You can also explore language further on the Open University Word4Word site where you can find out how to run your own linguistic survey, and order a free booklet to accompany the series.
The Series
The series has now ended but you can still listen to the series online.
Examines traditions of regional language which show few or no signs of significant standardisation in order to demonstrate the power of the closed community on language. Go to programme two.
We look at how widespread the Estuarial phenomenon has become - using recordings from as far afield as Cornwall and Manchester, rural Lancashire, Cambridge and Newcastle. Go to programme three
The way that regional and national forms of language are the products of powerful and very diverse forces, including the influence of the Vikings Go to programme five
Bestselling children's writer and poet Michael Rosen has written a specially commissioned verse about the myriad forms our current vernacular takes. Follow this link to read the poem.
THE PRESENTER
Dermot Murnaghan has spent most of his career in broadcast journalism. Before joining the BBC, he spent more than a decade fronting ITV's national news bulletins from London. He joined the BBC in the Autumn of 2002, becoming Breakfast's main presenter immediately Read Dermot's article on Word 4 Word
Simon Elmes, the executive producer of Word 4 Word, talks about the series and the VOICES project. 
Bestselling children's writer and poet Michael Rosen has written a specially commissioned verse about the myriad forms our current vernacular takes. 
Dermot Murnaghan has spent most of his career in broadcast journalism. Before joining the BBC, he spent more than a decade fronting ITV's national news bulletins from London. He joined the BBC in the Autumn of 2002, becoming Breakfast's main presenter immediately