Category: gender (page 4 of 5)

229: Social Justice Lexicon (featuring Ji-Soo Kweon)

Social justice is a hot topic right now, and it’s commanding a lot of attention both on- and off-line.

Terms like trigger warning, safe space, and micro-aggressions are erupting into the public awareness. So what’s behind these terms?…

217: Homo naledi and Language

The human family got a new branch this week with the appearance of Homo naledi, a new species of human.

But did they have language? And how can we tell from a lot of old bones?

It’s early yet, but …

211: Newsbag

For this episode, we’re reaching deep into the newsbag, and showing what’s new in the world of linguistics.

What is the War on Women’s Voices? Is a popular toy spouting obscenities? And how did the language of trade floor speculation …

210: Listener Feedback

We get a lot of feedback from listeners.

So for this episode, we decided to answer questions, and settle some scores. We even ask the musical question: “How do you alphabetise your music collection?”

All on this episode of Talk

205: Lost Writing

The written word lasts longer than speech, at least in principle.

But what happens when a writing system is lost in the mist of history? Lost writing can be deciphered, but these scripts have resisted all attempts.

Linguist Daniel Midgley

195: Palindromes

Poor Dan is in a droop. No lemons, no melon. Won’t lovers revolt now?

Is this some weird experimental novel? No, every one of those sentences is palindromic — they read the same forward and backward. Palindromes aren’t just fun; …

186: No Puns in China

China’s media office is cracking down on puns.

And not because they’re terrible — they claim that wordplay is confusing, and damaging to cultural heritage. But is this just an attempt to control dissent?

By the way, how many characters …

166: Mondegreens

Even if you’re great at understanding the words to songs, you’ve probably encountered mondegreens.

They’re misheard song lyrics, and they can be funny, bizarre, and sometimes better then the real thing. Why do they happen, and what can they …

165: Little Sponges

Children seem to soak up language, even the things we’d rather they not say.

What do you do about your child’s swearing? And does using sign language help babies talk earlier?

Linguist Daniel Midgley is down with the kids on …

148: The Language of Smell

People are great at describing colours, but smells? Not so much.

Could that be because of the language we speak? Just how does language influence our perception?

Linguist Daniel Midgley takes us into a great debate on this episode of …

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