Does the world look different if you speak a different language?
Can we tell what someone’s culture is like, just from the structure of their syntax?
For linguists, the answers are no. And no.
John McWhorter is the author of …
Category: interviews (page 6 of 7)
How did language begin? What was it like long ago?
Did we come up with meaningful utterances first and then break them down, or did we build language from the words up? Did other pre-humans have language?
Researchers are working …
Why do languages have the grammar they do?
For some Australian languages, grammar is shaped by the stuff you’re not supposed to say. Linguist Joe Blythe is finding out about the evolution of language, and challenging one of the biggest …
How do you convince others of your views when the facts are overwhelmingly against you?
If you’re one of the many hoaxers, cranks, and denialists out there, you use language. What rhetorical tactics do they rely on, and how can …
Humanity, we may have a problem.
Computers are getting good at imitating us. How good? Good enough to fool us into accepting their scientific papers and their robocalls. Might they have already passed the Turing Test? And what are bots …
It’s time to look at the words that made the news last year.
Forget twerking, and stop taking selfies, because this year’s winner was truly momentous.
There’s even someone special to take us through it: Ben Zimmer of the American …
What’s the most common word in the world?
A research team finds that huh? is shared by languages around the globe. But is it really a word? What are words like?
We’re also talking to Simon Tam of the Slants, …
Are you concerned about encroaching Americanism?
Do you worry that words like ketchup and zee will destroy the Australian way of life?
Well, don’t worry; language change works both ways. Americans are picking up words and phrases from Australia. But …
Is the Internet killing English?
How is English changing?
For tough questions like these, you need a linguistic detective. Luckily, we found one.
Linguist Daniel Midgley has a chat to sociolinguist Sali Tagliamonte on this episode of Talk the Talk…
Is there a difference between because and the shorter, snappier cos?
What’s in the future of swearing?
Our resident linguist Daniel Midgley got a chance to find out all this and more when linguist Kate Burridge was in town. …
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