Linguistics Behind the Scenes

In this punctuation-packed episode of Linguistics Behind the Scenes, Christina and Dominic explore how language varies depending on communicative context – and why tiny marks on a page can make all the difference between various types of texts.

- Why can using the wrong “you” in German ruin a party?

- What makes Chinese characters different from alphabetic writing?

- What happens when you delete all the letters in a text and study only its punctuation?

- How do comics and research papers use punctuation marks in highly specific ways?

From Superman to semicolons, from Batman to Biber’s register theory, our hosts uncover how grammar, punctuation, and social context weave together – showing that meaning isn’t just in what we say, but also in how, where, and to whom we say it.

Full episode transcript available here:

https://www.tu-chemnitz.de/phil/english/sections/edling/sciencecommunication/podcast-transcripts.php#Episode24

Read the full article for more details:

Sanchez-Stockhammer, Christina. 2019. Present-day English hyphenation: Historical origin, functions and pragmatics. In Claudia Claridge & Merja Kytö (eds.), Punctuation in context – Past and present perspectives, 47-65. Berlin: Peter Lang.

Mentioned in this episode:

Douglas Biber & Susan Conrad. 2012. Register, Genre, and Style. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

In this travel-ready episode of Linguistics Behind the Scenes, Christina and Dominic ask a deceptively simple question: if you could learn only 100 words of a language, which ones would you choose?

- Which words are essential when you're travelling – and which can you live without?

- Can a phrasebook really help you communicate with just 100 words?

- How do you express complex ideas when your vocabulary is tiny?

- Are phrasebooks just practical tools, or the first step toward language learning?

Explore the art of saying more with less, and discover how even a handful of carefully chosen words in Christina’s phrasebook can open the door to meaningful communication in Spanish.

Full episode transcript available here:

https://www.tu-chemnitz.de/phil/english/sections/edling/sciencecommunication/podcast-transcripts.php#Episode23

Find out more about Christina’s phrasebook “Langenscheidt – Schnell mitreden – Spanisch” here: https://www.langenscheidt.com/shop/detail/019db329f6b070c69ffa4fa0d0462e12

In this animated episode of Linguistics Behind the Scenes, Christina and Dominic explore how creative cartoons, comic strips and children’s shows can teach us about language, communication, cognition and learning itself.

- How does a curious mouse turn science into storytelling?

- Why do comic strips, from Peanuts to XKCD, make such powerful teaching tools?

- How can greeny green aliens help us understand how humans categorize the world?

- In what way do rubber ducks reveal that we often use language without thinking too much about it?

From “Die Sendung mit der Maus” to Dr. Seuss, from Calvin and Hobbes’ unexpected wisdom to XKCD’s scientific wit, the hosts show how humor helps us understand language and makes learning fun.

Full episode transcript available here:

https://www.tu-chemnitz.de/phil/english/sections/edling/sciencecommunication/podcast-transcripts.php#Episode22

This podcast episode is based on the following article:

Sanchez-Stockhammer, Christina. 2010. Comic linguistics: Comics and cartoons in academic teaching. In Mark Berninger, Jochen Ecke & Gideon Haberkorn (eds.), Comics as a nexus of cultures, 274-281. Jefferson, NC: McFarland.

Mentioned in this episode:

- Käptn Blaubär

- Die Sendung mit der Maus

- Sesame Street

- Mr Rogers‘ Neighbourhood

- The secret of Zoe’s dice (Viererkniffel): „Sendung mit der Maus“ episode with voiceover by Christina Sanchez-Stockhammer and her students. https://www.wdrmaus.de/extras/maus_international/englisch.php5. [8:20 min]

In this duplicative (but never dull) episode of Linguistics Behind the Scenes, Christinaand Dominic explore the fascinating world of copying – from plagiarism tophotocopies, and from fairy tales to “salad salad.”

What’s the difference between copying and plagiarizing?

Why does “plagiarism” literally mean kidnapping?

How faithful must a quotation really be – down to fonts,hyphens, and [sic]s?

What does it take for a sentence to be brand new?

From academic ethics to oral storytelling, from deep-friedmemes to fairy-tale memory, our hosts unpack how imitation, repetition, andreduplication shape language, learning, and culture – showing that even a copycan be an original in its own right.

Full episodetranscript available here:

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

Full article available to read for free here:

Copy and write: Thetransformative power of copying in language. By Christina Sanchez-Stockhammer. https://heiup.uni-heidelberg.de/catalog/view/195/260/78629.

Mentioned in this episode:

- Ray Bradbury. 1953.Fahrenheit 451.

- James Joyce.1920. Ulysses.

- Unusualsentences: https://www.reddit.com/r/BrandNewSentence/

- Jila Ghomeshiet al. 2004. Contrastive Focus Reduplication in English (The Salad-SaladPaper). In: Natural Language &Linguistic Theory 22, 307–357 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1023/B:NALA.0000015789.98638.f9

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.