Because Language - a podcast about linguistics, the science of language.

Daniel Midgley, Ben Ainslie, and Hedvig Skirgård

A podcast about linguistics, the science of language.

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100 episodes
Updated Tuesday
Explicit

Episodes100

Newest first

Jun 19, 2024 · 1 hr 27 min
100: Spicy Mailbag
A hundred episodes already? To celebrate, we're doing our favourite kind of episode: a Mailbag. Why is it a BLOW JOB when there's no blowing? Why JOB? And why is OFF often used in sexual expressions? Why do we say NO SIRREE? Is there an equivalent expression for women? Why does English have rare TH sounds like /θ/ and /ð/? Why doesn't everyone? HIS'N — is it related to IF'N? Timestamps Intros: 1:00 Questions (sexual): 8:46 Questions (non-sexual): 26:24 Related or Not: 42:12 More questions: 36:36 The Reads: 1:15:48 Outtakes: 1:20:11
Jun 11, 2024 · 2 hr 8 min
99: Gender in Germany (with Rob Tegethoff and Ciarán from Corner Späti)
What's going on in Germany? How are people talking about gender in the German language, and how is freedom of expression being handled? We have a couple of German experts — linguist Rob Tegethoff and Ciarán of the podcast Corner Späti — to tell us why other languages were banned at protests in Berlin, and what right-wing activists get from involving language in their plans. Timestamps Intros: 0:34 News: 5:16 Related or Not: 26:29 Interview with Rob and Ciarán: 44:37 Words of the Week: 1:46:42 The Reads: 2:02:50 Outtakes: 2:06:23
May 20, 2024 · 1 hr 43 min
98: Origin Uncertain (with Anatoly Liberman)
How much can we really know about the words we use? What are the facts behind some of the most tangled etymologies in English? And is our "Related or Not" game a good way of approaching word history? We're talking to Dr Anatoly Liberman, perhaps the world's preëminent living etymologist and the author of Origin Uncertain: Unraveling the Mysteries of Etymology.
Apr 28, 2024 · 1 hr 38 min
97: The Dictionary of Fine Distinctions (with Eli Burnstein)
What's the difference between a KINK and a FETISH? Does it matter if you ASSUME or PRESUME? English is full of these close groups of words, and author Eli Burnstein has untangled many of them in his delightful book The Dictionary of Fine Distinctions. Eli joins us for this episode. Timestamps Intros: 0:42 News: 9:54 Related or Not: 24:11 Interview with Eli Burnstein: 37:33 Words of the Week: 1:10:13 The Reads: 1:33:45
Apr 19, 2024 · 1 hr 45 min
96: Language City (with Ross Perlin)
New York City is home to a lot of languages! Sometimes a sizeable language community can live on just a couple of floors of an apartment building. Dr Ross Perlin is working to find and promote minority languages in NYC. He's the co-founder of the Endangered Language Alliance, and author of Language City: The Fight to Preserve Endangered Mother Tongues in New York. Ross joins us for this episode. Intro: 0:36 News: 8:13 Related or Not: 32:52 Interview with Ross Perlin: 43:12 Words of the Week: 1:24:13 The Reads: 1:39:54 Show notes: http://becauselanguage.com/96-language-city/ Support the show: http://patreon.com/join/becauselangpod/
Apr 1, 2024 · 1 hr 44 min
95: Why the Far-Right Demagogues Language (with Caitlin Green and Maureen Kosse)
Language authorities. Right-wing politicians. White supremacists and feminists. What do they have in common? They're all working together to fight gender-inclusive language. But why bring language into this fight? What extra does this give them? Dr Caitlin Green and Maureen Kosse join us to explain on this big episode.
Mar 18, 2024 · 1 hr 16 min
94: Mailbag of Sextillion and Three
Dr Kelly Wright is helping us understand the link between public health and language maintenance. And she's helping us with our voluminous Mailbag! Why can you have a TRIFECTA, but not any other number -FECTA? Why does a SEXTILLION (with a prefix meaning six) have seven chunks of zeros? What do CHOPSTICKS have to do with chopping? And what's the -ER in words like RUBBER, AFTER, and TEMPER?
Mar 2, 2024 · 1 hr 28 min
93: Stop! Grammar Time (live with Ellen Jovin and friends)
In honour of Grammar Day (4 March), we are joined live by special guest Ellen Jovin, who regularly dispenses grammar advice and wisdom from the Grammar Table. Now she's testing our grammatical mettle and answering our questions. YouTube video of this episode: https://youtu.be/C1l8Alk3Ptc?si=7pnGnuKcy9YY-mhR
Feb 22, 2024 · 1 hr 45 min
92: In the First 600 Milliseconds (with Rachel Nordlinger)
What are your eyes doing when you describe a scene? It may depend on your language. New research from Dr Rachel Nordlinger and team shows that we do a lot of planning and scanning very quickly, and it follows the requirements of our language. She's studied Murrinhpatha, an Australian Aboriginal language, to see what its speakers do.
Jan 31, 2024 · 1 hr 33 min
91: Linguistic Time Machine, part 2: Prehistory
We're climbing back into the linguistic time machine and taking a look at language in the long view. We'll find out what language was like 100,000 years ago 1 million years ago 10 million years ago and then jump into the future 100 years 1,000 years, and 10,000 years from now. What will we find?
Jan 21, 2024 · 2 hr 5 min
90: Enpoopification (with Grant Barrett and Tim Brookes)
We're talking words, and no one has a way with words like Grant Barrett. He's here to tell us what it's like at Dictionary.com, and what went down at the annual American Dialect Society Words of the Year 2023 vote. And perhaps he can help forestall Hedvig's planned mass human extinction. Also: World Endangered Writing Day is upon us! It's a fantastic initiative, and author Tim Brookes of Endangered Alphabets is here to lay out the case for preserving writing systems.
Dec 24, 2023 · 1 hr 53 min
89: Words of the Week of the Year 2023 (with Cory Doctorow and friends)
The public has voted, and a winner has been decided! We're looking all the words chosen by the various dictionary bodies, and counting down our Words of the Week of the Year. And there's a very special interview with author, blogger, activist, and inventor of words Cory Doctorow.
Dec 7, 2023 · 1 hr 24 min
88: Linguistic Time Machine, part 1: History
What was language like a year ago? Ten years ago? A hundred? What about before that? We're climbing into the Linguistic Time Machine and finding out. Along the way, we'll explain the resources that linguists use. And we'll try to get away from English once in a while.
Dec 1, 2023 · 1 hr 42 min
87: Trans-Inclusive (with Andrew Perfors)
What is a woman? Or a man? Or a chair, or a sandwich? Or anything, really? "Gender critical" people are making language into a vector to attack the rights of trans people. They treat categories like man and woman as binary and obvious. But cognitive linguistics has a response, in the form of a new paper in Nature Human Behaviour. Are categories concrete, or are they mental, social, or something else? How do we categorise objects at all? Author Dr Andrew Perfors brings the science on this episode.
Nov 14, 2023 · 1 hr 18 min
86: Mailbag of Dog Sushi (with Nicole Holliday)
We've got mail, and linguistic MVP Dr Nicole Holliday is here to help us sort some things out around here. And we chat about the state of lingcomm today. Why is dog sushi made FOR dogs, but duck sushi is made FROM ducks? What do we call it generally when companies try to improve their image by -washing? Is the term "MVP" becoming uncoupled from sports? Will vaping kill your vocal fry? Are shibboleths made on purpose, as a way of creating an in-group and an out-group? Plus our favourite game: Related or Not!
Nov 4, 2023 · 1 hr 43 min
85: The Dictionary People (with Sarah Ogilvie)
Who wrote the Oxford English Dictionary? Sure, James Murray had a very important role as editor, but a small army of volunteers submitted hundreds of thousands of words on slips of paper to get the project off the ground. What were their stories, and why did they have such a relentless sense of mission for the OED? Dr Sarah Ogilvie is sharing her research into their lives and times, and it's startling and wondrous. She's a lexicographer and author of The Dictionary People: The Unsung Heroes Who Created the Oxford English Dictionary.
Oct 18, 2023 · 1 hr 44 min
84: Diego's Discourse (with Diego Diaz)
What's happening with signed language in Argentina? How are terms for gender changing in the Spanish language? And are Zoomers making work language more casual? Listener and friend of the pod Diego Diaz has put together a terrific bunch of language news and words for our edification and enjoyment.
Oct 2, 2023 · 3 hr 1 min
83: You're All Talk (with Rob Drummond and Robbie Love)
Our accents are great! They represent our origins, our languages, our community, and our identity. But too many of us feel like we can't speak with our authentic voice. Accent prejudice is real. Linguist and author Dr Rob Drummond joins us to explain all about accent and accentism. He's the author of a new book You're All Talk. And Dr Robbie Love is joining us with his research about how the word fuck is changing in the speech of British teens. Spicy!
Sep 16, 2023 · 1 hr 26 min
82: Girl Dinner (live with our patrons and friends)
Our patrons are joining us live to give us their news, words, and stories. That's right, it's a Potluck episode! What's a "girl dinner"? What's the other name of India? And how is AI helping translate an ancient language? Thanks to all our great patrons, and especially those who joined us for this episode.
Sep 2, 2023 · 1 hr 49 min
81: Mother Tongue (with Jenni Nuttall)
Women's bodies, women's occupations, women's experiences. So often in history, the discourse about women has been by men, about women. And that means that women's words have been lost. Dr Jenni Nuttall has charted the lost history of women's words in her new book Mother Tongue: The Surprising History of Women's Words, and she joins us for this episode.

Because Language - a podcast about linguistics, the science of language.

100: Spicy Mailbag

99: Gender in Germany (with Rob Tegethoff and Ciarán from Corner Späti)

98: Origin Uncertain (with Anatoly Liberman)

97: The Dictionary of Fine Distinctions (with Eli Burnstein)

96: Language City (with Ross Perlin)

95: Why the Far-Right Demagogues Language (with Caitlin Green and Maureen Kosse)

94: Mailbag of Sextillion and Three

93: Stop! Grammar Time (live with Ellen Jovin and friends)

92: In the First 600 Milliseconds (with Rachel Nordlinger)

91: Linguistic Time Machine, part 2: Prehistory

90: Enpoopification (with Grant Barrett and Tim Brookes)

89: Words of the Week of the Year 2023 (with Cory Doctorow and friends)

88: Linguistic Time Machine, part 1: History

87: Trans-Inclusive (with Andrew Perfors)

86: Mailbag of Dog Sushi (with Nicole Holliday)

85: The Dictionary People (with Sarah Ogilvie)

84: Diego's Discourse (with Diego Diaz)

83: You're All Talk (with Rob Drummond and Robbie Love)

82: Girl Dinner (live with our patrons and friends)

81: Mother Tongue (with Jenni Nuttall)