A London Accent from the 14th to the 21st Centuries

Why HN readers recommended it

HN recommends it as a captivating, accessible tour of how English pronunciation changed, including the rise and fall of the rhotic r.

This is a summary from the source dataset, not an endorsement by Hacker News or the video creator.

Video & recommendation details

Creator / channel

Simon Roper

Topic

historical english pronunciation

Format

explainer

Level

general

HN recommenders in dataset

3

HN mentions in dataset

4

Recommendation years in dataset

2021–2024

These counts and years describe the included Hacker News records; they are not YouTube views or the video’s publication date.

From the original HN conversations

Excerpts from the recorded comments. Follow each source for the full comment and surrounding discussion.

• I thought this might be a Simon Roper video! I really enjoy his deep, humble and creative views on these topics, even though he still describes himself as only an enthusiast. Speaking of creative, check out his "A London Accent from the 14th to the …

• If you have an interest in English and the evolution of the language you must check out the YouTuber Simon Roper. There's no finer student of the subject than him and I appreciate that he starts every video with "I am not [a] formally qualified …

• Very interesting! Many poor people in Ireland emigrated or were sent to the new world too. The rhotic "r" is prevalent in the Irish language, and it is a distinct characteristic of the sound of Hiberno-English (and other accents with a Celtic influence of course). …