All Things Linguistic

lingthusiasm:Lingthusiasm Episode 120: How (not) to kill a language - Interview with Sophia Smith GalerNarratives about smaller languages often focus on the death and endangerment sides of the story....

lingthusiasm:Lingthusiasm Episode 119: Irregularity is all over the placeTalk, talked. Walk, walked. Go…went? In this episode, your hosts Gretchen McCulloch and Lauren Gawne get enthusiastic about the...

lingthusiasm:118: Using tech to chat with bonobos, dogs, and whalesCan we teach dogs to express their needs better by pressing buttons? What about the studies trying to teach bonobos and other...

lingthusiasm:Lingthusiasm Episode 117: What makes for beautiful writing, scientifically speakingSometimes, a phrase seems to leap off the page and lodge into your mind, crisp and shining like a...

lingthusiasm:Lingthusiasm Episode 116: Cross-cultural communication (in space!)Sometimes, you’re talking with someone and you just seem to click. Other times, you just can’t seem to get comfortable:...

lingthusiasm:Lingthusiasm Episode 115: The long shadow of Daisy Bates with This Guy SuckedWhat do you do when the only records that remain of a language were made by someone who had absolutely...

lingthusiasm:Lingthusiasm Episode 114: Begonia, average coral, and sea pink - Defining colour terms with Kory Stamperbegonia: a deep pink that is bluer, lighter, and stronger than average coral (see...

lingthusiasm:Lingthusiasm Episode 113: Why “it’s a diglossia!” explains so many social dynamicsIn some communities, everyone regularly uses two languages or varieties according to the social...

lingthusiasm:Lingthusiasm Episode 112: When language become-s(3SG) linguistic example-s(PL)Language is all around us. This sentence right here, is language! But between the raw experience of someone...

lingthusiasm:Lingthusiasm Episode 111: Whoa!! A surprise episode??? For me??!!Wait, surprise is associated with a particular intonation!? Oh, you can see surprise by measuring electricity from your...

lingthusiasm:Lingthusiasm Episode 110: The history of the history of Indo-European - Interview with Danny BateBefore there was English, or Latin, or Czech, or Hindi, there was a language that they all...

lingthusiasm:Lingthusiasm Episode 109: On the nose - How the nose shapes languageWe often invoke the idea of language by showing the mouth or the hands. But the nose is important to both signed and...

lingthusiasm:Lingthusiasm Episode 108: Highs and lows of tone in Babanki - Interview with Pius AkumbuLinguistic research has its highs and lows: from staging a traditional wedding to learn about...

lingthusiasm:Lingthusiasm Episode 107: Urban MultilingualismWhen we try to represent languages on a map, it’s common to assign each language a zone or a point which represents some idea of where it’s...

lingthusiasm:Episode 106: Is a hotdog a sandwich? The problem with definitionsWe asked you if a burrito was a sandwich, and you said ‘no’. We asked you if ravioli was a sandwich and you said 'heck...

lingthusiasm:Lingthusiasm Episode 105: Linguistics of TikTok - Interview with Adam Aleksic aka EtymologyNerdTikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts are an evolving genre of media: short-form,...

lingthusiasm:Lingthusiasm Episode 104: Reading and language play in Sámi - Interview with Hanna-Máret OutakoskiWhen we talk about language reclamation, we often think about oral traditions. But at...

lingthusiasm:103: A hand-y guide to gestureGestures: every known language has them, and there’s a growing body of research on how they fit into communication. But academic literature can be hard to...

lingthusiasm:Lingthusiasm Episode 102: The science and fiction of Sapir-WhorfIt’s a fun science fiction trope: learn a mysterious alien language and acquire superpowers, just like if you’d been zapped...

lingthusiasm:Lingthusiasm Episode 101: Micro to macro - The levels of languageWhen we first learn about nature, we generally start with the solid mid-sized animals: cats, dogs, elephants, tigers,...

lingthusiasm:Lingthusiasm Episode 100: A hundred reasons to be enthusiastic about linguisticsThis is our hundredth episode that’s enthusiastic about linguistics! To celebrate, we’ve put together 100...

lingthusiasm:Lingthusiasm Episode 99: A politeness episode, if you pleaseIf it wouldn’t be too much trouble, if you have a spare half hour, could we possibly suggest that you might enjoy listening to...

lingthusiasm:Lingthusiasm Episode 98: Helping computers decode sentences - Interview with Emily M. BenderWhen a human learns a new word, we’re learning to attach that word to a set of concepts in the...

lingthusiasm:Lingthusiasm Episode 97: OooOooh~~ our possession episode oOooOOoohh 👻Eye of newt and toe of frog,Wool of bat and tongue of dog…In this episode, your hosts Gretchen McCulloch and Lauren...

lingthusiasm:Lingthusiasm Episode 96: Welcome back aboard the metaphor train! We’re taking you on a journey to new linguistic destinations, so come along for the ride and don’t forget to hold on! In...