Publishers Weekly
03/02/2020
White, who teaches at Stony Brook University, debuts with an enjoyable work of popular linguistics. The book traces New York City’s phonetic history, including such trivia as how the “upgliding diphthong” that leads to “thirty” being pronounced as “toidy” was, at the beginning of the 20th century, a marker of upper-class speech (there are sound recordings of Teddy Roosevelt using that pronunciation), or how East Coast elites of a later period, such as that other famous Roosevelt, FDR, favored the nonrhotic, or “r-less,” pronunciation style originating in Southern England. Other chapters dig into different linguistic and cultural influences on city place names, and how it came to be that Midwestern speech replaced “New York English” as the “standard” American accent—White notes the oddity of a major cultural and financial center comparable to London, Paris, or Rome not defining standard speech for the rest of the country. White also covers gangster slang, the language of popular music, code switching between different language variants, and the relationship of accent to class. The result is a heartfelt tribute to, and insightful inquiry into, everyday speech in New York City. (May)
From the Publisher
"Accessibly written, deeply researched, and appropriately critical, this book is a gem about the American city that has arguably had more of an effect on American speech than any other. The book could be profitably used in courses not solely focused on New York City (NYC), because it illustrates so many wide-ranging principles of historical linguistics, sociolinguistics, and the relationship between language and place." — Scott Kiesling , Department of Linguistics, University of Pittsburgh, Language In Society
"You Talkin' To Me? puts a good deal of entertaining meat on the phonetic bones." — Jonathon Green, Critic"Leading with its intellectual elbow in explanations of everything from Manhattan street names to the accents in World of Warcraft, this imaginative and teacherly account of how urbanites speak indirectly offers an account of how they live." — Leah Price, Public Books"A colorful account — so colorful I cannot quote the opening lines here — of New York history, class, and culture as well as language." — Marilyn Marks, Princeton Alumni Weekly""You Talkin' to Me?" also goes far beyond linguistics, using New York speech to illuminate American culture, history and social class." — Daniel Askt, Wall Street Journal"The boisterous, jovial narrative tells how the developing city's newspapers and pulp novels introduced a new vocabulary to Americans, from 'con man' to 'street-walker,' 'kick the bucket' and 'go on a bender.'" — Janet Brown, Shelf Awareness"This book takes in a lot of territory, all solidly researched and footnoted. But dry? Fuhgeddaboutit. White is particularly entertaining when she discusses underworld slang from the city's 'sensitive lines of business' and she's also good on song lyrics, from Tin Pan Alley days to hip-hop." — Patricia O'Connor, Literary Review"As anyone who has had a conversation with me in recent days will attest, the book is a remarkable repository of factoids for enlivening a dinner party or for filling the longueurs at the coffee machine." — Marc Arkin, New Criterion"Greatly entertaining..." — Rufus F., Ordinary Times"E.J. White of Stony Brook University celebrates the disputatious, never-let-them-call-you-a-sucker language that is New York English" — Samuel Johnson, The Economist"[You Talkin' to Me?] is a heartfelt tribute to, and insightful inquiry into, everyday speech in New York City." — Publishers Weekly"There are many terrific examples of New York speech throughout this text and White contextualizes them all extremely well. Highly recommended." — Herbert Shapiro, Library Journal, Starred Review"You Talkin' To Me? offers a delightful eavesdrop of conversations over the centuries, paying particular attention to the city's unmistakable dialect and why it has proceeded to earn such derision." — Matt Sutherland, Foreword Reviews"Sassy and colloquial, energetic and profane, You Talkin' to Me? is also packed with erudition, color, and history — a magnificent tribute to its unruly subject." — Jennifer Egan, author of Manhattan Beach and A Visit from the Goon Squad"E. J. White calls New York English 'unruly,' and who will disagree? Dialects jostle one another on the subways and shout over the blaring horns and rumbling trains. In You Talkin' to Me? White takes a big bite out of New York English, spits away the seeds of stereotype, and — given the unique relationship between language and culture — gets to the core of what the City is all about." — Michael Adams, Professor of English and Linguistics at Indiana University and author of In Praise of Profanity"As a native New Yorker and a sociolinguist, I thought I knew a fair amount about New York City English. But I learned so much more from reading You Talkin' to Me?! And if you're a New Yorker yourself, or know them and love them, you'll get a lot of ammunition here: New Yorkers' ways of talking are just fine, thank you, and E. J. White will explain why. You'll learn a lot, and enjoy every moment while you are learning it." — Robin Lakoff, Professor of Linguistics Emerita, The University of California, Berkeley"New York City has an extraordinarily rich culture, and the history of that culture lives in its language, from the names of its streets to the lyrics of its Broadway musicals to the slang of its many criminal underworlds. E. J. White celebrates the unique creativity, humanity and humor of this diverse city. You Talkin' to Me? tells more than the story of New York. It tells the story of New Yorkers." — Joseph Schloss, author of Foundation: B-Boys, B-Girls, and Hip-Hop Culture in New York
Library Journal
★ 05/01/2020
White (history of English, Stony Brook Univ.) has written an important book that reaches across the fields of sociolinguistics and cultural and ethnic history. In seeking to understand the unique way in which New Yawkers tawk, White investigates issues of class and social differences in language acquisition and usage. Through an overview investigation of the speech in New York City in relationship to Standard American accents to how speech is heard in films and broadcast news, White provides insights into how New Yorkers themselves see their speech. Discussions of slang and colloquialisms coined in New York City as well as underworld slang that emanated from there are particularly interesting. Finally, White tackles the complex topic of language change. As a city of immigration, New York has always been a polyglot of language-mixing and code-switching. In this well-documented, scholarly, albeit highly engaging text, he provides a depth of insight into the evolutionary importance of New York speech to the history of English. Given the organic and natural evolution of this history, it is no surprise that Robert De Niro's famous improvised line in the movie, Taxi Driver (from which the title of this book is derived) was as natural to him as it is for audiences to grasp immediately its many nuanced meanings. VERDICT There are many terrific examples of New York speech throughout this text and White contextualizes them all extremely well. Highly recommended.—Herbert E. Shapiro, Boca Raton, FL
