Podcasts – linglabpodcast

On this episode of Linglab we talk to Caroline Myrick, a Sociology and Sociolinguistics doctoral student at N.C. State, about her work compiling a dictionary on Saban English, a variety of English spoken on the island of Saba. Joining us in the lab is Teddy Johnson, Caroline’s co-writer and a local Saban, who initially started collecting Saban words and expressions over fifteen years ago.

We also talk about how creating local dictionaries challenge dominant prescriptivist ideologies about language and what sort of language varieties are worth documenting. The question at the heart of our discussion: what makes a word valuable? The larger question: what makes a word real?

Story and Reporting by: Caroline Myrick

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On this episode of Linglab, we’re doing something a little different. Usually I look at other people’s work in linguistics and talk about their larger implications. But this time, we’re going to talk about my work and some of what I believe are the larger implications of that work.

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Episode 5: “It Won’t Cost Much. Just Your Voice!”

There’s this scene in The Little Mermaid. Ariel is considering a deal with Ursula, the sea witch. Ursula is agreeing to give her legs so she can walk on land and be where the people are. But there is a catch.

“It won’t cost much,” Ursula sings. “Just your voice!”

This works as a great metaphor for the work Carmen Fought and Karen Eisenhauer are doing with linguistic practices in Disney films, particular when looking at other Disney princesses. Recently their early findings on Disney princess films have gotten a lot of attention in the media. One finding in particular has garnered a lot of response. In the films following The Little Mermaid, during what researchers call the Disney Renaissance, men had on average three times as many spoken lines as women. This was in contrast with the women in the princess films of the golden age of Disney (1930’s-1960’s) who shared spoken lines almost equally with their male counterparts. As it turns out, women were losing their voices.

On this episode of Linglab we talk to Karen Eisenhauer about that finding and many others as well as discuss some of the media response that has come out of this work. Eisenhauer sets the record straight about some of the misconceptions that she has been seeing online. We also talk about the importance of linguistic research in popular media.

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“Golden Hour” By Podington Bear

“Sidecare” By Podington Bear

“Tech Toys” By Lee Rosevere

“Curiosity” By Lee Rosevere

“Oui” By Podington Bear

“Netherland” By Podington Bear

“Loam” By Podington Bear

“Let’s Start at the Beginning” By Lee Rosevere

“Quizative” By Lee Rosevere

“Corridor” By Podington Bear

On this episode of Linglab we talk to Amy Hemmeter, a Masters student in Linguistics at N.C. State University, about her research on social perceptions of vocal fry. Vocal fry, like uptalk and quotative like, has been receiving a lot of pushback in the media. It has become a punchline in a media that has a history of problematizing female voices. We talk about the cultural bias that creates this kind of critique and whether we should challenge these attitudes in our culture.

Amy Hemmeter has a blog where she talks about linguistics stuff. You can check it out beyondthefourthfloorblog.com.

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Caterpillar Tunnel by Podington Bear

Good Times by Podington Bear

Kingston Town by Podington Bear

From “Music for Podcasts” By Lee Rosevere 

Curiosity by Lee Rosevere

Tech Toys by Lee Rosevere

Isn’t the Rain Nice Today by Bbatv

Twinkie by Podington Bear

Episode 2: What’s in a Name?

On this episode of Linglab we talk to Caroline Myrick, a doctoral student and linguistic student at N.C. State about her work with Saban English, a variety of English spoken on the small Dutch island of Saba. We also discuss how her work ties into a larger debate that linguists have been having for decades, and how that debate is relevant to linguistic research and popular attitudes about language today. Professor and renowned linguist, Dr. Walt Wolfram, weighs in on this important conversation and offers some great insight into the nature of change in academic disciplines.

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We talk to Joel Schneier, a graduate of our linguistic program and current doctoral student, about his work in text messaging as well as text messaging’s undeserved label as the destroyer of language and what linguists really think is going on with this new medium. We also talk about how text messaging may be changing social relationships in rather unexpected ways.

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Reported and Narrated by: Angela Tramontelli

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http://www.ncsu.edu/linguistics/docs/audio/linglab_episode1.mp3