Dr. Christopher Mulvey, professor emeritus of English at the University of Winchester, will be speaking Tuesday, May 4, to the English-Speaking Union. His topic is “The English Language in Virginia and the Carolinas: An English Project Presentation.”

The talk focuses on the development of English from the time it was first used in the Carolinas and carries forward to a survey of the English language usage in the Carolinas in the 21st century. Mulvey will also explain “the English Project,” which is collecting the linguistic DNA of the planet’s two billion English speakers to raise awareness of the 7,000 varieties of English in 100 countries.

Mulvey took his undergraduate studies at Magdalen College, Oxford, and received his doctorate at Columbia University. He taught in the United States from 1963 to 1978, when he returned to England.

Mulvey is managing editor of the Winchester University Press and is a trustee of the English Project, a registered charity that aims to open a permanent English Language Project in Winchester in 2012. He has published several books, among them “Anglo-American Landscapes and Transatlantic Manners.”

The English-Speaking Union is an organization whose mission is “drawing together the English-Speaking people of the world.” Its commitment is promoting scholarship and the advancement of knowledge through the effective use of English in an expanding global community. The local branch of the E-SU approaches the mission with a timely monthly program of informative and entertaining speakers on topics ranging from literary to the geopolitical stage. Included in the activities of the E-SU was the middle school debate held in the fall and the Moore Shakespeare Competition between Moore County high school students and the students from surrounding counties.

The event will be held at the Country Club of North Carolina. Cocktails will be served at 6 p.m., followed by dinner at 7 p.m. The program follows.

The English-Speaking Union welcomes new members. For information, call Martha O’Connor at (910) 235-0635 or e-mail Dr. Phillip Hinsley at phinsley@gmail.com.