The Muvver tongue

Description

In the 19th century, English spread throughout the British Empire-but which English? This classic PBS program traces the roots of white Commonwealth English to Cockney, the language of London's working class. Explaining the influence of Cockney on modern, standardized speech, the program shows how, in fact, the accents of BBC English are gradually becoming modified by Cockney speech characteristics like the glottal stop. Resemblances between the accents of New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, and the Falkland Islands are also explored, highlighting major aspects of the colonial language-along with traces of aboriginal tongues nearly eclipsed by English.

Runtime

59 min

Series

Subjects

Genre

Date of Publication

[2007], c1986

Database

Films on Demand

Direct Link

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