Dialect
About that “Negro dialect”…
Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is in political hot water this week for past remarks he made about President Obama’s race. According to the new book Game Change, Reid encouraged Obama’s run for the White House, in part, because he was “light-skinned” and had “no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one.’ Long […]
Linguistic surrealism from China to Belgium
On the World in Words podcast, the trials, tribulations and silliness of living in Belgium, where most people define themselves not by nationality but by mother tongue. Also, arrested Chinese artist Ai Weiwei wrote a blog that was, if anything, even more provocative than his art. We hear from his English translator. And the latest […]
Dictators with dialects, finger spelling and universal Inuit
Napoleon, Hitler and Gaddafi all grew up speaking a distinct dialect of their native tongue. Coincidence? Dialects are the languages of outsiders, at least until they are co-opted by people, or governments, trying to standardize the language. That’s what’s happening right now in northern Canada, where with the dialects of the Inuit. The hope is […]