EVERYBODY!
( CHEERS AND APPLAUSE ) MY NEXT GUEST TONIGHT, LADIES
AND GENTLEMEN, IS A COLUMBIA PROFESSOR WHO
HOSTS ONE OF MY FAVORITE PODCASTS, "LEXICON VALLEY."
PLEASE WELCOME JOHN McWHORTER.
♪ ♪ ♪
WELL, THANKS FOR BEING HERE.
>> THANK YOU FOR HAVING ME.
>> Stephen: I LISTEN TO YOUR PODCAST ALL THE TIME.
>> KEEP LISTENING!
>> Stephen: I WILL.
I LOVE THE WAY YOU EXPLAIN WORDS, HOW YOU TELL THE STORY OF
HOW WE TELL STORIES.
>> THAT'S MY JOB.
>> Stephen: SO, WHAT IS-- WHAT IS LEXICOGRAPHY?
WHAT'S THE IMPORTANCE OF LINGUISTICS?
>> WHAT'S IMPORTANT ABOUT LINGUISTICS IS WE UNDERSTAND
THAT LANGUAGE ALWAYS CHANGES.
AND THE REASON WE UNDERSTAND THAT IS NOT JUST BECAUSE IT
ALWAYS CHANGES.
BECAUSE IN ITSELF, WHO CARES?
THE CLOUDS ARE ALWAYS CHANGING.
BUT WE HAVE THIS LAST REMAINING PREJUDICE THAT WE CAN EXPRESS
OPENLY WITH NO SCIENCE URWHATSOEVER, WHICH IS WE HAVE
THIS IDEA TWO OUT OF THREE PEOPLE ARE USING THE LANGUAGE
WRONG IN SOME SCIENTIFICALLY PROVABLE WAY, AND IT JUST ISN'T
TRUE, BUT IT CAN BE REALLY HARD TO SEE THAT.
>> Stephen: WHAT DO YOU MEAN?
>> A LOT OF LINGUISTICS IS TO TEACH US THAT NO, LANGUAGE COULD
NOT BE CHANGING ALL THE TIME.
THERE COULD NEVER BE A LANGUAGE THAT DIDN'T EXIST IN DIFFERENT
FORMS.
AND THE ONLY REASON WE THINK OF ONE KIND AS THE GOOD KIND OR THE
RIGHT KIND IS BECAUSE IT LAND TO WIND UP IN THE SHOP WINDOW FOR
SOME CHANCE REASON-- GENERALLY HUNDREDS OF YEARS AGO.
SO THAT'S A LOT OF WHAT LINGUISTICS IS GOOD FOR IN THE
WORLD.
BECAUSE MY LINGUIST EAR LISTENS TO ANYBODY TALKING, NO MATTER
WHAT DIALECT, NO MATTER HOW VULGAR, NO MATTER HOW
INEBRIATED, AND I THINK GOOD LORD, THAT IS SO NUANCED AND
COMPLEX.
AND LINGUISTS WANT EVERYBODY TO HEAR ALL LANGUAGE THAT WAY.
>> Stephen: IS THERE AN OLDEST WORD IN ENGLISH?
IS THERE A WORD THAT HAS CHANGED THE LEAST IN ENGLISH?
>> SO A SINGLE WORD THAT HAS CHANGED THE LEAST.
THERE'S NOT ANY ONE WORD NAY WOULD THINK OF, BUT IT TENDS TO
BE THE MOST HEAVILY USED AND, THEREFORE, DULLEST WORDS.
FOR EXAMPLE, "AND."
I HAVE NOTHING REMOTELY INTERESTING I COULD SAY ABOUT
"AND."
AND "I," IT GOES BACK AND SOUNDS DIFFERENT, BUT IT'S SAIMENT
THING.
FAMILY MEMBERS.
THINK ABOUT WHAT "BROTHER" HAS COME TO MEAN IN ACTUAL ENGLISH,
WITH ALL THE BRO, ET CETERA.
NOBODY WOULD HAVE RECOGNIZED THAT ON THE STECHTZ UKRAINE.
YOU DO HAVE THINGS CHANGING.
FATHER, MOTHER-- THOSE BASIC MEANT-AND-POTATOES, LIFE IN
THEM, DIE IN THEM WORDS TEND TO STAY THE SAME, BUT THAT'S REALLY
ONLY A FEW HUNDRED WORDS.
MOST WORDS ARE IN A STATE OF FLUX.
>> Stephen: WHAT'S CHANGING NOW?
>> LIKE RIGHT NOW?
>> Stephen: IN OUR LANGUAGE, WHAT'S CHANGING NOW?
>> YOU CAN FEEL IT HAPPENING IN REAL TIME.
IT'S FASCINATING.
THERE'S SOMETHING STEPHEN PINKER HAS CALLED THE EUPHEMISM
TREADMILL.
THERE WAS A TIME WHEN YOU COULD NAME A SCHOOL-- YOU KNOW "SCHOOL
FOR CRIPPLES," AND YOU COULD HAVE THAT CAST IN STONE, AND
THAT WAS OKAY.
NOW, AFTER A WHILE, NEGATIVE ASSOCIATIONS, UNFORTUNATELY,
ACCRETE ON TO CRIPPLES AND SO YOU CHANGE IT TO "HANDICAPPED."
THAT WORD GETS A LITTLE OLD, AND YOU CHANGE IT TO "DISABLED,"
AND,000 NOOSE CONSIDERED -- THAT'S CALLED THE EUPHEMISM
TREADMILL, WHERE NEGATIVE ASSOCIATIONS, WHETHER WE LIKE IT
EAR NOT, SETTLE ON A WORD AND YOU HAVE TO COME UP WITH A NEW
ONE.
THE ONE HAPPENING NOW-- I'M A STODGY PERSON WHO TENDS TO LIKE
OLD THINGS AND DOESN'T WANT THINGS TO CHANGE SOY ALWAYS
LEARN ABOUT SLANG TERMS ABOUT 20 MINUTES TOO LATE.
FOR EXAMPLE, "WOKE."
I'M NOT GOING TO TELL YOU WHEN I LEARNED THAT TERM.
BUT WHEN I LEARNED IT, IT WAS STILL JUST THE COOLEST THING.
"YOU ARE WOKE TO THE COMPLEXITIES OF SOCIETY AND HOW
INJUSTICE REALLY HAPPENS."
IT WAS COOL.
IT SMELLED LIKE, ROUGHLY, MARIJUANA AND LAF DER.
IT WAS THAT KIND OF WORD.
( LAUGHTER ) AND ABOUT TWO SECONDS LATER, A
CERTAIN KIND OF PERSON STARTED SNEERG, "OH, IS THAT PERSON
WOKE?" IT'S AT THE POINT WHERE "WOKE"
IN QUOTATION MARKS IS THE WORD "PERKY."
YOU CAN'T SAY SOMEBODY IS PERKY.
IT HASN'T BEEN A REAL WORD SINCE "BYE-BYE BIRDIE."
NOW WOKE IS THE SAME THING.
IT'S A WORD PEOPLE ON CERTAIN SIDES OF THE POLITICAL SPECTRUM
THROW AT PEOPLE.
YOUR VIEWS ARE THE ONES THAT YOU THINK COME FROM ON HIGH.
THAT IS HAPPENING ROUGHLY AT A CERTAIN TIME A PERSON BECAME
EXPRT ABOUT SIX MONTHS BEFORE THAT.
I FOUND IT FASCINATING.
WOKE WILL BE ALL BUT UNUSABLE IN 10 YEARS.
>> Stephen: TWO POINTS.
ONE, KELLY RIPA, VERY PERKY.
>> KELLY RIPA.
>> Stephen: NO, SHE'S PERKY.
AND THE OTHER IS HOW HAS THIS MAN, HOW HAS DONALD TRUMP
CHANGED OUR LANGUAGE?
BECAUSE I THINK MORE PEOPLE READ HIM ON A DAILY BASIS RIGHT NOW
THAN PROBABLY ARE READING THE GOSPELS.
BECAUSE HE'S TWEETING TO MILLIONS OF PEOPLE WHO ARE
RESPONDING TO WHAT HE SAYS.
>> THAT'S LITERATURE.
>> Stephen: RANDOM PUNCTUATION.
>> YUP.
>> Stephen: RANDOM PARENTHESES, AND OCCASIONAL ALL
CAPS.
>> YUP.
>> Stephen: COVFEFE.
WHAT DOES ANY OF IT MEAN FOR OUR LANGUAGE?
( LAUGHTER ) ( APPLAUSE )
WHAT HAS HE DONE?
>> WHAT HAS HE DONE!
>> Stephen: DOES HE INTERSEECT DOES WHAT HE DO INTERSECT WITH
YOUR STUDIES?
>> HOPEFULLY THAT MAN DOES NOT INTERSECT WITH ANYTHING HAVING
TO DO WITH ME.
BUT--
KEEP HIM AWAY.
BUT, NO, IT'S VERY INTERESTING WITH HIM.
HE DOES LET IT ALL HANG OUT WITH THE LANGUAGE.
>> Stephen: TRUE.
>> , AND REALLY, WE'VE ALL KNOWN PEOPLE WHO WROTE LIKE THAT, WHO
TALKED LIKE THAT.
I MEAN, THESE ARE PEOPLE WHO WERE DEFINED, DESPITE ALL OF
THEIR DIVERSITY, AS NEVER BECOMING PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED
STATES.
HE'S QUITE ORDINARY.
BUT HE'S THE FIRST PERSON WHO HAS NO SENSE WHATSOEVER THAT IF
YOU'RE USING LANGUAGE, AS THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES,
YOU'RE USING IT AS A KIND OF SEMAPHORE.
YOU'RE NEVER REALLY CHATTING.
YOU'RE KIND OF SIGNALING.
AND FOR HIM, HE THINKS THAT IT'S OKAY.
AND AND SO NOW I SUPPOSE THAT IT'S BECOME SO, TO JUST RUN YOUR
MOUTH, AND HAVE THIS LOGARIC, VERBAL FANTASIA COME OUT THE WAY
IT WOULD IF YOU WERE HALF DRUNK OVER THANKSGIVING DINNER.
AND TWITTER--
( APPLAUSE ) >> Stephen: I'M AFRAID-- I'M
AFRAID WE HAVE TO LEAVE IT THERE.
MAYBE WE SHOULD.
THE PODCAST "LEXICON VALLEY" IS AVAILABLE ON iTUNES.
PLEASE CHECK IT OUT.