lingthusiasm

39: How to rebalance a lopsided conversation

Why do some kinds of conversations seems to flow really easily, while  other times, it feels like you can’t get a word in edgewise, or that  the other person isn’t holding up their end of the conversation? 

In  this episode of  Lingthusiasm, your hosts Gretchen McCulloch and Lauren Gawne have a  conversation about the structure of conversations! Conversation analysts  talk about a spectrum of how we take turns in conversation: some people  are...

Bonus 34: The sounds of sheep, earthquakes, and ice cream - Onomatopoeia

We all know cows go 'moo', sheep go 'baa' and ducks go 'queck'... well medieval English ducks did. Dutch cows go 'boe' /bu/ and  Korean sheep go 음매 (eum-mae).  What is it about sounds that make a sheep sound like a sheep, and how can the name of an ice cream flavour make it sound more delicious? 

In this bonus episode of Lingthusiasm, Lauren tests Gretchen on Syuba onomatopoeia, Gretchen quizzes Lauren about good names for different products as we explore ideophones, ...

38: Many ways to talk about many things - Plurals, duals and more

In English you have one book, and three books. In Arabic you have one kitaab, and three kutub. In Nepali it’s one kitab, and three kitabharu, but sometimes it’s three kitab.

In this episode of Lingthusiasm, Gretchen and Lauren look at the many ways that languages talk about how many of something there are, ranging from common distinctions like singular, plural, and dual, to more typologically rare forms like the trial, the paucal, and the associative plural. (And the mysterious abse...

Bonus 33: Reading fiction like a linguist

Like many linguists, we have a difficult time turning the linguist part of our brains off -- which makes reading fiction particularly fun! Sometimes we're lucky enough that there's fiction that features linguists or a dedicated constructed language, but even when that's not the case, language is an interesting part of worldbuilding or narrative voice in a lot of books. 

In this bonus episode of Lingthusiasm, Gretchen and Lauren share some of their favourite linguistically interesti...

37: Smell words, both real and invented

What’s your favourite smell? You might say something like the smell  of fresh ripe strawberries, or the smell of freshly-cut grass. But if we  asked what your favourite colour is, you might say red or green, but  you wouldn’t say the colour of strawberries or grass. Why is it that we  have so much more vocabulary for colours than for scents? 

In this  episode of Lingthusiasm, your hosts Lauren Gawne and Gretchen McCulloch  get enthusiastic about la...

New merch! Socks, water bottles, cards, and new BIG GRAMMAR t-shirts

We are delighted to announce that by popular demand, you can now get lingthustiastic socks! 

That's right, our three prints (International Phonetic Alphabet, tree diagrams, and esoteric symbols) can now adorn your ankle...

Bonus 32: Jobs, locations, family, and invention: Surnames!

Not everyone has a surname, but for many people surnames are a personal or cultural story wrapped up in a convenient little package. 

In this bonus episode we get enthusiastic about surnames! We talked about where our own surnames come from, surname-formation strategies from different cultures, people changing and not changing their surnames, and surnames that are common and uncommon in different contexts. 

Where does your surname come from? Have you ever considered what...

36: Villages, gifs, and children - Researching signed languages in real-world contexts with Lynn Hou

Larger, national signed languages, like American Sign Language and British Sign Language, often have relatively well-established laboratory-based research traditions, whereas smaller signed languages, such as those found in villages with a high proportion of deaf residents, aren’t studied as much. When we look at signed languages in the context of these smaller communities, we can also think more about how to make research on larger sign languages more natural as well. 

In this e...

Bonus 31: Behind the scenes on Because Internet (Q&A)

Our cohost Gretchen McCulloch wrote a book about internet linguistics (in case you haven't heard haha) which hit the New York Times bestseller list the first week it was out! We've been enjoying seeing all your posts and photos about Because Internet -- it is very much thanks to all your preorders and regular orders that it's been doing so well! 

In this bonus episode, Lauren asks Gretchen your questions about the process of writing Because Internet. How did Gretchen decide what to...

35: Putting sounds into syllables is like putting toppings on a burger

Sometimes a syllable is jam-packed with sounds, like the  single-syllable word “strengths”. Other times, a syllable is as simple  as a single vowel or consonant+vowel, like the two syllables in “a-ha!”  It’s kind of like a burger: you might pack your burger with tons of  toppings, or go as simple as a patty by itself on a plate, but certain  combinations are more likely than others. For example, an open-face  burger, with only the bottom half of th...

One more day to get a signed Because Internet bookplate sticker with your name on it!

We just wanted to let any procrastinators know that you have one more day to upgrade to the new "ling-phabet" tier and get a free signed BECAUSE INTERNET bookplate sent to you in the mail! 

(The deadline is August 15 in any timezone, which might mean that Patreon will let you sneak by for a few hours into August 16 where you are, but don't count on it!!!) 

This is an easier way of effectively getting a "signed copy" of BECAUSE INTERNET without needing to ship a whole bun...

Bonus 30: Welcome aboard the metaphor train!

We're taking you on a journey to new linguistic destinations, so come along for the ride and don't forget to hold on! 

In this bonus episode, we get enthusiastic about metaphors! It's easy to think of literary comparisons like "my love is like a red, red rose" but metaphors are also far more common and almost unnoticed in regular conversation as well. For example, English speakers often talk about ideas as a journey (the metaphor train) or as if they're visual - clear or murky or h...

34: Emoji are Gesture Because Internet

Emoji make a lot of headlines, but what happens when you actually  drill down into the data for how people integrate emoji into our  everyday messages? It turns out that how we use emoji has a surprising  number of similarities with how we use gesture. 

In this episode  of Lingthusiasm, your hosts Lauren  Gawne and Gretchen McCulloch get enthusiastic about emoji, and how  gesture studies can bring us to a better understanding of these new  di...

New Patreon tier: IPA Wall of Fame and signed bookplates!

People have been asking, is there a way that we can support Lingthusiasm for a bit more per month than the bonus episodes tier? 

People have also been asking, is there a way to get a signed copy of Gretchen's new book without paying for a pretty heavy hardcover book to get shipped (often internationally) from Montreal or happening to be at a conference where she's speaking? 

We're excited to announce a new Patreon tier that solves both of these problems! 

New...

2019-07-11 18:29:42 +0000 UTC View Post

Bonus 29: Words from your family - Familects!

Do you have any words that you only use within your family? We asked this question on social media a while back and you had some great responses! 

In this episode, we get enthusiastic about familects. Also written family-lects, this is the term linguists use for the unique vocabulary that develops among families and similar tightly-knit relationship groups. Many familect words are for household objects, especially the remote control, which has dozens of reported familect terms! Fam...

33: Why spelling is hard — but also hard to change

Why  does “gh” make different sounds in “though” “through” “laugh” “light”  and “ghost”? Why is there a silent “k” at the beginning of words like  “know” and “knight”? And which other languages also have interesting  historical artefacts in their spelling systems? Spelling systems are  kind of like homes -- the longer you’ve lived in them, the more random  boxes with leftover stuff you start accumulating. 

In this ...

Bonus 28: North, left, or towards the sea? Interview with Alice Gaby

When you're giving directions, do you tell someone to turn left, turn north, turn towards the sea? Different languages favour different strategies, and sometimes even people who speak the same language use directional words differently depending on their city or local geography, especially in areas with big landmarks like mountains and islands. In this bonus episode, recorded at our liveshow in Melbourne, we get enthusiastic about words for directions with special guest Dr. Alice Gaby, an ass...

32: You heard about it but I was there - Evidentiality

Sometimes, you know something for sure. You were there. You witnessed  it. And you want to make sure that anyone who hears about it from you  knows that you’re a direct source. Other times, you weren’t there, but  you still have news. Maybe you found it out from someone else, or you  pieced together a couple pieces of indirect evidence. In that case, you  don’t want to overcommit yourself. When you pass the information on, you  want to qualify it with how y...

Bonus 27: Talking with dogs, horses, ravens, dolphins, bees, and other animals

Wouldn't it be cool if we could teach animals to have conversations with humans? Well, alright, that's a bit ambitious -- what if we just teach animals to understand us? Okay, perhaps that's too much as well -- what about just trying to understand what animals are saying to each other? Attempts to study communication between animals and humans have had decidedly mixed results, but the efforts are still very interesting! 

In this bonus episode, your hosts Lauren Gawne and Gretchen M...

New Lingthusiasm merch: esoteric symbols and Little Longitudinal Language Acquisition projects

A new round of Lingthusiasm merch is here! A new round of nerdy scarves and children's clothes, plus expanding all the scarf designs to mugs and notebooks! 

Esoteric symbols on scarves, mugs, and notebooks! 

Have you ever browsed the "Insert Symbol" menu just to explore all the cool symbols? Do you stay up late down a Wikipedia rabbit hole about obscure symbols? Would your...

31: Pop culture in Cook Islands Māori - Interview with Ake Nicholas

When a language is shifting from being spoken by a whole community to  being spoken only by older people, it’s crucial to get the kids engaged  with the language again. But kids don’t always appreciate the interests  of their elders, especially when global popular culture seems more  immediately exciting. One idea? Make stories from pop culture, featuring  characters like Dumbledore and Batman, but in the local language.  

In  this episode, yo...

Bonus 26: How do radio announcers know how to pronounce all the names? Interview with Tiger Webb

People on the radio have to say a lot of names of people and places which they might not be familiar with -- how do they know how to pronounce them all correctly? 

It's actually someone's job to make a database of all these pronunciations, and to keep it updated as new people and places are making the news. In this bonus episode, recorded at our liveshow in Sydney, we get enthusiastic about words, style guides, emoji and more with special guest Tiger Webb, who makes the pronunciati...

30: Why do we gesture when we talk? (Video episode!)

When you describe to someone a ball bouncing down a hill, one of the easiest ways to make it really clear just how much the ball bounced would be to gesture the way that it made its way downwards. You might even do the gesture even if you’re talking to the other person on the telephone and they can’t see you. No matter what language you speak, you’re likely to gesture, but that doesn’t mean we all gesture the same. 

In Lingthusiasm’s 2019-03-21 22:20:33 +0000 UTC View Post

Bonus 25: Adapting your language to other people - chat with Claire Gawne

When you talk to someone who speaks a different version of English than you do, do you keep talking the way you do otherwise or do you find yourself slightly edging towards the way they speak? What about if you travel and you're surrounded by people with another accent or dialect? 

This episode features a special behind the scenes chat with a member of the Lingthusiasm team, our audio producer Claire Gawne, who's the person responsible for making sure that the show reaches your ear...

29: The verb is the coat rack that the rest of the sentence hangs on

Some sentences have a lot of words all relating to each other, while other sentences only have a few. The verb is the thing that makes the biggest difference: it’s what makes “I gave you the book” sound fine but “I rained you the book” sound weird. Or on the flip side, “it’s raining” is a perfectly reasonable description of a general raining event, but “it’s giving” doesn’t work so well as some sort of general giving event. How can we look for patterns in the ways that...

Bonus 24: How the internet is making English better - liveshow in Melbourne, Australia

Have you ever wondered where emoji come from? Why does ending a text with a period make people think you’re mad at them? Why doesn’t “lol” mean “laughing out loud” anymore?  

This Lingthusiasm bonus episode is a live recording from the Melbourne liveshow! Your hosts Lauren Gawne and Gretchen McCulloch get enthusiastic about the ways in which the internet is breathing new life into the English language. It's also related to the topic of Gretchen's upcoming book, 2019-02-08 02:54:53 +0000 UTC View Post

28: How languages influence each other - Hannah Gibson interview on Swahili, Rangi & Bantu languages

The Rift Valley area of central and northern Tanzania is the only area where languages from all four African language families are found (Bantu, Cushitic, Nilotic, and Khoisan). Languages in this area have been in contact with each other for a long time, especially in the minds of bi- and multilingual speakers, so it’s a really interesting place to learn more about why and how languages influence each other.

In this episode, your host Lauren Gawne interviews Dr. Hannah Gibson, a Lectu...

Bonus 23: Naming people (and especially babies)

Here's a riddle: 

Everyone has one, but I use yours more than I use my own. 

What is it?

A name! 

Naming a brand-new tiny human is a big linguistic task. They might carry that name for the rest of their life -- or at least for a number of formative years, if they decide to change it when they're older. But a baby can't tell you anything about what kind of name they'd like. So how do you pick a name for someone? 

In this 23rd bonus episode...

27: Words for family relationships: Kinship terms

There are certain things that human societies, and therefore languages, have in common. We have the same basic inventory of body parts, which affect both the kinds of movements we can make to produce words and the names we have for our meat-selves. We’re all living on a watery ball of rock and fire, orbiting a large ball of gas. And we all arrived on this planet by means of other humans, and form societies to help each other stick around. Sometimes, we even bring into existence further tiny...

Bonus 22: Q&A about old words, ears, Australian English, and more (with optional video version!)

Thank you for sending in all your great questions for this special bonus Q&A episode! 

We answer your questions about linguistics games, very old words, using video to do linguistic research, and what would happen if your ears were a different shape. We also give you a peak behind the scenes, answering questions about how the liveshows went (you'll be able to listen to the recording early in the new year), what Gretchen's learned about Australian English, and what we've got pla...