Now here's a first for the podcast: its first conlang! Na'vi, the language created for the Avatar films, was the choice of Stefan Mir-Mackiewicz, a language enthusiast who plays a role in shaping this constructed language. We discussed the origins of Na'vi, its sources of inspiration, its sounds and grammar, and the community that continues to develop it. Some language history and 'Proto-Na'vi' even get a mention!

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

Start your own journey into Na'vi here:

- ⁠https://learnnavi.org/⁠ 

- ⁠https://kelutral.org/⁠ 

- ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@HTML_Rrta⁠

Content note from Stefan: it's a common misunderstanding that Paul Frommer inspired directly by Polynesian languages; rather, the original words he was given by James Cameron had a "Polynesian flavour".

Host: Dr. Danny Bate

Guest: Stefan Mir-Mackiewicz (screen name: HTML_'Rrta)

Audio Mixing and Mastering: Jeremiah McPadden

Music: Acoustic Guitar by William King

Artwork: William Marler

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

Series 3 continues with another prominent public-facing linguist, only this time we're travelling back in time, to Ancient Rome! My guest is Luke Ranieri, a linguist, a language teacher and the YouTuber behind the popular platforms ⁠polýMATHY⁠ and ⁠ScorpioMartianus⁠.

Luke took a break from activities as diverse as teaching for The Ancient Language Institute, speaking Latin on Vatican Radio, and flying helicopters, to talk to me about the Latin language – and what was so good about the era of Caesar and Cicero that their language deserved to be called 'classical'.

Join the ALILI Patreon here: ⁠patreon.com/ALanguageILoveIs⁠

Check out Luke's personal website here: ⁠https://lukeranieri.com/⁠

Host: Dr. Danny Bate

Guest: Luke Ranieri

Audio Mixing and Mastering: Jeremiah McPadden

Music: Acoustic Guitar by William King

Artwork: William Marler

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

We're back! The first episode of an all-new series of the language-loving podcast is here at last.

Since one of the co-stars of the hit podcast Lingthusiasm concluded the second series, it seemed only right that the other co-star should kick off the third. Gretchen McCulloch – linguist, podcaster and author of Because Internet – joins me to navigate the linguistic complexities of Canada, specifically in the city of Montreal.

This episode is part sociolinguistic survey, part survival guide for how to speak in Quebec, and Gretchen expertly and warmly takes us through Canadian bilingualism and her own experiences and perspectives of it.

Join the ALILI Patreon here: patreon.com/ALanguageILoveIs

Gretchen's personal website: https://gretchenmcculloch.com/

Lingthusiasm's website: https://lingthusiasm.com/

Host: Dr. Danny Bate

Guest: Gretchen McCulloch

Audio Mixing and Mastering: Jeremiah McPadden

Music: Acoustic Guitar by William King

Artwork: William Marler

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

Hello there, dear language lovers! After a couple of months, I'm pleased to say that I'm getting back into the swing of linguistic podcasting, and that means that A Language I Love Is... will soon be returning!

While I get the first few episodes ready for airing, here's a teaser for the third series of the show, featuring some expert voices that you can look forward to, as well as some additional annoucements from me.

For fans and subscribers of the show, I'd like to express sincere thanks for bearing with me during this inter-series hiatus. Speak to you soon!

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

ALILI has reached episode 30 and the end of two whole series! To mark the occasion, the show has the privilege to host a star of public linguistics, Dr. Lauren Gawne, one of the two fabulous co-hosts of the hit podcast Lingthusiasm. Lauren is here to lead the show into a new part of the world and a new language family, namely Yolmo, a Tibeto-Burman language spoken in Nepal. Lauren takes us through the modern state of the language, her profound connection to it, and the grammatical phenomenon of evidentiality.

Enter the word of Lingthusiasm here: ⁠⁠https://lingthusiasm.com/⁠⁠

Lauren's personal website: ⁠⁠https://laurengawne.com/⁠⁠

Host: Dr. Danny Bate

Guest: Dr. Lauren Gawne

Audio Mixing and Mastering: Jeremiah McPadden

Music: Bossa Nova by William_King

Artwork: William Marler

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

Episode 29 is here at last, and a certain language is making a repeat appearance, but introduced by a new linguistic lover – what does Colin Gorrie have to say about Old English? We chat the basics of Old English and what makes it so 'old', before getting into how Colin teaches the language, and why he recommends it as a springboard for further linguistic adventures.

Find the details about the brilliant new Osweald Bera book here: https://ancientlanguage.com/osweald-bera/

Check out and subscribe to Colin's substack: https://colingorrie.substack.com/

And don't forget to subscribe to A Language I Love Is...!

Host: Dr Danny Bate

Guest: Dr Colin Gorrie

Audio Mixing and Mastering: Jeremiah McPadden

Music: Bossa Nova by William_King

Artwork: William Marler

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

Dydh da! Episode 28 of ALILI is here, and Daniel Prohaska joins me to discuss Cornish! This Celtic language has a long and fascinating history, stretching back to Roman Britain. It's a story not only of slow decline, but also of resurrection. Daniel was the ideal expert to introduce it, being involved in modern efforts to revitalise and popularise Cornish for the twenty-first century.

Daniel's professional website: ⁠⁠https://www.ryan-prohaska.com/⁠⁠

Daniel's Cornish website: https://kernowekbew.com/

Daniel's audio Cornish course: ⁠⁠https://www.kernewegva.com/deskikernowek.html⁠⁠

Host: Dr Danny Bate

Guest: Daniel Prohaska

Audio Mixing and Mastering: Jeremiah McPadden

Music: Bossa Nova by William_King

Artwork: William Marler

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

Time for Episode 27 and a return to the Slavic languages! Unsurprisingly, Croatian is a Slavic language widely spoken in the modern-day country of Croatia, but did you know that it has many speakers in eastern Austria too? Burgenland Croatian is the starring language of this episode, beloved and chosen by Dr Katharina Tyran. As one of its native speakers and researchers, Katharina is the ideal person to introduce the past, present and future of this minority language.

Katharina's University of Vienna page: https://slawistik.univie.ac.at/personen/person/user/tyrank65/inum/1079/backpid/12319/

Listen to Katharina podcasting in Burgenland Croatian here: https://www.hrvatskicentar.at/de/centar-podcast

Sample of spoken Burgenland Croatian from here: https://pangloss.cnrs.fr/corpus/Croate%20du%20Burgenland?lang=en&mode=pro

Host: Dr Danny Bate

Guest: Dr Katharina Tyran

Audio Mixing and Mastering: Jeremiah McPadden

Music: Bossa Nova by William_King

Artwork: William Marler

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

Episode 26 is a first for the show: a language so old that it's theoretical! This time, ALILI is discussing the whole Germanic language family, from English to Icelandic, since this episode's starring language is the family's common ancestor: Proto-Germanic. This prehistoric point of origin is the choice of my guest, Yoïn van Spijk, expert etymologist and Dutch dialectologist. Thanks to him, I get to chat linguistic reconstruction, language change and some underappreciated Finnish connections.

Go check out more from Yoïn!

Yoïn's website: https://taalaandewandel.com/

Yoïn's Twitter: https://x.com/yvanspijk

Yoïn's Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/yvanspijk

Host: Danny Bate

Guest: Yoïn van Spijk

Audio Mixing and Mastering: Jeremiah McPadden

Music: Bossa Nova by William_King

Artwork: William Marler

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

Episode 25 is here and it's a return to the Finno-Ugric languages with expert linguist Daria Zhornik. The particular member of Finno-Ugric is Mansi (specifically Northern Mansi), spoken in two regions of Russia. Daria both documents and researches this language, and so is full of good information about its history, genealogy, current status, future, and its speakers' very particular and periphrastic ways of talking about animals...

Check out Daria's website here: ⁠https://dariazhornik.github.io⁠

Host: Danny Bate

Guest: Daria Zhornik

Music: Bossa Nova by William_King

Artwork: William Marler

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