Myths about American and British English

Polyglot and phonetician Dave Huxtable busts myths about American and British English.

Did 16th century English live on in the USA. Do Americans speak like Shakespeare? Was the British accent invented in the 1800s? Find the answers to these and other questions, with a unique blend of facts and humor/humour.

Contents

00:00 Scope of myths 00:56 Senseless Americanisms 02:22 American inventiveness and flexibility 03:22 American English is fossilised 16th century English 04:04 Where did the first settlers come from? 06:13 Factors that accelerate language change 06:34 Dialect levelling 08:28 Charleston and an African majority 08:47 Ulster Scots 10:12 Benjamin Franklin's accent 11:33 R sounds 11:51 R-loss in 15C 13:38 The Queen's ban 14:29 Is US English lazy? 15:00 Simplified English 16:39 Not an accent 18:06 General American 19:16 New England Elite accent 19:28 William McKinley 20:24 Theodore Roosevelt 21:55 Transatlantic accent in Hollywood 22:30 Taft 25:05 The ascendency of General American 26:25 Was UK English deliberately changed? 28:49 Generic brand names 31:32 AE is informal 32:44 RP artificially created 37:04 How do Brits speak when noone else is around?

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How AMERICANS Changed the English Language

Gideon adds his salt of grain.