English Language

Linguist Geoff Nunberg comments on the history of slang, and refers to two books about it: Johnathan Lighter's Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang (1994) and "Flappers 2 Rappers" by Tom Dalzell (1997).

Stories of people changing their name, an excerpt from This American Life by Ira Glass, produced at WBEZ. Glass tells the story of his grandmother: when she was in her 30's, she was very ill and everyone thought she was going to die. So they changed her name. It was an old Jewish custom, to confuse the Angel of Death. And Margy Rochlin on the place you go to in Los Angeles if you want to change your name. It turns out to be surprisingly easy to change

Justin Kaplan and Anne Bernays are the authors of the new book, "The Language of Names: What We Call Ourselves and Why It Matters." Both have written previous books: Ms. Bernays is the author of eight novels, including the award-winning "Growing Up Rich" and "Professor Romeo," as well as numerous short stories. Mr. Kaplan won a Pulitzer Prize for his biography, "Mr. Clemens and Mark Twain." He's also the General Editor of Barlett's Familiar Quotations.

Linguist Geoffrey Nunberg reflects on our use of the term "postmodern" to describe everything from art to architecture. But Nunberg wonders when exactly modernism began and ended.

As the Ebonics controversy continues into its second month, linguist Geoff Nunberg comments on standard English.

William Labov teaches at the University of Pennsylvania discusses Ebonics. He's been studying Black English for 30 years and traced the rules governing Black and White English. He also examined the differences between the two and explored the roots of the changes taking place in the languages.

Linguist Geoff Nunberg looks at the current debate surrounding black vernacular in school, which the Oakland school board has dubbed "Ebonics."

Linguist Geoff Nunberg talks about corporate language.

Linguist Geoffrey Nunberg looks at how email technology is altering the way we write letters.

Linguist Geoffrey Nunberg looks at how Americans use the word "rich." In this election year, it's been deployed extensively by the two major presidential candidates. Nunberg looks at the origin of the word and why some well-to-do Americans don't like the label.

Linguist Geoff Nunberg compares the different ways France and the U.S. covered the Olympics -- and what they say about these countries' attitudes toward their respective languages.

Linguist Geoffrey Nunberg has completed a computer-generated summary of a large number of Republican convention speeches delivered this week. The software analyzed the frequency of key words and recurring themes and produced a five sentence platform for the party.

British author A.S. Byatt. Byatt is known by many Americans for "Possession," a Booker Prize-winning Victorian novel published here in 1990. Her new novel, "Babel Tower," is just hitting the bookstores (Random House). Set in the turbulent 1960s, the book is about Frederica, a young woman involved in a divorce and custody suit, as well as the prosecution of an "obscene" book. "Babel Tower" is the third book in a planned quartet of novels ("The Virgin in the Garden" and "Still Life") set in different mid-century time frames.

Linguist Geoffrey Nunberg considers whether the Internet is on the way to making English the official language of the world.

Linguist and author Naomi S. Baron. Her book, "Growing up with Language" (Addison-Wesley publishers, 1992) examines the process by which children learn to use language. Baron is Professor of Linguistics and associate dean in the College of Arts and Sciences at the American University in Washington DC. (Interview by Barbara Bogaev)

Linguist Geoff Nunberg on the language of downsizing.

Linguist Geoff Nunberg on the long history of the word "suburbs."

Linguist Geoffrey Nunberg discusses Gerry Mulligan, jazz, and the use of the world cool.

Linguist Geoff Nunberg comments on William Safire's recent choice of words for describing Hillary Clinton: "congenital liar."

Linguist Geoff Nunberg considers the power of words.