Words on the Move

Buchzusammenfassung

John McWhorter, a linguistics professor at Columbia University, holds a PhD from Stanford University. His extensive writing on language and culture includes the best-selling titles Power of Babel: A Natural History of Language, Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue: The Untold History of English, and The Language Hoax.

Art’s evolution from medieval religious themes to Renaissance explorations of individual emotions, as seen in works like Leonardo da Vinci’s *Mona Lisa*, marked a turning point in its focus on personal expression—a trend that continues in literature and beyond. Similarly, language has always been intertwined with human emotions, adapting over time to reflect cultural and societal shifts. Words like "innumerable" and "dog" have undergone significant semantic changes, while blends like "sitcom" and "staycation" illustrate the creative, ever-evolving nature of English. Even punctuation, such as the exclamation mark, has shifted in meaning, becoming more about attentiveness than excitement. English’s flexibility is further evident in its ability to transform verbs into nouns, as seen in phrases like "the ask" or "a solve," and in the evolving stress patterns of words like "suspect." Modern tools like emoticons and conversational fillers such as "like" enrich communication by adding emotional nuance, reflecting the dynamic and adaptive essence of language.

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