Geneva Smitherman ended up in speech therapy in her freshman year at Wayne State University in the 1950s, when she failed a test to screen incoming teaching students for possible speech problems. The ...

Black Americans have long contributed to the ways in which the English language is used, and now a new research project aims to compile the first Oxford Dictionary of African American English.

Several years ago, a school district in Oakland, California suggested that African-American children be taught standard English using teaching methods used to teach the English language to non English ...

America declared independence from British rule in 1776, so why are we still speaking “English” in 2026? As the nation’s ...

American English has many forms. It’s evolved over 400 years to match this country’s dynamic history. Humanities professor Ilan Stavans says that because it’s so adaptable, American English can unify ...

Oxford University Press and Harvard University are collaborating to create the Oxford Dictionary of African American English (ODAAE). Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Director of Harvard University’s Hutchins ...

As President Trump mentioned in Tuesday’s address to the joint session of Congress, he signed an executive order designating English as the nation’s official language on March 1. But should we care?

With each version of large language models like ChatGPT, developers have gotten better at filtering out racist content absorbed through sources like the internet. But researchers have discovered more ...

Black Americans have long contributed to the ways in which the English language is used. A new research project aims to compile the first Oxford Dictionary of African American English. Black people ...

This story is free to read because readers choose to support LAist. If you find value in independent local reporting, make a donation to power our newsroom today. Listen 47:34 American English has ...