Lexis

Lexis

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Lexis episodes

  • Episode 67 - Joe McVeigh on how to spot a bad linguistics article

    Show notes for Episode 67

    Here are the show notes for Episode 67, in which Jacky and Dan talk to Joe McVeigh, Senior Lecturer in Communication at the Metropolia University of Applied Sciences, PhD candidate at University of Helsinki and formerly a Linguistics lecturer at the University of Jyväskylä in Finland about how to spot (and critique) a bad linguistics article, including how to look at:

    1) misleading framing 

    2) contradictions, and 

    3) no evidence (or anecdotal evidence). 

    The articles we discuss are here and we’d recommend reading them before listening!

    FT article on Liberals Speak a Different Language: https://www.ft.com/content/cd01b007-7156-4da4-8d0f-e34e9ebfcc82 

    Archived version here: http://archive.today/2024.11.16-063838/https://www.ft.com/content/cd01b007-7156-4da4-8d0f-e34e9ebfcc82 

    The thread on Bluesky that started this: https://bsky.app/profile/eviljoemcveigh.bsky.social/post/3lbu6quucdc2v  

    The Atlantic article on ‘How social media broke slang’ is here: https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2024/06/social-media-american-slang-crisis/678754/ 

    Joe's website:

    https://eviljoemcveigh.com/ 

    Joe's recommended reading:

    William Labov, ‘Dialect Diversity in America’:  https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=vrCKA3TDDrMC&printsec=frontcover&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false 

    And he also talked about Mary Bucholtz. This is a good place to start with her work:

    https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/White_Kids.html?id=mtqrQIzIM4wC&source=kp_book_description&redir_esc=y 

    Lexis is on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/lexispodcast.bsky.social 

    Contributors

    Lisa Casey 

    blog: https://livingthroughlanguage.wordpress.com/ & Twitter: Language Debates (@LanguageDebates)

    Dan Clayton 

    blog: EngLangBlog & Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/englangblog.bsky.social 

    Jacky Glancey 

    Twitter: https://twitter.com/JackyGlancey

    Raj Rana

    Matthew Butler 

    Twitter: https://twitter.com/MatthewbutlerCA 

    Music: Serge Quadrado - Cool Guys 

    Cool Guys by Serge Quadrado is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. From the Free Music Archive: https://freemusicarchive.org/music/serge-quadrado/urban/cool-guys 


    53 min
  • Episode 66 - Andreea Calude & the language of social media

    Here are the show notes for Episode 66, in which Raj and Dan talk to Dr Andreea Calude, author of The Linguistics of Social Media: an introduction (Routledge, 2024). Andreea is Associate Professor in Linguistics at the University of Waikato, in New Zealand, Associate of the Human Lang Tech Research Centre in Romania, and Lennoy chair in multilingualism at VUB in Brussels. Our conversation includes discussion of 

    • How we use social media for different purposes and for different audiences

    • The affordances of different platforms

    • Constructing & performing identity online

    • Using ‘move analysis’ with social media texts

    • Media discourses about social media

      • The Linguistics of Social Media: An Introduction - 1st Edition 

      Dr. Andreea Calude 

      The Language Game 

      Dimensions of Register Variation  

      BBC Radio 4 - Word of Mouth, Social media language 

      Lexis is on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/lexispodcast.bsky.social 

      Contributors

      Lisa Casey 

      blog: https://livingthroughlanguage.wordpress.com/ & Twitter: Language Debates (@LanguageDebates)

      Dan Clayton 

      blog: EngLangBlog & Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/englangblog.bsky.social 

      Jacky Glancey 

      Twitter: https://twitter.com/JackyGlancey

      Raj Rana

      Matthew Butler 

      Twitter: https://twitter.com/MatthewbutlerCA 

      Music: Serge Quadrado - Cool Guys 


      Cool Guys by Serge Quadrado is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. From the Free Music Archive: https://freemusicarchive.org/music/serge-quadrado/urban/cool-guys

      42 min
    • Episode 65 - Jullietta Stoencheva on everyday extremism

      Here are the show notes for Episode 65, in which Raj and Dan talk to Jullietta Stoencheva, PhD candidate in Media and Communication Studies at Malmo University about:

      • Extremist narratives and how they are constructed

      • Who the ‘Us’ and ‘Them’ are in extremist Us vs Them narratives

      • Everyday extremism, plausible deniability and ‘borderline discourse’

      • Pushing the Overton window

      • Her latest work and what it reveals 

        • The Psychologist article about the everyday extremism project: https://www.bps.org.uk/psychologist/memes-and-mugs-everyday-extremism-digital-mainstream  

        More about the OppAttune project: https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/portal/screen/how-to-participate/org-details/927578603/project/101095170/program/43108390/details 

        JM Berger’s Extremism: https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262535878/extremism/ 

        Jullietta’s NordMedia page: https://nordmedianetwork.org/researchers/jullietta-stoencheva/ 

        Lexis is on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/lexispodcast.bsky.social 

        Contributors

        Lisa Casey 

        blog: https://livingthroughlanguage.wordpress.com/ & Twitter: Language Debates (@LanguageDebates)

        Dan Clayton 

        blog: EngLangBlog & Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/englangblog.bsky.social 

        Jacky Glancey 

        Twitter: https://twitter.com/JackyGlancey

        Raj Rana

        Matthew Butler 

        Twitter: https://twitter.com/MatthewbutlerCA 

        Music: Serge Quadrado - Cool Guys 


        Cool Guys by Serge Quadrado is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. From the Free Music Archive: https://freemusicarchive.org/music/serge-quadrado/urban/cool-guys

        29 min
      • Episode 64 - Katie Mansfield on working-class children & standard English in the classroom

        Show notes for Episode 64

        Here are the show notes for Episode 64, in which Raj and Dan talk to Katie Mansfield, PhD Researcher at The University of Sheffield & Lecturer in Education at The University of Gloucestershire about:

        • Her research on working-class children, non-standard English and style shifting at school

        • Combining approaches from linguistics and psychology to develop a suitable methodology 

        • Working memory, executive function and style shifting

        • School and government policies on standard English and how they affect classroom practice, especially for working-class students

        • How her A-Level study prepared her for degree and post-graduate work in linguistics

        • Katie’s previous work on representations of Meghan Markle in the UK press 

          • Katie’s ResearchGate profile: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Katie-Mansfield 

          University of Sheffield Alumni profile: https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/english/undergraduate/alumni-profiles/katie-mansfield 

          A discussion of the research methodologies used in this PhD project: https://beonlineconference.com/do-differences-in-working-memory-and-executive-functioning-affect-the-use-of-standard-english-in-working-class-childrens-speech/ 

          The Meghan Markle research: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/363693792_The_Architecture_of_Racism_Sexism_and_Misogyny_A_Critical_Discourse_Analysis_of_the_Representation_of_Meghan_Markle_by_the_British_Press 

          Lexis is on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/lexispodcast.bsky.social 

          Contributors

          Lisa Casey 

          blog: https://livingthroughlanguage.wordpress.com/ & Twitter: Language Debates (@LanguageDebates)

          Dan Clayton 

          blog: EngLangBlog & Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/englangblog.bsky.social 

          Jacky Glancey 

          Twitter: https://twitter.com/JackyGlancey

          Raj Rana

          Matthew Butler 

          Twitter: https://twitter.com/MatthewbutlerCA 

          Music: Serge Quadrado - Cool Guys 


          Cool Guys by Serge Quadrado is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. From the Free Music Archive: https://freemusicarchive.org/music/serge-quadrado/urban/cool-guys

          52 min
        • Episode 63 - Isobelle Clarke and anti-science discourses

          Show notes for Episode 63

          Here are the show notes for Episode 63, in which Raj and Dan talk to Dr Isobelle Clarke, Lecturer in Security and Protection Science in the Dept of Linguistics and English Language at Lancaster University about:

          • Anti-science discourses 

          • The language of climate change denialism

          • The attraction and appeal of anti-science narratives

          • Methodologies for analysing discourses: including why linguists still need to interpret patterns

          • Exploring discourses around Islam and Muslims in the UK press

          • Dealing with difficult data and problematic topics

            • Isobelle Clarke’s Lancaster University page: https://www.research.lancs.ac.uk/portal/en/people/isobelle-clarke(447fc73a-d7fa-4f7b-922e-604f12549485).html 

            Media Bias Fact Check: https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/ 

            LancsBox: https://lancsbox.lancs.ac.uk/ 

            The Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming

            https://www.merchantsofdoubt.org/ 

            The Big Myth: How American Business Taught Us to Loathe Government and Love the Free Market: https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/big-myth-9781635573572/ 

            Peter Hotez: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Hotez 

            Kate Fox, Watching the English: https://dauntbooks.co.uk/shop/books/watching-the-english/ 

            The Routledge Handbook of Discourse and Disinformation

            https://www.routledge.com/The-Routledge-Handbook-of-Discourse-and-Disinformation/Maci-Demata-McGlashan-Seargeant/p/book/9781032124254 

            Lexis is on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/lexispodcast.bsky.social 

            Contributors

            Lisa Casey 

            blog: https://livingthroughlanguage.wordpress.com/ & Twitter: Language Debates (@LanguageDebates)

            Dan Clayton 

            blog: EngLangBlog & Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/englangblog.bsky.social 

            Jacky Glancey 

            Twitter: https://twitter.com/JackyGlancey

            Raj Rana

            Matthew Butler 

            Twitter: https://twitter.com/MatthewbutlerCA 

            Music: Serge Quadrado - Cool Guys 

            Cool Guys by Serge Quadrado is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. From the Free Music Archive: https://freemusicarchive.org/music/serge-quadrado/urban/cool-guys 


            41 min
          • Episode 62 - Fiona McPherson and 20 Years of Oxford WOTY

            Show notes for Episode 62

            Here are the show notes for Episode 62, in which Raj and Dan talk to Fiona McPherson, senior editor at the Oxford English Dictionary about:

            • 20 years of Oxford Word of the Year

            • Why she can’t reveal any secrets about WOTY2024… 

            • Why some words stick around and others don’t

            • What makes a good WOTY candidate

            • Word formation processes

            • Where and how new words are being generated and disseminated 

              • 20 Years of Words that Reflect our World: https://corp.oup.com/word-of-the-year/ 

              Our 2023 conversation with Fiona: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/lexispodcast/episodes/Episode-47---Fiona-McPherson-of-the-OED-and-Words-of-the-Year-2023-e2db526 


              Contributors

              Lisa Casey 

              blog: https://livingthroughlanguage.wordpress.com/ & Twitter: Language Debates (@LanguageDebates)

              Dan Clayton 

              blog: EngLangBlog & Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/englangblog.bsky.social 

              Jacky Glancey 

              Twitter: https://twitter.com/JackyGlancey

              Raj Rana

              Matthew Butler 

              Twitter: https://twitter.com/MatthewbutlerCA 

              We are on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/lexispodcast.bsky.social 

              Music: Serge Quadrado - Cool Guys 


              Cool Guys by Serge Quadrado is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. From the Free Music Archive: https://freemusicarchive.org/music/serge-quadrado/urban/cool-guys

              30 min
            • Episode 61 - Lucy Jones on Words We Live By: A Guide to LGBTQ+ Language

              Show notes for Episode 61

              Here are the show notes for Episode 61, in which Jacky and Dan talk to Dr Lucy Jones, Associate Professor in Sociolinguistics at the University of Nottingham about Words We Live By: A Guide to LGBTQ+ Language, including:

              • Why language labels are so important when discussing sexuality and sexual identity

              • Whether or not such labels categorise and divide more than they validate and unite

              • The expanding lexicon of LGBT terminology and initialisms

              • Why it’s important to start conversations around this language to learn more 

              • Advice for navigating the changing, choppy and sometimes contentious waters of the language of sexual identity in the A-Level classroom

                • The project webpage is here: https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/research/groups/cral/projects/words-we-live-by/about.aspx 

                Lucy Jones’ University of Nottingham profile page: 

                https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/english/people/lucy.jones  

                Our previous episode with Lucy is here: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1m9UKNUUysD6Vawj61C2kW?si=3LdfVQjEREaUvWgxopxLEg 


                Thanks to Ali Cotton (and friends) for some question suggestions and input.


                Contributors

                Lisa Casey 

                blog: https://livingthroughlanguage.wordpress.com/ & Twitter: Language Debates (@LanguageDebates)

                Dan Clayton 

                blog: EngLangBlog & Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/englangblog.bsky.social 

                Jacky Glancey 

                Twitter: https://twitter.com/JackyGlancey

                Raj Rana

                Matthew Butler 

                Twitter: https://twitter.com/MatthewbutlerCA 

                Music: Serge Quadrado - Cool Guys 

                Cool Guys by Serge Quadrado is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. From the Free Music Archive: https://freemusicarchive.org/music/serge-quadrado/urban/cool-guys 


                36 min
              • Episode 60 - Stylistics with Peter Stockwell and Jessica Norledge

                Show notes for Episode 60

                Here are the show notes for Episode 60, in which Raj and Dan talk to Peter Stockwell, Professor of Literary Linguistics at the University of Nottingham and Jessica Norledge, Assistant Professor in Stylistics at the University of Nottingham about stylistics, including:

                • What stylistics is and what it offers

                • How English language students can apply linguistic analysis to literary texts

                • The Nottingham Stylistics Toolkit project

                • Some of their favourite tools in the toolkit

                • Why stylistics is a linguistic superpower

                  • The (free!) Nottingham Stylistics Toolkit is here: https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/common/stylisticstoolkit/StylisticsToolkit/content/#/ 

                  Peter Stockwell’s University of Nottingham profile page: https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/english/people/peter.stockwell 

                  Jessica Norledge’s University of Nottingham profile page: 

                  https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/english/people/jessica.norledge 

                  Our previous interview with Jess about the language of dystopia: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3gnJ0ZiPSKkXvzx3G6HRDe?si=A6u-5LwHQ7avOIMHAxe6Eg 

                  Pocahontas Colors of the Wind: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4i0HDygKdLM

                  Carol Ann Duffy reads Valentine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFhFgyImwtE 

                  Jess and Peter will be running some teacher CPD with Dan at The English and Media Centre in London in December and January. You can find out more here: 

                  Non-fiction: https://www.englishandmedia.co.uk/courses/acbaed53-8a27-48cc-96b5-db6ce1b1995f/emc-cpd-face-to-face-new-approaches-to-non-fiction-for-a-level-lang-lit/

                  Reading fictional minds: https://www.englishandmedia.co.uk/courses/61cd442a-68d2-4cd2-a172-f2a4d2206d31/emc-cpd-face-to-face-reading-fictional-minds-viewpoints-character-in-english-lan/ 

                  And keep an eye out for an A-Level Lang Lit student conference in April 2025 at University of Nottingham. 

                  Contributors

                  Lisa Casey 

                  blog: https://livingthroughlanguage.wordpress.com/ & Twitter: Language Debates (@LanguageDebates)

                  Dan Clayton 

                  blog: EngLangBlog & Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/englangblog.bsky.social 

                  Jacky Glancey 

                  Twitter: https://twitter.com/JackyGlancey

                  Raj Rana

                  Matthew Butler 

                  Twitter: https://twitter.com/MatthewbutlerCA 

                  Music: Serge Quadrado - Cool Guys 

                  Cool Guys by Serge Quadrado is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. From the Free Music Archive: https://freemusicarchive.org/music/serge-quadrado/urban/cool-guys 


                  40 min
                • Episode 59 - York English Language Toolkit 2024

                  Show notes for Episode 59

                  Here are the show notes for Episode 59, in which Dan talks to Sam Hellmuth, Professor of Linguistics at the University of York about the 2024 York English Language Toolkit workshop. We also talk to Eytan Zweig and James Tompkinson about their sessions. 

                  You can sign up here: 

                  https://englishlanguagetoolkit.york.ac.uk/workshops 

                  Previous workshops and case studies are here: 

                  https://englishlanguagetoolkit.york.ac.uk/case-studies 

                  Contributors

                  Lisa Casey 

                  blog: https://livingthroughlanguage.wordpress.com/ & Twitter: Language Debates (@LanguageDebates)

                  Dan Clayton 

                  blog: EngLangBlog & Twitter: EngLangBlog (@EngLangBlog)

                  Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/englangblog.bsky.social 

                  Jacky Glancey 

                  Twitter: https://twitter.com/JackyGlancey

                  Raj Rana

                  Matthew Butler 

                  Twitter: https://twitter.com/MatthewbutlerCA 

                  Music: Serge Quadrado - Cool Guys 

                  Cool Guys by Serge Quadrado is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. From the Free Music Archive: https://freemusicarchive.org/music/serge-quadrado/urban/cool-guys 


                  42 min
                • Episode 58 - Vaclav Brezina and the new Frequency Dictionary of British English

                  Show notes for Episode 58

                  Here are the show notes for Episode 58, in which Dan talks to Professor of Corpus Linguistics, Dr Vaclav Brezina of Lancaster University about:

                  • The new Frequency Dictionary of British English

                  • What certain words can tell us about a changing language

                  • Using corpora to track change

                  • Why we need more than just words to understand patterns of language change 

                  • Why media discourses around change might need to be treated with caution

                    • Vaclav’s University page: 

                    https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/linguistics/about/people/vaclav-brezina 

                    Some coverage of the research and the publication: 

                    https://portal.lancaster.ac.uk/intranet/news/article/sonew-dictionary-sheds-light-on-frequency-of-words-in-british-english   

                    https://theconversation.com/tea-weather-and-being-on-time-analysis-of-100-million-words-reveals-what-brits-talk-about-most-222088 

                    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/02/03/english-language-use-more-informal-words-linguistics/ 



                    31 min

                  About Lexis

                  From the publisher's feed

                  A podcast about language and linguistics for A Level English Language students, teachers and anyone else who's interested in language.