Category: cognition (page 1 of 6)

393: Push and Pull (Live Q&A)

Are there any pairs of words that you constantly get confused? They’re the ones where you have to think for a second to get them straight.

Why do our brains have this problem? What about these words makes them so …

383: Decolonising the Archive (with Emma Murphy and Caroline Hughes)

Communities need language. But a lot of the documentation is locked up in the archives.

So now linguists are teaming up with community researchers to demystify linguistic research, so that this work can be taken to their communities to help …

382: There’s No Enhance Button (with Helen Fraser)

We hear what we expect to hear.

That’s a problem in court, where covert audio recordings are often unclear. Who decides what goes into the transcript that lawyers, judges, and juries will see?

We’re talking to Dr Helen Fraser about …

372: Because Internet (with Gretchen McCulloch and Grant Mathumba Thompson)

The rules are changing. Here’s the manual.

Gretchen McCulloch’s book Because Internet is a look at how people use language on the net to communicate and to show identity. How do people laugh online? How is emoji like gesture?

It’s …

364: Mailbag of R-R-R-R

The questions never stop, and neither do we.

  • What’s the past tense of yeet, and why is English past tense so strange?
  • Can etymology help you spell rhythm?
  • Should French teachers have to speak with a Parisian accent?

362: Gesture in Mind (with Violet Wardrill)

Gesture. We all do it. But what are our brains doing while it’s going on?

What does gesture contribute to our interpretation? Can we work out complex meanings when words are replaced by gestures? And when a gesture like the …

354: Shiny Crumb (Live Q&A)

Have you ever blanked on a word and said something else?

It may not just be you. Some mild forms of anomia happen as we age, but research finds that lexical recall is not straightforward.

We’ll be hearing from you …

346: What Works (featuring Dan Dediu)

Why does language have the form it does, and why does it change the way it does?

Is it just… because? Or are there environmental motivators? Linguists are getting interested in just what factors are forming language into what it …

342: Mailbag of Vague

We are once again diving into our voluminous mailbag.

Was the QWERTY layout designed to slow you down? Is English a creole language? Why does a word keep popping up over and over after you first hear it? And what is …

341: What the F (featuring Benjamin Bergen)

What’s behind swearing?

If you’re looking at the brain, an awful lot. But how do we use swearing to navigate social relationships? And do all language have swears?

We’re talking to cognitive scientist Benjamin Bergen on this episode of Talk the Talk.…

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