Lexicon Valley
Lexicon Valley
A podcast about language, with hosts Mike Vuolo, Bob Garfield and John McWhorter.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Nov 12, 2019 • 38min
Men, Women and Children
The weird plurals of sentient beings.
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Oct 29, 2019 • 35min
Zombie English
Dead parts of our language have a way of sticking around.
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Oct 16, 2019 • 38min
Let's Do Lunch
Come table-hopping as we discuss the linguistic quirks of mealtime terms.
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Oct 1, 2019 • 38min
How to Think Like a Linguist
The alphabet doesn't quite capture the many sounds we make.
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Sep 17, 2019 • 41min
Has English Gotten Less Complex?
English pronouns in particular have simplified over time.
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Sep 3, 2019 • 37min
S#!t, Hell, and Darn
Dissecting three common curse words.
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Aug 20, 2019 • 46min
This Family Speaks 1,200 Languages
From Javanese to Tagalog, the wonderful Austronesian languages.
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Aug 6, 2019 • 42min
Language vs. Dialect
A language is a dialect with an army, to paraphrase a renowned linguist.
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Jul 23, 2019 • 39min
The Internet Loves the Exclamation Point!!
On some of the deep forces that shape human language.
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Jul 9, 2019 • 47min
Why Is “Ph” Pronounced That Way?
We have two F sounds in English but only one is spelled with the letter F.
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