Episode 77 - Lynne Murphy and the 'Americanisation' of young people's English

<p>Welcome to episode 77 of Lexis in which Raj &amp; Dan talk to Lynne Murphy, Professor of Linguistics at the University of Sussex about a flurry of recent news stories about children’s adoption of American vocabulary (and even accents). We discuss:</p><ul><li><p>What these stories are about and whether we can even tell if this &#39;Americanisation&#39; is happening</p></li><li><p>The main themes in them and their precursors in previous panics about ‘Americanisation’ </p></li><li><p>The discourses within and behind these stories</p></li><li><p>What motivates them and how to approach them critically </p></li><li><p>How British English is also making its way into American English</p></li></ul><p>Lynne is author of ‘<a href="https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/the-prodigal-tongue-the-love-hate-relationship-between-british-and-american-english-lynne-murphy/1874cbc968fd1d54?aid=4868&ean=9781786074973&listref=books-for-a-level-english-language&next=t⁠" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferer">The Prodigal Tongue: the Love–Hate Relationship between British and American English</a>’ , and the <a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferer">Separated by a Common Language blog</a>. </p><p>You can also find her on Bluesky and other social media platforms under the name Lynneguist. </p><p>Bluesky here: <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/lynneguist.bsky.social"><u>https://bsky.app/profile/lynneguist.bsky.social</u></a> </p><p>The stories we discuss are here:</p><p>The Times and Sunday Times feature itself: <a href="http://archive.today/9UM7W"><u>http://archive.today/9UM7W</u></a> </p><p>‘<strong>Trash-talking children are sounding like Americans, say teachers</strong></p><p>Garbage, candy and apartment are Americanisms that are growing more popular among younger pupils’</p><p>Kristina Murkett’s op-ed for The Telegraph, </p><p>‘<strong>The Americanisation of British English reveals this dark thing about our society</strong></p><p>Many parents are happy to allow their children consume videos made by companies that have no obligation to care for them’</p><p><a href="http://archive.today/cZ4kF"><u>http://archive.today/cZ4kF</u></a> </p><p>The Telegraph article links to this absolute stinker of a piece by Simon Heffer from 2024 too, ‘<strong>Americanisms are poisoning our language</strong>’</p><p><a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/authors/americanism-english-language-simon-heffer/"><u>https://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/authors/americanism-english-language-simon-heffer/</u></a>   </p><p>A more sensible take from Charlotte Crips in The Independent, ‘<strong>Mom, can we take the elevator?’ Why I’m fine with my daughter speaking Americanese</strong>’</p><p><a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/features/americanism-english-children-b2857680.html"><u>https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/features/americanism-english-children-b2857680.html</u></a> </p><p>But some quite mixed responses to that piece from their readers: <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/americanisms-english-language-british-b2859043.html"><u>https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/americanisms-english-language-british-b2859043.html</u></a> </p><p>We mention Ben Yagoda’s book, Gobsmacked <a href="https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/gobsmacked-the-british-invasion-of-american-english-ben-yagoda/7669284?ean=9780691262291&next=t"><u>https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/gobsmacked-the-british-invasion-of-american-english-ben-yagoda/7669284?ean=9780691262291&amp;next=t</u></a>  and the Guardian featured an extract from it here: <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2024/sep/26/other-british-invasion-how-uk-language-conquered-the-us"><u>https://www.theguardian.com/science/2024/sep/26/other-british-invasion-how-uk-language-conquered-the-us</u></a> </p><p>A new one (possibly the worst of the lot) was published in The Spectator between recording the episode and publishing i