The King’s Speech has won the Oscar for Best Picture, and this has brought attention to the issue of speech disfluency.

What causes stammering, and how do people learn to manage it? And how affected was the King’s speech, anyway?

Linguist Daniel Midgley tries to make it clear on this week’s Talk the Talk.


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13: The King’s Speech

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Show notes

From PBS (USA)
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2011/02/kings-speech-draws-attention-to-new-stuttering-research.html

Actual footage of George VI, working hard at it:
http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=50494

From a parent:
http://www.care2.com/causes/health-policy/blog/stuttering-and-the-kings-speech/

The neurological basis of stuttering:
http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/exchange/node/1683

Colin Firth weighs in on the swearing:
http://entertainment.stv.tv/showbiz/231578-oscars-swearing-shock-as-colin-firth-backs-bad-language/