Lexicon Valley

Society EN ↓ 311 episodes

A podcast about language, with hosts Mike Vuolo, Bob Garfield and John McWhorter.

Author

Lexicon Valley

Episodes

The Dude Abides 28.01.2014 38:46

The early history of dudery, starring swells and fops and with a cameo by Mark Twain. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Learning to Say No 20.12.2013 27:12

The surprisingly complex taxonomy of simple negation. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ask Not Who Wrote "Ask Not" 17.12.2013 30:51

The crowdsourcing of JFK’s most iconic speech: Crafting President Kennedy’s inaugural address. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The End of Ambiguity 10.12.2013 25:45

On an invented language that forces you to choose your words carefully. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Burden of Being Right 06.08.2013 37:06

Embracing the hand-slapping, prescriptivist schoolmarm in all of us. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Name That Tone 15.07.2013 30:20

How tonal languages such as Cantonese might give would-be musicians a leg up. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Eject at High Altitude 01.07.2013 21:23

The uncanny correlation between altitude and language development with Caleb Everett. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

30 Million By Four 25.06.2013 31:26

How to raise verbal children: Why talking to your kids is one of the most important investments you can make in their future. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A Brief History of Swearing 17.06.2013 26:38

On profanity and obscenity with author Melissa Mohr. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Accentuate the Positive 10.06.2013 27:30

Yeah, no: On the seemingly paradoxical phrase and its hidden logic. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Fawth Flaw, Part II 31.01.2013 31:01

The fall and rise of rhoticity (pronouncing your Rs) in New York City English. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Fawth Flaw 17.01.2013 23:38

A classic study about R-dropping in Manhattan department stores and so-called "prestige borrowing." X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Get Your Creak On 02.01.2013 27:58

On the vocal phenomenon called creaky voice or vocal fry. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Good Is Up 21.12.2012 29:01

Why the phrase "fiscal cliff" is such a powerful metaphor. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Talking Leaves and Lightning Paper 04.12.2012 29:40

Sequoyah: The Cherokee man who invented an alphabet for his language. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Undocumented Illegals 13.11.2012 34:58

The heated debate over language at the heart of U.S. immigration policy. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Death to Potatoes 01.11.2012 33:08

On the all-important role that language translation — and mistranslation — plays in our lives, with Nataly Kelly and Jost Zetzsche. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Here's to You Mrs. Malaprop 16.10.2012 32:09

What misspeaking might reveal about the way our mental dictionary is organized. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Rate of Exchange 02.10.2012 26:32

On the widespread belief that other languages are spoken more rapidly than your own. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ascent of the A-Word 18.09.2012 28:29

Linguist Geoffrey Nunberg on his book Ascent of the A-Word: A**holism, the First Sixty Years. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our Dying Words 09.07.2012 23:06

Should we care when a language dies? X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Then Is Now, Now and Then 02.07.2012 32:01

The narrative mastery of Seinfeld's Kramer: talking about the past in the present tense. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

By Their Words You Shall Know Them 18.06.2012 32:37

How we know L. Frank Baum didn't write the 15th Oz book — the surprising way mathematicians can determine authorship. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Capturing the Past 11.06.2012 39:47

“Lord Grantham, Don Draper’s on Hold”: The algorithm that finds anachronisms in Downton Abbey, Mad Men and Edith Wharton. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Eloquence of Plain English 04.06.2012 31:40

Was Honest Abe a Poet? How Lincoln’s speaking style evolved from overly ornate to the brilliant simplicity of Gettysburg. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices