This episode is about the science of how people talk. We'll get into some of the nitty gritty science, like prosody and intonational variation, but we're really interested in why people resist changes to language. Why did France try to ban "le weekend," and why do some people, like, get so, like, upset when people use the word "like"? An expert in sociolinguistics talks about what our speech says about who we are, and why resistance to change has nothing to do with being right or wrong.

Guest:

Nicole Holliday, Assistant Professor of Linguistics

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Produced by Lauren Rebecca Thacker

Narrated by Alex Schein

Edited by Alex Schein and Brooke Sietinsons

Interview by Lauren Rebecca Thacker 

Theme music by Nicholas Escobar, C'18

Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions 

Illustration and logo by Dan Lee

In These Times is a production of Penn Arts & Sciences. Visit our series website to learn more and listen to the first two seasons of In These Times. 

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