Narrator: Now listen to part of a lecture in a United States history class.

Professor: Because America is such a large country, it took a while before everyone in all areas could really share a common culture. When America was first being settled, people traveled thousands of miles to settle new areas. There was little communication between everyone in their remote areas. Americans in their different places spoke different English, had different customs, wore different clothes, and lived different and separate lives. There were two important inventions that helped link Americans to each other and thus helped us all to have more of a common culture.

Thanks to the automobile being produced in mass in the 1920’s, people were able to travel more easily to visit other towns and cities. Now, people who lived in small cities and towns, with the help of their automobile, were able to quickly travel to big cities and other locations. By being exposed to other Americans so frequently, goods were exchanged easier, as well as culture, speech, and other behaviors. People could also take vacations to distant places that they had not been before and take with them their culture, as well as bring back that of Americans living in distant areas.

Another important invention that helped keep our language more homogeneous through time was the radio. As the purchasing of cars increased, so did that of radios. People listened to nationally syndicated radio programs all over America. There were radio dramas, radio musicals, and public addresses by presidents. By all listening to the same programs, speech and culture were shared by people all over the nation.

Narrator: Now get ready to answer the question.

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The automobile and radio helped contribute to a common culture in America. Um…the automobile helped people travel more easily. People could travel to different places and learn different cultures, speech, and other things. People from small towns could travel to the big nearby cities easier and could bring back with them new lingo or what was popular to buy from the city. Uh…the radio also helped the common culture. The national radio shows and programs could be listened to by people from all areas of America. People in the big cities, small towns, people on the east coast, people on the west coast, they could all listen to the same things. They could all hear the same English being spoken on the radio, and then they could speak that English with each other and all understand because they all listened to the same shows.