Benedict Cumberbatch and the art of distance assimilation (Inside Story)

Benedict Cumberbatch set off a small storm when he unconsciously pronounced penguin as "pengwing" in a recent wildlife documentary. For linguist Kate Burridge, it was another case of "distance assimilation," one of the ways we tend to harmonise the elements of difficult words as we speak. In the first of a series of Inside Language podcasts, she talks to Peter Clarke. Interview originally appeared on the Inside Story website, 7 January 2016.