95 episodes
Because Language - a podcast about linguistics, the science of language. Daniel Midgley, Ben Ainslie, and Hedvig Skirgård
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5.0 • 3 Ratings
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A podcast about linguistics, the science of language.
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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 -
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. -
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 -
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/ -
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. -
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
Customer Reviews
Because Language – My No. 1 podcast
This is truly a great podcast, super useful as a reliable source of news from the field of linguistics and news about “all things” language. The hosts master the art of making complex topics accessible to the general public. It’s entertaining too – practically every episode has snippets that make me chuckle or sometimes even laugh out loud. With an episode of BL in my ears, I feel like I’m with good friends. More importantly, many of the the topics discussed by the show hosts and their guests go beyond linguistics, placing them in the context of social justice and social responsibility. If you’re interested in the science of language, or just language stuff in general, and if you want to have your mental muscles exercised, be entertained and even get your values and worldview challenged now and again, you should definitely check out the Because Language podcast.
A lovely piece of language
This show is amazing. I followed over from Talk to Talk days. I also studied linguistics at university, and this way I get to keep following the discussions that are going on. I also love how the show managers to cater both to us nerds and introduces concepts to people who has not studied it before. It is great!