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PBS Newshour

How American English evolved from its British roots

Season 2026 Episode 161 | 4m 25s

How did American English become so distinctly American? On her “In Pursuit of Happiness” podcast, Judy Woodruff sat down with linguists Anne Curzan and Valerie Fridland. They look at how Americans from the very beginning reshaped the English language by changing pronunciations and spellings, creating new words and evolving dialects.

Major corporate funding for the PBS NewsHour is provided by Care.com, Consumer Cellular, and Fidelity. Funding for the PBS NewsHour Weekend is provided by Mutual of America. For a complete list of funders for the PBS NewsHour and PBS NewsHour weekend, click here.
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