Episode numeration from menu screen; episode titles from container.

Cameraman, Allan Palmer ; editor, Joe Frost ; composer, Paul Foss.

Reporter: Robert MacNeil.

Examines sociolinguistic questions and the dynamic state of American English, a language rich in regional variety, strong in global impact, and steeped in cultural controversy. Episode one discusses linguistic dialect zones, the tension between prescriptivism and descriptivism, the impact of dialect on grapholect, the northern cities vowel shift, the roots of African-American English, minority linguistic profiling, biases against nonstandard speech, and the general perception of the U.S. Midland dialect as "normal American." Looks at hip-hop street talk, IM slang, Pittsburghese, and Gullah and Geechee. Episode two reviews Southern dialects and accents and the influences of French and Spanish on American English. Examines regional differences in vernacular, the steady displacement of Southern coastal dialect by inland dialect, the accents of JFK and LBJ, and the Texas border town of El Cenizo, where Spanish is the official language. Episode three looks at Spanglish, Chicano, Ebonics, and "Surfer Dude." Discusses the implications of voice-activation technology, opinions on the role of Spanish in the U.S., why teens create their own language, gay self-empowerment by redefining discriminatory terms, the oo-fronting sound shift, and whether technology will reinforce or weaken racial and regional stereotypes.

DVD-R.

Close-captioned.

With optional English subtitles.

SACFinal081324