General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsLinguist Says Trump's Speaking Skills Are Primitive Even By Standards Of Illiterate Indigenous Tribe
https://thetrumpimpeachment.com/Linguist-Says-Trump-39-s-Speaking/
If human communication was a symphony, Donald Trump would only be able to sputter a few tone deaf notes. A combination of self-assurance and utter ignorance is his main opus, with riffs of cocky vulgarity and casual cruelty interspersed as even George W. Bush noted the other day, although the formulation was not original to him. Trumps inability to communicate as even a normal human being, let alone a head of state, was underscored this week with the condolence call debacle. Brian Williams interviewed linguistics professor John McWorter on the 11th Hour. McWhorter elaborated on Trumps deficiency as a communicator.
Williams: What is the linguistics definition of this president?
McWhorter: Donald Trump is unadorned. Linguistically, he is unadorned. This is the basics, this is what language was undoubtedly like when it first emerged among people who didnt have writing and were first getting their verbal sea legs. This is where it started and so in that way as in so many others Donald Trump is an original.
Williams: That would mean that education and schooling has had no effect on his use of language. Hes quick to remind us that he went to the best schools.
McWhorter: And he learned nothing in them. He speaks like someone who has paid no attention to one of the goals of education, which is refine our natural, inborn proclivities of speech, which are great for casual circumstances, but he uses those same ways of speaking in what most of us used to consider formal and important circumstances.... more
pansypoo53219
(20,991 posts)Spot on.
Scarsdale
(9,426 posts)he found them. Much to the detriment of the rest of us.
democratisphere
(17,235 posts)Soon our 50 states and possessions will be replaced with tribes.
mdbl
(4,973 posts)It looks like that's where he got stuck. He was too busy cutting off girl's ponytails.
Thor_MN
(11,843 posts)It's artificial, 140 character limit suits his limited linguistic abilities. Short words, fractured grammar, incomplete sentences - all are useful when trying to limit the number of characters used. Some think that the limit distills the content and makes it more artful, like a Haiku. I think that crap in small chunks is still crap - I don't want to step on a pile of rabbit turds as much as I don't want to step on a cow patty. Retweeting, or posting tweets on DU acts as a duplication system. Steaming piles of crap served up on everyone's lawns, like having a dog that can shit in every yard in one's neighborhood.
HopeAgain
(4,407 posts)I call it the "Kardashian effect" where intelligence and intellect are no longer valued. Drama is valued over knowledge in modern America.
Bernardo de La Paz
(49,033 posts)MyOwnPeace
(16,937 posts)It's anti-elite and anti-education.
Look at how the Pugs and "the right" made fun of John Kerry because he spoke French.
Hell, Orange Cheat-o can't even speak English (per article - but we knew that)!
It's all a part of de-valuing education - hence DeVos as Secretary of Education!
onecent
(6,096 posts)Dip shit.
TheBlackAdder
(28,211 posts)If there is a record of them, it is quite easy to not only tell there were different writers, but in some cases there are tools that can determine the identity of the real writer(s). I'm sure he paid someone to do his work for him.
MyOwnPeace
(16,937 posts)he got his grade he probably didn't pay them anyhow!
Jim Lane
(11,175 posts)McWhorter says that Trump learned nothing from his schools. I suspect that he did learn and that his discourse for most of his adult life was at a higher level, one that wouldn't be subject to McWhorter's criticisms. On this hypothesis, he doesn't have full-blown dementia, but with advancing age he's begun to experience a decline in his cognitive faculties.
The scary thing about this hypothesis is the possibility that Trump could get even worse over the next few years.
lpbk2713
(42,766 posts)It will take years for the US to get over this embarrassment.