English Language

Speech Therapist Sam Chwat. Chwat's New York Speech Improvement Services attracts 200 to 250 clients a week. He taught Robert DeNiro how to gain an Appalachian accent for his role in "Cape Fear." Julia Roberts sought him out to relearn her southern drawl for "Steel Magnolias." He helped another southerner, Andie McDowell, after her lines for "Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan" were dubbed by Glenn Close.

Linguist Geoff Nunberg talks about how the French are trying to keep their language pure.

Rock critic Ed Ward on the troubles of shopping in Berlin.

Steven Pinker, a psycholinguist at MIT and director of its Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, has a new book on how language works: "The Language Instinct: How the Mind Creates Language" (Morrow). He argues that language is not simply a cultural invention taught by parents and schools, but a biological system, --an instinct-- partly learned, and partly innate. To Pinker, a three year old toddler is a "grammatical genius", capable of obeying adult rites of language, similar to web-spinning in spiders or sonar in bats.

Rock Critic Ed Ward on encountering the hip new language in Berlin: English.

Linguist Geoffrey Nunberg talks about the bicentennial of the French Revolution.

Linguist Geoffrey Nunberg on the oral culture of Somalia.

Linguist Geoffrey Nunberg defends the use of "you know."

The tenth edition of "Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary," is out. Terry talks about pronunciation with one of the book's associate editors, Brian Sietsema -- and examines how recent Fresh Air guests say particular words.

Linguist Geoffrey Linguists considers the use of language in the business world. He says its fractured, list-based nature can be traced back to the ever ubiquitous slide presentation software, where narrative holds little sway.

Linguist Geoffrey Nunberg comments on "Estuary English", a new accent in London that combines high and working class modes of speaking.

Language commentator Geoffrey Nunberg reflects on the year 2000, what it used to mean and how it resonates today.

On the occasion of end of the Superman comic, language commentator Geoffrey Nunberg considers the origin of the word "Superman," and how "super" began to be used in other ways.

Caine has made over 70 films, from Alfie to Sleuth to Dirty Rotten Scoundrels to Hannah and Her Sisters. He has a new autobiography called "What's It All About?," and will be appearing in the upcoming Muppet's Christmas movie.

Author James Crawford has spent many years investigating the English Only movement. His most recent book is "Hold Your Tongue: Bilingualism and the Politics of English Only." It explores the underlying racism of an English Language Amendment. He has also edited "Language Loyalties," a comprehensive collection of the major issues and policies surrounding the bilingualism debate.

Anne Soukhanov is the Executive Editor of the new "American Heritage Dictionary of English Language, Third Edition." She's been a lexicographer and editor of reference books for over 20 years. She joins Fresh Air to talk about what new words say about changing culture.

Linguist Geoffrey Nunberg considers the difference between the words "force" and "violence."

Isaac Asimov [a.k.a. Paul French], the prolific science fiction writer, has passed away at the age of 72. Asimov wrote nearly 500 books, and was honored, among other times, in 1966 with a special Hugo Award for the best science fiction series ever for his "Foundation" trilogy. We present highlights from an earlier interview. (Rebroadcast. Originally aired 9/25/87.)

Linguist Geoff Nunberg considers an alternative to the question, "Can computers think?"

Linguist Geoffrey Nunberg looks at the contributions made by two men of language: former Senator S.I. Hayakawa, an English professor and former president of San Francisco State University; and Professor Dwight Bolinger, who he calls "one of the most distinguished semanticists of the age." Both men died last week.