Is language power?
Unpack language, culture and power with linguist John McWhorter in a conversation with host Nick Enfield
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Is a language owned by its speakers or is it a public good? 'Who' gets to have a say, lay claim to, and wield a language? What does this all mean for navigating power differentials and public discourse?
John McWhorter has probed these questions and many more in his distinguished career of research on language, especially from historical and social perspectives. In this Sydney Ideas event, John will explore these issues and more in conversation with Nick Enfield, Professor of Linguistics at the University of Sydney.
John is a linguistic and social commentator of world renown. He writes a weekly column for The New York Times and has written for many other outlets including The Atlantic and The New Republic. He is the author of more than 20 books, including Woke Racism, Nine Nasty Words, The Power of Babel, and Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue. He is a member of the Heterodox Academy.
This event was held on Wednesday 12 March 2025. John’s visit to the University of Sydney has been supported by Tom Austen Brown Bequest.
John McWhorter is an associate professor in the Slavic Department at Columbia University. He earned his B.A. from Rutgers, his M.A. from New York University, and his Ph.D. in linguistics from Stanford. He has taught courses that consider Native American languages, immigrant languages, creole languages, American Sign Language, Black English and other speech varieties – their development, interactions, and preservation. His research and teaching also covers the development of creoles, pidgins, koines, "vehicular" languages, and nonstandard dialects.
John is the author of more than 20 books including The Power of Babel, Losing the Race and Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue. His most recent books are Nine Nasty Words and Woke Racism. He also writes a weekly column for The New York Times and hosts the language podcast Lexicon Valley.
Nick Enfield is a Professor of Linguistics at the University of Sydney and a member of the Fighting Truth Decay research node at the Charles Perkins Centre.
Nick has published widely in linguistics, anthropology, and cognitive science venues and has written for the Guardian, Times Literary Supplement, Wall Street Journal, and Science, including his recent books Language vs. Reality, Consequences of Language, and How We Talk.
His next book, What is Truth For? will be published by Bristol University Press in 2025.
