As 2025 ticks out its final hours, here’s one last episode of ALILI for the year, and it’s buonissimo! Journalist, author, content creator and linguist Sophia Smith Galer joins me to share the love for Italian. Our conversation has a focus on the sociolinguistic dynamics of Italian, namely how this national language fits into the lives of speakers up and down the peninsula, and how it might be harming the other languages of Italy in the process. Sophia also shares her personal relationship with Italian, as a ‘heritage language’ of hers that she is now working to promote in London.

Support the language-loving mission by joining the ALILI Patreon here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/ALanguageILoveIs⁠⁠

Sophia’s splendid website: ⁠https://www.sophiasmithgaler.com/⁠

Pre-order How to Kill a Language here: ⁠https://www.sophiasmithgaler.com/how-to-kill-a-language⁠

Sample of Italian (by speaker Sebastiano) from here: ⁠https://wikitongues.org/videos/sebastiano_20131103_ita/⁠

Host: Dr. Danny Bate

Guest: Sophia Smith Galer

Audio Mixing and Mastering: Jeremiah McPadden

Music: Acoustic Guitar by William King

Artwork: Willow Marler

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

'Hi, I'm Old Norse specialist Dr. Jackson Crawford' – so begin the YouTube videos with the smooth-talking, stetson-wearing scholar, discussing ancient languages in the scenic Rocky Mountains. To pay Jackson back for having me on ⁠his channel⁠ three times (most recently ⁠here⁠), I gladly hosted him on ALILI. Hence, this forty-second episode is all about Old Norse – what it is, who spoke it, where it came from, and what it became.

Support the language-loving mission by joining the ALILI Patreon here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/ALanguageILoveIs⁠⁠

Get your copy of the translated Poetic Edda here: ⁠https://hackettpublishing.com/the-poetic-edda-expanded-second-edition⁠

Jackson's YouTube channel: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@JacksonCrawford⁠

Host: Dr. Danny Bate

Guest: Dr. Jackson Crawford

Audio Mixing and Mastering: Jeremiah McPadden

Music: Acoustic Guitar by William King

Artwork: Willow Marler

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hot on the heels of Episode 40 (American Sign Language with Aidan Elliott-McCrea), I can release a special episode of ALILI, showcasing the audio edition of my new book! 'Why Q Needs U: A history of our letters and how we use them' was published on October 2nd, before which I undertook both its writing and its narrating as an audiobook. For this special, I've been given the first chapter of that audiobook (Chapter A) to share with you. It kicks off the story of the alphabet in Egypt, then takes you as far as the islands of Greece. The full audiobook is widely available on popular platforms like Spotify and ⁠Audible⁠. If you give it a listen, do let me know!

Official link to the book here: ⁠https://geni.us/WhyQNeedsU⁠

More info and reviews here: ⁠https://dannybate.com/book/⁠

Support the language-loving mission by joining the ALILI Patreon here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/ALanguageILoveIs⁠⁠⁠

Host: Dr. Danny Bate

Music: Acoustic Guitar by William King

Artwork: Willow Marler

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The ALILI podcast has reached forty episodes! As a fitting start to this fourth decade of language love, we have a first for the show: its first sign language. It was a privilege for me to talk to Aidan Elliott-McCrea, an expert linguist and online etymologist (through ⁠Word Family Friday⁠), about not just American Sign Language but sign languages in general. Our conversation begins with addressing misconceptions about sign languages (there isn't just one!), and moves on to the features of ASL that Aidan particularly likes.

Support the language-loving mission by joining the ALILI Patreon here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/ALanguageILoveIs⁠⁠

Transcript (automatically generated) available here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1m5gw2ewkXN3uUEnYI-yszmLqiugG7v2w5fDEHXK_9-s/edit?usp=sharing

Aidan's etymological website: ⁠https://www.aidanem.com/pages/word-families-overview.html⁠

Aidan's own Patreon: https://patreon.com/aidanem

Aidan's recommendations for reading:

• Linguistics of American Sign Language: An Introduction by Clayton Valli
• Sign Language and Linguistic Universals by Wendy Sandler and Diane Lillo-Martin
• Everyone Here Spoke Sign Language by Nora Ellen Groce

Host: Dr. Danny Bate

Guest: Aidan Elliott-McCrea

Audio Mixing and Mastering: Jeremiah McPadden

Music: Acoustic Guitar by William King

Artwork: Willow Marler

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode 39 is a return to Scotland! After Scots, way back at the start of the whole podcast, this next journey into Scottish speech explores Scottish Gaelic (Gàidhlig), the Insular Celtic language that's for centuries played a big part in the country's history, ever since it first arrived from Ireland. It was the choice of my guest, the linguist David Adger, who knows the language well and refers to it often in his research into the nature of word order. David and I discuss the medieval and modern story of Scottish Gaelic, as well as a globally unusual aspect of its syntax.

Support the language-loving mission by joining the ALILI Patreon here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/ALanguageILoveIs⁠

David's personal website: ⁠https://davidadger.org/⁠

Clip of Rosemary speaking Scottish Gaelic taken from here: ⁠https://wikitongues.org/videos/rosemary_20150113_gla/⁠

Website for the Sabhal Mòr Ostaig here: ⁠https://www.smo.uhi.ac.uk/?lang=en⁠

Host: Dr. Danny Bate

Guest: Prof. David Adger

Audio Mixing and Mastering: Jeremiah McPadden

Music: Acoustic Guitar by William King

Artwork: Willow Marler

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

At last, dear language lovers, Episode 38 is here. To make up for my podcasting tardiness, this episode stars not just one language, but rather a whole group of them! Following Akkadian in Series 1 and Biblical Hebrew in Series 2, I'm glad to offer you another audio trip into ancient Semitic languages. Old (or Ancient or Epigraphic) South Arabian languages were the choice of Dr. Imar Koutchoukali, a scholar who has long been fascinated by the ancient history of Arabia. In our chat, Imar introduces this now-lost linguistic group – at one time vibrant and influential in the region. Included among them is the language of the Queen of Sheba herself!

Support the language-loving mission by joining the ALILI Patreon here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/ALanguageILoveIs⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Imar's academia.edu page: ⁠https://univie.academia.edu/ImarKoutchoukali⁠

Host: Dr. Danny Bate

Guest: Dr. Imar Koutchoukali

Music: Acoustic Guitar by William King

Artwork: Willow Marler

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode 37's star language is another 'proto'-tongue, arguably the most famous of all reconstructed prehistoric languages: Proto-Indo-European. This ancient language, whose linguistic descendants can now be found across the world, has long been the goal of an intellectual quest.

The task of identifying the facts of PIE began in the realms of philology and linguistics, but archaeology and genetics have since contributed much to our understanding. Bringing together the insights of those three fields was the goal of my guest, the science journalist and writer Laura Spinney, and her book Proto: How One Ancient Language Went Global is now available to buy, read and enjoy! Laura joins me to discuss the motivations and goals behind Proto and what exactly drew her to research and write about this strange language from along ago.

Support the language-loving mission by joining the ALILI Patreon here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/ALanguageILoveIs⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Laura's website: ⁠https://www.lauraspinney.com/⁠

Clip of reconstructed Dragon Slaying Myth in Proto-Indo-European (reconstruction by Andrew M. Byrd and Riccardo Ginevra, voice by Phill Barnett) taken with permission from here: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1SXeSHY9p0⁠

Host: Dr. Danny Bate

Guest: Laura Spinney

Audio Mixing and Mastering: Jeremiah McPadden

Music: Acoustic Guitar by William King

Artwork: Willow Marler

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Bouônjour! Join me on a journey to Jersey, an island off the coast of France, where for centuries the local language of Jèrriais has kept up its role in the life of the Islanders, despite considerable pressure from linguistic heavyweights in the area (first French, later English). My guest for episode 36 of ALILI is Geraint Jennings, a language teacher, translator and lover of Jèrriais, who was the ideal person to present the history of Jersey and the status of Jèrriais today. We discuss where Jèrriais comes from, how it's faring in the modern world, and what makes it distinct from French on the mainland. Both my guest and this episode's beloved language are sure to leave you entchéthaûdé!

Support the language-loving mission by joining the ALILI Patreon here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/ALanguageILoveIs⁠⁠⁠⁠

Start your own Jèrriais journey here at the page for the L’Office Du Jèrriais: https://www.jerriais.org.je/

Clip of Jèrriais by Geraint taken from the L’Office Du Jèrriais SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/jerriais

Host: Dr. Danny Bate

Guest: Geraint Jennings

Audio Mixing and Mastering: Jeremiah McPadden

Music: Acoustic Guitar by William King

Artwork: Willow Marler

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode 35 of ALILI is a new part of the world and a new language family: West Africa, and Niger-Congo! Our way into this corner of the linguistic world is Dza (also known as Jenjo or just Jen), an endangered language spoken in Nigeria. My guest is Peace Benson, who is actively working to spread awareness of her native language through academic research and infectious enthusiasm. We discuss all sorts of Dza-related topics, from its distinctive vowels to the sociolinguistic situation of Nigeria. Stay tuned to the end for some Swahili content from me.

Support the language-loving mission by joining the ALILI Patreon here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/ALanguageILoveIs⁠⁠⁠⁠

Clip of Dza (Jenjo) supplied by Peace.

Host: Dr. Danny Bate

Guest: Peace Benson

Audio Mixing and Mastering: Jeremiah McPadden

Music: Acoustic Guitar by William King

Artwork: Willow Marler

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode 34 is a trip to Indonesia, specifically to the small island of Ternate. Don't let the island's size fool you though – it has a rich and complex history, which this episode explores through the Ternate language. This was the choice of my guest, PhD researcher Maria Zielenbach, who introduces Ternate's history, sounds, lexicon and complicated family situation. You may be surprised to hear how Ternate word formation works a little bit like Welsh and Irish...

Support the language-loving mission by joining the ALILI Patreon here: ⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/ALanguageILoveIs⁠⁠⁠

Maria's academic blog: ⁠https://halmahera.hypotheses.org/⁠

Maria's recent book chapter about Dutch influence in Ternate: ⁠https://www.benjamins.com/catalog/impact.55.12sch⁠

Host: Dr. Danny Bate

Guest: Maria Zielenbach

Audio Mixing and Mastering: Jeremiah McPadden

Music: Acoustic Guitar by William King

Artwork: Willow Marler

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.