Word of Mouth

Michael meets fellow children's author Michael Morpurgo - author of over 150 books - including Kensuke's Kingdom, Private Peaceful and Warhorse. They talk words, writing, books and language and why it's so important that children learn to love reading at an early age.Producer: Maggie Ayre

Joshua Reno talks about how Charlie, his non-verbal son who is on the autism spectrum, communicates with him very effectively using gestures known as "home signs". Joshua is the author of Home Signs: An Ethnography of Life beyond and beside Language.Produced for BBC Audio Bristol by Sally Heaven

In conversation with Michael about his book "32 Words For Field" Manchán Magan reveals Ireland's deep connection with the landscape expressed through the Irish language. The author traces his country's relationship with the natural world and its corresponding belief system that encompasses the 'otherworld'. He lists many similarities between Irish and Sanskrit and even Arabic - suggesting a link between the ancient Islamic word Shamrakh and the Irish Seamróg (shamrock). It's a fascinating discussion of a rich and poetic language that survives in traditional communities on the west coast and is being enthusiastically revived in the cities. Manchán also lists the many words that we use in English that have come from Irish and Scots Gaelic: words like 'bog' 'whisky' 'hooligan' and Tory. We also learn a bit of Hiberno-English along the way.Producer: Maggie Ayre for BBC Audio BristolA longer version of this programme is available on the podcast

Professor Lucy Easthope explains why language is important in the aftermath of a disaster, why some words are useful and some can be damaging.Produced for BBC Audio Bristol by Sally Heaven

Dominic Fifield explains how football clubs got their names, uncovering a fascinating social history behind the Wanderers, Wednesdays and Villas.Produced for BBC Audio Bristol by Sally Heaven

Gillian Tett, a Financial Times columnist and anthropologist, discusses the importance of language in her work and why we should think like anthropologists. Topics include the etymology of words like 'company' and 'bank', similarities between Brits and Japanese in the workplace, and the value of anthropological thinking in today's world.

Michael shares listeners' stories about the words and phrases passed down in their families that they keep using, and what they mean to them. With Rob Drummond, Professor of Sociolinguistics at Manchester Met University, and author of You’re All Talk: why we are what we speak. Producer Beth O'Dea, BBC Audio Bristol

Michael Rosen talks to neuroscientist Dr Julia Ravey about whether we think and act differently when speaking a non-native language.More and more people are finding themselves speaking multiple languages in our cross-cultural societies. But when we communicate in a different tongue, do we become a different person? From the decisions we make to the memories we form, research in neuroscience and psychology has begun exploring this fascinating area, which not only offers insights into the linguistic brain, but also calls into question if our ‘core self’ is a as stable as we like to think it is…Producer: Becky Ripley

Michael Rosen explores how language has become an online commodity, with Dr Pip Thornton, Chancellor's Fellow at the University of Edinburgh. Dr Thornton explains, with the help of auction props and a receipt machine, what happens to the words that we put into an online search and how the engines make money from our words and phrases. We discover why William Wordsworth's daffodils and clouds have had their context 'stolen', how Lewis Carroll wrote an incredibly 'cheap' poem and why mesothelioma is the most 'expensive' word. Plus Michael proposes a new form of poetry - the Monetised School of Poetry. Produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Ellie Richold

Michael Rosen is joined by language scholar Ruanni Tupas, to discuss Unequal English - how native English is perceived differently, depending on where you come from.Ruanni, who's from the Philippines and also spent two decades in Singapore, has spent his career thinking about what it means to be a native English speaker when you come from somewhere other than the West. He chats with Michael about his own experience of speaking four languages (English and three Philippine languages), how being judged by how he spoke English at university affected the rest of his life and research, and what it means for his children speaking English as a first language, havng grown up in Singapore. They also discuss what is really meant by English as a 'global language', and why he prefers thinking of multi-lingualism as having a language repertoire. Ruanni Tupas is Associate Professor of Sociolinguistics at UCL, London.Produced by Eliza Lomas for BBC Audio Bristol