Language and Society

Do you speak American?
http://www.pbs.org/speak/

Dennis Baron

This website by Dennis Baron, a professor of English and linguistics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, has a lot of information on sociolinguistic aspects of the English language in the USA. It has essays and articles, interactive activities, suggestive reading and additional resources.

Content:

Words that shouldn’t be?

Spambot? Cybercat? Are we ruining the language? The experts weigh in.

From sea to shining sea.
Exactly how many varieties are there of American English? No one knows for certain.

What speech do we like best?
Language expresses who we are, and who we want to be. It can also unite and divide us.

What lies ahead?
Is TV making us sound alike? Will cars sound like men and women? What’s ahead for American English?