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I'd highly recommended John McWhorter's lectures to anyone interested in languages. I've listened to three or four of his popular-linguistics courses. There's a

by aix1 3y ago

I'd highly recommended John McWhorter's lectures to anyone interested in languages. I've listened to three or four of his popular-linguistics courses. There's a bit of overlap in material but I found all of them to be very informative and highly entertaining. He's such an engaging lecturer. Edit: I'm referring to his Great Courses series. I've just looked them up and the list prices are silly. I don't know if that's still an option, but I got the audio versions on Audible for very little money.

erikw 3y ago
I liked his podcast Lexicon Valley so much that I went back and listened through every episode. It’s had a large impact on my thinking about language and empathy for communication. I went from thinking there was a “right” way to use language, to understanding that it’s all about communication, and there are nearly endless patterns in which languages are structured.
- bane 3y ago
  Descriptivism vs prescriptivism are the two extremes of modern English linguistics. I've found most prescriptivists cite style guides that were written in a time and location when the dialects involved weren't as far from one another and social class signaling were considered important. Today, English is global language with an astonishing amount of variation and learning to communicate in English is as important as learning to understand it in all its glorious forms. It places the burden back on the receiver to learn the local mode rather than an Imperial style self-assuming greatness seeking to subdue conquered peoples.
zetazzed 3y ago
Subscribe to Wondrium (formerly called the Great Courses)! It includes many of McWhorter's courses and is a fixed cost per month (reasonable IMO). E.g. https://www.wondrium.com/language-a-to-z https://www.wondrium.com/language-a-to-z Also, if you ever need chill content while you fall asleep, they have many moderately-interesting classes from professors with calm voices and detailed content...

by aix1 3y ago

erikw 3y ago

I liked his podcast Lexicon Valley so much that I went back and listened through every episode. It’s had a large impact on my thinking about language and empathy for communication. I went from thinking there was a “right” way to use language, to understanding that it’s all about communication, and there are nearly endless patterns in which languages are structured.

bane 3y ago
Descriptivism vs prescriptivism are the two extremes of modern English linguistics. I've found most prescriptivists cite style guides that were written in a time and location when the dialects involved weren't as far from one another and social class signaling were considered important. Today, English is global language with an astonishing amount of variation and learning to communicate in English is as important as learning to understand it in all its glorious forms. It places the burden back on the receiver to learn the local mode rather than an Imperial style self-assuming greatness seeking to subdue conquered peoples.

zetazzed 3y ago

Subscribe to Wondrium (formerly called the Great Courses)! It includes many of McWhorter's courses and is a fixed cost per month (reasonable IMO). E.g. https://www.wondrium.com/language-a-to-z https://www.wondrium.com/language-a-to-z Also, if you ever need chill content while you fall asleep, they have many moderately-interesting classes from professors with calm voices and detailed content...