Changing British English

Have you used the words antwacky, jarg and squinny recently? Presenter Robin Lustig examines linguistic change and continuity in British English. He visits the Oxford English Dictionary, he gets a lesson in regional slang. In Portsmouth, on the south coast of England, Robin hears some of that language on the streets as he meets young people who blend local slang with the global influence of social media and music. As he travels around the city, Robin sees how British English relates to the wider world as he meets speakers of Arabic, Chinese and Spanish learning English as well as English teens learning Hinglish, a combination of English and Hindi.

As he considers its future place in the world, Robin asks whether British English will still matter in a post-colonial, post-Brexit world. Producer: Julia Johnson.

(Photo: Man learning English via a computer. Credit: Getty Images)