Talk The Talk

We all have freedom of expression, but what are its limits — social and legal? And how have governments tried to curtail it? We’re talking through the implications of free speech with Dennis Baron. He’s the author of You Can’t Always Say What You Want: The Paradox of Free Speech.  

The American Dialect Society Word of the Year has been chosen — and it’s a wonderful and terrible pick! Depending on who you’re talking to. In this episode, we’re talking about -USSY and all the words. And we’re getting to our Mailbag, with our most intriguing research project ever: can you spot the pattern in the way Ben pronounces EITHER and NEITHER? Is there one?

In what was meant to be a casual chat, cognitive scientist Dr Mark Ellison answers galaxy-brain-level questions about how language works. Why aren't we more efficient with language? How do we know when something has gone wrong in a conversation? Why don't we just talk in a flat monotone all the time? Why do fairy tales start a certain way? Why is it so tiring to speak another language? Fortunately, he helps us keep our eyes on the ball for this episode.

We're counting down our Words of the Year, as voted by you! We're joined by our friends and patrons, and they've brought us some words we missed. And we'll go through all the Words of the Year from dictionaries and language lovers, English and not. Thanks to all our friends who joined us for this show, and to all our great patrons who have supported our work. Video here: https://youtu.be/z1BmUixVNlY

ChatGPT has just landed. It can generate text that seems fluid, plausible, and (surprisingly) not total nonsense. It's got a lot of people wondering what's left for humans — and for the field of Natural Language Processing. Here to help us is computational linguist Daan van Esch.

Many expressions we use come from the nautical domain. But are they nautical? Are they really? We’ve got Chase Dalton from the US Naval History Podcast to shine a light on some of these expressions, and in some cases reveal the secret nautical origins of words we use every day. US Naval History Podcast on Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts 

A chat with Dr Kelly Wright, who’s been working on… well, really a lot. Kelly is at the juncture of a lot of areas we’re keen on. Oxford’s effort to document African-American English? She’s been there. Doing lexicography with the American Dialect Society? She’s on it. The LSA’s social media committee? She… was on it. And she’s been looking into a new unexplored area: people’s ideas about their own language knowledge. But it’s not all easy. And Kelly is here to tell us about her view of linguistics… from the struggle pile.

Just two words, but they do so much. But what exactly? Here to answer that question is Dr Isabelle Burke, who has studied yeah-no in depth. She’s also going to help us with these Mailbag questions. Why is LIKE so resilient? Why can we say “I very much enjoy…” but not “I much enjoy…” or “I very enjoy…”? When is a loanword not a loanword? Do word processors have a problem with singular THEY? Why doesn’t English have diacritics?

Yes, linguistics is all through the world of sci-fi, but science fiction has had a surprising impact on linguistic research as well. Dr Hannah Little is cataloguing the ways in a new book, and she joins us for this episode.  

It’s Ben, Hedvig, and Daniel all together in the same place for the first time. We’re talking about the state of the show, the state of linguistics communication, and where we are after all these years.

Language isn’t just for communication — it’s fun. For over a hundred years, crosswords have served as entertainment, and even been blamed for society’s ills. Turns out crosswords are serious business. Author and illustrator of Letters to Margaret and crossword enthusiast Hayley Gold takes us into the history and the discussions happening in the world of crosswords — the Crossworld. You can buy Hayley’s book Letters to Margaret at this link: https://shop.lonesharkgames.com/collections/letters-to-margaret

In which we get together for a chat, talk about stuff we like, and — oh, yeah — answers a few questions from our great listeners. Other languages have a word for late morning, before noon. Why doesn’t English have one? Why is EW the sound some English speakers make when disgusted? Why can you have potatoes, but not broccolis? Who started calling the YouTube description the DOOBLEYDOO? Is it WHOA or WOAH? Why do we use capital i for the pronoun I?

Today, we communicate. But once, we didn’t. What had to happen in our brains to make communication possible? And why don’t other animals do it like we do? We talk to Dr Thom Scott-Phillips about his new work in the social and cognitive origins of communication. And game creator Joshua Blackburn is going to test Daniel’s linguistic prowess with questions from the hottest game on Kickstarter, League of the Lexicon.

Our friends, listeners, and patrons give us so many great stories, news, and words, so for this live episode, we’re having them tell these language stories in their own words. Thanks to PharaohKatt, Lord Mortis, Ariaflame, seejanecricket, Aristemo, O Tim, Ditte, Rodger, and Ben (not the host one).

Our listeners and patrons send in so many great ideas, stories, and words. For this episode, listener and prolific contributor Diego has put together an entire show for our edification. ASL may have changed to include copular BE What’s going on with French-only laws in Quebec? Why is an Indian airport broadcasting covid information in Sanskrit? And more.

Everyone’s favourite tabletop grammarian is back! It’s Ellen Jovin, proprietor of the Grammar Table. She dispenses grammar advice around New York City and the world, and now she’s written a book about her grammar adventures. Ellen is the author of Rebel With a Clause, and she joins us for this big episode.  

It’s crude. It’s rude. And it’s a lot of fun. Slang has been with us for as long as people didn’t want others to understand what they were about. But what exactly is it? And has the nature of slang changed in our internet age? Daniel is talking to eminent slang lexicographer Jonathon Green on this episode of Because Language.

Language titan Tiger Webb is helping us with our voluminous Mailbag. Hedvig is giving her annual Eurovision language roundup. And we’re sorting through the lexicon of the 2022 Australian election. Is MAYBE a compound word? What about ANOTHER, or GARBAGE? Are GONNA and WANNA portmanteaus? What does it take to be a linguist?

How is language like a game of charades? According to a new book, quite a lot. Charades players and language users improvise and work together to create meaning in a situation, and they get better at it as they reuse elements and build up patterns. Drs Morten Christiansen and Nick Chater explain their vision of language to Daniel and Hedvig on this episode of Because Language.  

We had the pleasure of an interview with two up-and-coming linguists, wanting to find out more about the show and linguistic communication. It was such a fun chat that we wanted to share it with you. Here's Daniel and Hedvig with Kitty Liu and Romany Amber. Part of this chat also appears in magazine form (along with a lot of other really good articles) : https://issuu.com/u-lingua/docs/issue_8_forweb  Thanks to Kitty and Romany for thinking of us, and thanks to U-Lingua for letting us make this audio public.