78: Forensic Linguistics, Really (with Helen Fraser, Georgina Heydon, Diana Eades, Seán Roberts, and Steph Rennick)

It's Eurovision season! We love to talk about what we can learn about language from this international song contest, but even we didn't realise that there was so much to learn. Language choice, language policy, language and gender and metaphor — and all of this has been packed into a unit at Umeå University: Linguistics and the Eurovision Song Contest. Paulette van der Voet and Solveig Bollig are heading up the course, and they're here to tell us all about it… and nerd out with Hedvig besides. Timestamps Cold open: 0:00 Intros: 0:39 News: 7:39 Related or Not: 26:41 Interview with Paulette and Solveig: 38:53 Words of the Week: 1:30:08 Comment from John: 1:49:18 The Reads: 1:53:53 Outtakes: 2:02:25

18 Maj 2h 15min

Artificial intelligence (so-called) is typified by its boom and bust cycles, and we're in a boom now. But as more and more money pours in with decreasing returns, we're going to see a shakeout, and hype is rushing in to stoke the enthusiasm. In other words, the con is on. Dr Emily M. Bender and Dr Alex Hanna are co-hosts of the podcast Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000, and the authors of The AI Con: How to Fight Big Tech’s Hype and Create the Future We Want. They join us for this episode.

12 Maj 51min

Video version of this episode: https://youtu.be/wxGeXMzlwng If you repeat something twice, how many times did you do it? Can more than one dinner be "the perfect dinner"? And what does "every other" mean? We are once again fixing English, in a live episode in which we pile all our friends into a room and vote on vexing semantic questions. These results are binding on English-speakers throughout time and space, because that's how language works. By committee! Timestamps Cold open: 0:00 Intros: 0:55 News: 4:12 Related or Not: 31:06 Fixing English: 47:59 Words of the Week: 1:13:44 The Reads: 1:34:00 Outtakes: 1:42:40

5 Maj 1h 47min

Spelling reform in English: a constant failure? Or a secret success? Waves upon waves of optimists have tried to make English spelling reflect its sound and escape its etymological origins, but have never seen their vision fully realised. Author Gabe Henry has chronicled the attempts, and he joins us on this episode.  Gabe is the author of Enough Is Enuf: Our Failed Attempts to Make English Easier to Spell, available from Dey Street Books. Timestamps Cold open: 0:00 Intros: 1:44 News: 9:50 Related or Not: 32:21 Interview with Gabe Henry: 49:23 Words of the Week: 1:33:41 Comment: 1:50:50 The Reads: 1:53:57 Outtakes: 2:03:28

19 Apr 2h 7min

First words and last words get a lot of attention. But how did words get to have such a place of prominence? What would we see if we focused on interaction instead? A new book looks at words, gestures, and silence at the beginning and end of life. Daniel has a chat with the author of Bye Bye I Love You, Dr Michael Erard. Timestamps Cold open: 0:00 Intros: 1:05 News: 6:59 Related or Not: 35;54 Interview with Michael Erard: 47:56 Words of the Week: 1:33:32 Comment: 1:45:46  The Reads: 1:49:43 Outtake: 1:56:01

25 Mars 1h 56min

Breaking news: The president of the United States intends to sign an executive order designating English the official language of the USA. Is this a big deal? Why was this necessary, and what happens now? Dr Carmen Fought joins us on this episode. Timestamps Theme and intros: 0:00 Discussing the executive order with Carmen: 0:56 Thanks and reads: 47:38

2 Mars 48min

What really goes on behind the scenes at the biggest Word of the Year vote in linguistdom? Are we really going to stick with sanewashing for our word? And which words did we miss? We lock in and crash out with New Words Data Czar Dr Kelly Wright. Timestamps Open: 0:00 Intros: 0:57 Words: 6:54 Related or Not: 59:22 Comments: 1:19:19 The Reads: 1:24:00 Outtake: 1:32:39

21 Feb 1h 33min

It's our Words of the Year episode, where we do a vibe check on all the words and name one of them our Because Language Word of the Year. We're joined by Grammar Girl Mignon Fogarty and a lot of friends and supporters. It's going to be weird. It's going to be brat. You know we're going to eat that. Timestamps Cold open: 0:00 Intros: 0:54 All the words from everywhere: 10:58 Related or Not: 43:28 Words from Mignon and James: 58:50 Our Words of the Week of the Year: 1:13:23 The Reads: 1:33:40 Outtakes: 1:39:29

21 Dec 20241h 42min