Episode 11 of ALILI sees us back beside the Baltic Sea, where Dr Francis Young guides us into the story of Lithuania and the Lithuanian language. Francis discusses both history and prehistory in detail, and joyously shares some rather wrong ideas that people have held about the origin of this Indo-European language.

To learn more from Francis, here's his ⁠website⁠ and ⁠Twitter⁠.

Host: Danny Bate

Guest: Dr Francis Young

Music: Bossa Nova by William_King

Artwork: William Marler

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

ALILI has made it to ten episodes, and this tenth instalment is a suitably sensational journey into the linguistic and cultural cosmos of Persian. Alexander Jabbari joins me to talk about this influential language, and demonstrate why Persian is a hugely important yet surprisingly accessible global tongue.

Alexander's ⁠website⁠ and ⁠Twitter⁠.

Host: Danny Bate

Guest: Dr Alexander Jabbari

Music: Bossa Nova by William_King

Artwork: William Marler

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

Episode 9 is here and it's all about Mexico! The wonderful Gilly Marchini, a PhD researcher at Edinburgh, guide us into the linguistic landscape of Mexico and its particular variety of Spanish, and into the practice of linguistic fieldwork and documentation. Gilly's passion and principles combine to make for a fun and fascinating look at Mexican Spanish.

Gilly's website can be found here: https://gillymarchini.wordpress.com/

Host: Danny Bate

Guest: Gilly Marchini

Music: Bossa Nova by William_King

Artwork: William Marler

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

For the eighth episode of A Language I Love Is..., Charles Roe joins me to introduce into the linguistic world of Latin in the Middle Ages. Charles offers a great example of how a particular language is often not defined linguistically, and demonstrates how Latin after Rome was anything but a dead language.

Host: Danny Bate

Guest: Dr. Charles Roe

Music: Bossa Nova by William_King

Artwork: William Marler

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

Episode 7 of ALILI... is a journey into the Uralic language family, specifically via one of its famous European members: Estonian! Prof. Johanna Laakso joins me to share her long-held love for a language very similar to her native Finnish, yet interestingly different in lots of ways, thanks to the specific ingredients that have gone into the Estonian of today.

Host: Danny Bate

Guest: Prof. Johanna Laakso

Music: Bossa Nova by William_King

Artwork: William Marler

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

Time for the 6th episode of ALILI... and for Dr Stephen Hopkins to wind back the clock on the language you are currently reading – we're heading back to Old English! Stephen is a real pro, and this interview with him is both an engaging and entertaining introduction to the earliest days of English.

Stephen's brilliant Twitter site: https://twitter.com/phil_lol_ogist

Host: Danny Bate

Guest: Dr. Stephen Hopkins

Music: Bossa Nova by William_King

Artwork: William Marler

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

Here's Episode 5 of A Language I Love Is... and for this episode, Dr Sāmapriẏa Basu guides us into the Caucasus, the "mountain of tongues", a region rich in languages and language families. Our way in is via the modern language of Ossetian, an Indo-European relative marooned by history from the rest of its family.

Sāmapriẏa's wonderful Twitter site: ⁠https://twitter.com/avzaagzonunaada⁠

Host: Danny Bate

Guest: Dr. Sāmapriẏa Basu

Music: Bossa Nova by William_King

Artwork: William Marler

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

Episode 4 of ALILI is here and its task is to introduce the linguistic cosmos that is the Sanskrit language. Dr Krishnan Ram-Prasad joins me to run through the basics of Sanskrit, from its prehistoric origins to its prestigious status in India today. Krishnan expertly offers a wealth of information, all presented with the palpable enthusiasm of a true fan.

Find Krishnan's website and work here: https://krishnanjramprasad.co.uk

Host: Danny Bate

Guest: Dr. Krishnan Ram-Prasad

Music: Bossa Nova by William_King

Artwork: William Marler

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

Episode 3 of ALILI is a deep dive into the Germanic languages, expertly navigated by George Walkden, who shares a wealth of information about this language family through his love for one particular member: Old Saxon. Having introduced the language, its few (but fun) sources and himself, George uses the example of Old Saxon to make some great points about the connections between language, politics and the accidents of history.

Host: Danny Bate

Guest: Prof. George Walkden

Music: Bossa Nova by William_King

Artwork: William Marler

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

Episode 2 of ALILI and it's time to head back to ancient Mesopotamia and hear all about Akkadian, an influential lingua franca of the ancient world. Old it may be, but Akkadian still has much to tell us about its many cousin languages still spoken to this day. Akkadian expert Iris Kamil both introduces and shares a little of her boundless enthusiasm for the language and its surprisingly relatable sources.

Host: Danny Bate

Guest: Iris Kamil

Music: Bossa Nova by William_King

Artwork: William Marler

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