The most played episodes among Podcast App listeners.

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   Number 1: Episode 191: A Vision of the Future

   As the English Civil War raged in the 1640s, English grammarians wrote about several developments in the language, including a new sound appearing in the word “vision” and new ways of describing future actions and events. The military conflict was also shaping the language by contributing new terms to the lexicon. And a new sense of “self” was emerging, which had far-reaching consequences for philosophy, politics, and the English language. In this episode, we explore how these developments shaped the language we speak today and provided a vision of the future. TRANSCRIPT: EPISODE 191

   August 30, 2026·1h 19min
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   Number 2: Episode 189: Stressed Out

   As we conclude our look at the 1630s, we explore the events leading to Civil War in England and the expansion of the English colonies along the eastern coast of North America. We also examine the evolution of syllable stress in English and the variation in stress patterns in Modern English. TRANSCRIPT: EPISODE 189

   April 30, 2026·1h 23min
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   Number 3: Episode 19: The Romanization of Britain

   The Roman Empire emerges following the death of Julius Caesar. Emperor Claudius sets his sights on Britain, and the native Celtic culture becomes Romanized. We look at the evolution of Latin words related to law, money and social classes.

   January 23, 2013·53min
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   Number 4: Episode 188: Old England and New England

   In this episode, we explore the first large-scale migration of English settlers to North America in the early 1600s. The settlers arrived in the newly established Massachusetts Bay Colony. We explore the events that led to this migration, and we also explore the linguistic connections between New England and East Anglia in eastern England. TRANSCRIPT: EPISODE 188

   February 27, 2026·1h 25min
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   Number 5: Episode 190: Union, Division and Unusual U

   During the decade of the 1640s, England was divided by Civil War. At the same time, the sound of letter of U was also experiencing its own division, ultimately resulting in two distinct ‘long’ sounds and two distinct ‘short’ sounds. In this episode, we explore those developments and examine how the English Civil War shaped the English language. TRANSCRIPT: EPISODE 190

   June 30, 2026·1h 20min
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