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Within seconds of hearing someone speak, we make judgments about that person and background, just based on their accent. Linguistics professor Steven Weinberger ( George Mason University) explains how and when we develop accents and how they affect our identity. Also: Geoffrey Chaucer’s fourteenth century writings may seem impenetrable, with strange pronunciation and incomprehensible phrases . But English professor Alan Baragona (Virginia Military Institute) says the best way to approach Chaucer is to read it out loud and listen to the musicality of the words.
