The Story of English
The Story of English is a nine-part television series, produced in 1986, detailing the development of the English language.[1]
The Story of English is also a companion book, also produced in 1986.
The book and the television series were written by Robert MacNeil, Robert McCrum, and William Cran.[2] The book has been revised twice, once in 1993, and again in 2002.[3]
The documentary series was directed by William Cran,Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement - Informational Programming - Writing.[5] The series was released as a 5 tape box set in 2001, running 495 minutes.
The book and series have been used in university courses.[6][7][8]
Episode list
- An English Speaking World: Discusses how English has become the most dominant language throughout the world.
- The Mother Tongue: Discusses the early stages of the English language, including Old English and Middle English.
- A Muse of Fire: Discusses the influence of King James Bibleon the English language as well as how Early Modern English took root in the American colonies and its influence on contemporary American English.
- The Guid Scots Tongue: Discusses the Scottish influence on the English language.
- Black on White: Discusses the Black community's influence on the English language. (Includes interviews with Philadelphia hip hop legends The Scanner Boys, Parry P and Grand Tone.)
- Pioneers, O Pioneers!: Discusses Canadian English and the various forms of American English.
- The Muvver Tongue: Discusses Cockney dialect and Australian English.
- The Loaded Weapon: Discusses the Irish influence on the English Language.
- Next Year's Words: Discusses the future and new emerging forms of the English language.
References
- ^ Davenport, Anne Azzi; Brown, Jeffrey (12 April 2024). "Robert MacNeil, co-founder of NewsHour, dies at 93". PBS NewsHour. PBS. Retrieved 13 April 2024.
- ISBN 0-670-80467-3.
- ISBN 0-14-200231-3
- IMDb
- ^ "Primetime Emmy Award Database - The Story of English". Emmys.com. Retrieved 20 April 2013.
- ^ The Story of English Video Series - contents listing, including timecode descriptions at the Wayback Machine (archive index)
- ^ ENG 121: The Story of English — a Northern Arizona University course using The Story of English as its base.
- ^ "Open Syllabus Project - Story of English". galaxy.opensyllabus.org. Retrieved 22 July 2019.