Do you speak American? Up north
In this program, Robert MacNeil canvasses the North to learn firsthand about linguistic dialect zones, the tension between prescriptivism and descriptivism, the impact of dialect on grapholect, the northern cities vowel shift, the roots of African-A...
The American transcendentalists: Concord, Massachusetts
The ideas and ideals of three American Transcendentalists - Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and Margaret Fuller - initially given expression through "The Dial" continue to shape the discourse of literature, philosophy, and religion worldwi...
Language development
The emphasis in this program is on the development of language in babies and young children. The program follows this development from the first cry of an infant in the delivery room through that of a seven-year-old, when language development is alm...
Oral history interview with Herman M. Ward, 1984
Ward discusses the evolution of New Jersey State Teachers College at Trenton (later Trenton State College) from a small teachers college to a comprehensive college offering a wide range of degree programs. Topics also include his impression of Presi...
Oral history interview with Arthur S. Tiffany, 1985
The interview focuses on the unusual manner in which Tiffany taught several of his classes in the English Department, particularly the manner in which he taught the required freshman composition course by using a variety of media throughout the seme...
English in America
When Massasoit hailed the Plymouth settlers in their own language, they might have taken it for a sign that English would dominate the New World. Packed with surprising etymologies and intriguing stories, this program traces the dynamic relationship...
Many Tongues Called English, One World Language
This program explores how America's rise as an economic power made it the driving force behind the spread of English in the 20th century. A world tour illustrates how English has mixed with other languages - from "Franglais" in France to "Singlish" ...
Birth of a Language
Melvyn Bragg begins the story of English in Holland, finding ancestral echoes in the Frisian dialect. What follows is a chapter on survival as the English language weathers Viking and Norman invasions, vying with and eventually absorbing rival tongu...
“This Earth, This Realm, This England”
Has any single person shaped English more than William Shakespeare? This program uses unparalleled access to some of the greatest English texts, including the first English dictionary and a rare first folio of Shakespeare's plays, to illustrate the ...
Speaking Proper
This program follows English through the 18th and 19th centuries, from attempts at reforming and standardizing the tongue in the Age of Reason to the soaring verse of Romanticism and the verbal prudishness of the Victorian era. Linguistic milestones...