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Thursday, June 15, 2017

"The Language Wars"

I just read an excellent article at JSTOR Daily. It was titled, "The Language Wars," and was written by Chi Luu. The article is dated 2.24.17.

It starts off with a great line: "This is a strange time for language." And, indeed, it is. The article centers around the rise of President Trump and delves into why now he was elected, rather than in the past (which the article argues that he probably wouldn't have been).

It also talks about the growing rift between the political left and right. "More than ever before it seems the left and the right are unable to communicate in the same language without rancor or misunderstanding. Both sides of the political spectrum hopelessly talk past each other, all while using exactly the same words. How can this be? Don't words just mean what they mean?"

What I found most interesting in the article is the delving into some of the specifics of President Trump's speech patterns. Linguist George Lakoff argues that Trump knows very well what he is doing in this realm because Trump has been a salesman all of his adult life.

Also the article has a number of good references for those interested in linguistics and social psychology.

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