The History of English Podcast

Kevin Stroud

The Spoken History of a Global Language

  1. 1D AGO

    Episode 187: Islands and Sea

    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 saw the arrival of Charles I as the new king of England and Scotland, so we also examine his early reign and his repeated conflicts with Parliament.

    1h 13m

  2. 10/31/2025

    Episode 186: A Dutch Treat

    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 of the Dutch settlement in modern-day New York and New Jersey, and we explore how Dutch influenced early American English. We also examine several important developments in England in the early 1620s. TRANSCRIPT: EPISODE 186

    1h 26m

  3. 09/01/2025

    Episode 185: Spelling Says a Lot (Part 2)

    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 represented by those letters have evolved over the Modern English period. TRANSCRIPT: EPISODE 185

    1h 18m

  4. 07/15/2025

    Episode 184: Spelling Says a Lot (Part 1)

    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 pronounced, and they recommended phonetic reforms. In this episode, we examine how English spelling reformers described the pronunciation of English in the early 1600s, and we also explore how Modern English spellings reflect the phonetic history of words. TRANSCRIPT: EPISODE 184

    1h 21m

  5. 05/13/2025

    Episode 183: The Fabric of Our Lives

    In the early 1600s, cotton fabrics made in India were in high demand throughout Asia and Africa. When the English and Dutch arrived in India and Japan, they realized how popular the fabric was, and they soon began to ship it back to northern Europe. In this episode, we explore how the ‘cotton craze’ of the 1600s shaped the modern world, and shaped the English language. We also examine the end of the Shakespearean period and the second English dictionary. TRANSCRIPT: EPISODE 183

    1h 17m

  6. 03/18/2025

    Episode 182: World of Confusion

    In the early 1600s, English began to spread around the world as speakers searched for new trading partners and new places to settle. Through that process, English become an international language, but as English speakers encountered people and languages in distant places, they sometimes became confused. That confusion and uncertainty shaped the English language during this period. In this episode, we explore early English loanwords from North America, Shakespeare’s The Tempest, and the first English trading post in India. TRANSCRIPT: EPISODE 182

    1h 16m

  7. 01/30/2025

    Episode 181: Heaven and Earth

    The invention of the telescope in the early 1600s laid the foundation for the scientific revolution, but it also disrupted the traditional view of the universe and led to a conflict with the Catholic Church. Meanwhile, the Anglican Church completed a translation of the Bible that became known as the King James or Authorized version. In this episode, we look at how these simultaneous developments changed the modern world and shaped the English language. TRANSCRIPT: EPISODE 181

    1h 21m

  8. 11/13/2024

    Episode 180: English on the Move

    In the first decade of the 1600s, English speakers were on the move as they established the first permanent English settlement in North America. They also began a steady a migration to northern Ireland after an event known to history as the Flight of the Earls. As these English speakers relocated to regions outside of Britian, they took their regional accents and dialects with them. In this episode, we’ll examine how those settlement patterns shaped the way English is spoken around the world. TRANSCRIPT: EPISODE 180

    1h 14m
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