Talking Back, Talking Black: Truths About America's Lingua Franca

 

Talking Back, Talking Black: Truths About America's Lingua Franca by John McWhorter is fascinating exploration of  the use of “Black English” in the United States, and how this form of English is simply a natural and normal part of how languages exist and develop.  

In almost every country, more than one language is spoken.  In Switzerland, the local Swiss dialect is used at home, on the streets, and in casual settings.  In school, the quite different version of “standard” German is taught, and used during formal occasions.  No one thinks this arrangement is bizarre or unnatural. 

“Black English” is much the same, McWhoter tells us.  It is simply another way to speak English, along the great sweep of language differences among all English speakers.  The distorting lens of racism has cast “Black English” as some degraded form of expression.  Which  it is not.