Lingthusiasm - A podcast that's enthusiastic about linguistics

The hosts of this podcast discuss negation in language, exploring how different languages indicate absence or lack. They delve into the concept of double negation and negative concord in French and English, highlighting the stigmatization of double negation in English. They also discuss the use of multiple negative elements in sentences and explore the concept of positive anymore in English. The podcast concludes by exploring positive polarity items in relation to negation.

Explore the fascinating world of R and R-like sounds in linguistics. Learn about the variability and perception of the /r/ sound in different accents. Discover the presence of 'R' at the end of words and its connection to homophones and homographs. Dive into colored vowels in various languages and Mandarin's Erhoi phenomenon. Explore the variations of R-like sounds in different languages. Uncover the recurring motif of the letter 'R' in languages.

If you go to the linguistics section of a big library, you may find some shelves containing thick, dusty grammars of various languages. But grammars, like dictionaries, don’t just appear out of nowhere -- they’re made by people, and those people bring their own interests and priorities to the process. In this episode, your hosts Lauren Gawne and Gretchen McCulloch get enthusiastic about the process of figuring out the structure of a language and writing it down -- making a kind of book called a descriptive grammar. We also talk about differences in grammar-writing traditions in the history of India, Europe, and China, and how the structures of Sanskrit, Latin, and Old Chinese influenced the kinds of things that their early grammarians noticed about language. Announcements: We’re doing a virtual live show! It’s on April 24, 2021 and you can get access to it by becoming a patron of Lingthusiasm at any level. The Lingthusiasm liveshow is part of LingFest, a fringe-festival-like programme of independently organized online linguistics events for the week of April 24 to May 2. See the LingFest website for details as more events trickle in. https://lingcomm.org/lingfest/ The week before LingFest is LingComm21, the International Conference on Linguistics Communication. LingComm21 is a small, highly interactive, virtual conference that brings together lingcommers from a variety of levels and backgrounds, including linguists communicating with public audiences and communicators with a “beat” related to language. Find out more about LingComm21. https://lingcomm.org/conference/ This month’s bonus episode is about reduplication! Have you eaten salad-salad, drunk milk-milk, or read a book-book lately? Or are you thinking something more along the lines of "salad, schmalad! milk, schmilk! books, schmooks!"? In either case, you're producing reduplication! We look at different forms and meanings of reduplication across various languages through the World Atlas of Linguistic Structures, why it's not called just "duplication", and delve into English reduplication via a classic among entertaining linguistics papers, the Salad-Salad Paper. Join us on Patreon to get access to this and 48 other bonus episodes - as well as the upcoming liveshow! https://www.patreon.com/lingthusiasm Here are the links mentioned in this episode: https://lingthusiasm.com/post/646033422056292352/lingthusiasm-episode-54-how-linguists-figure-out

In this episode, your hosts get enthusiastic about the range of things that imperatives do in various languages. They discuss why imperatives are often one of the first verb forms that children learn. They also explore the relationship between negating and imperatives and how imperatives can be polite or impolite. Additionally, they delve into the origins of imperatives and the influence of Latin grammar. Lastly, they discuss the complexity of the imperative mood in different languages.

There’s no known human society without language, whether spoken or signed or both, but writing is a different story. Writing is a technology that has only been invented from scratch a handful of times: in ancient Sumeria (where it may have spread to ancient Egypt or been invented separately there), in ancient China, and in ancient Mesoamerica. Far more often, the idea of writing spreads through contact between one culture and its neighbours, even though the shape of the written characters and what they stand for can vary a lot as it spreads. In this episode, your hosts Lauren Gawne and Gretchen McCulloch get enthusiastic about writing systems, and how the structure and history of a language contribute to the massively multigenerational project of devising a writing system (a project which is still ongoing). We also talk about some of our favourite origin-of-writing system stories, including the invention of the Cherokee syllabary and Korean hangul. Announcements We’re just about to hit 100 Lingthusiasm episodes! If you’re wondering why this is only episode 52, that’s because the other half of them exist as bonus episodes on Patreon. It’s also been one year since we launched the Lingthusiasm Discord server, which has grown into a place where casual conversations about food and pets always have the potential to veer off into linguistics. There are always new people trickling into the Discord, so come by if you’re looking for a place to nerd out with fellow linguistics enthusiasts! https://lingthusiasm.com/discord This month’s bonus episode is outtake stories from Lingthusiasm interviews! We've interviewed lots of great linguists on Lingthusiasm, and sometimes there's a story or two that we just don't have space for in the main episode, so here's a bonus episode with our favourite outtakes! Think of it as a special bonus edition DVD of the past few years of Lingthusiasm with director's commentary and deleted scenes. Join us on Patreon to get access to this and 46 other bonus episodes! https://www.patreon.com/lingthusiasm For links to everything mentioned in this episode: https://lingthusiasm.com/post/640950463320260608/lingthusiasm-episode-52-writing-is-a-technology

Discover the science behind small talk in this enthusiastic podcast episode. Learn about the art of media references, strategies for avoiding awkward questions, and the cultural differences in small talk. Explore the role of small talk at conferences and in navigating social interactions. Get insights into the challenges of small talk and strategies for navigating them. Dive into the functions of small talk as a starting point for deeper conversations and maintaining social connections.

The hosts explore the pattern of how sounds fit together in different languages, known as sonority. They discuss syllable structures, pronunciation variations, and unconventional syllables. They also touch on the presence and distribution of high and low tones in language sounds. A bonus episode focuses on the creation of Crash Course Linguistics.

In this episode, the hosts discuss the translator's relationship with the text, including translating Beowulf and the Tale of Genji, translating conlangs in fiction, and mistranslation on the Scots Wikipedia.

Dr. Shivonne Gates, a linguist and Senior Researcher at NatCen Social Research, discusses Multicultural London English and accents in the UK. They cover collaborative research with young people, linguistics research jobs outside of academia, and the linguistic dynamics of high school students. The episode also touches on class attitudes in the UK, the impact of research on government policy, and transitioning from academic to non-academic research.

In this podcast, hosts Lauren and Gretchen discuss the fascinating world of adjectives. They explore how different languages categorize adjectives, the quirks of adjective usage in English, and the question of whether grammatical categories like adjectives are valid in all languages. They also share tips on how to do linguistics communication on a budget in their bonus episode.