to note that there is an obvious sociopolitical aspect to Black English, the pitfalls of which are discussed in depth. All the while, he remains aware that strictly linguistic arguments do not land with ordinary people, and explains his case accordingly.
As a mixed-race, multilingual European person, I am not the target audience of this book, and some of the points McWhorter makes seem very obvious to me. But I'm hopeful that it will convince the skeptics he's trying to reach, and establish Black English as the legitimate language/dialect it clearly is. Now, I'm off to see if I can find a person who will teach it to me.
My main takeaways:
- Black English is not wrong English. It is a separate dialect.
- There are rules to Black English which differ from rules in standard English. Which means there is a wrong way to speak Black English in the same way that there is a wrong way to speak standard English.
- Code-Switching is normal.
- Languages evolve constantly.
- How languages evolve is mostly random.
- BLACK ENGLISH IS NOT WRONG ENGLISH. IT IS A SEPARATE DIALECT. (Louder, for the people in the back.)
Now, I say "dialect" where I could also say "language"; famously, according to Yiddish scholar Max Weinreich, "a language is a dialect with an army and a navy", meaning that the distinction is not very rigorous from a linguistic standpoint.
Anyway, as you can tell, I thoroughly enjoyed nerding out with the author about linguistics, and I greatly appreciate the insight into some of the peculiarities of Black English. It is important to note that there is an obvious sociopolitical aspect to Black English, the pitfalls of which are discussed in depth. All the while, he remains aware that strictly linguistic arguments do not land with ordinary people, and explains his case accordingly.
As a mixed-race, multilingual European person, I am not the target audience of this book, and some of the points McWhorter makes seem very obvious to me. But I'm hopeful that it will convince the skeptics he's trying to reach, and establish Black English as the legitimate language/dialect it clearly is. Now, I'm off to see if I can find a person who will teach it to me.
March 17, 2024
Having read this book, I can imagine what it must be like to experience Professor McWhorter's study on American linguistic history in person. In it, he challenges the reader to consider perceived legitimacy of languages. In his words, "English hasn't existed long enough to diverge into dozens of starkly distinct dialects as it has in Great Britain. Black English is America's only English dialect that combines being strikingly unlike standard English, centuries old, embraced by an ever wider spectrum of people, and represented in an ever-growing literature." Using examples like Scots grammar that is quite different from English grammar and that many would consider a different dialect of English, or "Kiezdeutsch" speakers in Germany who are capable of speaking standard German "when they have to". McWhorter touches on many topics in this compact book, including code switching, Ebonics, languages around the world, minstrel speech in America, the "N word", "blaccent", Harlem Renaissance and so much more. In my opinion, he convincingly explains the nuances and complexities of Black English as a legitimate speech variety and its cultural importance.
February 28, 2023
The author is a linguist and African-American so he teaches the listener not only how to speak "Black" but also proves why it is a valid dialect and NOT simply an error in speaking proper English. I was already convinced of this after listening to the audio course, "The Secret Life of Words: English Words and Their Origins" by Anne Curzan. She mentioned African American English (AAE) when it was relevant, but seems to cover it most in Lecture 25 Slangy Wordplay.
I might have rated the current audiobook the full 5 stars had I been more interested in learning how to speak AAE. If I ever did develop the interest, this audiobook would be where I started.
I might have rated the current audiobook the full 5 stars had I been more interested in learning how to speak AAE. If I ever did develop the interest, this audiobook would be where I started.
July 26, 2022
I didn’t learn a lot of new things from this short book that I didn’t learn from Pinker’s The language Instinct but the author is always concise, informed, and witty. And there are some references to the historical evolution of Black speech that were new theories me. I should also mention that the author is a great audiobook narrator.
I am very interested in learning a lot about dialects, since my wife’s first language is an Arabic dialect (something the author discusses in the book by way of analogy) and I can’t quite conceive of how this has affected her (and my stepson, who also speaks this dialect, but not Modern Standard Dialect). I mean, I’m always curious to know which version of Arabic she uses in which contexts, etc.
I also liked the subject of the book because my other son learned to speak the so-called Black dialect by attending all black schools, etc. (I’m White; he’s mixed race). When I told him I was reading a book on Black grammar and accent, he told me he thought Black speech was more a matter of timing than anything else. I think the author accepts that idea although I don’t remember he put it precisely this way.
I am very interested in learning a lot about dialects, since my wife’s first language is an Arabic dialect (something the author discusses in the book by way of analogy) and I can’t quite conceive of how this has affected her (and my stepson, who also speaks this dialect, but not Modern Standard Dialect). I mean, I’m always curious to know which version of Arabic she uses in which contexts, etc.
I also liked the subject of the book because my other son learned to speak the so-called Black dialect by attending all black schools, etc. (I’m White; he’s mixed race). When I told him I was reading a book on Black grammar and accent, he told me he thought Black speech was more a matter of timing than anything else. I think the author accepts that idea although I don’t remember he put it precisely this way.
June 2, 2020
A short, but fascinating study of what many linguists call AAVE (African American Vernacular English), but what McWhorter refers to as 'Black English'.
It's a quick, comprehensive look at what makes Black English a separate dialect of English, complete with its own grammatical structures and nuances; and why it's wrong to assume that people who speak Black English simply "don't speak English right".
I'm wondering if I can trick my grandpa into reading this... because he *always* complains about people on the news "not speaking proper English". :P
It's a quick, comprehensive look at what makes Black English a separate dialect of English, complete with its own grammatical structures and nuances; and why it's wrong to assume that people who speak Black English simply "don't speak English right".
I'm wondering if I can trick my grandpa into reading this... because he *always* complains about people on the news "not speaking proper English". :P
August 10, 2022
It was a good book about African-American vernacular English and its history and it’s idiosyncrasies. It answered many questions and was honest with the questions it couldn’t answer. It really explained that African-American vernacular English or the term the book he is “Black English “ is really a dialect. It is frowned upon by both Black people and other races, but it’s not ALL based on racism.
My take away from this book, I could never be a linguist. Languages make astrophysics look like 1st grade arithmetic.
My take away from this book, I could never be a linguist. Languages make astrophysics look like 1st grade arithmetic.
November 15, 2019
This is was really interesting! I picked it up on a whim at the library. I learned a lot about black English - both the structure and the history. I thought the comparisons to other countries were especially useful. I’d really like to dig deeper into this topic and how it’s being discussed as far as how to best educate students of color.
July 26, 2022
I didn't need to be convinced of McWhorter's main goal of the book, mainly because I had long been a reader/listener of his lectures and took on the linguist point of view. That said, even having agreed with his opening thesis, and having known some of what he talked about, I learned a lot about features of Black English as well as its history. I'm glad he had the opportunity to write a book to develop this material more - I had heard some of this from him before, but not all of these dimensions.
March 7, 2024
John McWhorter is a phenomenal writer and speaker (I love that he narrates his own books) and I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Educational, fascinating, and important. I'd highly recommend it to anyone.
February 9, 2025
I am normally not that much into linguistics, but that was such a good read! There are certain explanations that one might subscribe to or not, however, the author stresses throughout the entire book that his opinions are up to debate.
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