Lingthusiasm - A podcast that's enthusiastic about linguistics

Most of the time, a word is an arbitrary label: there’s no particular reason why a cat has to be associated with the particular string of sounds in the word “cat”, and indeed other languages have different words for the same animal. But sometimes it may not be so arbitrary. Take these two shapes: a sharp, spiky 🗯 and a soft, rounded 💭 and these two names: “bouba” and “kiki”. If you had to assign one name to each shape, which would you pick? (Here’s a pause to let you think about it.) If you said that the spiky shape was kiki and the round shape was bouba, you’re like 90% of English speakers who answer this question. But does this work the same way for speakers of other languages? What about languages that don’t have a /b/ or a /k/ sound, or that have other features, like tone? In this episode of Lingthusiasm, your host Lauren Gawne talks with guest linguist Dr Suzy Styles about how language interacts with your other senses like vision and touch, and doing research across different cultures and languages. Suzy is an Assistant Professor at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, and runs the BLIP (Brain Language Intersensory Processing) lab. This month’s bonus episode on Patreon is about forensic linguistics. Gretchen and Lauren discuss the reasons why you might see a linguist in a courtroom, and whether Gretchen could write a note and convince people it was from Lauren. The least crime-filled crime podcast episode you’ll ever listen to! Listen and support the show at patreon.com/lingthusiasm We also announced two new Patreon funding goals, the first ($2,000) is to film our first video episode, taking a look at gesture. The second ($2,500) is to film at least one video interview discussing signed languages with a deaf linguist. We’re excited by the possibility of making these video episodes about linguistic topics that are a bit hard to convey in audio-only form! To see images of the bouba/kiki test and more links related to this episode, go to the shownotes page at https://lingthusiasm.com/post/175127239183/21-what-words-sound-spiky-across-languages

Hosts Lauren Gawne and Gretchen McCulloch, along with guest Lynne Murphy, delve into the relationship between Canadian and Australian English and the dominant British and American varieties. They touch on topics such as the history and formation of Australian English, differences in language usage and spelling pronunciation in Canadian English, and the unique language distinctions between the national varieties. They also explore the semantic differences of words like 'soup' and 'frown' in UK versus North American usage.

Explore the concept of presuppositions in language, how they shape our understanding of sentences, and their implications in everyday conversation and court proceedings. Learn how 'why' questions can introduce presuppositions and create misleading headlines. Discover the connection between philosophy and linguistics in understanding presuppositions.

This podcast explores the challenges of translating untranslatable words and the fascination behind them. They discuss the complexities of translating texts across languages and cultures, as well as the concept of mate ship in Australian English. The discussion also touches on the difficulties of translating articles, the importance of euphemisms, and the tension between denotation and connotation in translation.

Say, “aaaaaahhhh…..” Now try going smoothly from one vowel to another, without pausing: “aaaaaaaeeeeeeeiiiiiii”. Feel how your tongue moves in relation to the back of the roof of your mouth as you move from one vowel to the next. When you say “ahhhh” like at the dentist, your tongue is low and far back and your mouth is all the way open. If you say “cheeeeese” like in a photo, your tongue is higher up and further forward, and your mouth is more closed: it’s a lot harder for the dentist to see your molars. In this episode, your hosts Lauren Gawne and Gretchen McCulloch explain how the position of our tongue when we make vowels can be described in the shape of a trapezoid: it can go up and down, forward towards the teeth and backwards towards the throat, and there’s a bit more space for movement higher up towards the roof of your mouth. Vowels don’t just exist in a trapezoid, they move around inside it: sometimes they squish up against their neighbours, sometimes they expand into less-occupied corners of the trapezoid for more elbow room. These vowel gymnastics explain so many things: why is the first letter in the alphabet named “ay” in English, but “ah” in most other languages that use the Roman alphabet? Why is “e” in “coffee” pronounced one way and “cafe” another, when they’re clearly related? Why is English spelling so difficult? What’s the difference between a California accent and a Kiwi accent? This month’s Patreon bonus episode is about constructing languages for fun and learning. To listen to bonus episodes and support the show, visit patreon.com/lingthusiasm. To see this episode's shownotes, including an incredible animation of your mouth as a pink trombone and vowel trapezoid art, visit http://lingthusiasm.com/post/170920044226/lingthusiasm-episode-17-vowel-gymnastics-say

The hosts discuss how children learn words and the significance of the wug test in understanding plurals. They explore morphemes, the importance of using unfamiliar objects in language learning, and the recognition of 'wugs' as a linguistic category. The chapter also explores the linguistic meme of 'wugs' and its popularity in the linguistics community.

In this episode, the hosts discuss how different languages express time, the influence of metaphors on time perception, mental calendars, and cultural variations in the perception of time.

In this podcast, the hosts discuss prepositions in English grammar, exploring the Cambridge Grammar of the English Language. They also explore prepositions in other languages, discuss the challenges of translating prepositions, and talk about pied-piping. The bonus episode tackles the question of what makes a sandwich a sandwich, using prototype theory and exploring other meaning questions.

Gretchen McCulloch interviews Dr. Nicole Holliday, an Associate Professor of linguistics. They discuss how language reflects identity and what it means to 'sound black'. They explore the impact of implicit bias on language interpretation, the evolution of language, and challenges faced by African American English speakers in education.

Why imitation of accents can sound off, babies' ability to learn languages, the concept of untranslatable words, how familiarity and attention shape perception, plasticity of the brain for different sounds, an exploration of phonology and its application in spoken and sign languages.