Lexis

Show notes for Episode 14 Welcome to Episode 14 of the Lexis podcast in which Jacky, Dan, Lisa and Matthew talk about: How language frames and represents people and events Oscar Pistorius and Reeva Steenkamp Advice to women about personal safety And we talk to Professor Emma Moore from the University of Sheffield in a wide-ranging interview about: non-standard English and how it’s used for different purposes the importance of understanding the societal origins of attitudes to language why we need to understand the differences between spoken and written systems ...and how sociolinguistics saved our lives! Emma Moore’s Sheffield University page: Professor Emma Moore | English Emma Moore’s Eden Village Girls study: “I were out with Lucy last week. She were in a right good mood.” What Did You Say? https://festivalofthemind.sheffield.ac.uk/2020/futurecade/what-did-you-say/ What Did You Say? Podcast episode: https://festivalofthemind.sheffield.ac.uk/2020/spiegeltent/what-did-you-say-podcast/ Jenny Cheshire’s Reading study: Jenny Cheshire – Linguistic Variation and Social Function – All About Linguistics Penelope Eckert’s High School study: Penelope Eckert – High School Ethnography Peter Trudgill’s Norwich study: Peter Trudgill, Norwich Lesley Milroy’s Belfast studies: Milroy's Belfast Study Language in the News The representation of (convicted murderer of Reeva Steenkamp) Oscar Pistorius: Sonia Sodha on Twitter: "My god BBC. “The extraordinary story of paralympic and Olympic sprinter” who “suddenly found himself at the centre of a murder investigation.” Extraordinary? Found himself? INSPIRATIONAL?! No way to talk about a convicted murderer. Talk about minimising the murder of women.… https://t.co/dW8dZoRpiZ" Anya Palmer on Twitter: "They've changed it to say he killed her. Still not saying he murdered her. He was charged with murder when he MURDERED his girlfriend.… https://t.co/4gAOrU3UML" https://twitter.com/soniasodha/status/1321367689475067904 Debbie Cameron on Twitter: "So, we can add 'found himself at the centre of a murder investigation' to the already long list of convoluted formulas the media use to gloss over men's violence against women and make the perpetrators into tragic heroes. (See also the play on the word 'trials' in the title)… https://t.co/koQUBG2eYV" Police advice to women: https://twitter.com/SkyNews/status/1316307733147246594?s=20 https://twitter.com/MisterLJones/status/1316810550190407680?s=20 Contact us @LexisPodcast. Subscribe: Lexis Podcast | Podcast on Spotify Contributors Matthew Butler Twitter: https://twitter.com/Matthewbutlerwy Lisa Casey blog: https://livingthroughlanguage.wordpress.com/ & Twitter: Language Debates (@LanguageDebates) Dan Clayton blog: EngLangBlog & Twitter: EngLangBlog (@EngLangBlog) Jacky Glancey Twitter: https://twitter.com/JackyGlancey Music: Freenotes Transcript:https://docs.google.com/document/d/1iaQEzsVjifbKajiYJPob54-AHGoAGiAwk-mfLjD5M_o/edit?usp=drivesdk

SHOW NOTES (TRANSCRIPT AT BOTTOM) Show notes for Episode 13 Welcome to Episode 13 of the Lexis podcast in which Jacky, Dan, Lisa and Matthew talk about accent in an accent prejudice special, including: Negative attitudes to regional and social accents Social attitudes to ‘regional’ accents Humour, pride and regional/social identity online Doric covid warnings As part of this we also talk to Lauren White whose report into accent and social attitudes at Durham University spurred several of these stories. Lauren’s report is here: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/344434314_A_REPORT_ON_NORTHERN_STUDENT_EXPERIENCE_AT_DURHAM_UNIVERSITY Language in the News Students from northern England facing 'toxic attitude' at Durham University (this is the one based on Lauren’s report) Guardian main story on accent discrimination and class: UK's top universities urged to act on classism and accent prejudice Guardian on accent discrimination: 'It's had a lasting impact': students on being bullied over their accents UK students: Have you been ridiculed over your accent or background? Accentism against Essex: Accentism is alive and well – and it doesn't only affect the north of England Rob Drummond discussing use of ‘regional’ re accents: https://twitter.com/RobDrummond/status/1319923837824356352 University of York on accent attitudes: https://www.york.ac.uk/news-and-events/news/2019/research/regional-accents-doesn't-hold-back-top-jobs/ Various articles on attitudes to accents based on a marketing survey from OnBuy: Yorkshire most trustworthy accent in the UK, says survey | Bradford Telegraph and Argus Yorkshire Accent Has Been Voted Most Trustworthy Accent In The UK Brummie accent named least trustworthy in the UK, study reveals Sexiest accents from (ahem) Illicit Encounters survey (Trigger Warning: features a picture of Barry Chuckle): Men from Yorkshire have England's sexiest accent, poll finds Accents/dialects discriminated against on Twitter: https://twitter.com/EngLangBlog/status/1319014609781739520 Interesting and effective use of representation of accent/dialect: https://twitter.com/AngelaRayner/status/1319021626311180291?s=20 Doric Covid warnings: https://www.grampianonline.co.uk/news/doric-coronavirus-advice-tells-ye-fit-ye-need-ta-dee-195854/ Accent Bias in Britain project: https://accentbiasbritain.org/ The Accentism Project: http://accentism.org/ Eccentricity podcast: https://www.accentricity-podcast.com/ Contact us @LexisPodcast. Subscribe: Lexis Podcast | Podcast on Spotify Contributors Matthew Butler Twitter: https://twitter.com/Matthewbutlerwy Lisa Casey blog: https://livingthroughlanguage.wordpress.com/ & Twitter: Language Debates (@LanguageDebates) Dan Clayton blog: EngLangBlog & Twitter: EngLangBlog (@EngLangBlog) Jacky Glancey Twitter: https://twitter.com/JackyGlancey Music: Freenotes

Show notes for Episode 12 Welcome to Episode 12 of the Lexis podcast in which Jacky, Dan, Lisa and Matthew talk about: Children’s language development via Twitter videos of babies with huskies, lullabies and big-scale projects that measure children’s lockdown language. We also talk to Dr Vanja Karanovic about bilingual children’s language development. Vanja’s Twitter page: https://twitter.com/DrVanjaK Some of the texts referred to: Grosjean, F, 2012, Bilingual: Life and Reality, Harvard University Press Crystal, D, 1989, Listen to Your Child (2nd edition), Penguin (Chapter 7) De Houwer, A.,2009, BIlingual First Language Acquisition, Multilingual Matter Language in the News Baby and Husky: https://imgur.com/gallery/sakCQNd Constance Bainbridge on lullaby research: https://twitter.com/conBainbridge/status/1318294620778995716 Julien Mayor: https://twitter.com/julien__mayor/status/1321922810634227712 Contact us @LexisPodcast. Subscribe: Lexis Podcast | Podcast on Spotify Contributors Matthew Butler Twitter: https://twitter.com/Matthewbutlerwy Lisa Casey blog: https://livingthroughlanguage.wordpress.com/ & Twitter: Language Debates (@LanguageDebates) Dan Clayton blog: EngLangBlog & Twitter: EngLangBlog (@EngLangBlog) Jacky Glancey Twitter: https://twitter.com/JackyGlancey Music: Freenotes

Welcome to Episode 11 of the Lexis podcast in which Jacky, Dan, Lisa and Matthew talk about: Interruptions: in the US presidential debate, in online classrooms via TikTok and how gender and power are factors in how we are treated in conversations. We also talk to Dr Catherine Laing from Cardiff University’s Centre for Language and Communication Research about child language development and infant-directed speech. Catherine Laing’s University page: https://www.cardiff.ac.uk/people/view/921190-laing-catherine Catherine’s Twitter account: https://twitter.com/cathelaing24 Schieffelin and Ochs’s paper (1986) on how child-directed speech isn’t used in some societies: http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/anthro/faculty/ochs/articles/Schieffelin_Ochs_1986_Language_Socialization.pdf Casillas, Brown and Levinson on verbal interaction with children in a southern Mexico village https://srcd.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/cdev.13349 Cristia, Dupoux, Gurven & Stieglitz on verbal interaction with children in lowland Bolivia: https://srcd.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/cdev.12974 Babel, The Language Magazine: https://babelzine.co.uk/ The Vocal Fries podcast https://vocalfriespod.com/ Language in the News Interruptions in the US presidential debate: https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/09/trump-interruptions-first-presidential-debate-biden.html Interruptions between Trump and Clinton in 2016: https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2016/9/27/13017666/presidential-debate-trump-clinton-sexism-interruptions https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/donald-trump-hillary-clinton-third-presidential-debate-how-many-times-interruptions-sexism-a7371286.html Interruptions of a woman in STEM (via TikTok): https://www.dailydot.com/unclick/woman-in-stem-interruptions-tiktok/ Deborah Cameron on interruptions and gender: https://debuk.wordpress.com/2020/08/15/woman-interrupted/ Language in Conflict: https://languageinconflict.org/ Contact us @LexisPodcast. Subscribe: Lexis Podcast | Podcast on Spotify Contributors Matthew Butler Twitter: https://twitter.com/Matthewbutlerwy Lisa Casey blog: https://livingthroughlanguage.wordpress.com/ & Twitter: Language Debates (@LanguageDebates) Dan Clayton blog: EngLangBlog & Twitter: EngLangBlog (@EngLangBlog) Jacky Glancey Twitter: https://twitter.com/JackyGlancey Music: Freenotes

Show notes for Episode 10 Welcome to Episode 10 of the Lexis podcast in which Jacky, Dan, Lisa and Matthew talk about: Another bad article about language, which takes a swipe at people who ask for people to respect their pronoun choices. We also talk to Associate Professor in Sociolinguistics at the University of Nottingham, Dr Lucy Jones about language, sexuality, gender and identity. Lucy Jones’ blog: https://queerlinglang.wordpress.com/ Lucy Jones’ University of Nottingham page: https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/english/people/lucy.jones Lucy’s Twitter account: https://twitter.com/jones_lucy Robert Podesva’s study on falsetto and identity: https://web.stanford.edu/~eckert/Courses/l1562018/Readings/Podesva2007.pdf Language in the News Here’s the article by Joanna Williams in The Times that we analysed: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/declaring-your-pronouns-is-pure-narcissism-7rffv2mrz A couple of the bits we talked about are reproduced below: Declaring your pronouns is pure narcissism An identity-obsessed minority with too much time on its hands has lost touch with reality Joanna Williams I’m Joanna, she/her. You probably guessed that from my name and my photo. But declaring one’s pronouns is all the rage and I’d hate to appear out of touch. I’m all for denying biology. I pretend I’m not getting older and can still drink too much without suffering the next day. I pretend I can fit into clothes I bought 20 years ago. But I don’t insist other people confirm my delusions. Demanding to be called they/them rather than he/she is to insist that the rest of the world share in your fantasy. When Jeremy Corbyn spoke at the Pink News awards late last year he began his speech by saying: “My name is Jeremy Corbyn, pronouns he/him.” Surely no one in attendance doubted Corbyn’s manhood, or that men are commonly referred to as “he”. People devise all kinds of ways to signal their political beliefs, particularly when they decide that doing so makes them out to be especially virtuous. Pronoun-declaring is, in truth, a game played by an identity-obsessed minority with far too much time on its hands. Forced attempts at normalising pronoun introductions may be done in the name of inclusivity but they reveal only how hopelessly out of touch those who run our universities, local authorities and political parties have become. They no longer have any idea how normal people talk to each other. Contact us @LexisPodcast. Subscribe: Lexis Podcast | Podcast on Spotify Contributors Matthew Butler Twitter: https://twitter.com/Matthewbutlerwy Lisa Casey blog: https://livingthroughlanguage.wordpress.com/ & Twitter: Language Debates (@LanguageDebates) Dan Clayton blog: EngLangBlog & Twitter: EngLangBlog (@EngLangBlog) Jacky Glancey Twitter: https://twitter.com/JackyGlancey Music: Freenotes

Show notes for Episode 9 Welcome to Episode 9 of the Lexis podcast in which Jacky, Dan, Lisa and Matthew talk about: Good and bad articles about language, featuring an absolute peeve-fest from James Innes-Smith in The Spectator and a much better one from Stan Carey on emoji panics on the MacMillan Dictionary blog. We also talk to author, lexicographer, slang expert and visiting language consultant at King’s College, London, Tony Thorne about new words and lots more! Tony’s Twitter page: https://twitter.com/tonythorne007 Tony Thorne’s King’s College page: https://www.kcl.ac.uk/study/foundations/tony-thorne/who-is-tony-thorne Language and Innovation: Tony’s blog which chronicles much of his recent work on new words: https://language-and-innovation.com/ Coronaspeak: #CORONASPEAK – the language of Covid-19 goes viral Kate Burridge and Howard Manns onn pandemic vocabulary: 'Iso', 'boomer remover' and 'quarantini': how coronavirus is changing our language Language in the News Here’s the article from The Spectator that we analysed: War of the words: have we stopped making sense? (Hat Tip to Havant and South Downs College for the link to the Spectator article: https://twitter.com/HSDCEngLang) We also made reference to this article by Lindsay Johns: Ghetto grammar robs the young of a proper voice If you want to see some responses to the Lindsay Johns article, many of which are relevant to the Spectator one too, try here: EngLangBlog: Ghetto grammar and here: Thoughts on Lindsay Johns and 'Ghetto Grammar' We liked this article by Stan Carey, though: Will emojis ruin English? Find more of Stan’s writing through here: https://www.macmillandictionaryblog.com/author/stan-carey and here: https://twitter.com/StanCarey Contact us @LexisPodcast. Subscribe: Lexis Podcast | Podcast on Spotify Contributors Matthew Butler Twitter: https://twitter.com/Matthewbutlerwy Lisa Casey blog: https://livingthroughlanguage.wordpress.com/ & Twitter: Language Debates (@LanguageDebates) Dan Clayton blog: EngLangBlog & Twitter: EngLangBlog (@EngLangBlog) Jacky Glancey Twitter: https://twitter.com/JackyGlancey Music: Freenotes

Show notes for Episode 8 Here are the show notes for Episode 8 which is a special edition on Northern accents where Jacky, Dan, Lisa and Matthew (2 proper Northerners, a Welsh person and a soft, southern shandy drinker) talk about: Northern accents, dialect levelling and reports of a new ‘educated middle class northern English accent’ emerging. And we talk to Dr Georgina Brown from Lancaster University about the study itself. Georgina Brown’s Lancaster University page: https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/linguistics/about/people/georgina-brown Northern accents are becoming more similar, suggests new research A link posted by project leader Patrycja Strycharczuk about the Manchester research: Strycharczuk et al.’s Frontiers paper sparks controversy The paper itself can be found here: General Northern English. Exploring Regional Variation in the North of England With Machine Learning Patrycja Strycharczuk (@PatStrycharczuk) Kevin Watson on Scouse: Scousers are proud of their accent Cambridge University’s app to measure dialect change: Do you say splinter, spool, spile or spell? English Dialects app tries to guess your regional accent Cambridge app maps decline in regional diversity of English dialects Media reports on the paper Guardian: Northern English accents becoming more similar, researchers find Mail Online: Northern accents 'are becoming more similar' Daily Telegraph: Northern accents becoming more similar as middle-class 'General Northern English' emerges, study finds Independent: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/northern-accents-more-similar-distinct-cities-manchester-leeds-sheffield-a9623071.html A great Twitter account to follow if you want to see how Twitter can be used for dialect research: https://twitter.com/tweetolectology Contact us @LexisPodcast. Subscribe: Lexis Podcast | Podcast on Spotify Contributors Matthew Butler Twitter: https://twitter.com/Matthewbutlerwy Lisa Casey blog: https://livingthroughlanguage.wordpress.com/ & Twitter: Language Debates (@LanguageDebates) Dan Clayton blog: EngLangBlog & Twitter: EngLangBlog (@EngLangBlog) Jacky Glancey Twitter: https://twitter.com/JackyGlancey Music: Freenotes

Show notes for Episode 7 Here are the show notes for Episode 7 where Jacky, Dan, Lisa and Matthew talk about: ‘Irregardless’ and why this word causes prescriptivists such angst. The Daily Mail going overboard on ‘man overboard’ and why challenging sexist language gets such a bad press. And we talk to Dr Philip Seargeant of the Open University about emoji and political storytelling. Philip Seargeant’s university page: http://www.open.ac.uk/people/ps4549 Philip Seargeant’s website: Philip Seargeant Twitter: https://twitter.com/philipseargeant Philip Seargeant on emoji: https://www.digitaltrends.com/features/emoji-digital-language-of-emotion-phillip-seargeant/ Philip Seargeant on political storytelling: https://www.ft.com/content/d0d0f4ec-a4d2-11ea-92e2-cbd9b7e28ee6 (paywalled) The Special Adviser's Tale, or Political Storytelling in the Time of Covid Irregardless https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/jul/06/is-irregardless-a-real-word-dictionary Peter Sokolowski of Merriam Webster Dictionaries discusses ‘irregardless’ in a Twitter thread: https://twitter.com/PeterSokolowski/status/1280585356908388352 ‘Man overboard’ Sailors told to stop using Navy terms like 'unmanned' and 'man power' Royal Navy bans terms 'unmanned' and 'manpower' because it's 'sexist' Contact us @LexisPodcast.  Subscribe: Lexis Podcast | Podcast on Spotify Contributors Matthew Butler Twitter: https://twitter.com/Matthewbutlerwy Lisa Casey blog: https://livingthroughlanguage.wordpress.com/ & Twitter: Language Debates (@LanguageDebates) Dan Clayton blog: EngLangBlog & Twitter: EngLangBlog (@EngLangBlog) Jacky Glancey Twitter: https://twitter.com/JackyGlancey Music: Freenotes

Show notes for Episode 6 Here are the show notes for Episode 6 where Jacky, Dan, Lisa and Matthew talk about: language change related to the term ‘Karen’ and how its meaning has drifted and been debated the changing of the name of Washington’s American Football team And we talk to Kelly Wright in a wide-ranging interview about her work in experimental sociolinguistics, how race and ethnicity are represented in language, blackness and whiteness in voices and lots more... Kelly Wright’s website: Covert Racism | Wright Linguistics Publications and interviews: https://kellywright5.wixsite.com/raciolinguistics/recent-publications John Rickford on Rachel Jeantel’s testimony at the George Zimmerman trial: Stanford linguist: prejudice toward African American dialect can result in unfair rulings A link to a presentation on housing discrimination: https://youtu.be/2YiSTziPt5o Kelly Wright on Twitter: https://twitter.com/raciolinguistic Groundbreaking report reveals racial bias in English football commentary The RunRepeat study: Racial Bias in Football Commentary (Study) Karen How 'Karen' went from a popular baby name to a stand-in for white entitlement What is and where did it come from? This from the Indy: What is the Karen meme and is it a misogynistic slur? | indy100 Hadley freeman in the Guardian on Karen being sexist: The 'Karen' meme is everywhere – and it has become mired in sexism Karen Attiah in the Washington Post about why it's not oppressive: Opinion | The ‘Karen’ memes and jokes aren’t sexist or racist. Let a Karen explain. A bit of a more nuanced suggestion that it allows white women to uphold white supremacy: I am no longer Outside in a AMG on Twitter Changing the Washington NFL team name (We’ve chosen not to use the team name here but you’ll find it referred to in some of these articles.) An NFL Name Change That Has Been a Long Time Coming https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-53390944 https://www.economist.com/united-states/2020/07/18/renaming-the-washington-redskins Contact us @LexisPodcast. Subscribe: Lexis Podcast | Podcast on Spotify Contributors Matthew Butler Twitter: https://twitter.com/Matthewbutlerwy Lisa Casey blog: https://livingthroughlanguage.wordpress.com/ & Twitter: Language Debates (@LanguageDebates) Dan Clayton blog: EngLangBlog & Twitter: EngLangBlog (@EngLangBlog) Jacky Glancey Twitter: https://twitter.com/JackyGlancey Music: Freenotes

Show notes for Episode 5 Here are the show notes for Episode 5 where Jacky, Dan, Lisa and Matthew talk about language change and some of the arguments around banning and censoring language - the word game, Scrabble ‘banning’ racial slurs - slaves and masters, master bedrooms and nitty gritty: words that are being challenged and reviewed - political correctness, cancel culture and wokeness And we talk to Dr Ian Cushing about language in schools, the policing of language and the role, politics and importance of Standard English in education.  You can find the links to the stories and research we’ve mentioned in this programme, below. Ian Cushing’s work on language in schools: Teachers' slang bans 'likely to cause long-term damage' Should schools be allowed to ban slang words like 'peng'? The Policy and Policing of Language in Schools: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/language-in-society/article/policy-and-policing-of-language-in-schools/6C4BC80399E27747D34819060E186A62#fndtn-information Comment on Ian’s article: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/language-in-society/article/comment-on-the-policy-and-policing-of-language-in-schools-by-ian-cushing/780222C30D0C8C011B8ACEB0FD8EC964 Ian’s response: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/language-in-society/article/power-policing-and-language-policy-mechanisms-in-schools-a-response-to-hudson/ACEE15C4A9A3BDC555B1DFCCF0446E5C Ian Cushing on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ian_cushing Language in the News Scrabble ‘bans’ slurs: US Scrabble bans racist and LGBTQ slurs from tournaments Scrabble community mulls banning racial and homophobic slurs Slaves and masters: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-53050955 Master bedroom ‘banned’: Estate agents banned from saying 'master bedroom' due to concerns over slavery and sexism links Nitty gritty - is it a racist term? 'Nitty gritty' on Sky Sports' banned list of words due to supposed links to slavery Where does the phrase nitty gritty come from - and why has Sky Sports banned it? It's not just the n-word in the woodpile - from 'no can do' to 'hooligan' we reveal English's hidden racism Police forbid politically incorrect phrases | UK news 
 Contact us @LexisPodcast.  Subscribe: Lexis Podcast | Podcast on Spotify Contributors Matthew Butler  Twitter: https://twitter.com/Matthewbutlerwy Lisa Casey  blog: https://livingthroughlanguage.wordpress.com/ & Twitter: Language Debates (@LanguageDebates) Dan Clayton  blog: EngLangBlog & Twitter: EngLangBlog (@EngLangBlog) Jacky Glancey  Twitter: https://twitter.com/JackyGlancey Music: Freenotes