When homosexuality was illegal, a secret language brought people together.
In 1960s England, Polari was a creative blend of Romani, Italian, rhyming slang, and backslang, used among the LGBT community. It could be used to communicate, or to identify someone …
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 …
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 …
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 …
What happens to language when newcomers move in?
Language isn’t just for communication — it also signals membership in a group, and this is especially clear in a gentrifying community in Washington DC. Black residents are using African-American English to stake …
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, …
Metaphors are powerful. But what happens when you mix them?
Will you come out looking like a rose? Or will you be opening Pandora’s box of worms?
We’re talking to Dr Kari Sullivan, author of a new book about …
Language is creative! Language is anarchic.
And language refuses to be tamed. But its indomitability may be the key to its power.
A new book by Lane Greene will give language sticklers something to think about. Lane joins us on this …
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.…
Language is tough. Unless you’re a human! If you’re a computer, it’s another story.
Fortunately, one professor is taking on the task of helping computational researchers understand how semantics informs human communication.
We’re having a chat with Emily Bender of …
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