Ranked #1
46: Hey, no problem, bye! The social dance of phatics
46: Hey, no problem, bye! The social dance of phatics
How are you? Thanks, no problem. Stock, ritualistic social phrases like these, which are used more to indicate a particu... Read more
17 Jul 2020
•
37mins
Ranked #2
44: Schwa, the most versatile English vowel
44: Schwa, the most versatile English vowel
The words about, broken, council, potato, and support have something in common -- they all contain the same sound, even ... Read more
22 May 2020
•
32mins
Similar Podcasts
Slate Debates
Lexicon Valley from Booksmart Studios
Word Matters
The Allusionist
A Way with Words - language, linguistics, and callers from all over
The History of English Podcast
Gastropod
99% Invisible
Rough Translation
Because Language - a podcast about linguistics, the science of language.
Dear Hank & John
Radiolab
The Numberphile Podcast
Ranked #3
40: Making machines learn language - Interview with Janelle Shane
40: Making machines learn language - Interview with Janelle Shane
If you feed a computer enough ice cream flavours or pictures annotated with whether they contain giraffes, the hope is t... Read more
17 Jan 2020
•
44mins
Ranked #4
33: Why spelling is hard — but also hard to change
33: Why spelling is hard — but also hard to change
Why does “gh” make different sounds in “though” “through” “laugh” “light” and “ghost”? Why is there a silent “k” at the ... Read more
20 Jun 2019
•
32mins
Most Popular Podcasts
The Joe Rogan Experience
TED Talks Daily
The Tim Ferriss Show
The Daily
Stuff You Should Know
Oprah's SuperSoul Conversations
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Ranked #5
39: How to rebalance a lopsided conversation
39: How to rebalance a lopsided conversation
Why do some conversations seems to flow really easily, while other times, it feels like you can’t get a word in edgewise... Read more
19 Dec 2019
•
33mins
Ranked #6
05: Colour words around the world and inside your brain
05: Colour words around the world and inside your brain
Red, orange, yellow, grue, and purple? Not so fast – while many languages don’t distinguish between green and blue, it’s... Read more
16 Feb 2017
•
36mins
Ranked #7
03: Arrival of the Linguists - Review of the Alien Linguistics Movie
03: Arrival of the Linguists - Review of the Alien Linguistics Movie
Lingthusiasm Episode 3: Arrival of the linguists - Review of the alien linguistics movieLinguists are very excited about... Read more
15 Dec 2016
•
31mins
Ranked #8
37: Smell words, both real and invented
37: Smell words, both real and invented
What’s your favourite smell? You might say something like the smell of fresh ripe strawberries, or the smell of freshly-... Read more
17 Oct 2019
•
36mins
Ranked #9
06: All the sounds in all the languages - The International Phonetic Alphabet
06: All the sounds in all the languages - The International Phonetic Alphabet
English writing is hugely inconsistent: is “ough” pronounced as in cough, though, through, thought, rough, plough, or th... Read more
16 Mar 2017
•
34mins
Ranked #10
18: Translating the untranslatable
18: Translating the untranslatable
Lists of ‘untranslatable’ words always come with... translations. So what do people really mean when they say a word is ... Read more
15 Mar 2018
•
38mins
Ranked #11
32: You heard about it but I was there - Evidentiality
32: You heard about it but I was there - Evidentiality
Sometimes, you know something for sure. You were there. You witnessed it. And you want to make sure that anyone who hear... Read more
16 May 2019
•
33mins
Ranked #12
13: What Does it Mean to Sound Black? Intonation and Identity Interview with Nicole Holliday
13: What Does it Mean to Sound Black? Intonation and Identity Interview with Nicole Holliday
If you grow up with multiple accents to choose from, what does the one you choose say about your identity? How can lingu... Read more
19 Oct 2017
•
43mins
Ranked #13
10: Learning languages linguistically
10: Learning languages linguistically
Some linguists work with multiple languages, while others focus on just one. But for many people, learning a language af... Read more
20 Jul 2017
•
38mins
Ranked #14
20: Speaking Canadian and Australian English in a British-American binary
20: Speaking Canadian and Australian English in a British-American binary
Australian and Canadian English don’t sound much alike, but they have one big similarity: they’re both national varietie... Read more
17 May 2018
•
38mins
Ranked #15
30: Why do we gesture when we talk?
30: Why do we gesture when we talk?
This episode is also available as a special video episode so you can see the gestures! Go to youtube.com/lingthusiasm or... Read more
21 Mar 2019
•
33mins
Ranked #16
12: Sounds you can’t hear - Babies, accents, and phonemes
12: Sounds you can’t hear - Babies, accents, and phonemes
Why does it always sound slightly off when someone tries to imitate your accent? Why do tiny children learning your seco... Read more
21 Sep 2017
•
29mins
Ranked #17
19: Sentences with baggage - Presuppositions
19: Sentences with baggage - Presuppositions
What’s so weird if I say, “the present King of France is bald” or “I need to pick up my pet unicorn from the vet”? It se... Read more
19 Apr 2018
•
36mins
Ranked #18
29: The verb is the coat rack that the rest of the sentence hangs on
29: The verb is the coat rack that the rest of the sentence hangs on
Some sentences have a lot of words all relating to each other, while other sentences only have a few. The verb is the th... Read more
22 Feb 2019
•
38mins
Ranked #19
07: Kids these days aren’t ruining language
07: Kids these days aren’t ruining language
There are some pretty funny quotes of historical people complaining about kids back then doing linguistic things that no... Read more
20 Apr 2017
•
36mins
Ranked #20
17: Vowel Gymnastics
17: Vowel Gymnastics
Say, “aaaaaahhhh…..” Now try going smoothly from one vowel to another, without pausing: “aaaaaaaeeeeeeeiiiiiii”. Feel ho... Read more
15 Feb 2018
•
39mins
