The Future of the American English Language

Geoffrey Nunberg, Principal Scientist at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center and professor of linguistics at Stanford University, moderates a panel discussion about the future of American English. Panelists include four members of the American Heritage Dictionary Usage Panel: humorist and writer Roy Blount, Jr., illustrator and cartoonist Ed Koren, sportswriter Frank Deford, and English professor Rachel Brownstein. During each panelists’ introductory remarks, they describe their personal word usage pet-peeves, and Koren shares slides of some of the cartoons about language that he has contributed to The New Yorker. Following their remarks, Nunberg polls the panel and audience on a series of words featured on the last ballot sent out to the American Heritage Dictionary Usage Panel. Specific words discussed include gendered, hopefully, momentarily, peruse, prone, enthused, demagogue, and more. The discussion is followed with questions from the audience.