San Antonio College Library

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,...

This video presents an effective how-to approach to overcoming stage fright. Topics include the causes of anxiety, the physical symptoms, the seven behavioral steps, and three cognitive approaches. Lecture-launching, discussion-provoking, and ideal for in-class showing.

In this program, Robert MacNeil heads to California to take part in meaningful dialogues on Spanglish, Chicano, Ebonics, and "Surfer Dude" before going to Seattle to consider the implications of voice-activation technology. Linguist Carmen Fought, Stanford University's Cliff Nass, screenwriters Amy Heckerling and Winnie Holtzman, and others speak their minds about Spanish in America, why teens create their own language, gay self-empowerment by redefining...

This program follows Robert MacNeil down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers to Appalachia, Louisiana Cajun country, and the Tex-Mex border to examine Southern dialects and accents and the influences of French and Spanish on American English. Linguist Walt Wolfram, columnist Molly Ivins, pop country singer Cody James, and others talk about regional differences in vernacular, the steady displacement of Southern coastal dialect by inland dialect, the accents...

Death Speaks, a song cycle by David Lang inspired by the songs of Schubert in which Death features as a 'flesh and blood' character who often speaks, rather than a faceless metaphor.

This second practice test helps you prepare for the English Language Testing System's (IELTS) Speaking section. It is designed to familiarize you with the content, format, and timing of the official test. On the official test, you'll have up to 14 minutes for the three-part speaking section.

The Wild Garden is both an autobiographical essay on the creative process and a remarkable personal account of the circumstances surrounding the nervous crisis that impelled Angus Wilson to become a writer at the age of thirty-six. Examining specific incidents, characters, places and recurring symbols in his life and work, notably the wild garden itself, Wilson analyses the links between his own life crisis and the theme of liberation by self-realization...