Category: interviews (page 1 of 7)

394: What’s Your Pronoun? (with Dennis Baron)

It’s been a big year for singular they, but there’s more than one pronoun in town.

What invented pronouns have there been? How far back does singular they go? And why did some people kick up a fuss about …

385: You Look Like a Thing (with Janelle Shane)

Artificial intelligence is everywhere, and that freaks some people out. But the real problem is that AIs may not be smart enough.

Whether you’re concerned about the future of human/computer interaction, or you just want a fun description of machine …

369: The Grammarian Is In (with Ellen Jovin and Pete Swanton)

If you’re at a park in New York City, you may see someone at a table offering free grammar advice.

That person is writer Ellen Jovin, and she dispenses wisdom from her Grammar Table. What motivates her to do …

Lexitecture crossover (with Ryan Paulsen and Amy Hanlon)

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Lexitecture crossover (with Ryan Paulsen and Amy Hanlon)

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We got together with Ryan Paulsen and Amy Hanlon from etymology podcast Lexitecture, and asked them about their love of language, their techniques for doing etymology, and …

365: Difficult Words (with Jane Solomon, Alexandra Marley, and Janice Nalorlman)

Juxtapose. Obfuscate. And of course, absquatulate.

All these words appear in a new dictionary for young people. It’s The Dictionary of Difficult Words, and we’re talking to the author, lexicographer Jane Solomon.

Activate your sesquipedalian …

357: The F-Word (with Jesse Sheidlower)

Flexible. Funny. Foul.

This most versatile of English words is all of these and more. And it gets a thorough cataloging in The F-Word by lexicographer Jesse Sheidlower.

He sits down with Daniel for a chat on history, power, …

352: Wait (with Sali Tagliamonte)

Wait — you mean people are doing something new in English? They sure are.

It’s happening to the word wait, and it’s been spotted by famed sociolinguist Dr Sali Tagliamonte of the University of Toronto. Do you start sentences with …

350: Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish (with Zalmen Mlotek and Motl Didner)

Fiddler on the Roof is heading to Broadway — in Yiddish for the first time.

What went into the production? How did translation work? What does this production mean to the cast and to audience members?

Daniel speaks with Zalmen Mlotek

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 …

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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