Welcome to the first podcast episode of 2025. To start off the new year, In a Manner of Speaking is doing something it’s never done. In all previous 83 episodes, Paul has focused on human speech. But this month, Paul and his guest, distinguished Cambridge zoologist Arik Kershenbaum, discuss the speech of animals.

Kersenbaum is the author of the bestselling The Zoologist’s Guide to the Galaxy. His latest book, Why Animals Talk: The New Science of Animal Communication, explores the communication of seven animals: wolves, dolphins, parrots, hyraxes, gibbons, chimpanzees, and humans.

In addition to serving as the Herchel Smith Research Fellow in zoology at the University of Cambridge from 2014 to 2017, Arik was the postdoctoral fellow at the National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis in Knoxville, Tennessee, from 2012 to 2014. Dr. Kershenbaum received a PhD in evolutionary biology and ecology from the University of Haifa, Israel. He is currently a college lecturer, tutor, and director of studies at Girton College, University of Cambridge.

Below you will find video clips of Arik and other content related to this month’s topic. To visit his YouTube channel, go here.

(Bach’s Cello Suite #1 in G Major BMV 1007 Prelude (by Ivan Dolgunov) is courtesy of Jamendo Licensing.)

Renowned singing and voice teachers, coaches, and authors Gillyanne Kayes and Jeremy Fisher return to the podcast for the December 2024 episode to discuss Jeremy’s new book, Just How Boring Are You?, which examines how one can be a better podcast guest.

Paul, Jeremy, and Gillyanne talk about pitch, tone, pace, passion, the musicality of speech, and many other aspects of podcast interviewing. The discussion, while often specific to the world of podcasts, has implications for public speaking and interviewing in general.

Gillyanne and Jeremy, of “Vocal Process,” specialize in vocal technique and performance across many genres. A husband-and-wife team, they combine a deep understanding of the voice that comes from science knowledge, performance practice, and decades of experience. Gillyanne is a voice researcher, pedagogue, and coach, working with numerous artists in theatre, cabaret, and in the recording studio, while Jeremy is a national-prizewinning pianist, performance coach, and vocal educator. For their full bios, visit VocalProcess.co.uk. And to get Jeremy’s new book, go here.

Gillyanne and Jeremy’s recent work includes the Online Learning Lounge, which offers more than 700 videos and vocal training resources for voice professionals. They are the authors of 12 books (five of them Amazon #1 bestsellers, including This Is A Voice (Wellcome Trust), Why Do I Need A Vocal Coach? (Canu Publishing) and Singing and the Actor (Routledge). Their One Minute Voice Warmup app (Android #1 and Apple #3) was featured in the UK’s leading computer magazine. Their podcast, This Is a Voice, is in the top 1 percent of podcasts worldwide, and they have an updated singing teacher accreditation program for 2025.

Jeremy and Gillyanne previously appeared on episode 18 from July 2019 and episode 48 from January 2022.

To listen to (and watch) their This Is a Voice podcast, visit YouTube and Apple podcasts.

(Bach’s Cello Suite #1 in G Major BMV 1007 Prelude (by Ivan Dolgunov) is courtesy of Jamendo Licensing.)

Linguist Karen Burgos returns to the podcast for the November 2024 episode to discuss American and British dialects in popular song. She and Paul are joined by podcast co-producer and frequent guest Cameron Meier.

They play clips from songs ranging from the first decade of the 20th century to today, analyzing the singers’ dialects. In many instances, singers’ dialects don’t match their speaking voices, while, at other times, the singers use dialect to either make a cultural statement or embrace their own regional dialects.

Examples cited include older recordings of American singers, such as Billy Murray and Cole Porter, who used a Transatlantic dialect (learn more about that dialect on the July 2024 podcast); American singers who embraced their strong regional dialects (Robert Wilkins, Fats Domino, the Carter Family, Hank Williams); British singers who often employed an American sound (the Beatles, the Roling Stones, and many other groups from the 1970s); British singers who rebelled against the American sound and embraced their English roots (Herman’s Hermits, Pink Floyd, David Bowie, the Sex Pistols); British and American singers who embraced a soul, or American Southern, or African-American sound (CCR, Adele, Christina Aguilera); and a new wave of British singers who switch up their dialects (the Ting Tings, Charli XCX, Dua Lipa).

Karen previously appeared on podcast episode 70, from November 2023, to discuss the sound of Colonial American English. She is a freelance linguist, independent researcher, and founder of Ace Linguist, a truly valuable blog. Karen’s articles on “Indie Girl Voice,” “Colonial American English,” and “The PIN-PEN merger” have educated many netizens on the English sound changes of yesterday, today, and maybe even tomorrow. Her focus on historical linguistics, language in popular media, and sociolinguistics makes for insightful commentary on all matter of variation in the English language.

To read her complete Dialect Dissection: Founding Fathers blog, click here.

For more information about Cameron, who also serves as executive editor of the International Dialects of English Archive (IDEA), visit MeierMovies.com.

Snippets of several songs are used in this episode, either by permission or under the copyright doctrine of fair use, strictly for dialect-analysis purposes. For the full songs, see the YouTube clips below. (And we’ve thrown in a couple of extra treats.)

Watch Florrie Forde on YouTube, from 1934.

For the Megan Boni Man in Finance TikTok clip, click here.

And here’s another great vodcast on this topic:

And check out this fascinating graphic from Peter Trudgill, suggested to us by Mark Dallas:

(Bach’s Cello Suite #1 in G Major BMV 1007 Prelude (by Ivan Dolgunov) is courtesy of Jamendo Licensing.)

Actor, director, and voice/dialect coach Jacqueline Springfield returns to the podcast for October 2024 to discuss voices of the Civil Rights Movement in the United States. Paul and Jacqueline analyze snippets of 11 speeches, ranging in time from Booker T. Washington in 1895 to President Barack Obama in 2017, looking at dialect, content, and style. It’s a remarkable journey through not just pronunciation but American history.

Jacqueline previously appeared on episode 43 of the podcast, from August 2021, to discuss heightened language and Black playwrights. She serves as assistant professor of acting and co-coordinator of the acting concentration in the Department of Theatre and Performance Studies at Kennesaw State University. Her dialect coaching credits include: the Alliance Theatre, True Colors Theatre, American Players Theatre, Synchronicity Theatre, Actors Express, the Kennedy Center, Ensemble Studio Theatre, the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute, the American Musical and Dramatic Academy (NY), and the Black Arts Institute at Stella Adler.

Jacqueline holds a master of fine arts degree in acting from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and is a certified associate instructor of Fitzmaurice Voicework and an IDEA associate editor for the Southern United States. She is a proud member of Actors’ Equity Association and SAG-AFTRA, and continues to work as a performer in film, television, theatre, and voiceover.

The podcast features short, fair-use snippets of 11 speeches, in chronological order. You will find the speeches in their entirety below:

1. Booker T. Washington

2. E.B. DuBois

3. Mamie Till Mobley

4. Martin Luther King, Jr.

5. Fannie Lou Hamer

6. Malcolm X

7. Stokely Carmichael

8. Shirley Chisholm

9. Jesse Jackson

10. Al Sharpton

11. Barack Obama

(Bach’s Cello Suite #1 in G Major BMV 1007 Prelude (by Ivan Dolgunov) is courtesy of Jamendo Licensing.)

Podcast favorite David Crystal returns to In a Manner of Speaking for the September 2024 episode. The legendary linguist is back to discuss his new website, TraceThatPlace.com, which allows users to enter a British place name and learn all about its origin and history. You’ll also be able to hear the place’s (often bizarre, ambiguous) pronunciation.

Billed as the site that allows you to explore “the story and sound of place names on the road signs and railway stations of Britain,” TraceThatPlace took David about three years to create. On this month’s podcast, he and Paul discuss not just the site but the fascinating etymology and evolution of place names.

This is David’s sixth appearance on the podcast. His prior appearances:

For more information about David, visit DavidCrystal.com and ShakespearesWords.com. And visit his YouTube channel.

(Bach’s Cello Suite #1 in G Major BMV 1007 Prelude (by Ivan Dolgunov) is courtesy of Jamendo Licensing.)

On the August 2024 episode of In a Manner of Speaking, Paul discusses dialect coaching with IDEA Associate Editor and successful dialect coach Joel Goldes.

They focus on two of Goldes’ many projects: Come from Away, an award-winning musical set in Newfoundland, about the hospitality that Newfoundlanders afforded airline passengers stranded by the terror attacks of September 11, 2001; and The Woman King, a 2022 epic film directed by Gina Prince-Bythwood and starring Viola Davis.

To learn about Joel, visit his IDEA page, or check out TheDialectCoach.com.

For more information on Come from Away, visit Apple.TV.com, and to learn more about The Woman King, visit Wikipedia. and IMDB.

And for prior podcast episodes that address similar topics, see

May 2022 (Episode 52): How To Do Accents, with Edda Sharpe and Jan Haydn Rowles

Joel visits the Anthony Gilardo Acting Studio:

BUZZCast interview:

(Bach’s Cello Suite #1 in G Major BMV 1007 Prelude (by Ivan Dolgunov) is courtesy of Jamendo Licensing.)

Cinephiles and time-travel enthusiasts are in for a treat with the July 2024 podcast, as the topic is the American dialect known as Transatlantic, Mid-Atlantic, American Stage Speech, or Upper-class American. Paul’s guests are Barrie Kreinik (dialect coach, IDEA associate editor, actor, singer, writer, and audiobook narrator) and podcast co-producer Cameron Meier (film critic and historian, and executive editor of IDEA).

Barrie has a unique take on the dialect, as she has just released The Queen of Fourteenth Street, an audiobook celebrating the life of actress Eva Le Gallienne, who spoke in a dialect similar to Transatlantic. And Cameron’s movie background adds another dimension to the conversation, as the three discuss the accent in the context of older Hollywood movies.

Barrie’s theatre credits include The Dead, 1904 (Irish Rep), When I Was a Girl I Used to Scream and Shout (Fallen Angel Theatre), 39 Steps (Union Square Theatre), Fiddler on the Roof (Goodspeed Musicals), and The How and the Why (Trinity Rep). As a singer and songwriter, she has performed at Birdland, 54 Below, The Bitter End, and the Laurie Beechman Theatre. A recipient of two Audie Awards and ten Earphones Awards, she has narrated over 200 audiobooks, including numerous national bestsellers and one of The New York Times Best Audiobooks of 2022. She specializes in accents and dialects, particularly those of the British Isles, and has been a freelance dialect coach for nearly two decades.

Barrie’s original audio drama, The Queen of Fourteenth Street, was released by Hachette Audio in June 2024. As a playwright, she’s been a semifinalist in the Bay Area Playwrights Festival, the Ashland New Plays Festival, and the Garry Marshall Theatre New Works Festival, and her plays have been workshopped at Trinity Rep and the Bechdel Project. She has also written and performed in two solo shows, a short film, and an episode of the web series Love in NY. Her essays have been published by LitHub, Months to Years, and Theaterhound, and she writes a creative nonfiction blog called Points of View.

A native of Hartford, Connecticut, and longtime resident of New York City, Barrie holds an MFA in Acting from Brown/Trinity Rep and a BA in Theatre and English from Cornell. Find out more at BarrieKreinik.com, on Instagram (@barriebarriepix), and on her IDEA editor page.

To learn more about Cameron, visit MeierMovies.com or his editor page on IDEA.

Snippets of most of the clips below were featured on this month’s podcast under the copyright doctrine of fair use. They are presented here in more complete form for your enjoyment and research. We also suggest listening to Mo Rocca’s “Death of an Accent” episode from his Mobituaries podcast, on Apple podcasts.

Eva Le Gallienne interview with Dick Cavett, 1977:

William F. Buckley on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson:

Singin’ in the Rain, 1952:

Bringing Up Baby, 1938:

Now, Voyager, 1942:

The Third Man, 1949:

Bette Davis interview with Dick Cavett, 1970s:

Eleanor Roosevelt speech on human rights, 1951:

It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, 1963:

Eva Le Gallienne, in Resurrection, 1980:

And for an interesting contrast between the Transatlantic of Katharine Hepburn and the General American of Ginger Rogers and others, watch Stage Door, from 1937, below. (Rogers, adept at dialects, also parodied the Transatlantic dialect in Once Upon a Honeymoon, with Cary Grant, from 1942.)

(Bach’s Cello Suite #1 in G Major BMV 1007 Prelude (by Ivan Dolgunov) is courtesy of Jamendo Licensing.)

Welcome to the June 2024 episode of Paul Meier’s In a Manner of Speaking podcast. This month’s guest is celebrated Danish-American actor, writer, and director Lukas Hassel, who has forged a unique path to success in film and television.

Paul and Lukas are joined by film critic and co-producer of this podcast, Cameron Meier. The three discuss Lukas’s career, life on the film festival circuit, and the challenges of acting in a second language. Accent modification or “reduction” is central to this discussion.

Currently living in New York City, Lukas was born and raised in Denmark. He studied acting at the Samuel Beckett Theatre School, Trinity College, in Dublin, Ireland. He is perhaps best known to American audiences for his recurring role on The Blacklist, on NBC, as Elias VanDyke in seasons eight and nine. Lukas has also appeared on Blue Bloods, Elementary, Law and Order and other shows, and in feature films such as The Black Room, Slapface, The 7th Secret, and Art of the Dead. Early in his career, he was known to Norwegian audiences as Mr. Melk, the popular spokes character for Norwegian Milk.

As a writer, he has won the ScreenCraft and CineStory fellowships and many more writing competitions with his screenplays across genres such as horror, sci-fi, drama, and psychological thriller. As a director, Lukas created the award-winning short films Into the Dark (a sci-fi movie being developed into a feature) and the psychological horror The Son, the Father…., both of which screened in hundreds of film festivals around the world. He just wrapped filming on his feature screenplay, the psychological thriller House of Abraham, starring opposite Natasha Henstridge and Lin Shaye.

For more information on Lukas, visit LukasHassel.com and watch the clips below:

(Bach’s Cello Suite #1 in G Major BMV 1007 Prelude (by Ivan Dolgunov) is courtesy of Jamendo Licensing.)

The topic of the May 2024 podcast is African-American English, which Paul discusses with American Dialect Society President Patricia Cukor-Avila. Paul and Patricia principally listen to and analyze historic Black dialects in the United States, from Colonial days to the early 20th century. Gullah is discussed in depth.

Recordings come from Patricia’s own research, done over several decades in a small Texas town (nicknamed “Springville”), plus IDEA, YouTube, and the Library of Congress’s Voices Remembering Slavery.

In addition to her role with the American Dialect Society, Patricia Cukor-Avila is professor of linguistics at the University of North Texas. Her primary research focuses on the study of linguistic change and variation, specifically grammatical change over time in African-American English. Her longitudinal study (1988-present), with Dr. Guy Bailey, of a rural Texas community has provided much of the data for presentations and articles concerning approaches to sociolinguistic fieldwork, transmission and diffusion, and language change over the lifespan, as well as documenting innovations in African-American English. This research was included in the 2004 PBS documentary by Robert McNeil Do You Speak American?

She is one of the associate producers of the award-winning documentary series Talking Black in America and was interviewed in the 2017 documentary Talking Black in America and the 2022 documentary Talking Black in America: Roots in that series. She is co-editor (with Guy Bailey and Natalie Maynor) of The Emergence of Black English: Text and Commentary (1991) and author of several articles and book chapters, most recently a co-author (with Guy Bailey and Juan Salinas) of a monograph Inheritance and Innovation in the Evolution of Rural African American English in the Cambridge Elements World Englishes series.

To learn more about Patricia, visit UNT’s website. For more information on the American Dialect Society, visit their website.

To listen to the full sound clip of Wallace Quarterman, referenced in this podcast, click or tap the triangle-shaped play button below. And go here for a transcript.

To listen to the complete audio clip of IDEA’s South Carolina 12, go here.

Listen to the entire recording of Booker T. Washington that Paul and Patricia discuss:

Other podcast episodes referenced in this episode, or those with similar themes, include:

(Bach’s Cello Suite #1 in G Major BMV 1007 Prelude (by Ivan Dolgunov) is courtesy of Jamendo Licensing.)

For the April 2024 podcast, Paul explores loudness, or the lack thereof. Just as he examined extremes of the human voice’s pitch and speed in past episodes, this month Paul discusses the extremes of volume, specifically  looking at world records for loudness while reflecting on the rarity of true silence.

You’ll learn what Guinness World Records considers the loudest human sounds while contemplating the infrequency of quietness. Past podcasts referenced in this episode include episode 34, It’s All Greek To Me, with Rush Rehm; episode 48, Pitch, with Gillyanne Kayes and Jeremy Fisher; episode 57, How We Learn to Talk, with Jenny Saffran; episode 59, Exploring Roy Hart’s Legacy, with Enrique Pardo and Linda Wise; and episode 62, Fast-Talkin’ Dudes.

Check out the following clips and articles for more information on this month’s topic:

TikTok video on the loudest scream

Guinness World Records article on the loudest scream

Audiology article on the eruption of Krakatoa

Volume image (iStock-174789753) courtesy of SKrow.

(Bach’s Cello Suite #1 in G Major BMV 1007 Prelude (by Ivan Dolgunov) is courtesy of Jamendo Licensing.)