1004. This week, Karen Yin, author of "The Conscious Style Guide," discusses the concept of conscious language and its importance in promoting equity and respect. We explore the differences between conscious language and political correctness, the evolution of the singular "they," and how to navigate language change. Karen also shares insights on addressing ... Show More
Today
The sinful fork (and other dinner-table surprises)
<p>1136. This week, we go full Thanksgiving, talking about the origin of butter knives, forks, and more. You'll love all the tidbits you can share with your family or friends during dinner.</p><p>🔗 <strong>Share your familect recording via </strong><a href="https://www.speakpipe ... Show More
14m 49s
Nov 20
Why print dictionaries still matter, with Peter Sokolowski
<p>1135. This week, we talk with Peter Sokolowski, editor at large at Merriam-Webster, about the new print 12th Collegiate Dictionary. We look at why print still matters, how the dictionary used lookup data to decide which words to drop (least looked-up compounds), and the import ... Show More
35m 31s
Nov 18
Personification in language and AI. Dictums, maxims, and proverbs. Expensitive.
<p>1134. This week, we look at the poetic power of personification (the language quirk that gives human traits to nonhuman things) and why style guides advise against using it for AI. Then, we look at the different names for common sayings, defining a proverb and breaking down th ... Show More
17m 26s
May 2024
Netta Avineri and Patricia Baquedano-López, "An Introduction to Language and Social Justice: What Is, What Has Been, and What Could Be" (Routledge, 2023)
An Introduction to Language and Social Justice: What Is, What Has Been, and What Could Be (Routledge, 2023) is designed to provide the who, what, where, when, why, and how of the intersections of language, inequality, and social justice in North America, using the applied linguis ... Show More
47m 48s
Jul 2023
Valerie Fridland (on linguistics)
Valerie Fridland (Like, Literally, Dude) is a professor, sociolinguist, and author. Valerie joins the Armchair Expert to discuss why people dislike the word "moist" so much, how accents are a part of social identity, and where modern English developed from. Valerie and Dax talk a ... Show More
1h 59m
Jun 2025
Special Episode: Professor Steven Mithen & The Language Puzzle
From the earliest grunts and gestures to the complex sentences we use today to convey a multitude of concepts, language has evolved to become one of humanity’s most powerful tools. It allows us to connect, create, conspire, control, console, catch up, and so much more. How did we ... Show More
49m 29s
Nov 2015
What You Are is What You Say (Language and Identity)
Welcome to Episode 28, a fun collection of language learning news. Lindsay and I shared our progress in Japanese and Welsh, read out wonderful listener feedback, and finally moved on to 3 big news items.
What's it like when your language changes to express who you are?
The episod ... Show More
1h 15m
Sep 2021
Emily M. Bender — Language Models and Linguistics
In this episode, Emily and Lukas dive into the problems with bigger and bigger language models, the difference between form and meaning, the limits of benchmarks, and why it's important to name the languages we study.Show notes (links to papers and transcript): http://wandb.me/gd ... Show More
1h 12m
Aug 2024
Cultural Diplomacy and Self-Awareness
On this week's episode, we welcome the insightful Rozan (Razan), an intercultural visionary who delves into the complexities of identity, belonging, and the power of self-awareness. Rozan shares her journey of navigating multiple identities as a Sudanese, African, and British wom ... Show More
31m 40s
Oct 2024
Receptive Language Skills and Discrimination
<p>A member of our Bx Resource membership community raised a question about teaching receptive language skills, specifically receptive labels, as the strategies she tried weren’t working. Here, we cover how to teach receptive language skills and discrimination to our learners. We ... Show More
14m 18s
Jun 2021
The state of modern linguistics | The Story of Language | Bonus episode
Welcome to The Story of Language: an original podcast series about language, linguistics, cognition, and culture. In this bonus episode we talk about the state of modern linguistics, including the effects of the replication crisis, scientific fraud, Anglocentrism, and how the und ... Show More
1h 4m
Aug 2022
John McWhorter Describes Human Language's 20,000-Year Journey from Proto-Sumerian to Ebonics
Language not only defines humans as a species, placing us head and shoulders above even the most proficient animal communicators, but it also beguiles us with its endless mysteries. How did different languages come to be? Why isn't there just a single language? How does a languag ... Show More
54m 6s