QuoteProject
People think of black English as ungrammatical, but it bears the same relationship to standard English as contemporary Hebrew does to ancient Hebrew.
John Mcwhorter
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

Black English is a legitimate dialect, similar in evolution to how Hebrew has changed over time.

In this quote, John McWhorter argues that black English, often dismissed as ungrammatical, should be recognized as a legitimate and evolving dialect. He compares its development to that of contemporary Hebrew, which has transformed from ancient forms but still retains its roots, suggesting that all languages and dialects evolve in complexity and structure over time.

Themes

Black EnglishDialectLanguageEducationLinguisticsEvolution

In practice

Example use cases

In a lecture on linguistic diversity, you might say: 'As John McWhorter pointed out, black English is as legitimate as any other dialect, similar to the evolution of Hebrew.'

More from John Mcwhorter

People banging away on their smartphones are fluently using a code separate from the one they use in actual writing, but a code it is, to which linguists are currently devoting articles.
John McwhorterRead
People have been warning us that language was going to the dogs ever since Latin started turning into French. Yet the dogs in question never seem to emerge yelping on the horizon.
John McwhorterRead
It would be good if teachers could genuinely understand that black English is not mistakes, it's just different English, and that what you want to do is add an additional dialect to black students' repertoire rather than teaching them out of what's thought of as a bad habit, like sloppy posture or chewing with your mouth open.
John McwhorterRead

Similar quotes

The whole art of teaching is only the art of awakening the natural curiosity of young minds for the purpose of satisfying it afterwards.
Anatole FranceRead
And books, they offer one hope -- that a whole universe might open up from between the covers, and falling into that universe, one is saved.
Anne RiceRead
I love walking into a bookstore. It's like all my friends are sitting on shelves, waving their pages at me.
Tahereh MafiRead
The world of knowledge takes a crazy turn when teachers themselves are taught to learn.
Bertolt BrechtRead
We must recover the element of quality in our traditional pursuit of equality. We must not, in opening our schools to everyone, confuse the idea that all should have equal chance with the notion that all have equal endowments.
Adlai E. StevensonRead
Humans aren't as good as we should be in our capacity to empathize with feelings and thoughts of others, be they humans or other animals on Earth. So maybe part of our formal education should be training in empathy. Imagine how different the world would be if, in fact, that were 'reading, writing, arithmetic, empathy.'
Neil Degrasse TysonRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.