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 this word? What does it convey?

Dr Tagliamonte tells us about her new research into these discourse-pragmatic markers, and why they really do carry a lot of meaning. It’s on this episode of Talk the Talk.

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Promo

Promo with Teri Campbell, 2019-02-19: Wait

Full interview

Interview with Sali Tagliamonte (complete)

Wait — it’s a discourse pragmatic marker! And it’s been spotted by famed sociolinguist Dr Sali Tagliamonte of the University of Toronto. Do you start sentences with this word? What does it convey? Sali tells us about her new research into these discourse-pragmatic markers, and why they really do carry a lot of meaning. 

Thanks to Sali Tagliamonte for a really fun chat, and special thanks to the Linguistic Society of America for making this interview possible.

Also at https://www.patreon.com/posts/24781035

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Show notes

Engineers translate brain signals directly into speech: Advance marks critical step toward brain-computer interfaces that hold immense promise for those with limited or no ability to speak — ScienceDaily
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/01/190129081919.htm

Towards reconstructing intelligible speech from the human auditory cortex | Scientific Reports
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-37359-z

Psychologists solve mystery of songbird learning | Cornell Chronicle
http://news.cornell.edu/stories/2019/01/psychologists-solve-mystery-songbird-learning

Teen zebra finches seek moms’ approval for their new tunes | Science | AAAS
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/01/teen-zebra-finches-seek-moms-approval-their-new-tunes

The sound of music: How the songbird learns its melody | EurekAlert! Science News
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-06/oios-tso061616.php

Female Social Feedback Reveals Non-imitative Mechanisms of Vocal Learning in Zebra Finches: Current Biology
https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(18)31660-9

Pupil’s brain recognizes the perfect teacher: Social brain lights up in juvenile songbirds that find a singing mentor — ScienceDaily
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/10/181017140933.htm

Sali A. Tagliamonte: Research
http://individual.utoronto.ca/tagliamonte/research.html

Big Mood | Know Your Meme
https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/big-mood

Big Mood Memes Take Over Twitter—Here Are The Best Ones
https://www.dailydot.com/unclick/big-mood-meme/

A confused dude on Twitter tried to explain the female anatomy to a gynecologist. Who is also a woman. | GOOD
https://www.good.is/articles/twitter-vagina-vulva-gynecologist

This chap tried to mansplain the difference between vulva and vagina and the takedowns were brutal The Poke
https://www.thepoke.co.uk/2019/02/11/chap-tried-mansplain-difference-vulva-vagina-takedowns-brutal/

When teen defies anti-vax parents and gets shots, his mom says it’s a “slap in the face” / Boing Boing
https://boingboing.net/2019/02/12/when-teen-defies-anti-vax-pare.html

Teens With Antivax Parents Are Turning to Reddit For Advice on Getting Vaccinated
https://www.sciencealert.com/teenagers-are-defying-their-anti-vaxxer-parents-to-try-get-vaccinated

Anti-vaxxer movement fuelling global resurgence of measles, say WHO | SBS News
https://www.sbs.com.au/news/anti-vaxxer-movement-fuelling-global-resurgence-of-measles-say-who

Anti-vaxxers partly responsible for Europe’s highest measles cases in a decade – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-02-08/anti-vaxxers-responsible-for-record-european-measles-cases/10792440

Measles Vaccine May Help Thwart Other Infectious Diseases – Scientific American
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/measles-vaccine-may-help-thwart-other-infectious-diseases/

Long-lasting effects of “immune amnesia” induced by measles | Emory University | Atlanta, GA
https://news.emory.edu/stories/2015/05/measles_mina_science/index.html

Scientists Crack A 50-Year-Old Mystery About The Measles Vaccine : Goats and Soda : NPR
https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2015/05/07/404963436/scientists-crack-a-50-year-old-mystery-about-the-measles-vaccine

Measles: Why it’s so deadly, and why vaccination is so vital
https://theconversation.com/measles-why-its-so-deadly-and-why-vaccination-is-so-vital-110779

Transcript

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