Now, 90 years later, John McWhorter also sneers at the word. He thought “whom” was on its way out of the English language, citing several tendencies in English that worked against it. Something that I thought was amusing was Sapir’s discussion of the word “whom”.
He really seems to know what he is talking about. He gives examples from languages from all over the world, and of many types. The book is about 90 years old, so I don’t know how much has changed in the field since then, but McWhorter recommended it, so I suppose it must still be current. But the books neglects to define some of the basic technical terms that a beginner needs, so that it also seems like a summary aimed at a scholar who has spent several years in the field. After reading the book I thought that it was a good one to read before you start studying linguistics – it seems to cover a lot of the field, giving the reader a feel for the subject. I am watching John McWhorter’s Great Course on Linguistics, in which he recommends Sapir’s book as a general introduction to linguistics.
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