On March 3, the Planet Word Museum held an event titled “Language & Liberty: The Sound of 1776.” Planet Word, located at the Franklin School in Washington, is a museum offering an “immersive language experience,” according to its website.
“The Sound of 1776” covered linguistic changes in American English “from the birth of ‘Americanisms’ and shifting regional accents to Benjamin Franklin’s fears about German speakers and the heated debates over linguistic purity in a young, diverse nation,” according to the museum’s website.
The event was hosted by Dr. Anne Curzan, a linguist and English professor. Curzan has taught at the University of Michigan and written multiple books, including, “Secret Life of Words: English Words and Their Origins,” “English Grammar Boot Camp” and “Fixing English: Prescriptivism and Language History.”
“The Sound of 1776” is part of a 2026 series, “Language & Liberty: 250 Years of America,” commemorating the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence and exploring how language and linguistics have affected democracy and freedom. Each month, the museum will host discussions of topics like the “Black Lives Matter” movement or the famous Patrick Henry quote, “Give me liberty or give me death,” which have deeply influenced American culture. The sessions will analyze slogans, lyrics, speech, quotes and book passages through the context of the broader history of the United States to show how language has shaped Americans’ lives.
“We think of language in the context of how we converse today,” said event attendee and member of Daughters of the American Revolution Heather Ware, according to Instagram. “Prior, I never thought in depth about how people spoke and grammar used in the 1700s,” Ware said, according to Instagram. I say bring back: shewn, hath, doth, and independency!”
