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Because Language - a podcast about linguistics, the science of language.Sat, 20 Dec 2025 13:56:26 +0000Sat, 20 Dec 2025 13:56:26 +0000Libsyn RSSgen 1.0
https://becauselanguage.com
enhttps://becauselanguage.comhttps://static.libsyn.com/p/assets/d/5/e/5/d5e587c9c903cfb8/because_language_logo.pngBecause Language - a podcast about linguistics, the science of language.Daniel Midgley, Ben Ainslie, and Hedvig SkirgårdtrueDaniel Midgleytdanielmidgley@gmail.comepisodicno131: Words of the Week of the Year 2025 (live with friends)131: Words of the Week of the Year 2025 (live with friends)Sat, 20 Dec 2025 13:27:00 +0000Video for this episode: https://youtu.be/Mqf05kN-TaI
It's Word of the Year season, and we're counting down our Words of the Week of the Year! In the time-honoured tradition, we gathered them all up from our 2025 shows, and let everyone vote. And we're going to give a mention to everyone else's words as well. We're joined by our friends and patrons, so come see them in chat!
It's Word of the Year season, and we're counting down our Words of the Week of the Year! In the time-honoured tradition, we gathered them all up from our 2025 shows, and let everyone vote. And we're going to give a mention to everyone else's words as well. We're joined by our friends and patrons, so come see them in chat!
Timestamps
Start: 0:00
Intros: 1:31
Everyone else's words: 5:57
Related or Not: 34:34
Our Words of the Week of the Year: 51:35
Comments: 1:22:04
The Reads: 1:26:36
Outtakes: 1:30:50
]]>01:31:55truefullDaniel Midgley, Ben Ainslie, and Hedvig Skirgård130: Back to the FTR (with Séan Roberts, Cole Robertson, and Annemarie Verkerk)130: Back to the FTR (with Séan Roberts, Cole Robertson, and Annemarie Verkerk)Sat, 06 Dec 2025 04:39:00 +0000You know the story. The language you speak doesn't determine your savings. If your language has a future tense, there's no impact on the way you see or describe the future. Language and perception are separate.
Well, maybe it's time to revisit this. Séan Roberts and Cole Robertson are finding a cognitive connection, not with how our language makes us talk about the future, but with how our language lets us express uncertainty.
Also, Annemarie Verkerk and Hedvig Skirgård team up to test out language universals. Which ones are getting knocked over?
Timestamps
Start: 0:00
Intros: 0:36
News: 6:08
Chat with Annemarie Verkerk and Hedvig Skirgård: 23:06
Related or Not: 49:22
Interview with Séan Roberts and Cole Robertson: 1:10:38
Words of the Week: 2:18:09
Comments: 2:37:20
The Reads: 2:42:37
Outtakes: 2:50:05
]]>You know the story. The language you speak doesn't determine your savings. If your language has a future tense, there's no impact on the way you see or describe the future. Language and perception are separate.
Well, maybe it's time to revisit this. Séan Roberts and Cole Robertson are finding a cognitive connection, not with how our language makes us talk about the future, but with how our language lets us express uncertainty.
Also, Annemarie Verkerk and Hedvig Skirgård team up to test out language universals. Which ones are getting knocked over?
Timestamps
Start: 0:00
Intros: 0:36
News: 6:08
Chat with Annemarie Verkerk and Hedvig Skirgård: 23:06
Related or Not: 49:22
Interview with Séan Roberts and Cole Robertson: 1:10:38
Words of the Week: 2:18:09
Comments: 2:37:20
The Reads: 2:42:37
Outtakes: 2:50:05
]]>02:53:34truefull129: They Started It: Children and Language Evolution (with Madeleine Beekman)129: They Started It: Children and Language Evolution (with Madeleine Beekman)Wed, 19 Nov 2025 05:32:00 +0000We've asked linguists about how language began, but what would an evolutionary biologist tell you? Prof Madeleine Beekman says it's part of a complex web of body, brain, and community, and at the heart of it is (perhaps surprisingly) childcare. Madeleine is the author of The Origin of Language: How We Learned to Speak and Why.
Timestamps
Cold open: 0:00
Intros: 0:42
News: 9:07
Related or Not: 30:02
Interview with Madeleine Beekman: 49:43
Words of the Week: 1:40:49
Comments: 2:01:30
The Reads: 2:08:07
Outtakes: 2:17:38
]]>We've asked linguists about how language began, but what would an evolutionary biologist tell you? Prof Madeleine Beekman says it's part of a complex web of body, brain, and community, and at the heart of it is (perhaps surprisingly) childcare. Madeleine is the author of The Origin of Language: How We Learned to Speak and Why.
Timestamps
Cold open: 0:00
Intros: 0:42
News: 9:07
Related or Not: 30:02
Interview with Madeleine Beekman: 49:43
Words of the Week: 1:40:49
Comments: 2:01:30
The Reads: 2:08:07
Outtakes: 2:17:38
]]>02:25:50truefull128: Across the Universe (with Natan Last)128: Across the Universe (with Natan Last)Wed, 22 Oct 2025 02:07:00 +0000Among so many great word games, crosswords still reign supreme. How have they survived — and even expanded — in our digital age? What goes into a good puzzle, and will computer techniques take over? Daniel chats with author Natan Last about his book Across the Universe: The Past, Present, and Future of the Crossword Puzzle.
Timestamps
Intros: 0:35
News: 4:42
Related or Not: 22:13
Interview with Natan Last: 37:56
Words of the Week: 1:24:52
Comment: 1:53:37
The Reads: 1:55:31
Outtakes: 2:02:50
]]>Among so many great word games, crosswords still reign supreme. How have they survived — and even expanded — in our digital age? What goes into a good puzzle, and will computer techniques take over? Daniel chats with author Natan Last about his book Across the Universe: The Past, Present, and Future of the Crossword Puzzle.
Timestamps
Intros: 0:35
News: 4:42
Related or Not: 22:13
Interview with Natan Last: 37:56
Words of the Week: 1:24:52
Comment: 1:53:37
The Reads: 1:55:31
Outtakes: 2:02:50
]]>02:07:26truefullDaniel Midgley, Ben Ainslie, and Hedvig Skirgård127: Oh (with Maia Chao, Kelly Wright, and Caitlin Green)127: Oh (with Maia Chao, Kelly Wright, and Caitlin Green)Fri, 10 Oct 2025 00:18:26 +0000The "Oh" show was an experimental linguistics performance lecture. It happened in June 2025 at Creative Time HQ in New York City. Actors, musicians, and audience came together (with at least one linguist!) to act out dialogues from conversational analysis, and have fun with language. Are there more ways we can perform linguistics? We're talking with artist and linguistics fan Maia Chao.
Timestamps
Cold open: 0:00
Intros: 0:38
News: 7:16
Related or Not: 40:03
Interview with Maia Chao: 55:08
Words of the Week: 1:30:31
Bonus chat with Caitlin Green: groyper: 1:54:40
The Reads: 2:07:48
Outtakes: 2:14:59
]]>The "Oh" show was an experimental linguistics performance lecture. It happened in June 2025 at Creative Time HQ in New York City. Actors, musicians, and audience came together (with at least one linguist!) to act out dialogues from conversational analysis, and have fun with language. Are there more ways we can perform linguistics? We're talking with artist and linguistics fan Maia Chao.
Timestamps
Cold open: 0:00
Intros: 0:38
News: 7:16
Related or Not: 40:03
Interview with Maia Chao: 55:08
Words of the Week: 1:30:31
Bonus chat with Caitlin Green: groyper: 1:54:40
The Reads: 2:07:48
Outtakes: 2:14:59
]]>02:15:56truefullDaniel Midgley, Ben Ainslie, and Hedvig Skirgård125: Friends With Words (live with Martha Barnette and friends)125: Friends With Words (live with Martha Barnette and friends)Fri, 12 Sep 2025 07:17:37 +0000Martha Barnette is one half of the linguistics podcast A Way With Words, and author of the new book Friends With Words: Adventures in Languageland.
Her lifelong love of language has led her through some of the toughest questions lexicography has to offer, and she's answering questions from our live listening audience.
Why do we FALL pregnant? How can we use PRETTY to say something is "pretty ugly"? And once and for all, why do we really say "the whole nine yards"?
Start: 0:00 Cold open: 0:27 Intros: 2:02 Chat with Martha about Friends With Words: 5:42 On Martha's life and language: 11:10 Related or Not: 36:27 Questions for Martha: 56:25 The Reads: 1:25:40
]]>Martha Barnette is one half of the linguistics podcast A Way With Words, and author of the new book Friends With Words: Adventures in Languageland.
Her lifelong love of language has led her through some of the toughest questions lexicography has to offer, and she's answering questions from our live listening audience.
Why do we FALL pregnant? How can we use PRETTY to say something is "pretty ugly"? And once and for all, why do we really say "the whole nine yards"?
Start: 0:00 Cold open: 0:27 Intros: 2:02 Chat with Martha about Friends With Words: 5:42 On Martha's life and language: 11:10 Related or Not: 36:27 Questions for Martha: 56:25 The Reads: 1:25:40
]]>01:31:09truefullDaniel Midgley, Ben Ainslie, and Hedvig Skirgård124: Algospeak (with Adam Aleksic)124: Algospeak (with Adam Aleksic)Sat, 23 Aug 2025 23:10:03 +0000Creators have to be mindful of what to say and what not to say in their content. This affects the language we're exposed to — and what we say IRL. But it's part of an old process. Popular LingToker Adam Aleksic breaks it down. He's the author of the new book Algospeak: How Social Media Is Transforming the Future of Language.
Timestamps
Start: 0:00
Intros: 1:42
News: 12:25
Related or Not: 29:59
Interview with Adam Aleksic: 44:07
Words of the Week: 1:15:10
Comment: 1:37:56
The Reads: 1:39:56
]]>Creators have to be mindful of what to say and what not to say in their content. This affects the language we're exposed to — and what we say IRL. But it's part of an old process. Popular LingToker Adam Aleksic breaks it down. He's the author of the new book Algospeak: How Social Media Is Transforming the Future of Language.
Timestamps
Start: 0:00
Intros: 1:42
News: 12:25
Related or Not: 29:59
Interview with Adam Aleksic: 44:07
Words of the Week: 1:15:10
Comment: 1:37:56
The Reads: 1:39:56
]]>01:49:40truefullDaniel Midgley, Ben Ainslie, and Hedvig Skirgård123: Conscious Language (with Karen Yin)123: Conscious Language (with Karen Yin)Sun, 03 Aug 2025 14:07:59 +0000We've all seen style guides that tell us what to say and what not to say. Has a style guide ever asked you what you wanted to say? Or challenged you to examine your thinking? This one does. It's the Conscious Style Guide by Karen Yin, and she joins us for this episode.
Timestamps
Cold open: 0:00
Intros: 0:35
News: 5:52
Related or Not: 31:13
Interview with Karen Yin: 48:43
Words of the Week: 1:30:10
Comments: 1:44:07
The Reads: 1:47:45
Outtake: 1:54:06
]]>We've all seen style guides that tell us what to say and what not to say. Has a style guide ever asked you what you wanted to say? Or challenged you to examine your thinking? This one does. It's the Conscious Style Guide by Karen Yin, and she joins us for this episode.
Timestamps
Cold open: 0:00
Intros: 0:35
News: 5:52
Related or Not: 31:13
Interview with Karen Yin: 48:43
Words of the Week: 1:30:10
Comments: 1:44:07
The Reads: 1:47:45
Outtake: 1:54:06
]]>01:54:22truefullDaniel Midgley, Ben Ainslie, and Hedvig Skirgård122: The Interaction Engine (with Stephen Levinson)122: The Interaction Engine (with Stephen Levinson)Sat, 12 Jul 2025 16:22:52 +0000How did language start? What do all languages have in common? How does language really work? Many answers have been posed to these questions, but one thing is for sure: interaction is the combustion chamber where everything happens. We're having a chat with linguistic lion Stephen Levinson, author of The Interaction Engine.
Timestamps
Introductions: 0:19
These fascinating facts about language will make you (or Dr Levinson) a hit at any party: 3:47
The mechanics of speech production: 06:01
What's going on when we're talking or listening? 8:46
Cultural differences in conversational norms: 20:33
Universals of interaction: 22:10
Metaphors of space may have been a motivator for language: 25:53
The role of gesture in language development: 28:47
Cooperation and empathy in language: 34:59
What one thing explains the most about language?: 45:56
Disclosure: Hedvig is employed at the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, where Dr Levinson is an emeritus director.
]]>How did language start? What do all languages have in common? How does language really work? Many answers have been posed to these questions, but one thing is for sure: interaction is the combustion chamber where everything happens. We're having a chat with linguistic lion Stephen Levinson, author of The Interaction Engine.
Timestamps
Introductions: 0:19
These fascinating facts about language will make you (or Dr Levinson) a hit at any party: 3:47
The mechanics of speech production: 06:01
What's going on when we're talking or listening? 8:46
Cultural differences in conversational norms: 20:33
Universals of interaction: 22:10
Metaphors of space may have been a motivator for language: 25:53
The role of gesture in language development: 28:47
Cooperation and empathy in language: 34:59
What one thing explains the most about language?: 45:56
Disclosure: Hedvig is employed at the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, where Dr Levinson is an emeritus director.
]]>55:34truefullDaniel Midgley and Hedvig Skirgård121: Learning from LLMs (with Adele Goldberg)121: Learning from LLMs (with Adele Goldberg)Sun, 29 Jun 2025 03:38:33 +0000How do large language models (LLMs) do their thing, and it is anything like how we do our thing? What can we learn about human language from this software? The answer might involve constructions — pairings of form and meaning that we use to make language. And here to discuss it with us is constructionist pioneer and linguistic legend, Professor Adele Goldberg.
Timestamps
Intros: 1:14
News: 7:13
Related or Not: 34:18
Interview with Adele Goldberg: 46:40
Words of the Week: 1:38:19
The Reads: 1:56:50
Bonus chat with Adele Goldberg: 2:03:16
Outtakes: 2:13:11
]]>How do large language models (LLMs) do their thing, and it is anything like how we do our thing? What can we learn about human language from this software? The answer might involve constructions — pairings of form and meaning that we use to make language. And here to discuss it with us is constructionist pioneer and linguistic legend, Professor Adele Goldberg.
Timestamps
Intros: 1:14
News: 7:13
Related or Not: 34:18
Interview with Adele Goldberg: 46:40
Words of the Week: 1:38:19
The Reads: 1:56:50
Bonus chat with Adele Goldberg: 2:03:16
Outtakes: 2:13:11
]]>02:22:45truefullDaniel Midgley, Ben Ainslie, and Hedvig Skirgård120: Gesture! ✨👐✨ (with Lauren Gawne)120: Gesture! (with Lauren Gawne)Tue, 10 Jun 2025 08:51:00 +0000Gesture is everywhere. We wave our hands when we talk, even if we're alone. Signed languages are, of course, full languages that use gesture. And it could even be argued that emoji are the online equivalent of gesture. It's inescapable. And why would we want to do without it, when it's so useful? So we're talking about gesture and language with Dr Lauren Gawne, author of Gesture: A Slim Guide.
]]>Gesture is everywhere. We wave our hands when we talk, even if we're alone. Signed languages are, of course, full languages that use gesture. And it could even be argued that emoji are the online equivalent of gesture. It's inescapable. And why would we want to do without it, when it's so useful? So we're talking about gesture and language with Dr Lauren Gawne, author of Gesture: A Slim Guide.
]]>01:54:22truefullDaniel Midgley and Hedvig Skirgård119: Eurovision Goes to Uni (with Paulette van der Voet and Solveig Bollig)119: Eurovision Goes to Uni (with Paulette van der Voet and Solveig Bollig)Sun, 18 May 2025 00:05:45 +0000It's Eurovision season! We love to talk about what we can learn about language from this international song contest, but even we didn't realise that there was so much to learn. Language choice, language policy, language and gender and metaphor — and all of this has been packed into a unit at Umeå University: Linguistics and the Eurovision Song Contest. Paulette van der Voet and Solveig Bollig are heading up the course, and they're here to tell us all about it… and nerd out with Hedvig besides.
Timestamps
Cold open: 0:00
Intros: 0:39
News: 7:39
Related or Not: 26:41
Interview with Paulette and Solveig: 38:53
Words of the Week: 1:30:08
Comment from John: 1:49:18
The Reads: 1:53:53
Outtakes: 2:02:25
]]>It's Eurovision season! We love to talk about what we can learn about language from this international song contest, but even we didn't realise that there was so much to learn. Language choice, language policy, language and gender and metaphor — and all of this has been packed into a unit at Umeå University: Linguistics and the Eurovision Song Contest. Paulette van der Voet and Solveig Bollig are heading up the course, and they're here to tell us all about it… and nerd out with Hedvig besides.
Timestamps
Cold open: 0:00
Intros: 0:39
News: 7:39
Related or Not: 26:41
Interview with Paulette and Solveig: 38:53
Words of the Week: 1:30:08
Comment from John: 1:49:18
The Reads: 1:53:53
Outtakes: 2:02:25
]]>02:15:17truefullDaniel Midgley, Ben Ainslie, and Hedvig Skirgård118: The A.I. Con (with Emily M. Bender and Alex Hanna)118: The A.I. Con (with Emily M. Bender and Alex Hanna)Mon, 12 May 2025 13:52:02 +0000Artificial intelligence (so-called) is typified by its boom and bust cycles, and we're in a boom now. But as more and more money pours in with decreasing returns, we're going to see a shakeout, and hype is rushing in to stoke the enthusiasm. In other words, the con is on.
Dr Emily M. Bender and Dr Alex Hanna are co-hosts of the podcast Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000, and the authors of The AI Con: How to Fight Big Tech's Hype and Create the Future We Want. They join us for this episode.
]]>Artificial intelligence (so-called) is typified by its boom and bust cycles, and we're in a boom now. But as more and more money pours in with decreasing returns, we're going to see a shakeout, and hype is rushing in to stoke the enthusiasm. In other words, the con is on.
Dr Emily M. Bender and Dr Alex Hanna are co-hosts of the podcast Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000, and the authors of The AI Con: How to Fight Big Tech's Hype and Create the Future We Want. They join us for this episode.
]]>51:26truefullDaniel Midgley and Hedvig Skirgård117: Sometimes It Feels Like I'm the Only One Trying to Fix English Around Here (live with friends for LingFest25)117: Sometimes It Feels Like I'm the Only One Trying to Fix English Around Here (live with friends for LingFest25)Mon, 05 May 2025 06:25:01 +0000Video version of this episode: https://youtu.be/wxGeXMzlwng
If you repeat something twice, how many times did you do it? Can more than one dinner be "the perfect dinner"? And what does "every other" mean?
We are once again fixing English, in a live episode in which we pile all our friends into a room and vote on vexing semantic questions. These results are binding on English-speakers throughout time and space, because that's how language works. By committee!
If you repeat something twice, how many times did you do it? Can more than one dinner be "the perfect dinner"? And what does "every other" mean?
We are once again fixing English, in a live episode in which we pile all our friends into a room and vote on vexing semantic questions. These results are binding on English-speakers throughout time and space, because that's how language works. By committee!
Timestamps
Cold open: 0:00
Intros: 0:55
News: 4:12
Related or Not: 31:06
Fixing English: 47:59
Words of the Week: 1:13:44
The Reads: 1:34:00
Outtakes: 1:42:40
]]>01:47:19truefullDaniel Midgley, Ben Ainslie, and Hedvig Skirgård116: Enough Is Enuf (with Gabe Henry)116: Enough Is Enuf (with Gabe Henry)Sat, 19 Apr 2025 12:41:48 +0000Spelling reform in English: a constant failure? Or a secret success? Waves upon waves of optimists have tried to make English spelling reflect its sound and escape its etymological origins, but have never seen their vision fully realised. Author Gabe Henry has chronicled the attempts, and he joins us on this episode.
Gabe is the author of Enough Is Enuf: Our Failed Attempts to Make English Easier to Spell, available from Dey Street Books.
Timestamps
Cold open: 0:00
Intros: 1:44
News: 9:50
Related or Not: 32:21
Interview with Gabe Henry: 49:23
Words of the Week: 1:33:41
Comment: 1:50:50
The Reads: 1:53:57
Outtakes: 2:03:28
]]>Spelling reform in English: a constant failure? Or a secret success? Waves upon waves of optimists have tried to make English spelling reflect its sound and escape its etymological origins, but have never seen their vision fully realised. Author Gabe Henry has chronicled the attempts, and he joins us on this episode.
Gabe is the author of Enough Is Enuf: Our Failed Attempts to Make English Easier to Spell, available from Dey Street Books.
Timestamps
Cold open: 0:00
Intros: 1:44
News: 9:50
Related or Not: 32:21
Interview with Gabe Henry: 49:23
Words of the Week: 1:33:41
Comment: 1:50:50
The Reads: 1:53:57
Outtakes: 2:03:28
]]>02:07:14truefullDaniel Midgley, Ben Ainslie, and Hedvig Skirgård114: Bye Bye I Love You (with Michael Erard)114: Bye Bye I Love You (with Michael Erard)Tue, 25 Mar 2025 13:10:53 +0000First words and last words get a lot of attention. But how did words get to have such a place of prominence? What would we see if we focused on interaction instead? A new book looks at words, gestures, and silence at the beginning and end of life. Daniel has a chat with the author of Bye Bye I Love You, Dr Michael Erard.
Timestamps
Cold open: 0:00
Intros: 1:05
News: 6:59
Related or Not: 35;54
Interview with Michael Erard: 47:56
Words of the Week: 1:33:32
Comment: 1:45:46
The Reads: 1:49:43
Outtake: 1:56:01
]]>First words and last words get a lot of attention. But how did words get to have such a place of prominence? What would we see if we focused on interaction instead? A new book looks at words, gestures, and silence at the beginning and end of life. Daniel has a chat with the author of Bye Bye I Love You, Dr Michael Erard.
Timestamps
Cold open: 0:00
Intros: 1:05
News: 6:59
Related or Not: 35;54
Interview with Michael Erard: 47:56
Words of the Week: 1:33:32
Comment: 1:45:46
The Reads: 1:49:43
Outtake: 1:56:01
]]>01:56:29truefullDaniel Midgley, Ben Ainslie, and Hedvig Skirgård113: "Official" English (with Carmen Fought)113: "Official" English (with Carmen Fought)Sun, 02 Mar 2025 20:31:27 +0000Breaking news: The president of the United States intends to sign an executive order designating English the official language of the USA. Is this a big deal? Why was this necessary, and what happens now? Dr Carmen Fought joins us on this episode.
Timestamps
Theme and intros: 0:00
Discussing the executive order with Carmen: 0:56
Thanks and reads: 47:38
]]>Breaking news: The president of the United States intends to sign an executive order designating English the official language of the USA. Is this a big deal? Why was this necessary, and what happens now? Dr Carmen Fought joins us on this episode.
Timestamps
Theme and intros: 0:00
Discussing the executive order with Carmen: 0:56
Thanks and reads: 47:38
]]>48:23truefullDaniel Midgley and Hedvig Skirgård112: WotY 2024: The Last Word112: WotY 2024: The Last WordFri, 21 Feb 2025 09:12:19 +0000What really goes on behind the scenes at the biggest Word of the Year vote in linguistdom? Are we really going to stick with sanewashing for our word? And which words did we miss? We lock in and crash out with New Words Data Czar Dr Kelly Wright.
Timestamps
Open: 0:00
Intros: 0:57
Words: 6:54
Related or Not: 59:22
Comments: 1:19:19
The Reads: 1:24:00
Outtake: 1:32:39
]]>What really goes on behind the scenes at the biggest Word of the Year vote in linguistdom? Are we really going to stick with sanewashing for our word? And which words did we miss? We lock in and crash out with New Words Data Czar Dr Kelly Wright.
Timestamps
Open: 0:00
Intros: 0:57
Words: 6:54
Related or Not: 59:22
Comments: 1:19:19
The Reads: 1:24:00
Outtake: 1:32:39
]]>01:33:10truefullDaniel Midgley, Ben Ainslie, and Hedvig Skirgård111: Words of the Week of the Year 2024 (live with Mignon Fogarty and friends)111: Words of the Week of the Year 2024 (live with Mignon Fogarty and friends)Sat, 21 Dec 2024 13:41:03 +0000It's our Words of the Year episode, where we do a vibe check on all the words and name one of them our Because Language Word of the Year. We're joined by Grammar Girl Mignon Fogarty and a lot of friends and supporters. It's going to be weird. It's going to be brat. You know we're going to eat that.
Timestamps
Cold open: 0:00
Intros: 0:54
All the words from everywhere: 10:58
Related or Not: 43:28
Words from Mignon and James: 58:50
Our Words of the Week of the Year: 1:13:23
The Reads: 1:33:40
Outtakes: 1:39:29
]]>It's our Words of the Year episode, where we do a vibe check on all the words and name one of them our Because Language Word of the Year. We're joined by Grammar Girl Mignon Fogarty and a lot of friends and supporters. It's going to be weird. It's going to be brat. You know we're going to eat that.
Timestamps
Cold open: 0:00
Intros: 0:54
All the words from everywhere: 10:58
Related or Not: 43:28
Words from Mignon and James: 58:50
Our Words of the Week of the Year: 1:13:23
The Reads: 1:33:40
Outtakes: 1:39:29
]]>01:42:41truefullDaniel Midgley and Ben Ainslie110: Diego's Dossier (with Diego Diaz)110: Diego's Dossier (with Diego Diaz)Wed, 18 Dec 2024 04:00:00 +0000What's in the linguistic news? Diego knows. He's been tracking down stories and words for us all year long, and now he's curated an entire show for us. It's the latest in the Diego series.
How do you write laughter in Spanish? Or other languages?
Why do islands have so many languages?
Why are speakers of an Indonesian language using Korean Hangul as their writing system?
Plus Words of the Week and Related or Not!
Timestamps
Start: 0:00
News: 5:07
Related or Not: 34:14
Words of the Week: 46:40
The Reads: 59:30
Outtakes: 1:03:18
]]>What's in the linguistic news? Diego knows. He's been tracking down stories and words for us all year long, and now he's curated an entire show for us. It's the latest in the Diego series.
How do you write laughter in Spanish? Or other languages?
Why do islands have so many languages?
Why are speakers of an Indonesian language using Korean Hangul as their writing system?
Plus Words of the Week and Related or Not!
Timestamps
Start: 0:00
News: 5:07
Related or Not: 34:14
Words of the Week: 46:40
The Reads: 59:30
Outtakes: 1:03:18
]]>01:04:03truefullDaniel Midgley and Ben Ainslie109: Language Oppression in Tibet (with Gerald Roche and Sasha Wilmoth)109: Language Oppression in Tibet (with Gerald Roche and Sasha Wilmoth)Fri, 06 Dec 2024 02:11:04 +0000Minority languages are under threat everywhere, but Tibet represents a particularly difficult challenge. The Tibetan language family is under pressure from (no surprise) Mandarin, even as community support for Tibetan remains high. But where does that leave the many other minority languages of the area, like Manegacha? Language policy, community pressure, and individual language choice are coming together in a turbulent mix. Is there any place for hope in this setting? Dr Gerald Roche tells us about this unique situation, drawing from his new book The Politics of Language Oppression in Tibet.
Daniel chats with Dr Sasha Wilmoth about a very surprising sentence, and how our brains process language in some surprising ways.
Timestamps
Cold open: 0:00 Intros: 0:55 News: 5:30 Chat with Sasha Wilmoth: 21:30 Related or Not: 39:40 Interview with Gerald Roche: 54:40 Words of the Week: 2:02:56 The Reads: 2:29:16 Outtakes: 2:32:56
]]>Minority languages are under threat everywhere, but Tibet represents a particularly difficult challenge. The Tibetan language family is under pressure from (no surprise) Mandarin, even as community support for Tibetan remains high. But where does that leave the many other minority languages of the area, like Manegacha? Language policy, community pressure, and individual language choice are coming together in a turbulent mix. Is there any place for hope in this setting? Dr Gerald Roche tells us about this unique situation, drawing from his new book The Politics of Language Oppression in Tibet.
Daniel chats with Dr Sasha Wilmoth about a very surprising sentence, and how our brains process language in some surprising ways.
Timestamps
Cold open: 0:00 Intros: 0:55 News: 5:30 Chat with Sasha Wilmoth: 21:30 Related or Not: 39:40 Interview with Gerald Roche: 54:40 Words of the Week: 2:02:56 The Reads: 2:29:16 Outtakes: 2:32:56
]]>02:35:46truefullDaniel Midgley, Ben Ainslie, and Hedvig Skirgård108: Mailbag of Etymology (with Douglas Harper)108: Mailbag of Etymology (with Douglas Harper)Sat, 16 Nov 2024 16:35:15 +0000We're joined for the first time by Douglas Harper, proprietor of the world-renowned Online Etymology Dictionary (etymonline.com). He's here to help us with our Mailbag questions, and even test us in a game of Related or Not.
In our Mailbag this time:
What's the difference between DEPENDENCE and DEPENDENCY?
Why is TONGUE spelled that way?
What does it mean if reciting a tongue twister in your mind is just as hard as saying it out loud?
Why is STYGIAN the adjective form of the River Styx?
Why are WHY and BECAUSE the same in some languages?
Timestamps
Cold open: 0:00
Intros: 2:01
Questions for Douglas Harper: 9:16
Mailbag questions 1: 24:00
Related or Not: 41:24
Mailbag questions 2: 1:03:20
Comments: 1:14:18
The Reads: 1:18:00
Outtakes: 1:22:47
]]>We're joined for the first time by Douglas Harper, proprietor of the world-renowned Online Etymology Dictionary (etymonline.com). He's here to help us with our Mailbag questions, and even test us in a game of Related or Not.
In our Mailbag this time:
What's the difference between DEPENDENCE and DEPENDENCY?
Why is TONGUE spelled that way?
What does it mean if reciting a tongue twister in your mind is just as hard as saying it out loud?
Why is STYGIAN the adjective form of the River Styx?
Why are WHY and BECAUSE the same in some languages?
Timestamps
Cold open: 0:00
Intros: 2:01
Questions for Douglas Harper: 9:16
Mailbag questions 1: 24:00
Related or Not: 41:24
Mailbag questions 2: 1:03:20
Comments: 1:14:18
The Reads: 1:18:00
Outtakes: 1:22:47
]]>01:24:59truefullDaniel Midgley, Ben Ainslie, and Hedvig Skirgård107: Linguaphile (with Julie Sedivy and Matt Spike)107: Linguaphile (with Julie Sedivy and Matt Spike)Tue, 29 Oct 2024 07:51:28 +0000Language is a lot like love. You can enjoyably lose yourself in both. They can both be dangerous. And they both entail a responsibility to keep each other safe. A new book Linguaphile: A Life of Language Love is both a language book and a memoir, connecting the strands of language learning, language love, and language loss. Daniel speaks with author Dr Julie Sedivy.
Also: Large language models have proven adept at duplicating patterns of language that humans find possible. But what about impossible language patterns? Can LLMs learn those? And what even is an impossible language? Dr Matt Spike explains.
Timestamps
Cold open: 0:00
Intros: 0:34
News: 5:49
Interview with Matt Spike: 32:01
Related or Not: 50:57
Interview with Julie Sedivy: 1:05:34
Words of the Week: 1:33:33
The Reads: 1:55:04
Outtakes: 2:01:21
]]>Language is a lot like love. You can enjoyably lose yourself in both. They can both be dangerous. And they both entail a responsibility to keep each other safe. A new book Linguaphile: A Life of Language Love is both a language book and a memoir, connecting the strands of language learning, language love, and language loss. Daniel speaks with author Dr Julie Sedivy.
Also: Large language models have proven adept at duplicating patterns of language that humans find possible. But what about impossible language patterns? Can LLMs learn those? And what even is an impossible language? Dr Matt Spike explains.
Timestamps
Cold open: 0:00
Intros: 0:34
News: 5:49
Interview with Matt Spike: 32:01
Related or Not: 50:57
Interview with Julie Sedivy: 1:05:34
Words of the Week: 1:33:33
The Reads: 1:55:04
Outtakes: 2:01:21
]]>02:07:19truefullDaniel Midgley, Ben Ainslie, and Hedvig Skirgård106: What One Thing? (with Mark Ellison)106: What One Thing? (with Mark Ellison)Mon, 23 Sep 2024 03:47:00 +0000What one thing explains the most about language?
Here to answer that question is linguist and friend of the pod Dr Mark Ellison — and many of our listeners and friends. It's one of our Deck Chats! Grab a coffee and follow along.
Timestamps
Cold open: 0:00
Intros: 0:31
Mark's work: 1:51
Listener responses: 9:07
Daniel's answer: 43:34
Mark's answer: 1:03:45
Wrap up: 1:17:17
]]>What one thing explains the most about language?
Here to answer that question is linguist and friend of the pod Dr Mark Ellison — and many of our listeners and friends. It's one of our Deck Chats! Grab a coffee and follow along.
Timestamps
Cold open: 0:00
Intros: 0:31
Mark's work: 1:51
Listener responses: 9:07
Daniel's answer: 43:34
Mark's answer: 1:03:45
Wrap up: 1:17:17
]]>01:21:26falsefullDaniel Midgley105 or 500 (live with Kelly Wright and friends)105 or 500 (live with Kelly Wright and friends)Sun, 15 Sep 2024 14:10:55 +0000For our 500th episode, we got together with our great listeners for their words, stories, and inspiration. It's a look back at the show, a look at language from our friends' point of view, and a celebration of our great community. Dr Kelly Wright joins us.
Big thanks to our friends who joined us, and to everyone who's listened over the years.
Cold open: 0:00 Intros: 1:17 News: 9:19 PharaohKatt tells us about Speech Pathology Week 2024: 27:00 Related or Not (with polls!): 40:23 Words of the Week: 56:52 Self-indulgent twaddle about the show and thank yous: 1:23:16 The Reads: 1:30:50 Outtake: 1:35:24
]]>For our 500th episode, we got together with our great listeners for their words, stories, and inspiration. It's a look back at the show, a look at language from our friends' point of view, and a celebration of our great community. Dr Kelly Wright joins us.
Big thanks to our friends who joined us, and to everyone who's listened over the years.
Cold open: 0:00 Intros: 1:17 News: 9:19 PharaohKatt tells us about Speech Pathology Week 2024: 27:00 Related or Not (with polls!): 40:23 Words of the Week: 56:52 Self-indulgent twaddle about the show and thank yous: 1:23:16 The Reads: 1:30:50 Outtake: 1:35:24
]]>01:36:21truefullDaniel Midgley and Hedvig Skirgård104: Dogwhistles (with Elin McCready, Lizzy Hanks, Jesse Egbert, and Rikker Dockum)104: Dogwhistles (with Elin McCready, Lizzy Hanks, Jesse Egbert, and Rikker Dockum)Mon, 26 Aug 2024 06:41:06 +0000Can you hear them? Only if you're meant to. Political dogwhistles exploit lack of knowledge in one group to send a coded message to another group. But that's just the beginning. How are dogwhistles different from slurs? How do they licence behaviour? Do progressives dogwhistle? Dr Elin McCready is the author of Signaling Without Saying: The Semantics and Pragmatics of Dogwhistles.
We're also joined by Lizzy Hanks and Dr Jesse Egbert, who are working on the LANA-CASE corpus, a huge corpus of conversational English. It aims to bring representation to a diverse group of English speakers, and they're looking for contributors.
Dr Rikker Dockum is our special guest host.
Timestamps
Intros: 0:00
News: 3:01
Interview with Lizzy Hanks and Jesse Egbert: 16:47
Related or Not: 35:45
Interview with Elin McCready: 45:57
Words of the Week: 1:17:47
The Reads: 1:39:43
]]>Can you hear them? Only if you're meant to. Political dogwhistles exploit lack of knowledge in one group to send a coded message to another group. But that's just the beginning. How are dogwhistles different from slurs? How do they licence behaviour? Do progressives dogwhistle? Dr Elin McCready is the author of Signaling Without Saying: The Semantics and Pragmatics of Dogwhistles.
We're also joined by Lizzy Hanks and Dr Jesse Egbert, who are working on the LANA-CASE corpus, a huge corpus of conversational English. It aims to bring representation to a diverse group of English speakers, and they're looking for contributors.
Dr Rikker Dockum is our special guest host.
Timestamps
Intros: 0:00
News: 3:01
Interview with Lizzy Hanks and Jesse Egbert: 16:47
Related or Not: 35:45
Interview with Elin McCready: 45:57
Words of the Week: 1:17:47
The Reads: 1:39:43
]]>01:44:12truefullDaniel Midgley103: Unequal Englishes (with Ruanni Tupas and Nicole Holliday)103: Unequal Englishes (with Ruanni Tupas and Nicole Holliday)Sat, 03 Aug 2024 07:03:39 +0000There are lots of Englishes out there, but the way we approach varieties of English sets learners up to fail. How do we combat language ideologies out there in the world — and in our own minds? Dr Ruanni Tupas is the editor of an important new book: Investigating Unequal Englishes: Understanding, Researching and Analysing Inequalities of the Englishes of the World.
We're joined by our special guest host Dr Nicole Holliday, and we are tackling a torrent of words — political and not — that the current news cycle has thrown at us.
Timestamps
Intros: 0:44
Words of the Week (coconut, weird, brat): 12:41
Related or Not: 55:25
Interview with Ruanni Tupas: 36:36
More Words of the Week (International Blue Screen Day / Crowdstrike, rawdogging, fedupedness, combining form -nomenon, fridgerton): 1:53:43
Comments: 2:11:15
The Reads: 2:13:47
]]>There are lots of Englishes out there, but the way we approach varieties of English sets learners up to fail. How do we combat language ideologies out there in the world — and in our own minds? Dr Ruanni Tupas is the editor of an important new book: Investigating Unequal Englishes: Understanding, Researching and Analysing Inequalities of the Englishes of the World.
We're joined by our special guest host Dr Nicole Holliday, and we are tackling a torrent of words — political and not — that the current news cycle has thrown at us.
Timestamps
Intros: 0:44
Words of the Week (coconut, weird, brat): 12:41
Related or Not: 55:25
Interview with Ruanni Tupas: 36:36
More Words of the Week (International Blue Screen Day / Crowdstrike, rawdogging, fedupedness, combining form -nomenon, fridgerton): 1:53:43
Comments: 2:11:15
The Reads: 2:13:47
]]>02:20:59truefullDaniel Midgley, Ben Ainslie, and Hedvig Skirgård102: Signed Language Mailbag (with Adam Schembri, Christy Filipich, and Mark Ellison)102: Signed Language Mailbag (with Adam Schembri, Christy Filipich, and Mark Ellison)Sat, 27 Jul 2024 00:49:00 +0000What do signed languages have in common? How do oral languages influence signed languages? How do they influence each other? Here to answer these questions and many more, it's Dr Adam Schembri of the University of Birmingham.
You can watch our chat with Adam Schembri on video, with Christy Filipich doing Auslan interpretation.
Also joining us as a special guest: Dr Mark Ellison.
Timestamps
Intros: 0:38
News: 3:33
Related or Not: 54:15
Interview with Adam Schembri: 1:05:31
Words of the Week: 2:08:27
Comments: 2:27:56
The Reads: 2:31:21
Listener comment: 2:39:33
]]>What do signed languages have in common? How do oral languages influence signed languages? How do they influence each other? Here to answer these questions and many more, it's Dr Adam Schembri of the University of Birmingham.
You can watch our chat with Adam Schembri on video, with Christy Filipich doing Auslan interpretation.
Also joining us as a special guest: Dr Mark Ellison.
Timestamps
Intros: 0:38
News: 3:33
Related or Not: 54:15
Interview with Adam Schembri: 1:05:31
Words of the Week: 2:08:27
Comments: 2:27:56
The Reads: 2:31:21
Listener comment: 2:39:33
]]>02:45:21truefullDaniel Midgley and Hedvig Skirgård101: Talkin' Chomsky (with Katie Martin and Abduweli Ayup)101: Talkin' Chomsky (with Katie Martin and Abduweli Ayup)Mon, 08 Jul 2024 06:36:55 +0000Noam Chomsky is one of the world's foremost thinkers, and his impact on linguistics is incalculable. Yet many people are only familiar with his political activism. What are his linguistic ideas, and why have they been so tenacious?
To answer that question, Daniel had a delightful chat with generative syntactician and Chomsky fan Katie Martin.
We're honoured to have a chat with linguist and Uyghur language activist Abduweli Ayup, recipient of the 2024 Language Rights Defenders Award from the Global Coalition for Language Rights.
Timestamps
Intros: 0:41
News: 10:10
Interview with Abduweli Ayup: 37:36
Related or Not: 57:50
Interview with Katie Martin: 1:06:56
Words of the Week: 1:59:29
The Reads: 2:15:53
Outtakes: 2:22:21
]]>Noam Chomsky is one of the world's foremost thinkers, and his impact on linguistics is incalculable. Yet many people are only familiar with his political activism. What are his linguistic ideas, and why have they been so tenacious?
To answer that question, Daniel had a delightful chat with generative syntactician and Chomsky fan Katie Martin.
We're honoured to have a chat with linguist and Uyghur language activist Abduweli Ayup, recipient of the 2024 Language Rights Defenders Award from the Global Coalition for Language Rights.
Timestamps
Intros: 0:41
News: 10:10
Interview with Abduweli Ayup: 37:36
Related or Not: 57:50
Interview with Katie Martin: 1:06:56
Words of the Week: 1:59:29
The Reads: 2:15:53
Outtakes: 2:22:21
]]>02:27:14truefullDaniel Midgley, Ben Ainslie, and Hedvig Skirgård100: Spicy Mailbag100: Spicy MailbagWed, 19 Jun 2024 04:00:00 +0000A hundred episodes already? To celebrate, we're doing our favourite kind of episode: a Mailbag.
Why is it a BLOW JOB when there's no blowing? Why JOB? And why is OFF often used in sexual expressions?
Why do we say NO SIRREE? Is there an equivalent expression for women?
Why does English have rare TH sounds like /θ/ and /ð/? Why doesn't everyone?
HIS'N — is it related to IF'N?
Timestamps
Intros: 1:00
Questions (sexual): 8:46
Questions (non-sexual): 26:24
Related or Not: 42:12
More questions: 36:36
The Reads: 1:15:48
Outtakes: 1:20:11
]]>A hundred episodes already? To celebrate, we're doing our favourite kind of episode: a Mailbag.
Why is it a BLOW JOB when there's no blowing? Why JOB? And why is OFF often used in sexual expressions?
Why do we say NO SIRREE? Is there an equivalent expression for women?
Why does English have rare TH sounds like /θ/ and /ð/? Why doesn't everyone?
HIS'N — is it related to IF'N?
Timestamps
Intros: 1:00
Questions (sexual): 8:46
Questions (non-sexual): 26:24
Related or Not: 42:12
More questions: 36:36
The Reads: 1:15:48
Outtakes: 1:20:11
]]>01:27:40truefullDaniel Midgley, Ben Ainslie, and Hedvig Skirgård99: Gender in Germany (with Rob Tegethoff and Ciarán from Corner Späti)99: Gender in Germany (with Rob Tegethoff and Ciarán from Corner Späti)Tue, 11 Jun 2024 10:19:39 +0000What's going on in Germany? How are people talking about gender in the German language, and how is freedom of expression being handled? We have a couple of German experts — linguist Rob Tegethoff and Ciarán of the podcast Corner Späti — to tell us why other languages were banned at protests in Berlin, and what right-wing activists get from involving language in their plans.
Timestamps
Intros: 0:34 News: 5:16 Related or Not: 26:29 Interview with Rob and Ciarán: 44:37 Words of the Week: 1:46:42 The Reads: 2:02:50 Outtakes: 2:06:23
]]>What's going on in Germany? How are people talking about gender in the German language, and how is freedom of expression being handled? We have a couple of German experts — linguist Rob Tegethoff and Ciarán of the podcast Corner Späti — to tell us why other languages were banned at protests in Berlin, and what right-wing activists get from involving language in their plans.
Timestamps
Intros: 0:34 News: 5:16 Related or Not: 26:29 Interview with Rob and Ciarán: 44:37 Words of the Week: 1:46:42 The Reads: 2:02:50 Outtakes: 2:06:23
]]>02:08:40truefullDaniel Midgley, Ben Ainslie, and Hedvig Skirgård98: Origin Uncertain (with Anatoly Liberman)98: Origin Uncertain (with Anatoly Liberman)Mon, 20 May 2024 03:09:35 +0000How much can we really know about the words we use? What are the facts behind some of the most tangled etymologies in English? And is our "Related or Not" game a good way of approaching word history?
We're talking to Dr Anatoly Liberman, perhaps the world's preëminent living etymologist and the author of Origin Uncertain: Unraveling the Mysteries of Etymology.
]]>How much can we really know about the words we use? What are the facts behind some of the most tangled etymologies in English? And is our "Related or Not" game a good way of approaching word history?
We're talking to Dr Anatoly Liberman, perhaps the world's preëminent living etymologist and the author of Origin Uncertain: Unraveling the Mysteries of Etymology.
]]>01:43:19truefullDaniel Midgley, Ben Ainslie, and Hedvig Skirgård97: The Dictionary of Fine Distinctions (with Eli Burnstein)97: The Dictionary of Fine Distinctions (with Eli Burnstein)Sun, 28 Apr 2024 23:48:40 +0000What's the difference between a KINK and a FETISH? Does it matter if you ASSUME or PRESUME? English is full of these close groups of words, and author Eli Burnstein has untangled many of them in his delightful book The Dictionary of Fine Distinctions. Eli joins us for this episode.
Timestamps Intros: 0:42 News: 9:54 Related or Not: 24:11 Interview with Eli Burnstein: 37:33 Words of the Week: 1:10:13 The Reads: 1:33:45
]]>What's the difference between a KINK and a FETISH? Does it matter if you ASSUME or PRESUME? English is full of these close groups of words, and author Eli Burnstein has untangled many of them in his delightful book The Dictionary of Fine Distinctions. Eli joins us for this episode.
Timestamps Intros: 0:42 News: 9:54 Related or Not: 24:11 Interview with Eli Burnstein: 37:33 Words of the Week: 1:10:13 The Reads: 1:33:45
]]>01:38:39truefullDaniel Midgley, Ben Ainslie, and Hedvig Skirgård96: Language City (with Ross Perlin)96: Language City (with Ross Perlin)Fri, 19 Apr 2024 14:46:44 +0000New York City is home to a lot of languages! Sometimes a sizeable language community can live on just a couple of floors of an apartment building. Dr Ross Perlin is working to find and promote minority languages in NYC. He's the co-founder of the Endangered Language Alliance, and author of Language City: The Fight to Preserve Endangered Mother Tongues in New York. Ross joins us for this episode.
Intro: 0:36 News: 8:13 Related or Not: 32:52 Interview with Ross Perlin: 43:12 Words of the Week: 1:24:13 The Reads: 1:39:54
Show notes: https://becauselanguage.com/96-language-city/ Support the show: https://patreon.com/join/becauselangpod/
]]>New York City is home to a lot of languages! Sometimes a sizeable language community can live on just a couple of floors of an apartment building. Dr Ross Perlin is working to find and promote minority languages in NYC. He's the co-founder of the Endangered Language Alliance, and author of Language City: The Fight to Preserve Endangered Mother Tongues in New York. Ross joins us for this episode.
Intro: 0:36 News: 8:13 Related or Not: 32:52 Interview with Ross Perlin: 43:12 Words of the Week: 1:24:13 The Reads: 1:39:54
Show notes: https://becauselanguage.com/96-language-city/ Support the show: https://patreon.com/join/becauselangpod/
]]>01:45:29truefullDaniel Midgley & Hedvig Skirgård95: Why the Far-Right Demagogues Language (with Caitlin Green and Maureen Kosse)95: Why the Far-Right Demagogues Language (with Caitlin Green and Maureen Kosse)Mon, 01 Apr 2024 01:01:19 +0000Language authorities. Right-wing politicians. White supremacists and feminists. What do they have in common? They're all working together to fight gender-inclusive language. But why bring language into this fight? What extra does this give them?
Dr Caitlin Green and Maureen Kosse join us to explain on this big episode.
]]>Language authorities. Right-wing politicians. White supremacists and feminists. What do they have in common? They're all working together to fight gender-inclusive language. But why bring language into this fight? What extra does this give them?
Dr Caitlin Green and Maureen Kosse join us to explain on this big episode.
]]>01:44:12truefullDaniel Midgley and Hedvig Skirgård94: Mailbag of Sextillion and Three94: Mailbag of Sextillion and ThreeMon, 18 Mar 2024 04:00:00 +0000Dr Kelly Wright is helping us understand the link between public health and language maintenance. And she's helping us with our voluminous Mailbag!
Why can you have a TRIFECTA, but not any other number -FECTA?
Why does a SEXTILLION (with a prefix meaning six) have seven chunks of zeros?
What do CHOPSTICKS have to do with chopping?
And what's the -ER in words like RUBBER, AFTER, and TEMPER?
]]>Dr Kelly Wright is helping us understand the link between public health and language maintenance. And she's helping us with our voluminous Mailbag!
Why can you have a TRIFECTA, but not any other number -FECTA?
Why does a SEXTILLION (with a prefix meaning six) have seven chunks of zeros?
What do CHOPSTICKS have to do with chopping?
And what's the -ER in words like RUBBER, AFTER, and TEMPER?
]]>01:16:40truefullDaniel Midgley and Hedvig Skirgård93: Stop! Grammar Time (live with Ellen Jovin and friends)93: Stop! Grammar Time (live with Ellen Jovin and friends)Sat, 02 Mar 2024 07:23:14 +0000In honour of Grammar Day (4 March), we are joined live by special guest Ellen Jovin, who regularly dispenses grammar advice and wisdom from the Grammar Table. Now she's testing our grammatical mettle and answering our questions.
]]>In honour of Grammar Day (4 March), we are joined live by special guest Ellen Jovin, who regularly dispenses grammar advice and wisdom from the Grammar Table. Now she's testing our grammatical mettle and answering our questions.
]]>01:28:17truefullDaniel Midgley, Ben Ainslie, and Hedvig Skirgård92: In the First 600 Milliseconds (with Rachel Nordlinger)92: In the First 600 Milliseconds (with Rachel Nordlinger)Thu, 22 Feb 2024 23:32:04 +0000What are your eyes doing when you describe a scene? It may depend on your language.
New research from Dr Rachel Nordlinger and team shows that we do a lot of planning and scanning very quickly, and it follows the requirements of our language. She's studied Murrinhpatha, an Australian Aboriginal language, to see what its speakers do.
]]>What are your eyes doing when you describe a scene? It may depend on your language.
New research from Dr Rachel Nordlinger and team shows that we do a lot of planning and scanning very quickly, and it follows the requirements of our language. She's studied Murrinhpatha, an Australian Aboriginal language, to see what its speakers do.
]]>01:45:26truefullDaniel Midgley, Ben Ainslie, and Hedvig Skirgård91: Linguistic Time Machine, part 2: Prehistory91: Linguistic Time Machine, part 2: PrehistoryWed, 31 Jan 2024 04:00:00 +0000We're climbing back into the linguistic time machine and taking a look at language in the long view. We'll find out what language was like
100,000 years ago
1 million years ago
10 million years ago
and then jump into the future
100 years
1,000 years, and
10,000 years from now.
What will we find?
]]>We're climbing back into the linguistic time machine and taking a look at language in the long view. We'll find out what language was like
100,000 years ago
1 million years ago
10 million years ago
and then jump into the future
100 years
1,000 years, and
10,000 years from now.
What will we find?
]]>01:33:42truefullDaniel Midgley, Ben Ainslie, and Hedvig Skirgård90: Enpoopification (with Grant Barrett and Tim Brookes)90: Enpoopification (with Grant Barrett and Tim Brookes)Sun, 21 Jan 2024 23:55:51 +0000We're talking words, and no one has a way with words like Grant Barrett. He's here to tell us what it's like at Dictionary.com, and what went down at the annual American Dialect Society Words of the Year 2023 vote. And perhaps he can help forestall Hedvig's planned mass human extinction.
Also: World Endangered Writing Day is upon us! It's a fantastic initiative, and author Tim Brookes of Endangered Alphabets is here to lay out the case for preserving writing systems.
]]>We're talking words, and no one has a way with words like Grant Barrett. He's here to tell us what it's like at Dictionary.com, and what went down at the annual American Dialect Society Words of the Year 2023 vote. And perhaps he can help forestall Hedvig's planned mass human extinction.
Also: World Endangered Writing Day is upon us! It's a fantastic initiative, and author Tim Brookes of Endangered Alphabets is here to lay out the case for preserving writing systems.
]]>02:05:47truefullDaniel Midgley, Ben Ainslie, and Hedvig Skirgård89: Words of the Week of the Year 2023 (with Cory Doctorow and friends)89: Words of the Week of the Year 2023 (with Cory Doctorow and friends)Sun, 24 Dec 2023 04:42:15 +0000The public has voted, and a winner has been decided! We're looking all the words chosen by the various dictionary bodies, and counting down our Words of the Week of the Year.
And there's a very special interview with author, blogger, activist, and inventor of words Cory Doctorow.
]]>The public has voted, and a winner has been decided! We're looking all the words chosen by the various dictionary bodies, and counting down our Words of the Week of the Year.
And there's a very special interview with author, blogger, activist, and inventor of words Cory Doctorow.
]]>01:53:44truefullDaniel Midgley and Ben Ainsliehttps://danielmidgley.com/becauselanguage/chapters/BL89_chapters.json88: Linguistic Time Machine, part 1: History88: Linguistic Time Machine, part 1: HistoryThu, 07 Dec 2023 04:00:00 +0000What was language like a year ago? Ten years ago? A hundred? What about before that?
We're climbing into the Linguistic Time Machine and finding out. Along the way, we'll explain the resources that linguists use. And we'll try to get away from English once in a while.
]]>What was language like a year ago? Ten years ago? A hundred? What about before that?
We're climbing into the Linguistic Time Machine and finding out. Along the way, we'll explain the resources that linguists use. And we'll try to get away from English once in a while.
]]>01:24:57truefullDaniel Midgley, Ben Ainslie, and Hedvig Skirgård87: Trans-Inclusive (with Andrew Perfors)87: Trans-Inclusive (with Andrew Perfors)Fri, 01 Dec 2023 23:57:30 +0000What is a woman? Or a man? Or a chair, or a sandwich? Or anything, really?
"Gender critical" people are making language into a vector to attack the rights of trans people. They treat categories like man and woman as binary and obvious.
But cognitive linguistics has a response, in the form of a new paper in Nature Human Behaviour. Are categories concrete, or are they mental, social, or something else? How do we categorise objects at all? Author Dr Andrew Perfors brings the science on this episode.
]]>What is a woman? Or a man? Or a chair, or a sandwich? Or anything, really?
"Gender critical" people are making language into a vector to attack the rights of trans people. They treat categories like man and woman as binary and obvious.
But cognitive linguistics has a response, in the form of a new paper in Nature Human Behaviour. Are categories concrete, or are they mental, social, or something else? How do we categorise objects at all? Author Dr Andrew Perfors brings the science on this episode.
]]>01:42:24truefullDaniel Midgley, Ben Ainslie, and Hedvig Skirgård86: Mailbag of Dog Sushi (with Nicole Holliday)86: Mailbag of Dog Sushi (with Nicole Holliday)Tue, 14 Nov 2023 04:00:00 +0000We've got mail, and linguistic MVP Dr Nicole Holliday is here to help us sort some things out around here. And we chat about the state of lingcomm today.
Why is dog sushi made FOR dogs, but duck sushi is made FROM ducks?
What do we call it generally when companies try to improve their image by -washing?
Is the term "MVP" becoming uncoupled from sports?
Will vaping kill your vocal fry?
Are shibboleths made on purpose, as a way of creating an in-group and an out-group?
Plus our favourite game: Related or Not!
]]>We've got mail, and linguistic MVP Dr Nicole Holliday is here to help us sort some things out around here. And we chat about the state of lingcomm today.
Why is dog sushi made FOR dogs, but duck sushi is made FROM ducks?
What do we call it generally when companies try to improve their image by -washing?
Is the term "MVP" becoming uncoupled from sports?
Will vaping kill your vocal fry?
Are shibboleths made on purpose, as a way of creating an in-group and an out-group?
Plus our favourite game: Related or Not!
]]>01:18:31truefullDaniel Midgley85: The Dictionary People (with Sarah Ogilvie)85: The Dictionary People (with Sarah Ogilvie)Sat, 04 Nov 2023 00:27:20 +0000Who wrote the Oxford English Dictionary? Sure, James Murray had a very important role as editor, but a small army of volunteers submitted hundreds of thousands of words on slips of paper to get the project off the ground. What were their stories, and why did they have such a relentless sense of mission for the OED?
Dr Sarah Ogilvie is sharing her research into their lives and times, and it's startling and wondrous. She's a lexicographer and author of The Dictionary People: The Unsung Heroes Who Created the Oxford English Dictionary.
]]>Who wrote the Oxford English Dictionary? Sure, James Murray had a very important role as editor, but a small army of volunteers submitted hundreds of thousands of words on slips of paper to get the project off the ground. What were their stories, and why did they have such a relentless sense of mission for the OED?
Dr Sarah Ogilvie is sharing her research into their lives and times, and it's startling and wondrous. She's a lexicographer and author of The Dictionary People: The Unsung Heroes Who Created the Oxford English Dictionary.
]]>01:43:21truefullDaniel Midgley, Ben Ainslie, and Hedvig Skirgård84: Diego's Discourse (with Diego Diaz)84: Diego's Discourse (with Diego Diaz)Wed, 18 Oct 2023 04:00:00 +0000What's happening with signed language in Argentina? How are terms for gender changing in the Spanish language? And are Zoomers making work language more casual?
Listener and friend of the pod Diego Diaz has put together a terrific bunch of language news and words for our edification and enjoyment.
]]>What's happening with signed language in Argentina? How are terms for gender changing in the Spanish language? And are Zoomers making work language more casual?
Listener and friend of the pod Diego Diaz has put together a terrific bunch of language news and words for our edification and enjoyment.
]]>01:44:42truefullDaniel Midgley and Hedvig Skirgård83: You're All Talk (with Rob Drummond and Robbie Love)83: You're All Talk (with Rob Drummond and Robbie Love)Mon, 02 Oct 2023 01:56:05 +0000Our accents are great! They represent our origins, our languages, our community, and our identity. But too many of us feel like we can't speak with our authentic voice. Accent prejudice is real.
Linguist and author Dr Rob Drummond joins us to explain all about accent and accentism. He's the author of a new book You're All Talk.
And Dr Robbie Love is joining us with his research about how the word fuck is changing in the speech of British teens. Spicy!
]]>Our accents are great! They represent our origins, our languages, our community, and our identity. But too many of us feel like we can't speak with our authentic voice. Accent prejudice is real.
Linguist and author Dr Rob Drummond joins us to explain all about accent and accentism. He's the author of a new book You're All Talk.
And Dr Robbie Love is joining us with his research about how the word fuck is changing in the speech of British teens. Spicy!
]]>03:01:23truefullDaniel Midgley, Ben Ainslie, and Hedvig Skirgård82: Girl Dinner (live with our patrons and friends)82: Girl Dinner (live with our patrons and friends)Sat, 16 Sep 2023 01:18:37 +0000Our patrons are joining us live to give us their news, words, and stories. That's right, it's a Potluck episode! What's a "girl dinner"? What's the other name of India? And how is AI helping translate an ancient language?
Thanks to all our great patrons, and especially those who joined us for this episode.
]]>Our patrons are joining us live to give us their news, words, and stories. That's right, it's a Potluck episode! What's a "girl dinner"? What's the other name of India? And how is AI helping translate an ancient language?
Thanks to all our great patrons, and especially those who joined us for this episode.
]]>01:26:28truefullDaniel Midgley and Ben Ainslie81: Mother Tongue (with Jenni Nuttall)81: Mother Tongue (with Jenni Nuttall)Sat, 02 Sep 2023 05:06:26 +0000Women's bodies, women's occupations, women's experiences. So often in history, the discourse about women has been by men, about women. And that means that women's words have been lost.
Dr Jenni Nuttall has charted the lost history of women's words in her new book Mother Tongue: The Surprising History of Women's Words, and she joins us for this episode.
]]>Women's bodies, women's occupations, women's experiences. So often in history, the discourse about women has been by men, about women. And that means that women's words have been lost.
Dr Jenni Nuttall has charted the lost history of women's words in her new book Mother Tongue: The Surprising History of Women's Words, and she joins us for this episode.
]]>01:49:30truefullDaniel Midgley and Hedvig Skirgård80: Mailbag of TLAs80: Mailbag of TLAsSun, 13 Aug 2023 04:00:00 +0000Listeners have once again sent us some great questions, and we have answers!
Why do we TALK SHIT and not SPEAK SHIT?
Do we KEEP OUT, or STAY OUT?
Why are so many acronyms three letters long?
How do we break young people out of the prescriptivist mindset?
Isn't "folk etymology" just… etymology?
Can you think of any anagrams that are also synonyms?
Plus our favourite game, Related or Not!
]]>Listeners have once again sent us some great questions, and we have answers!
Why do we TALK SHIT and not SPEAK SHIT?
Do we KEEP OUT, or STAY OUT?
Why are so many acronyms three letters long?
How do we break young people out of the prescriptivist mindset?
Isn't "folk etymology" just… etymology?
Can you think of any anagrams that are also synonyms?
Plus our favourite game, Related or Not!
]]>01:30:37truefullDaniel Midgley, Ben Ainslie, and Hedvig Skirgård79: A.I. Hype Hosedown (with Emily Bender and Jack Hessel)79: A.I. Hype Hosedown (with Emily Bender and Jack Hessel)Wed, 26 Jul 2023 05:07:34 +0000Daniel Midgley, Ben Ainslie, and Hedvig Skirgård]]>Daniel Midgley, Ben Ainslie, and Hedvig Skirgård]]>03:01:13truefull78: Forensic Linguistics, Really (with Helen Fraser, Georgina Heydon, Diana Eades, Seán Roberts, and Steph Rennick)78: Forensic Linguistics, Really (with Helen Fraser, Georgina Heydon, Diana Eades, Seán Roberts, and Steph Rennick)Thu, 29 Jun 2023 13:25:54 +0000For decades, forensic linguists have been pushing back on harmful language ideologies, and fighting for better representation for linguistic minorities in the legal domain. We're talking to three legendary linguists who have written the definitive record of how the discipline has developed in Australia.
Also: why do male characters get more dialogue in video games? And how can this situation improve? The authors of a pioneering new study share their insights.
]]>For decades, forensic linguists have been pushing back on harmful language ideologies, and fighting for better representation for linguistic minorities in the legal domain. We're talking to three legendary linguists who have written the definitive record of how the discipline has developed in Australia.
Also: why do male characters get more dialogue in video games? And how can this situation improve? The authors of a pioneering new study share their insights.
]]>02:39:07truefullDaniel Midgley, Ben Ainslie, and Hedvig Skirgård77: Big Tent (live with Aris Clemons, Caitlin Green, Rikker Dockum, and friends)77: Big Tent (live with Aris Clemons, Caitlin Green, Rikker Dockum, and friends)Thu, 15 Jun 2023 05:31:42 +0000How do we make the discipline of linguistics — and our world — a more just, diverse, and equitable place? Why does our personal history and personal perspective matter when doing science? How do we build community? And what happens if we do nothing?
This episode is really kind of a mini-conference. We found some new work from linguists we admire, so we put out the word to our patrons and piled into a room!
We're hearing work from Dr Aris Clemons, Dr Caitlin Green, and Dr Rikker Dockum on this episode.
]]>How do we make the discipline of linguistics — and our world — a more just, diverse, and equitable place? Why does our personal history and personal perspective matter when doing science? How do we build community? And what happens if we do nothing?
This episode is really kind of a mini-conference. We found some new work from linguists we admire, so we put out the word to our patrons and piled into a room!
We're hearing work from Dr Aris Clemons, Dr Caitlin Green, and Dr Rikker Dockum on this episode.
]]>01:50:24truefullDaniel Midgley, Ben Ainslie, and Hedvig Skirgård76: Ooo! Yum! Uh… (with Emily Hofstetter, Eleonora Beier, and Russell Gray)76: Ooo! Yum! Uh… (with Emily Hofstetter, Eleonora Beier, and Russell Gray)Sat, 27 May 2023 03:24:45 +0000Why does everyone say OOO! when they see someone fall down? Why do we say YUM when we feed a baby? And what's the deal with fillers like UM?
For this episode we're talking about non-lexical vocalisations with Dr Eleonora Beier and Dr Emily Hofstetter.
Also: linguists are diving into Grambank, a database with detailed information about grammatical features in over 2,500 languages. With its release, we're talking to project leaders Dr Russell Gray and our own Dr Hedvig Skirgård.
Also, Hedvig gives us our yearly Eurovision language update. Ben's not here, so he won't complain.
]]>Why does everyone say OOO! when they see someone fall down? Why do we say YUM when we feed a baby? And what's the deal with fillers like UM?
For this episode we're talking about non-lexical vocalisations with Dr Eleonora Beier and Dr Emily Hofstetter.
Also: linguists are diving into Grambank, a database with detailed information about grammatical features in over 2,500 languages. With its release, we're talking to project leaders Dr Russell Gray and our own Dr Hedvig Skirgård.
Also, Hedvig gives us our yearly Eurovision language update. Ben's not here, so he won't complain.
]]>02:26:52truefullDaniel Midgley and Hedvig Skirgård75: Fake News (with Jack Grieve)75: Fake News (with Jack Grieve)Mon, 15 May 2023 23:57:40 +0000How can you tell if a news story is intended to deceive? In one well-known case of journalistic deception, there were tells that required machine learning to trace. We're talking to author and computational linguist Jack Grieve about his new book, The Language of Fake News.]]>How can you tell if a news story is intended to deceive? In one well-known case of journalistic deception, there were tells that required machine learning to trace. We're talking to author and computational linguist Jack Grieve about his new book, The Language of Fake News.]]>01:44:06truefullDaniel Midgley and Ben Ainslie74: Mailbag of Go74: Mailbag of GoTue, 25 Apr 2023 04:00:00 +0000We're going deep into our Mailbag, and we're going to answer all your questions.
Why do we say "here you go" when we give something to someone?
Why can we reduce something to /sʌmʔ/?
The thing is is, there are two IS there. Why?
Some contractions seem to've appeared, and they look strange in writing. What other ones're out there?
]]>We're going deep into our Mailbag, and we're going to answer all your questions.
Why do we say "here you go" when we give something to someone?
Why can we reduce something to /sʌmʔ/?
The thing is is, there are two IS there. Why?
Some contractions seem to've appeared, and they look strange in writing. What other ones're out there?
]]>01:08:47truefullDaniel Midgley, Ben Ainslie, and Hedvig Skirgård73: Consequences of Language (with Nick Enfield and Morten Christiansen)73: Consequences of Language (with Nick Enfield and Morten Christiansen)Mon, 03 Apr 2023 07:32:51 +0000When language was innovated, what happened next? How did it change our abilities — and our responsibilities — to each other? Dr Nick Enfield shares ideas from his new book, Consequences of Language.
Plus: Have large language models (like GPT) disproven a key tenet of the innateness of language? Dr Morten Christiansen takes us through the implications for nativism and language learning.
]]>When language was innovated, what happened next? How did it change our abilities — and our responsibilities — to each other? Dr Nick Enfield shares ideas from his new book, Consequences of Language.
Plus: Have large language models (like GPT) disproven a key tenet of the innateness of language? Dr Morten Christiansen takes us through the implications for nativism and language learning.
]]>02:12:59truefullDaniel Midgley, Ben Ainslie, and Hedvig Skirgård72: PharaohKatt Is a Speechie Now72: PharaohKatt Is a Speechie NowSat, 25 Mar 2023 04:00:00 +0000Here's an entire show, curated by one of our most prolific contributors — newly minted speechie PharaohKatt!
She's got news. She's got words. She tries to stump us on Related or Not.
She even teaches us how to roll our R's. Wow.
But best of all, she answers all our questions about speech and language pathology.
]]>Here's an entire show, curated by one of our most prolific contributors — newly minted speechie PharaohKatt!
She's got news. She's got words. She tries to stump us on Related or Not.
She even teaches us how to roll our R's. Wow.
But best of all, she answers all our questions about speech and language pathology.
]]>01:37:45truefullDaniel Midgley and Hedvig Skirgård71: You're Welcome, English! (live with friends, for LingFest23)71: You're Welcome, English! (live with friends, for LingFest23)Thu, 02 Mar 2023 23:32:05 +0000For this special live LingFest23 episode, we'll again be voting on tricky language issues, and our votes will be binding on all English users for all time because that's how language works.
If you had to walk 10 kilometres "there and back", how far away is the place?
How many holes does a straw have?
And if "Floyd and the chickens are outside", is Floyd also a chicken?
And many more!
]]>For this special live LingFest23 episode, we'll again be voting on tricky language issues, and our votes will be binding on all English users for all time because that's how language works.
If you had to walk 10 kilometres "there and back", how far away is the place?
How many holes does a straw have?
And if "Floyd and the chickens are outside", is Floyd also a chicken?
And many more!
]]>01:33:23truefullDaniel Midgley, Ben Ainslie, and Hedvig Skirgård70: Free Speech, But… (with Dennis Baron)70: Free Speech, But… (with Dennis Baron)Thu, 16 Feb 2023 04:10:03 +0000We all have freedom of expression, but what are its limits — social and legal? And how have governments tried to curtail it? We're talking through the implications of free speech with Dennis Baron. He's the author of You Can't Always Say What You Want: The Paradox of Free Speech.
]]>We all have freedom of expression, but what are its limits — social and legal? And how have governments tried to curtail it? We're talking through the implications of free speech with Dennis Baron. He's the author of You Can't Always Say What You Want: The Paradox of Free Speech.
]]>01:42:53truefullDaniel Midgley, Ben Ainslie, and Hedvig Skirgård69: Mailbagussy69: MailbagussyFri, 27 Jan 2023 04:00:00 +0000The American Dialect Society Word of the Year has been chosen — and it's a wonderful and terrible pick! Depending on who you're talking to. In this episode, we're talking about -USSY and all the words.
And we're getting to our Mailbag, with our most intriguing research project ever: can you spot the pattern in the way Ben pronounces EITHER and NEITHER? Is there one?
]]>The American Dialect Society Word of the Year has been chosen — and it's a wonderful and terrible pick! Depending on who you're talking to. In this episode, we're talking about -USSY and all the words.
And we're getting to our Mailbag, with our most intriguing research project ever: can you spot the pattern in the way Ben pronounces EITHER and NEITHER? Is there one?
]]>01:36:31truefullDaniel Midgley, Ben Ainslie, and Hedvig Skirgård68: Lazy in a Good Way (with Mark Ellison)68: Lazy in a Good Way (with Mark Ellison)Tue, 03 Jan 2023 17:44:38 +0000In what was meant to be a casual chat, cognitive scientist Dr Mark Ellison answers galaxy-brain-level questions about how language works.
Why aren't we more efficient with language?
How do we know when something has gone wrong in a conversation?
Why don't we just talk in a flat monotone all the time?
Why do fairy tales start a certain way?
Why is it so tiring to speak another language?
Fortunately, he helps us keep our eyes on the ball for this episode.
]]>In what was meant to be a casual chat, cognitive scientist Dr Mark Ellison answers galaxy-brain-level questions about how language works.
Why aren't we more efficient with language?
How do we know when something has gone wrong in a conversation?
Why don't we just talk in a flat monotone all the time?
Why do fairy tales start a certain way?
Why is it so tiring to speak another language?
Fortunately, he helps us keep our eyes on the ball for this episode.
]]>01:22:06falsefullDaniel Midgley67: Words of the Week of the Year 2022 (live with friends)67: Words of the Week of the Year 2022 (live with friends)Tue, 20 Dec 2022 23:54:45 +0000We're counting down our Words of the Year, as voted by you! We're joined by our friends and patrons, and they've brought us some words we missed. And we'll go through all the Words of the Year from dictionaries and language lovers, English and not.
Thanks to all our friends who joined us for this show, and to all our great patrons who have supported our work.
Video here: https://youtu.be/z1BmUixVNlY
]]>We're counting down our Words of the Year, as voted by you! We're joined by our friends and patrons, and they've brought us some words we missed. And we'll go through all the Words of the Year from dictionaries and language lovers, English and not.
Thanks to all our friends who joined us for this show, and to all our great patrons who have supported our work.
Video here: https://youtu.be/z1BmUixVNlY
]]>01:44:37truefullDaniel Midgley, Ben Ainslie, and Hedvig Skirgård66: ChatGPT Wrote This Episode (with Daan van Esch)66: ChatGPT Wrote This Episode (with Daan van Esch)Tue, 13 Dec 2022 14:39:21 +0000ChatGPT has just landed. It can generate text that seems fluid, plausible, and (surprisingly) not total nonsense. It's got a lot of people wondering what's left for humans — and for the field of Natural Language Processing. Here to help us is computational linguist Daan van Esch.]]>ChatGPT has just landed. It can generate text that seems fluid, plausible, and (surprisingly) not total nonsense. It's got a lot of people wondering what's left for humans — and for the field of Natural Language Processing. Here to help us is computational linguist Daan van Esch.]]>01:26:28truefullDaniel Midgley, Ben Ainslie, and Hedvig Skirgård65: Naval Manoeuvres (with Chase Dalton)65: Naval Manoeuvres (with Chase Dalton)Wed, 07 Dec 2022 04:00:00 +0000Many expressions we use come from the nautical domain. But are they nautical? Are they really? We've got Chase Dalton from the US Naval History Podcast to shine a light on some of these expressions, and in some cases reveal the secret nautical origins of words we use every day.
]]>Many expressions we use come from the nautical domain. But are they nautical? Are they really? We've got Chase Dalton from the US Naval History Podcast to shine a light on some of these expressions, and in some cases reveal the secret nautical origins of words we use every day.
]]>01:27:44truefullDaniel Midgley and Hedvig Skirgård64: Struggle Pile (with Kelly Wright)64: Struggle Pile (with Kelly Wright)Sun, 20 Nov 2022 03:26:48 +0000A chat with Dr Kelly Wright, who's been working on… well, really a lot. Kelly is at the juncture of a lot of areas we're keen on.
Oxford's effort to document African-American English? She's been there.
Doing lexicography with the American Dialect Society? She's on it.
The LSA's social media committee? She… was on it.
And she's been looking into a new unexplored area: people's ideas about their own language knowledge.
But it's not all easy. And Kelly is here to tell us about her view of linguistics… from the struggle pile.
]]>A chat with Dr Kelly Wright, who's been working on… well, really a lot. Kelly is at the juncture of a lot of areas we're keen on.
Oxford's effort to document African-American English? She's been there.
Doing lexicography with the American Dialect Society? She's on it.
The LSA's social media committee? She… was on it.
And she's been looking into a new unexplored area: people's ideas about their own language knowledge.
But it's not all easy. And Kelly is here to tell us about her view of linguistics… from the struggle pile.
]]>01:56:33truefullDaniel Midgley, Ben Ainslie, and Hedvig Skirgård63: Mailbag of Yeah-No (with Isabelle Burke)63: Mailbag of Yeah-No (with Isabelle Burke)Thu, 03 Nov 2022 04:00:00 +0000Just two words, but they do so much. But what exactly? Here to answer that question is Dr Isabelle Burke, who has studied yeah-no in depth. She's also going to help us with these Mailbag questions.
Why is LIKE so resilient?
Why can we say "I very much enjoy…" but not "I much enjoy…" or "I very enjoy…"?
When is a loanword not a loanword?
Do word processors have a problem with singular THEY?
Why doesn't English have diacritics?
]]>Just two words, but they do so much. But what exactly? Here to answer that question is Dr Isabelle Burke, who has studied yeah-no in depth. She's also going to help us with these Mailbag questions.
Why is LIKE so resilient?
Why can we say "I very much enjoy…" but not "I much enjoy…" or "I very enjoy…"?
When is a loanword not a loanword?
Do word processors have a problem with singular THEY?
Why doesn't English have diacritics?
]]>01:27:54truefullDaniel Midgley, Ben Ainslie, and Hedvig Skirgård62: Language in Spaaaaace (with Hannah Little)62: Language in Spaaaaace (with Hannah Little)Sat, 22 Oct 2022 01:19:57 +0000Yes, linguistics is all through the world of sci-fi, but science fiction has had a surprising impact on linguistic research as well. Dr Hannah Little is cataloguing the ways in a new book, and she joins us for this episode.
]]>Yes, linguistics is all through the world of sci-fi, but science fiction has had a surprising impact on linguistic research as well. Dr Hannah Little is cataloguing the ways in a new book, and she joins us for this episode.
]]>01:47:59truefullDaniel Midgley, Ben Ainslie, and Hedvig Skirgård61: Together at Last61: Together at LastSat, 08 Oct 2022 04:00:00 +0000It's Ben, Hedvig, and Daniel all together in the same place for the first time. We're talking about the state of the show, the state of linguistics communication, and where we are after all these years.]]>It's Ben, Hedvig, and Daniel all together in the same place for the first time. We're talking about the state of the show, the state of linguistics communication, and where we are after all these years.]]>01:15:24truefullDaniel Midgley, Ben Ainslie, and Hedvig Skirgård60: The Crossworld (with Hayley Gold)60: The Crossworld (with Hayley Gold)Tue, 13 Sep 2022 19:30:51 +0000Language isn't just for communication — it's fun. For over a hundred years, crosswords have served as entertainment, and even been blamed for society's ills. Turns out crosswords are serious business.
Author and illustrator of Letters to Margaret and crossword enthusiast Hayley Gold takes us into the history and the discussions happening in the world of crosswords — the Crossworld.
]]>Language isn't just for communication — it's fun. For over a hundred years, crosswords have served as entertainment, and even been blamed for society's ills. Turns out crosswords are serious business.
Author and illustrator of Letters to Margaret and crossword enthusiast Hayley Gold takes us into the history and the discussions happening in the world of crosswords — the Crossworld.
]]>01:49:15truefullDaniel Midgley, Ben Ainslie, and Hedvig Skirgård59: Mailbag of Ew59: Mailbag of EwTue, 30 Aug 2022 04:00:00 +0000In which we get together for a chat, talk about stuff we like, and — oh, yeah — answers a few questions from our great listeners.
Other languages have a word for late morning, before noon. Why doesn't English have one?
Why is EW the sound some English speakers make when disgusted?
Why can you have potatoes, but not broccolis?
Who started calling the YouTube description the DOOBLEYDOO?
Is it WHOA or WOAH?
Why do we use capital i for the pronoun I?
]]>In which we get together for a chat, talk about stuff we like, and — oh, yeah — answers a few questions from our great listeners.
Other languages have a word for late morning, before noon. Why doesn't English have one?
Why is EW the sound some English speakers make when disgusted?
Why can you have potatoes, but not broccolis?
Who started calling the YouTube description the DOOBLEYDOO?
Is it WHOA or WOAH?
Why do we use capital i for the pronoun I?
]]>01:13:14truefullDaniel Midgley, Ben Ainslie, and Hedvig Skirgård58: Expression Unleashed (with Thom Scott-Phillips and Joshua Blackburn)58: Expression Unleashed (with Thom Scott-Phillips and Joshua Blackburn)Wed, 03 Aug 2022 01:12:10 +0000Today, we communicate. But once, we didn't. What had to happen in our brains to make communication possible? And why don't other animals do it like we do? We talk to Dr Thom Scott-Phillips about his new work in the social and cognitive origins of communication.
And game creator Joshua Blackburn is going to test Daniel's linguistic prowess with questions from the hottest game on Kickstarter, League of the Lexicon.
]]>Today, we communicate. But once, we didn't. What had to happen in our brains to make communication possible? And why don't other animals do it like we do? We talk to Dr Thom Scott-Phillips about his new work in the social and cognitive origins of communication.
And game creator Joshua Blackburn is going to test Daniel's linguistic prowess with questions from the hottest game on Kickstarter, League of the Lexicon.
]]>01:46:06truefull57: Potluck (live, with friends)57: Potluck (live, with friends)Wed, 27 Jul 2022 07:48:27 +0000Our friends, listeners, and patrons give us so many great stories, news, and words, so for this live episode, we're having them tell these language stories in their own words.
Thanks to PharaohKatt, Lord Mortis, Ariaflame, seejanecricket, Aristemo, O Tim, Ditte, Rodger, and Ben (not the host one).
]]>Our friends, listeners, and patrons give us so many great stories, news, and words, so for this live episode, we're having them tell these language stories in their own words.
Thanks to PharaohKatt, Lord Mortis, Ariaflame, seejanecricket, Aristemo, O Tim, Ditte, Rodger, and Ben (not the host one).
]]>01:26:45truefullDaniel Midgley and Ben Ainslie56: Diego's Digest56: Diego's DigestThu, 14 Jul 2022 04:00:00 +0000Our listeners and patrons send in so many great ideas, stories, and words. For this episode, listener and prolific contributor Diego has put together an entire show for our edification.
ASL may have changed to include copular BE
What's going on with French-only laws in Quebec?
Why is an Indian airport broadcasting covid information in Sanskrit?
And more.
]]>Our listeners and patrons send in so many great ideas, stories, and words. For this episode, listener and prolific contributor Diego has put together an entire show for our edification.
ASL may have changed to include copular BE
What's going on with French-only laws in Quebec?
Why is an Indian airport broadcasting covid information in Sanskrit?
And more.
]]>01:05:26truefullDaniel Midgley, Ben Ainslie, and Hedvig Skirgård55: Rebel With a Clause (with Ellen Jovin)55: Rebel With a Clause (with Ellen Jovin)Wed, 29 Jun 2022 14:20:11 +0000Everyone's favourite tabletop grammarian is back! It's Ellen Jovin, proprietor of the Grammar Table. She dispenses grammar advice around New York City and the world, and now she's written a book about her grammar adventures. Ellen is the author of Rebel With a Clause, and she joins us for this big episode.
]]>Everyone's favourite tabletop grammarian is back! It's Ellen Jovin, proprietor of the Grammar Table. She dispenses grammar advice around New York City and the world, and now she's written a book about her grammar adventures. Ellen is the author of Rebel With a Clause, and she joins us for this big episode.
]]>01:39:10truefullDaniel Midgley, Ben Ainslie, and Hedvig Skirgård54: Slang (with Jonathon Green)54: Slang (with Jonathon Green)Wed, 15 Jun 2022 13:19:55 +0000It's crude. It's rude. And it's a lot of fun. Slang has been with us for as long as people didn't want others to understand what they were about. But what exactly is it? And has the nature of slang changed in our internet age?
Daniel is talking to eminent slang lexicographer Jonathon Green on this episode of Because Language.
]]>It's crude. It's rude. And it's a lot of fun. Slang has been with us for as long as people didn't want others to understand what they were about. But what exactly is it? And has the nature of slang changed in our internet age?
Daniel is talking to eminent slang lexicographer Jonathon Green on this episode of Because Language.
]]>01:37:28truefullDaniel Midgley and Hedvig Skirgård53: Mailbag of Compounds (with Tiger Webb)53: Mailbag of Compounds (with Tiger Webb)Tue, 31 May 2022 04:00:00 +0000Language titan Tiger Webb is helping us with our voluminous Mailbag. Hedvig is giving her annual Eurovision language roundup. And we're sorting through the lexicon of the 2022 Australian election.
Is MAYBE a compound word? What about ANOTHER, or GARBAGE?
Are GONNA and WANNA portmanteaus?
What does it take to be a linguist?
]]>Language titan Tiger Webb is helping us with our voluminous Mailbag. Hedvig is giving her annual Eurovision language roundup. And we're sorting through the lexicon of the 2022 Australian election.
Is MAYBE a compound word? What about ANOTHER, or GARBAGE?
Are GONNA and WANNA portmanteaus?
What does it take to be a linguist?
]]>01:32:11truefullDaniel Midgley, Ben Ainslie, and Hedvig Skirgård52: The Language Game (with Morten Christiansen and Nick Chater)52: The Language Game (with Morten Christiansen and Nick Chater)Wed, 11 May 2022 09:14:59 +0000How is language like a game of charades? According to a new book, quite a lot. Charades players and language users improvise and work together to create meaning in a situation, and they get better at it as they reuse elements and build up patterns.
Drs Morten Christiansen and Nick Chater explain their vision of language to Daniel and Hedvig on this episode of Because Language.
]]>How is language like a game of charades? According to a new book, quite a lot. Charades players and language users improvise and work together to create meaning in a situation, and they get better at it as they reuse elements and build up patterns.
Drs Morten Christiansen and Nick Chater explain their vision of language to Daniel and Hedvig on this episode of Because Language.
]]>01:31:47truefullDaniel Midgley and Hedvig Skirgård51: A Wug-Tonne of Advice (with Kitty Liu and Romany Amber)51: A Wug-Tonne of Advice (with Kitty Liu and Romany Amber)Sun, 01 May 2022 04:00:00 +0000We had the pleasure of an interview with two up-and-coming linguists, wanting to find out more about the show and linguistic communication. It was such a fun chat that we wanted to share it with you. Here's Daniel and Hedvig with Kitty Liu and Romany Amber.
Thanks to Kitty and Romany for thinking of us, and thanks to U-Lingua for letting us make this audio public.
]]>We had the pleasure of an interview with two up-and-coming linguists, wanting to find out more about the show and linguistic communication. It was such a fun chat that we wanted to share it with you. Here's Daniel and Hedvig with Kitty Liu and Romany Amber.
Thanks to Kitty and Romany for thinking of us, and thanks to U-Lingua for letting us make this audio public.
]]>52:58truefullDaniel Midgley and Hedvig Skirgård50: Employing Linguistics (with Anna Marie Trester and Ellen)50: Employing Linguistics (with Anna Marie Trester and Ellen)Fri, 08 Apr 2022 09:15:23 +0000Linguistics is what we all love, but how do we make it pay? Turns out there are more ways than you might have thought of, and a new book is here to help. Dr Anna Marie Trester joins Daniel for an uplifting and hopeful chat.
And how do we make the online experience better for Blind people? Friend of the pod Ellen is here with some do's and some do-not-do's.
]]>Linguistics is what we all love, but how do we make it pay? Turns out there are more ways than you might have thought of, and a new book is here to help. Dr Anna Marie Trester joins Daniel for an uplifting and hopeful chat.
And how do we make the online experience better for Blind people? Friend of the pod Ellen is here with some do's and some do-not-do's.
]]>01:37:54truefullDaniel Midgley, Ben Ainslie, and Hedvig Skirgård49: Mailbag - It's That T Again (with Mignon Fogarty)49: Mailbag - It's That T Again (with Mignon Fogarty)Wed, 23 Mar 2022 04:00:00 +0000Lingcomm legend Mignon Fogarty (Grammar Girl) joins us to answer all the questions in our Mailbag! And we have to ask her about National Grammar Day. How do we bring out descriptive grammar, and tone down the policing?
Why do some people say "She text me"?
Why are some people convinced it's the Flinstones and not the Flintstones?
Are some people saying "I finished mines"?
Is technology making us forget how to spell and write?
And why does "going to Kong Kong" have a naughty meaning in Korean?
]]>Lingcomm legend Mignon Fogarty (Grammar Girl) joins us to answer all the questions in our Mailbag! And we have to ask her about National Grammar Day. How do we bring out descriptive grammar, and tone down the policing?
Why do some people say "She text me"?
Why are some people convinced it's the Flinstones and not the Flintstones?
Are some people saying "I finished mines"?
Is technology making us forget how to spell and write?
And why does "going to Kong Kong" have a naughty meaning in Korean?
]]>01:11:07truefullDaniel Midgley and Ben Ainslie48: The Black Side of the River (with Jessi Grieser)48: The Black Side of the River (with Jessi Grieser)Fri, 04 Mar 2022 08:33:24 +0000Anacostia is a rapidly gentrifying suburb in Washington DC, and as Anacostia changes, so does the language. How do the original Black residents use language to establish their cred? What about the language of the new Black gentrifiers?
Dr Jessi Grieser has been listening. She's the author of The Black Side of the River, and she joins Daniel for a chat.
]]>Anacostia is a rapidly gentrifying suburb in Washington DC, and as Anacostia changes, so does the language. How do the original Black residents use language to establish their cred? What about the language of the new Black gentrifiers?
Dr Jessi Grieser has been listening. She's the author of The Black Side of the River, and she joins Daniel for a chat.
]]>01:32:19truefullDaniel Midgley, Ben Ainslie, and Hedvig Skirgård47: We Need to Talk About Grice (with Rikker Dockum)47: We Need to Talk About Grice (with Rikker Dockum)Sun, 20 Feb 2022 04:00:00 +0000Every Linguistics 101 student knows about HP Grice and his famous Maxims. They state that dialogue is usually cooperative — and when it doesn't appear to be, they explain how we manage to work out meaning anyway.
But linguists are questioning the applicability and universality of these rules. Is it time for a reappraisal of Grice? We're joined by Rikker Dockum on this episode of Because Language.
]]>Every Linguistics 101 student knows about HP Grice and his famous Maxims. They state that dialogue is usually cooperative — and when it doesn't appear to be, they explain how we manage to work out meaning anyway.
But linguists are questioning the applicability and universality of these rules. Is it time for a reappraisal of Grice? We're joined by Rikker Dockum on this episode of Because Language.
]]>01:13:47truefullDaniel Midgley, Ben Ainslie, and Hedvig Skirgård46: Just Words (with Rebecca Shapiro)46: Just Words (with Rebecca Shapiro)Thu, 10 Feb 2022 01:58:19 +0000Can dictionaries create a more fair world? One language observer sees that dictionaries, far from being a neutral chronicle of language, are capable of promoting social justice.
Daniel speaks with Dr Rebecca Shapiro, author of Fixing Babel: An Historical Anthology of Applied English Lexicography.
]]>Can dictionaries create a more fair world? One language observer sees that dictionaries, far from being a neutral chronicle of language, are capable of promoting social justice.
Daniel speaks with Dr Rebecca Shapiro, author of Fixing Babel: An Historical Anthology of Applied English Lexicography.
]]>01:35:03truefullDaniel Midgley, Ben Ainslie, and Hedvig Skirgård45: Mailbag of Words45: Mailbag of WordsSat, 29 Jan 2022 04:00:00 +0000The Words of the Year are out! And we're talking about 'em.
We're answering all the questions in our voluminous Mailbag.
We have here, there, and where. We also have that and what. Was there ever a hat? Why are we friends with someone? Is the distribution of emoji Zipfian? If you study linguistics — the science of language — are you a STEM major?
And Hedvig springs a game on us.
]]>The Words of the Year are out! And we're talking about 'em.
We're answering all the questions in our voluminous Mailbag.
We have here, there, and where. We also have that and what. Was there ever a hat? Why are we friends with someone? Is the distribution of emoji Zipfian? If you study linguistics — the science of language — are you a STEM major?
And Hedvig springs a game on us.
]]>01:19:36truefullDaniel Midgley, Ben Ainslie, and Hedvig Skirgård44: Words of the Week of the Year 2021 (with Lauren Gawne)44: Words of the Week of the Year 2021 (with Lauren Gawne)Wed, 22 Dec 2021 09:34:54 +0000Our listeners have voted, and here are all the words! Which were our top Words of the Week? Which were the worst? And what did all the dictionary people pick?
We're joined by our very special guest (and lingopod pal) Dr Lauren Gawne for this very cheugy episode of Because Language.
]]>Our listeners have voted, and here are all the words! Which were our top Words of the Week? Which were the worst? And what did all the dictionary people pick?
We're joined by our very special guest (and lingopod pal) Dr Lauren Gawne for this very cheugy episode of Because Language.
]]>01:23:01truefullDaniel Midgley and Hedvig Skirgård43: Journal Club: Zoomies on Zoom (with Hadas Kotek and friends)43: Journal Club: Zoomies on Zoom (with Hadas Kotek and friends)Fri, 17 Dec 2021 04:19:38 +0000Our friends and listeners bring us lots of great stories, questions, and words. So for this episode, we've invited them to present them themselves! All patrons have been invited to join us for this live episode, and many have brought pets.
Also, Dr Hadas Kotek has examined the sentences used in linguistic textbooks and examples. How are people represented in our discipline?
]]>Our friends and listeners bring us lots of great stories, questions, and words. So for this episode, we've invited them to present them themselves! All patrons have been invited to join us for this live episode, and many have brought pets.
Also, Dr Hadas Kotek has examined the sentences used in linguistic textbooks and examples. How are people represented in our discipline?
]]>01:22:56truefullDaniel Midgley, Ben Ainslie, and Hedvig Skirgård42: Replicability Crisis (with Martine Grice and Bodo Winter)42: Replicability Crisis (with Martine Grice and Bodo Winter)Wed, 01 Dec 2021 06:34:48 +0000The sciences are facing a replicability crisis. Some landmark studies were once considered settled, but then failed when they were retested. So have any linguistic experiments been toppled? And how do we fix this problem?
Dr Martine Grice and Dr Bodo Winter have contributed to a special issue of Linguistics, and they join us for this fun episode.
]]>The sciences are facing a replicability crisis. Some landmark studies were once considered settled, but then failed when they were retested. So have any linguistic experiments been toppled? And how do we fix this problem?
Dr Martine Grice and Dr Bodo Winter have contributed to a special issue of Linguistics, and they join us for this fun episode.
]]>01:34:30truefullDaniel Midgley and Hedvig Skirgård41: Mailbag of Caitlin University (with Caitlin Green)41: Mailbag of Caitlin University (with Caitlin Green)Tue, 16 Nov 2021 04:00:00 +0000Here to help us answer our voluminous Mailbag is the tireless Dr Caitlin Green, Vice Cancellor of Caitlin University. Among our questions:
NON-BINARY or NONBINARY?
What's behind coffee names?
Why is there an L in WOULD?
Could swearing get in the way of persuasion?
When is it time to stop supporting a minority language?
What's with the D in TIDDIES?
Fee fi fo… fun? Why doesn't it rhyme with ENGLISHMAN?
Where does TUCKER come from?
]]>Here to help us answer our voluminous Mailbag is the tireless Dr Caitlin Green, Vice Cancellor of Caitlin University. Among our questions:
NON-BINARY or NONBINARY?
What's behind coffee names?
Why is there an L in WOULD?
Could swearing get in the way of persuasion?
When is it time to stop supporting a minority language?
What's with the D in TIDDIES?
Fee fi fo… fun? Why doesn't it rhyme with ENGLISHMAN?
Where does TUCKER come from?
]]>01:14:07truefullDaniel Midgley and Ben Ainslie40: Dialect Playthrough (with Hakan Seyalıoğlu and Stephen Mann)40: Dialect Playthrough (with Hakan Seyalıoğlu and Stephen Mann)Mon, 15 Nov 2021 04:00:00 +0000Dialect is a role-playing game about language and how it dies. Over the course of a game, players form an isolated community, create a private language, and watch it fade away as the community's isolation is breached.
We're very pleased and honoured to play a game of Dialect, with game creator Hakan Seyalıoğlu of Thorny Games leading us through it.
]]>Dialect is a role-playing game about language and how it dies. Over the course of a game, players form an isolated community, create a private language, and watch it fade away as the community's isolation is breached.
We're very pleased and honoured to play a game of Dialect, with game creator Hakan Seyalıoğlu of Thorny Games leading us through it.
]]>02:56:08truefullDaniel Midgley, Ben Ainslie, Hedvig Skirgård, and Stephen Mann39: Is This a Reference? (with Sylvia Sierra)39: Is This a Reference? (with Sylvia Sierra)Mon, 01 Nov 2021 14:07:48 +0000You probably communicate with your friends using media references all the time. Not that there's anything wrong with that. But why do we include media references, when we could just talk? Turns out it has a lot to do with identity, building social relationships, and communication — all the stuff that language normally does.
We're having a media-heavy discussion with Dr Sylvia Sierra about her book Millennials Talking Media: Creating Intertextual Identities in Everyday Conversation.
]]>You probably communicate with your friends using media references all the time. Not that there's anything wrong with that. But why do we include media references, when we could just talk? Turns out it has a lot to do with identity, building social relationships, and communication — all the stuff that language normally does.
We're having a media-heavy discussion with Dr Sylvia Sierra about her book Millennials Talking Media: Creating Intertextual Identities in Everyday Conversation.
]]>01:41:56truefullDaniel Midgley, Ben Ainslie, and Hedvig Skirgård38: Generativism 2: How It's Going (with Taylor Miller and Adam Tallman)38: Generativism 2: How It's Going (with Taylor Miller and Adam Tallman)Thu, 14 Oct 2021 02:45:43 +0000This is the second of a two-parter on generativism, the linguistic school of thought originated by Noam Chomsky. This time, it's from the perspective of early-career researchers. How is generativism relevant to them, and how do they regard its claims?
We ask:
What importance does linguistic theory have on day-to-day research?
How does generativism relate to nativism, the idea that at least some language is innate?
Is there a conflict between generativism and functionalism today?
What's the next step in the generative enterprise?
]]>This is the second of a two-parter on generativism, the linguistic school of thought originated by Noam Chomsky. This time, it's from the perspective of early-career researchers. How is generativism relevant to them, and how do they regard its claims?
We ask:
What importance does linguistic theory have on day-to-day research?
How does generativism relate to nativism, the idea that at least some language is innate?
Is there a conflict between generativism and functionalism today?
What's the next step in the generative enterprise?
]]>01:56:07truefullDaniel Midgley, Ben Ainslie, and Hedvig Skirgård37: Generativism 1: How It Started (with David Adger and John Goldsmith)37: Generativism 1: How It Started (with David Adger and John Goldsmith)Thu, 30 Sep 2021 06:02:04 +0000We're doing a deep dive into generativism, the linguistic school of thought championed by Noam Chomsky. It's had an enormous impact on the direction of linguistics, and even those who disagree with the generative programme will be at least somewhat conversant with its claims and the debate around it. Here, we'll try to answer questions such as:
What is generativism, and what are its claims?
What does generativism help you to do in linguistics?
What is the relationship to nativism, the idea that some aspects language are inborn?
How does generativism relate to functionalism?
What should the next generation of generative linguists keep in mind?
]]>We're doing a deep dive into generativism, the linguistic school of thought championed by Noam Chomsky. It's had an enormous impact on the direction of linguistics, and even those who disagree with the generative programme will be at least somewhat conversant with its claims and the debate around it. Here, we'll try to answer questions such as:
What is generativism, and what are its claims?
What does generativism help you to do in linguistics?
What is the relationship to nativism, the idea that some aspects language are inborn?
How does generativism relate to functionalism?
What should the next generation of generative linguists keep in mind?
]]>01:50:39truefullDaniel Midgley, Ben Ainslie, and Hedvig Skirgård36: Journal Club: Clickety Clack (with Stephen Mann)36: Journal Club: Clickety Clack (with Stephen Mann)Mon, 13 Sep 2021 04:00:00 +0000The Because Language team are talking through some of the most interesting research around, and you get to listen!
Valuable medical information gets lost when Indigenous languages are wiped out
When it comes to learning languages, multilinguals have the edge over bilinguals
A generativist argues that languages don't adapt to their environment. What's behind this?
And it's iconicity turned up to 11: some experiments that explore how language began.
]]>The Because Language team are talking through some of the most interesting research around, and you get to listen!
Valuable medical information gets lost when Indigenous languages are wiped out
When it comes to learning languages, multilinguals have the edge over bilinguals
A generativist argues that languages don't adapt to their environment. What's behind this?
And it's iconicity turned up to 11: some experiments that explore how language began.
]]>53:42truefullDaniel Midgley, Hedvig Skirgård, and Stephen Mann35: Something's Got to Change (with Lesley Woods and Alice Gaby)35: Something's Got to Change (with Lesley Woods and Alice Gaby)Fri, 27 Aug 2021 01:32:05 +0000Linguistics as a discipline throws up challenges to Indigenous linguists. At the same time, they're the ones called upon to fix it. It can't stay like this. How do we make linguistics a safe place to work?
Daniel, Hedvig, and very special co-host Ayesha Marshall are having a yarn with Lesley Woods and Dr Alice Gaby about their work in changing linguistics for the better.
]]>Linguistics as a discipline throws up challenges to Indigenous linguists. At the same time, they're the ones called upon to fix it. It can't stay like this. How do we make linguistics a safe place to work?
Daniel, Hedvig, and very special co-host Ayesha Marshall are having a yarn with Lesley Woods and Dr Alice Gaby about their work in changing linguistics for the better.
]]>01:21:43truefullDaniel Midgley, Ayesha Marshall, and Hedvig Skirgård34: OzCLO 2021: 2 Cool 4 School (with Elisabeth Mayer, Henry Wu, Victoria Papaioannou, and the students of Melbourne Girls Grammar School)34: OzCLO 2021: 2 Cool 4 School (with Elisabeth Mayer, Henry Wu, Victoria Papaioannou, and the students of Melbourne Girls Grammar School)Thu, 05 Aug 2021 01:52:55 +0000OzCLO is the Australian Computational and Linguistic Olympiad. It gets students together to compete and solve linguistic problems. It's also a gateway to further linguistic study.
We've brought some of the winning students to compete in a linguistic quiz with Ben and Hedvig. Will it go well for them?
]]>OzCLO is the Australian Computational and Linguistic Olympiad. It gets students together to compete and solve linguistic problems. It's also a gateway to further linguistic study.
We've brought some of the winning students to compete in a linguistic quiz with Ben and Hedvig. Will it go well for them?
]]>01:46:18falsefullDaniel Midgley, Ben Ainslie, and Hedvig Skirgård33: You're Wrong About Everett, Roberts, Blasi 201533: You're Wrong About Everett, Roberts, Blasi 2015Sun, 25 Jul 2021 04:00:00 +0000All it took was a tweet. Last week, linguists refocused their attention on a paper about humidity and tone. Was it bad linguistics? Environmental determinism? The reaction said a lot about linguistics and the nature of linguistic communication in the digital age.]]>All it took was a tweet. Last week, linguists refocused their attention on a paper about humidity and tone. Was it bad linguistics? Environmental determinism? The reaction said a lot about linguistics and the nature of linguistic communication in the digital age.]]>01:25:14truefullDaniel Midgley, Ben Ainslie, and Hedvig Skirgård32: Fallen Leaves: The Chinese Languages (with Wu Mei-Shin, Ye Jingting, and Israel Lai)32: Fallen Leaves: The Chinese Languages (with Wu Mei-Shin, Ye Jingting, and Israel Lai)Sun, 18 Jul 2021 03:42:27 +0000What we call sometimes Chinese is really a gigantic family of languages. They're somewhat divided in mutual intelligibility, and somewhat united in their writing system. How are they different, and how are they maintaining themselves? Two Chinese researchers, Wu Mei-Shin and Ye Jingting, join us.
And what's going on in the Cantonese lingopod world? We're joined by Israel Lai of Rhapsody in Lingo.
]]>What we call sometimes Chinese is really a gigantic family of languages. They're somewhat divided in mutual intelligibility, and somewhat united in their writing system. How are they different, and how are they maintaining themselves? Two Chinese researchers, Wu Mei-Shin and Ye Jingting, join us.
And what's going on in the Cantonese lingopod world? We're joined by Israel Lai of Rhapsody in Lingo.
]]>01:38:50truefullDaniel Midgley and Hedvig Skirgård31: All the Words (with Grant Barrett)31: All the Words (with Grant Barrett)Wed, 30 Jun 2021 04:00:00 +0000Words of the Week are coming out of the woodwork, and who better to work through them with us than Grant Barrett of A Way with Words? Wowee.]]>Words of the Week are coming out of the woodwork, and who better to work through them with us than Grant Barrett of A Way with Words? Wowee.]]>58:34truefullDaniel Midgley30: Mailbag of Raspberries (with Helen Zaltzman)30: Mailbag of Raspberries (with Helen Zaltzman)Mon, 14 Jun 2021 04:00:00 +0000Our Mailbag is once again full of questions, and podcasting luminary Helen Zaltzman is here to help us answer them!
Why is the raspberry sound (PBTPBBBBT) not a speech sound in any language? Or is it?
How can sounds in a language change so much over time?
Am I BURNED OUT? Or BURNT OUT?
Why are they called metaphysicians and not metaphysicists?
What can we call something besides LAME?
Why is AMPHI- so infrequently used in English?
]]>Our Mailbag is once again full of questions, and podcasting luminary Helen Zaltzman is here to help us answer them!
Why is the raspberry sound (PBTPBBBBT) not a speech sound in any language? Or is it?
How can sounds in a language change so much over time?
Am I BURNED OUT? Or BURNT OUT?
Why are they called metaphysicians and not metaphysicists?
What can we call something besides LAME?
Why is AMPHI- so infrequently used in English?
]]>01:07:32truefullDaniel Midgley, Ben Ainslie, and Hedvig Skirgård
