Because Language - a podcast about linguistics, the science of language.

Because Language - a podcast about linguistics, the science of language. episodes:

• 06.11.2024

  99: Gender in Germany (with Rob Tegethoff and Ciarán from Corner Späti)

  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...

  
• 05.20.2024

  98: Origin Uncertain (with Anatoly Liberman)

  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...

  
• 04.28.2024

  97: The Dictionary of Fine Distinctions (with Eli Burnstein)

  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...

  
• 04.19.2024

  96: Language City (with Ross Perlin)

  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....

  
• 04.01.2024

  95: Why the Far-Right Demagogues Language (with Caitlin Green and Maureen Kosse)

  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...

  
• 03.02.2024

  93: Stop! Grammar Time (live with Ellen Jovin and friends)

  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.  YouTube video of...

  
• 02.22.2024

  92: In the First 600 Milliseconds (with Rachel Nordlinger)

  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...

  
• 01.21.2024

  90: Enpoopification (with Grant Barrett and Tim Brookes)

  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....

  
• 12.24.2023

  89: Words of the Week of the Year 2023 (with Cory Doctorow and friends)

  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,...

  
• 12.01.2023

  87: Trans-Inclusive (with Andrew Perfors)

  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...

  
• 11.04.2023

  85: The Dictionary People (with Sarah Ogilvie)

  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...

  
• 10.18.2023

  84: Diego's Discourse (with Diego Diaz)

  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...

  
• 10.02.2023

  83: You're All Talk (with Rob Drummond and Robbie Love)

  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...

  
• 09.16.2023

  82: Girl Dinner (live with our patrons and friends)

  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...

  
• 09.02.2023

  81: Mother Tongue (with Jenni Nuttall)

  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...

  
• 08.13.2023

  80: Mailbag of TLAs

  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...

  
• 07.26.2023

  79: A.I. Hype Hosedown (with Emily Bender and Jack Hessel)

  Daniel Midgley, Ben Ainslie, and Hedvig Skirgård

  
• 06.29.2023

  78: Forensic Linguistics, Really (with Helen Fraser, Georgina Heydon, Diana Eades, Seán Roberts, and Steph Rennick)

  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...

  
• 06.15.2023

  77: Big Tent (live with Aris Clemons, Caitlin Green, Rikker Dockum, and friends)

  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...

  
• 05.27.2023

  76: Ooo! Yum! Uh… (with Emily Hofstetter, Eleonora Beier, and Russell Gray)

  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...

  
• 05.15.2023

  75: Fake News (with Jack Grieve)

  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...

  
• 04.25.2023

  74: Mailbag of Go

  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...

  
• 04.03.2023

  73: Consequences of Language (with Nick Enfield and Morten Christiansen)

  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...

  
• 03.25.2023

  72: PharaohKatt Is a Speechie Now

  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...

  
• 03.02.2023

  71: You're Welcome, English! (live with friends, for LingFest23)

  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...

  
• 02.16.2023

  70: Free Speech, But… (with Dennis Baron)

  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...

  
• 01.27.2023

  69: Mailbagussy

  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...

  
• 01.03.2023

  68: Lazy in a Good Way (with Mark Ellison)

  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...

  
• 12.20.2022

  67: Words of the Week of the Year 2022 (live with friends)

  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...

  
• 12.13.2022

  66: ChatGPT Wrote This Episode (with 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...

  
• 12.07.2022

  65: Naval Manoeuvres (with Chase Dalton)

  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...

  
• 11.20.2022

  64: Struggle Pile (with Kelly Wright)

  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...

  
• 11.03.2022

  63: Mailbag of Yeah-No (with Isabelle Burke)

  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...

  
• 10.22.2022

  62: Language in Spaaaaace (with Hannah Little)

  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....

  
• 10.08.2022

  61: Together at Last

  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.

  
• 09.13.2022

  60: The Crossworld (with Hayley Gold)

  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...

  
• 08.30.2022

  59: Mailbag of Ew

  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...

  
• 08.03.2022

  58: Expression Unleashed (with Thom Scott-Phillips and Joshua Blackburn)

  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...

  
• 07.27.2022

  57: Potluck (live, with friends)

  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,...

  
• 07.14.2022

  56: Diego's Digest

  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...

  
• 06.29.2022

  55: Rebel With a Clause (with Ellen Jovin)

  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...

  
• 06.15.2022

  54: Slang (with Jonathon Green)

  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...

  
• 05.31.2022

  53: Mailbag of Compounds (with Tiger Webb)

  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...

  
• 05.11.2022

  52: The Language Game (with Morten Christiansen and Nick Chater)

  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...

  
• 05.01.2022

  51: A Wug-Tonne of Advice (with Kitty Liu and Romany Amber)

  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...

  
• 04.08.2022

  50: Employing Linguistics (with Anna Marie Trester and Ellen)

  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...

  
• 03.23.2022

  49: Mailbag - It's That T Again (with Mignon Fogarty)

  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...

  
• 03.04.2022

  48: The Black Side of the River (with Jessi Grieser)

  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...

  
• 02.20.2022

  47: We Need to Talk About Grice (with Rikker Dockum)

  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...

  
• 02.10.2022

  46: Just Words (with Rebecca Shapiro)

  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...