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History Unplugged Podcast

John McWhorter Describes Human Language's 20,000-Year Journey from Proto-Sumerian to Ebonics

History Unplugged Podcast

History Unplugged

History, Society & Culture

4.24K Ratings

🗓️ 2 August 2022

⏱️ 59 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Language not only defines humans as a species, placing us head and shoulders above even the most proficient animal communicators, but it also beguiles us with its endless mysteries. How did different languages come to be? Why isn't there just a single...

Transcript

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1:06.8

History is in just a bunch of names and dates and facts.

1:10.0

It's the collection of all the stories throughout human history that explain how and why we got here.

1:15.5

Welcome to the History Unplugged Podcast, where we look at the forgotten, neglected,

1:19.8

strange, and even counterfactual stories that made our world what it is.

1:24.8

I'm your host, Scott Rank.

1:39.4

Every major language has a standard form and multiple dialects.

1:43.6

In Britain, this could be the so-called Queens English with the received pronunciation accent,

1:48.6

and then the dialects could be Cornish or Skeese and many others.

1:52.3

In the United States, Standard English has taught in schools and the accent is what you would hear on major broadcasters.

1:59.0

And in Turkey, for example, the standard usage of the language is determined by the Turkish language foundation,

2:04.1

where you can find dialects in the Black Sea, in the Southeast, and all over the country.

2:08.5

What's the difference between a standard version of a language and dialects?

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