Did you know there’s no single “American accent”? In this video, we explore five major American English dialects — from the ...

Several years ago, a school district in Oakland, California suggested that African-American children be taught standard English using teaching methods used to teach the English language to non English ...

Geneva Smitherman ended up in speech therapy in her freshman year at Wayne State University in the 1950s, when she failed a test to screen incoming teaching students for possible speech problems. The ...

For as long as she can remember, Sonja Lanehart has been fascinated by how people speak. In particular, she was interested in the differences she noticed between how white people spoke, when compared ...

Learn how to understand American English expressions! This video reveals the true meaning behind common phrases, helping you ...

Business Insider spoke to Philip Gooden, author and expert on the origins of the English language, about why the variety of English used in the US is different – and more traditional – to the variety ...

Some of the words are cutesy (kerfuffle, jubilee). Others are onomatopoeic, with a similar sound to the idea they’re describing (meow, clink, squeak). Some are bizarre sounding (for example, syzygy: ...

American English has many forms. It’s evolved over 400 years to match this country’s dynamic history. Humanities professor Ilan Stavans says that because it’s so adaptable, American English can unify ...

Oxford University Press has announced a large-scale study that will culminate in the Oxford Dictionary of African American English, the brainchild of historian Henry Louis Gates that will focus on the ...

“Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me ’Round” is a crowd favorite for the Northwest African American Museum’s African American Choir Ensemble. Based on the spiritual “Don’t You Let Nobody Turn You ’Round,” ...