Because Language - a podcast about linguistics, the science of language.

133: Why We Talk Funny (with Valerie Fridland)

We all have an accent — or several! And we use them to communicate things about us, and highlight aspects of our identity. So what's going on with the accents we hear? Are we losing some accents, or are they just changing? Dr Valerie Fridland is the author of Why We Talk Funny, and she joins us for this episode. Timestamps Start: 0:00 Intros: 0:30 News: 6:25 Related or Not: 17:59 Interview with Valerie Fridland: 36:53 Words of the Week: 1:50:34 The Reads: 2:21:21 Outtakes: 2:26:14

132: WotY 2025, the Final Word (with Kelly Wright)

We're talking to Dr Kelly Wright, friend of the show and data czar for the American Dialect Society. They run the biggest and most prestigious Word of the Year event, and she was there when the 2025 WotY votes came in. She's talking us through all the words we missed. Plus we get to some listener feedback.  Timestamps Start: 0:00 Intros: 0:41 The ADS WotYs for 2025: 7:12 Related or Not: 1:00:51 Listener comments: 1:09:53 The Reads: 1:20:28 Outtakes: 1:27:01 Video version of this episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXpfrXdWEW8

131: Words of the Week of the Year 2025 (live with friends)

Video for this episode: https://youtu.be/Mqf05kN-TaI It's Word of the Year season, and we're counting down our Words of the Week of the Year! In the time-honoured tradition, we gathered them all up from our 2025 shows, and let everyone vote. And we're going to give a mention to everyone else's words as well. We're joined by our friends and patrons, so come see them in chat! Timestamps Start: 0:00 Intros: 1:31 Everyone else's words: 5:57 Related or Not: 34:34 Our Words of the Week of the Year: 51:35 Comments: 1:22:04 The Reads: 1:26:36 Outtakes: 1:30:50

130: Back to the FTR (with Séan Roberts, Cole Robertson, and Annemarie Verkerk)

You know the story. The language you speak doesn't determine your savings. If your language has a future tense, there's no impact on the way you see or describe the future. Language and perception are separate. Well, maybe it's time to revisit this. Séan Roberts and Cole Robertson are finding a cognitive connection, not with how our language makes us talk about the future, but with how our language lets us express uncertainty. Also, Annemarie Verkerk and Hedvig Skirgård team up to test out language universals. Which ones are getting knocked over? Timestamps Start: 0:00 Intros: 0:36 News: 6:08 Chat with Annemarie Verkerk and Hedvig Skirgård: 23:06 Related or Not: 49:22 Interview with Séan Roberts and Cole Robertson: 1:10:38 Words of the Week: 2:18:09 Comments: 2:37:20 The Reads: 2:42:37 Outtakes: 2:50:05

129: They Started It: Children and Language Evolution (with Madeleine Beekman)

We've asked linguists about how language began, but what would an evolutionary biologist tell you? Prof Madeleine Beekman says it's part of a complex web of body, brain, and community, and at the heart of it is (perhaps surprisingly) childcare. Madeleine is the author of The Origin of Language: How We Learned to Speak and Why. Timestamps Cold open: 0:00 Intros: 0:42 News: 9:07 Related or Not: 30:02 Interview with Madeleine Beekman: 49:43 Words of the Week: 1:40:49 Comments: 2:01:30 The Reads: 2:08:07 Outtakes: 2:17:38