Best Lingthusiasm Podcasts (2025)

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lingthusiasm:

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6d ago

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lingthusiasm:Episode 106: Is a hotdog a sandwich? The problem with definitionsWe asked you if a burrito was a sandwich, and you said ‘no’. We asked you if ravioli was a sandwich and you said 'heck...

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106: Is a hotdog a sandwich? The problem with definitions 33:32

6d ago33:32

33:32

We asked you if a burrito was a sandwich, and you said 'no'. We asked you if ravioli was a sandwich and you said 'heck no'. We asked you if an ice cream sandwich was a sandwich and things...started to get a little murky. This isn't just a sandwich problem: you can also have similar arguments about what counts as a cup, a bird, a fish, furniture, ar…

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105: Linguistics of TikTok - Interview with Adam Aleksic aka EtymologyNerd 43:47

1M ago43:47

43:47

TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts are an evolving genre of media: short-form, vertical videos that take up your whole screen and are served to you from an algorithm rather than who you follow. This changes how people talk in them compared to earlier forms of video, and linguists are on it! In this episode, your host Gretchen McCulloch get…

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104: Reading and language play in Sámi - Interview with Hanna-Máret Outakoski 47:57

2M ago47:57

47:57

When we talk about language reclamation, we often think about oral traditions. But at this point, many Indigenous languages also have considerable written traditions, and engaging with writing as part of teaching these languages to children is important for all of the same reasons as we teach writing in majoritarian languages. In this episode, your…

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103: A hand-y guide to gesture 48:02

3M ago48:02

48:02

Gestures: every known language has them, and there's a growing body of research on how they fit into communication. But academic literature can be hard to dig into on your own. So Lauren has spent the past 5 years diving into the gesture literature and boiling it down into a tight 147 page book. In this episode, your hosts Lauren Gawne and Gretchen…

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102: The science and fiction of Sapir-Whorf 51:19

4M ago51:19

51:19

It's a fun science fiction trope: learn a mysterious alien language and acquire superpowers, just like if you'd been zapped by a cosmic ray or bitten by a radioactive spider. But what's the linguistics behind this idea found in books like Babel-17, Embassytown, or the movie Arrival? In this episode, your hosts Lauren Gawne and Gretchen McCulloch ge…

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101: Micro to macro - The levels of language 48:36

5M ago48:36

48:36

When we first learn about nature, we generally start with the solid mid-sized animals: cats, dogs, elephants, tigers, horses, birds, turtles, and so on. Only later on do we zoom in and out from these charismatic megafauna to the tinier levels, like cells and bacteria, or the larger levels, like ecosystems and the water cycle. With language, words a…

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100: A hundred reasons to be enthusiastic about linguistics 41:16

6M ago41:16

41:16

This is our hundredth episode that's enthusiastic about linguistics! To celebrate, we've put together 100 of our favourite fun facts about linguistics, featuring contributions from previous guests and Lingthusiasm team members, fan favourites that resonated with you from the previous 99 episodes, and new facts that haven't been on the show before b…

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99: A politeness episode, if you please 56:05

7M ago56:05

56:05

If it wouldn't be too much trouble, if you have a spare half hour, could we possibly suggest that you might enjoy listening to this episode on politeness? Or, if you'd prefer a less polite version, "Listen! Now!" In this episode, your hosts Gretchen McCulloch and Lauren Gawne get enthusiastic about what politeness and rudeness are made up of at a l…

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98: Helping computers decode sentences - Interview with Emily M. Bender 56:10

8M ago56:10

56:10

When a human learns a new word, we're learning to attach that word to a set of concepts in the real world. When a computer "learns" a new word, it is creating some associations between that word and other words it has seen before, which can sometimes give it the appearance of understanding, but it doesn't have that real-world grounding, which can s…

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97: OooOooh~~ our possession episode oOooOOoohh 👻 44:56

9M ago44:56

44:56

Eye of newt and toe of frog,Wool of bat and tongue of dog...In this episode, your hosts Gretchen McCulloch and Lauren Gawne get enthusiastic and ~spooky~ about possession! We talk about how the haunting type of possession and the linguistic type of possession do share an etymological origin, but how the term "possession" itself is misleading, becau…

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96: Welcome back aboard the metaphor train! 35:13

10M ago35:13

35:13

We're taking you on a journey to new linguistic destinations, so come along for the ride and don't forget to hold on! In this episode, your hosts Lauren Gawne and Gretchen McCulloch get enthusiastic about metaphors! It's easy to think of literary comparisons like "my love is like a red, red rose" but metaphors are also far more common and almost un…

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95: Lo! An undetached collection of meaning-parts! 43:51

11M ago43:51

43:51

Imagine you're in a field with someone whose language you don't speak. A rabbit scurries by. The other person says "Gavagai!" You probably assumed they meant "rabbit" but they could have meant something else, like "scurrying" or even "lo! an undetached rabbit-part!" In this episode, your hosts Lauren Gawne and Gretchen McCulloch get enthusiastic ab…

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dashboarddiaries:

12M ago

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dashboarddiaries:Every Tumblr user knows that we Tumblrinas use language a little differently. We’re not like other social media users. We’re weird. We’re weirdos. And this month, we have actual...

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94: The perfectly imperfect aspect episode 39:01

1y ago39:01

39:01

When we're talking about an activity -- say, throwing teacups in a lake -- we often want to know not just when the action takes place, but also what shape that action looks like. Is this a one-time teacup throwing event (I threw the teacup in the lake) or a repeated or ongoing situation (I was throwing the teacup in the lake)? Both of these actions…

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93: How nonbinary and binary people talk - Interview with Jacq Jones 45:25

1y ago45:25

45:25

There are many ways that people perform gender, from clothing and hairstyle to how we talk or carry ourselves. When doing linguistic analysis of one aspect, such as someone's voice, it's useful to also consider the fuller picture such as what they're wearing and who they're talking with. In this episode, your host Gretchen McCulloch gets enthusiast…

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92: Brunch, gonna, and fozzle - The smooshing episode 49:32

1y ago49:32

49:32

Sometimes two words are smooshed together in a single act of creativity to fill a lexical gap, like making "brunch" from breakfast+lunch. Other times, words are smooshed together gradually, over a long period of speakers or signers discovering more efficient ways to position their mouth or hands, such as pronouncing "handbag" being pronounced more …

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91: Scoping out the scope of scope 30:09

1+ y ago30:09

30:09

When you order a kebab and they ask you if you want everything on it, you might say yes. But you'd probably still be surprised if it came with say, chocolate, let alone a bicycle...even though chocolate and bicycles are technically part of "everything". That's because words like "everything" and "all" really mean something more like "everything typ…

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90: What visualizing our vowels tells us about who we are 47:48

1+ y ago47:48

47:48

On Lingthusiasm, we've sometimes compared the human vocal tract to a giant meat clarinet, like the vocal folds are the reed and the rest of the throat and mouth is the body of the instrument that shapes the sound in various ways. However, when it comes to talking more precisely about vowels, we need an instrument with a greater degree of flexibilit…

Lingthusiasm Podcasts

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Lingthusiasm - A podcast that's enthusiastic about linguistics

Gretchen McCulloch and Lauren Gawne

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All Things Linguistic

1
lingthusiasm:

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106: Is a hotdog a sandwich? The problem with definitions 33:32

1
105: Linguistics of TikTok - Interview with Adam Aleksic aka EtymologyNerd 43:47

1
104: Reading and language play in Sámi - Interview with Hanna-Máret Outakoski 47:57

1
103: A hand-y guide to gesture 48:02

1
102: The science and fiction of Sapir-Whorf 51:19

1
101: Micro to macro - The levels of language 48:36

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100: A hundred reasons to be enthusiastic about linguistics 41:16

1
99: A politeness episode, if you please 56:05

1
98: Helping computers decode sentences - Interview with Emily M. Bender 56:10

1
97: OooOooh~~ our possession episode oOooOOoohh 👻 44:56

1
96: Welcome back aboard the metaphor train! 35:13

1
95: Lo! An undetached collection of meaning-parts! 43:51

1
dashboarddiaries:

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94: The perfectly imperfect aspect episode 39:01

1
93: How nonbinary and binary people talk - Interview with Jacq Jones 45:25

1
92: Brunch, gonna, and fozzle - The smooshing episode 49:32

1
91: Scoping out the scope of scope 30:09

1
90: What visualizing our vowels tells us about who we are 47:48