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60: Speech-Jamming Gun

Japanese researchers have developed a “speech-jamming gun”.

It works without maiming or killing you, but it does mess with your mind. Will it be a boon to movie-goers, or a free-speech killer? And how does it work?

Linguist Daniel Midgley

59: France Bans Mademoiselle

France, never shy about controversy, has banned the use of Miss, or Mademoiselle, on government forms.

But why? And while we’re at it, what’s the deal with Ms?

Linguist Daniel Midgley discusses terms of address on this …

58: Goat Accents

We’ve heard all kinds of wild claims about animals and language.

So what are we to make of a new finding that young goats start to bleat like their peers? Is it crazy? Or could it reveal something about human …

57: The Middle Finger

The middle finger was in the news this week as M.I.A. flipped the bird during a US Super Bowl halftime performance.

What is it about this gesture that makes it obscene? How long has it been around? And what else …

56: Reading Thoughts

A team of scientists has developed a technique for turning brain activity into words.

Soon, it may be possible to reconstruct conversations — in effect, to read minds. How does it work? Do we even think in words?

Linguist Daniel

55: Siri and Speech Recognition, Part 2

Apple’s Siri software has put automatic speech recognition back in the news.

We finish our two-part discussion with stupid Siri tricks, and some ways that Siri has become embroiled in controversy. And why is Siri female?

Linguist Daniel Midgley will …

54: Siri and Speech Recognition, Part 1

Speech recognition has come a long way.

With the emergence of Siri on the iPhone, good speech recognition is within the reach of many of us. How does it work? Why is automatic speech recognition so difficult? And what tricks …

53: Words of the Year 2011

The year 2011 brought many words and phrases to prominence.

Occupy captured a lot of attention, but there are so many more.

Linguist Daniel Midgley brings the words that captured the essence of our year on this episode of Talk

52: Carols

So you know the lyrics to Christmas carols? They may not be what you think.

Some of them have evolved over time, and how they’ve changed can tell us about language long ago.

Linguist Daniel Midgley gets festive on this …

51: Songs in Invented Tongues

Do you ever have a hard time understanding lyrics? For some songs, it could be because the language is imaginary.

Inspired by the release of what could be the final Sigur Ros album, Linguist Daniel Midgley looks at music in …

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