275: The Linguistic Listician (featuring Arika Okrent)

You won’t believe what it takes to make a good linguistic article!

Listicles, or list articles, can be interesting, amusing, and even informative. What goes into the creation of a good linguistic listicle? How can they change someone’s mind about language? And what’s in the future for science communication?

Linguist and writer Arika Okrent talks to Daniel and Kylie on this episode of Talk the Talk.

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Promo

Promo with Kylie Sturgess, 14 Feb 2017: Listician

Full interview

Interview with Arika Okrent (complete)

Arika Okrent discusses science communication, how to convince people, and dealing with detractors.

Cutting Room Floor

Cutting Room Floor 275: The Linguistic Listician

Kylie’s been to Women’s Football! But can she figure out how to get the radio equipment to work? Of course she can — she’s a pro in the studio. And yet…

Daniel and Kylie went to Laneway! What did they get up to, and who did they see? Daniel’s Tycho shirt was the talk of the festival.

What’s the difference between brain and mind? Can you train a cat? And Kylie reveals the truly international language.

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Show notes

What’s the Correct Pronunciation of February?
http://mentalfloss.com/article/54846/whats-correct-pronunciation-february

Adoptees advantaged by birth language memory
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/01/170118082828.htm

Infants Exposed to Languages Can Retain Them Later in Life
http://www.livescience.com/57718-infants-language-exposure-impacts-learning.html

Early development of abstract language knowledge: evidence from perception–production transfer of birth-language memory
http://rsos.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/4/1/160660

Learn a New Lingo While Doing Something Else
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/learn-a-new-lingo-while-doing-something-else/

Maternal language shapes infants’ cry melodies
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/08/160819084631.htm

Arika Okrent on Mental Floss
http://mentalfloss.com/authors/arika-okrent

12 Horrible Gobbledygook Words We Reluctantly Accepted
http://mentalfloss.com/article/31854/12-horrible-gobbledygook-words-we-reluctantly-accepted

The Grammar Rules Behind 3 Commonly Disparaged Dialects
http://mentalfloss.com/article/51741/grammar-rules-behind-3-commonly-disparaged-dialects

6 French and German Dialects That Are 100 Percent American
http://mentalfloss.com/article/91584/6-french-and-german-dialects-are-100-percent-american

The listicle as literary form
http://mag.uchicago.edu/arts-humanities/listicle-literary-form

Ben Zimmer: The rise of the shitgibbon
https://stronglang.wordpress.com/2017/02/09/the-rise-of-the-shitgibbon/

Linguists Have Been Discussing “Shit Gibbon.” I Argue It’s Not Entirely About Gibbons.
http://www.languagejones.com/blog-1/2017/2/9/linguists-have-been-discussing-shit-gibbon-i-argue-its-not-entirely-about-gibbons

The orgin and constraints of “shitgibbon” compounds
http://allthingslinguistic.com/post/157210818652/the-orgin-and-constraints-of-shitgibbon

Shitgibbon frequencies (by Daniel)
http://goodreasonblog.com/2017/02/shitgibbon-frequencies/

The Raised Fist Emoji Is Social Media’s Resistance Symbol
http://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/entry/raised-fist-emoji-resistance_us_5899e39fe4b09bd304bd8ac9