The irrepressible Sarah Palin, whom we will recall was John McCain’s vice-presidential running mate in his failed bid for the US presidency in 2009, continues to either fascinate or infuriate her American audiences with her unique kind of English—a language that media writers have labeled as Palinspeak. In an article for the April 6, 2010 issue of
The New Republic, “What Does Palinspeak Mean,” John McWhorter attempts to analyze that kind of English. “Palin strings her words together as if she were doing it for herself,” he says. “Meanings float by, and she translates them into syntax in whatever way works, regardless of how other people making public statements do it.”
Photo from The New RepublicMcWhorter finds it remarkable that despite Palin’s way of speaking, “a meandering phraseology” that he describes as basically unattractive child talk, she is “lionized by a robust number of perfectly intelligent people as an avatar of American culture.” But then he realizes how the modern American indeed relates so warmly to the use of English that summons the oral, as when Palin effortlessly says “You betcha!” and “Yes we can!” With this thought, McWhorter ultimately concedes that linguistically speaking, Palinspeak is precisely what makes Palin the avatar of American culture that she is.
Read John McWhorter’s “What Does Palinspeak Mean” in The New Republic now!
