In this futuristic episode of Linguistics Behind the Scenes, Christina and Dominic investigate how we talk to machines – and what our language reveals about the way we see them.

- Do we treat AI and robots like tools, teammates… or something in between?

- Where did the insult “clanker” come from – and why might it stick?

- Can robots have “face,” even without feelings?

- What makes a request sound polite?

- Why are humans typically less polite to robots than to other people?

From Star Wars battle droids to robotic vacuum cleaners, from imperative commands to indirect requests, our hosts explore the evolving etiquette of human–machine interaction and why it matters how we speak to AI.

Full episode transcript available here:

https://www.tu-chemnitz.de/phil/english/sections/edling/sciencecommunication/podcast-transcripts.php#Episode20

Full article available to read for free here:

Do we mitigate face-threatening acts even when communicating with faceless robotic arms? Politeness strategies in human–robot vs. human–human interaction. By Sasha Genevieve Coelho, Christina Sanchez-Stockhammer, Sascha Kaden, Marina Beccard and Florian Röhrbein. https://jalis.uni-ruse.bg/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/JALIS_2026_Issue-6_Manuscript04_Coelho_et_al.pdf

Mentioned in this episode:

The Jetsons. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055683/

In this episode, Christina and Dominic make a point of exploring the tiny dots and lines that we find in writing. They uncover the history, humor, and hidden powers of punctuation marks – especially the humble hyphen with its many functions.

- Is it possible to write a text without spaces?

- Who brought punctuation to English from outside?

- Why must we “respect the hyphen” in Spider-Man?

- How does a tiny dash express identity and avoid ambiguity?

From ancient wax tablets to telegrams ending in STOP, from #nowthatchersdead to four-letter words full of asterisks, our hosts trace how punctuation shapes meaning and even multicultural belonging. This episode underscores the importance of the tiny marks that often pass unnoticed.

Full episode transcript available here:

https://www.tu-chemnitz.de/phil/english/sections/edling/sciencecommunication/podcast-transcripts.php#Episode19

Full article available to read for free here:

Present-day English hyphenation: Historical origin, functions and pragmatics. By Christina Sanchez-Stockhammer. https://doi.org/10.60687/2026-0016

Mentioned in this episode:

- Respect the Hyphen. https://www.reddit.com/r/RespectTheHyphen/

- Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English. https://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/structure

- Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/structure

In this adverbially adventurous episode of Linguistics Behind the Scenes, Christina and Dominic dig deep into one of grammar’s dustiest drawers: the adverb category, which combines such different words as "here", "happily", "very", and around.

- What’s the difference between “working hard” and “hardly working”?
- Why do linguists call adverbs a “dustbin” category?
- What are the three main types of adverb (plus one small miscellaneous pile)?
- How can data visualization with the software R help us sort the chaos?

Along the way, the hosts call attention to the dangers of misleading graphs and reveal how visualization can help with data analysis and the communication of research results.

Full episode transcript available here:

https://www.tu-chemnitz.de/phil/english/sections/edling/sciencecommunication/podcast-transcripts.php#Episode18

Full article available to read for free here:

The subcategorization of English adverbs: A feature-based clustering approach. By Christina Sanchez-Stockhammer and Antony Unwin. https://doi.org/10.60687/2025-0169 .

Mentioned in this episode:

- the software “R”: https://www.r-project.org/

- Antony Unwin: Graphical Data Analysis with R: http://www.gradaanwr.ne

In this episode, Christina and Dominic tackle the fascinating – and sometimes funny – ways names reflect identity, culture, and even fashion trends.

- Can names have meaning, or do they just point to people?

- Are you allowed to name your kid “Superman” or “Snow White” in Germany?

- How do naming customs differ across languages and decades?

- Why may a hyphen in “Mary-Jane” or “Sanchez-Stockhammer” matter more than you think?

Whether you're a Jennifer, a Phoenix, or an Emma, this episode has something for anyone with a name (aka: all of us).

Full episode transcript available here:

https://www.tu-chemnitz.de/phil/english/sections/edling/sciencecommunication/podcast-transcripts.php#Episode17

Full article available to read for free here:

Hello Mary Lou (and Mary-Lou and Marylou, too)! Exploring the applicability of English compound spelling strategies to composite names. By Christina Sanchez-Stockhammer. https://gupea.ub.gu.se/bitstream/handle/2077/67201/gupea_2077_67201_1.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y (p. 325-335)

Mentioned in this episode:

www.thinkbabynames.com: information on the origin and popularity of names

In this deliciously geeky episode of Linguistics Behind the Scenes, Christina and Dominic trace the evolution of recipes as both instructions and stories, discussing how language, food, and emotion are bound together.

- Do recipes really avoid words like “I” and “you”?

- How French are French fries?

- Do most recipes start with a personal story?

- What do recipes from 1864 have in common with today’s?

From ancient cuneiform cookbooks to modern online menus, this episode serves up a sizzling mix of food, language and culture. Christina shares her original linguistic research on personal pro-nouns in cooking recipes, and reveals why recipes are both impersonal and deeply personal in this savory, data-rich episode of Linguistics Behind the Scenes. Bon appétit!

Full episode transcript available here:

https://www.tu-chemnitz.de/phil/english/sections/edling/sciencecommunication/podcast-transcripts.php#Episode16

Full article available to read for free here:

The linguistic functions of personal pronouns in online cooking recipes. By Christina Sanchez-Stockhammer. https://doi.org/10.33675/ANGL/2025/2/10

Mentioned in this episode:

- www.allrecipes.com: online recipe collection

- www.justtherecipe.com: reduces recipes to their essence by removing narrative parts

- Ratatouille. 2007. Pixar film. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0382932/

- Recipes by Yotam Ottolenghi. https://ottolenghi.co.uk/pages/recipes

In this human-meets-machine episode, Christina and Dominic explore the curious intersection of linguistics and AI—with special focus on how people talk to robots. They explore the history of chatbots from ELIZA to ChatGPT, and unveil findings from a new study on human-robot interaction using a robotic arm.

- How does generative AI like ChatGPT work?

- Why is a “Wizard of Oz” study possibly not what you think it is?

- What happens if humans and robots build IKEA shelves together?

- Do we use more commands with robots than with other humans?

Along the way, they reveal that people often say “thank you” to robots – almost like to humans.

This episode is packed with linguistic insights, surprising data, a dose of ethics, and more pop culture trivia than you might expect from a robotics paper.

Full episode transcript available here:

https://www.tu-chemnitz.de/phil/english/sections/edling/sciencecommunication/podcast-transcripts.php#Episode15

Full article available to read for free here:

"Another bit. Upwards. Okay, stop." Do we talk differently to humans and robots when assembling a shelf together? By Sasha Genevieve Coelho, Sascha Kaden, Marina Beccard, Florian Röhrbein and Christina Sanchez-Stockhammer. https://doi.org/10.1145/3743049.3748536

Films and series recommended in this episode:

- The Imitation Game. 2014. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2084970/

- My Fair Lady. 1964. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058385/

- The Theory of Everything. 2014. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2980516/

- The Wizard of Oz. 1939. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0032138/

- How It’s Made. www.youtube.com/@HowItsmade8

- Die Sendung mit der Maus. Lach- und Sachgeschichten. www.youtube.com/@diemaus

- I’m Your Man. (Ich bin dein Mensch.) 2021. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt13087796/

Also mentioned in this episode:

- R.U.R. Science fiction play by Czech writer Karel Čapek. 1920.

- The Mechanical Turk. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mechanical_Turk.

- Somewhere Over the Rainbow. Techno song by DJ Marusha. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohfSJC44oe8

- John R. Searle. 1976. A Classification of Illocutionary Acts 1. Language in Society 5(1). 1-23.

In this brilliantly nerdy episode, Christina and Dominic explore those English words that seem to stand all on their own, with no linguistic parents or children in sight. But wait—are they really that isolated? Discover unexpected word families and the hidden building blocks of language. Learn why “annual” sounds fancier than “yearly,” why mnemonics are your best friend, and how to decode big, scary words like “misinterpretation”.

Would you wear a ballgown or a costume to a “fancy dress” party?

Is “understand” really about standing under something?

What are the best tricks for learning vocabulary in a foreign language?

(Please post your favourite mnemonics in the comments!)

Dominic and Christina compare English and German words like “Handschuh” (hand-shoe = glove) and “Armbanduhr” (bracelet-clock = watch) and conclude that if you know where to look, words can reveal a whole hidden network of meaning.

Full episode transcript available here:

https://www.tu-chemnitz.de/phil/english/sections/edling/sciencecommunication/podcast-transcripts.php#Episode14

Read the complete book for free here:

Consociation and Dissociation: An Empirical Study of Word-Family Integration in English and German. By Christina Sanchez. www.doi.org/10.24053/9783823373841.

Mentioned in this episode:

“How anyone (including YOU) can read German” by RobWords (Rob Watts). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VebSZrHmsI4.

Remembering the Kanji by James W. Heisig. https://hep.ph.liv.ac.uk/~payne/sgfSigmaThing/James%20W.%20Heisig%20-%20Remembering%20Kanji%204%BA%20Edition%20-%20Vol%201.pdf.

Welcome, time travelers, to a tour through the evolution of the English language! Christina and Dominic chat about the quirks of linguistic prediction, and the weird and wonderful ways language changes right under our noses.

- Who’s at the origin of linguistic change?

- How is American English sneaking into other dialects?

- Will "fewer" finally lose to "less"?

- Can we forecast language like the weather?

From glottal stops to German “Handys” and English “earworms,” this episode explores digital slang and global English influences, and ventures into the question how linguists test their predictions – not with crystal balls, but using data, probabilities, and a whole lot of curiosity.

Full episode transcript available here:

https://www.tu-chemnitz.de/phil/english/sections/edling/sciencecommunication/podcast-transcripts.php#Episode13

Full article available to read for free here:

Can we predict linguistic change? An introduction. By Christina Sanchez-Stockhammer. https://varieng.helsinki.fi/series/volumes/16/introduction.html.

Read more about the topic in the freely available online volume Can we predict linguistic change? Edited by Christina Sanchez-Stockhammer. https://varieng.helsinki.fi/series/volumes/16/.

Mentioned in this episode:

- Tom Scott: The language sounds that could exist, but don't. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uZam0ubq-Y.

- Ig Nobel prizes: https://improbable.com/ig/about-the-ig-nobel-prizes/.

Grab a cocktail (or mocktail) and join Christina and Dominic for a spirited discussion on hybridity – in language, biology, culture, and beyond. From mules to dronkeys, creoles to hybrid cars, this episode explores what happens when things mix, blend, and blur the boundaries.

- Why is English like a linguistic cocktail?

- Can you really “borrow” words if you never give them back?

- Is “dislike” a Germanic-Romance Frankenstein?

- Why is “brunch” so linguistically satisfying?

With portmanteaus, pidgins, and even the infamous German “ß”, this episode celebrates the beautiful messiness of language – where nothing is truly “pure,” and things become richer through mixing.

Full episode transcript available here:

https://www.tu-chemnitz.de/phil/english/sections/edling/sciencecommunication/podcast-transcripts.php#Episode12

Full article available to read for free here:

Hybridization in language. By Christina Sanchez-Stockhammer. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-642-21846-0_9

Once upon a time, Christina and Dominic embarked on a linguistic adventure through the enchanted world of fairy tales to explore the rich history, dark origins, and global legacy of the Brothers Grimm – and what it means to translate their magical style. In this whimsical episode, Christina and Dominic wander deep into the woods of Grimms’ Fairy Tales to talk about the linguistic magic thatbrings them to life.

- Who really wrote the most famous fairy tales?

- How do we translate a story and still keep its essence?

- Why are the original versions a little… darker than we remember?

- How can we measure the quality of a translation?

From enchanted animals and pumpkin carriages to UNESCO recognition and n-gram analysis, this episode blends folklore, philology, and a bit of fairy dust.

Full episode transcript available here:

https://www.tu-chemnitz.de/phil/english/sections/edling/sciencecommunication/podcast-transcripts.php#Episode11

Article mentioned in this episode:

Sanchez-Stockhammer, Christina. 2020. The potential of multi-word units as measures of fairy-tale style in Schneewittchen (Snow-White) and its English translations. In Ludwig Fesenmeier & Iva Novakova (eds.), Phraséologie et stylistique de la langue littéraire/Phraseology and stylistics of literary language, 305–327. Berlin: Peter Lang.