The History of English Podcast

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About the show

Latest episodes

• Episode 191: A Vision of the Future

  August 30, 2026 · 1 hr 18 min

  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…

• Episode 190: Union, Division and Unusual U

  June 30, 2026 · 1 hr 20 min

  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…

• Episode 189: Stressed Out

  April 30, 2026 · 1 hr 23 min

  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…

• Episode 188: Old England and New England

  February 27, 2026 · 1 hr 24 min

  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…

• Episode 187: Islands and Sea

  December 31, 2025 · 1 hr 13 min

  In this episode, we explore the influence of seafaring on the English language in the early 1600s. We also look at events in the latter half of the 1620s, which included the first permanent English settlements in the Caribbean. This period…

• Episode 186: A Dutch Treat

  October 31, 2025 · 1 hr 26 min

  In this episode, we explore two important developments in North America. First, we examine the legendary story of the Pilgrims’ arrival in New England in 1620 and the establishment of the Plymouth Colony. Secondly, we examine the creation…

• Episode 185: Spelling Says a Lot (Part 2)

  September 1, 2025 · 1 hr 18 min

  In the second part of our look at the sound of English in the early 1600s, we continue to explore the letters of the alphabet and the sounds that each letter represents. We explore the letters K through Z and examine how the sounds…

• Episode 184: Spelling Says a Lot (Part 1)

  July 15, 2025 · 1 hr 21 min

  Over the course of the 1500s, English spelling started to become standardized, but the pronunciation of the language continued to change. By the early 1600s, English scholars noticed that spellings no longer reflected the way words were…