In this interview, we talk to Ingrid Piller about her forthcoming co-authored book Life in a New Language. Download | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts References for Episode 38 Kachru, Braj B. 1985. ‘Standards, codification and sociolinguistic realism:…Read more ›

In this interview, we talk to Dan Everett about the life and work of the American pragmatist philosopher Charles Sanders Peirce and Everett’s application of Peirce’s ideas to create a Peircean linguistics. Download | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Google…Read more ›

In this interview, we talk to Michael Lynch about the history of conversation analysis and its connections to ethnomethodology. Download | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts References for Episode 37 Button, Graham, Michael Lynch and Wes Sharrock (2022) Ethnomethodology,…Read more ›

In this brief audio clip, we provide an update on what’s been happening with the podcast – and what’s coming up. Download | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts McElvenny, James. 2024. A History of Modern Linguistics: From the…Read more ›

In this interview, we talk to Ghil‘ad Zuckermann about language reclamation and revival in Australia and around the world. Download | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts References for Episode 36 The Barngarla trinity: people, language, land. The Barngarla…Read more ›

In this interview, we talk to Nick Thieberger about the value of historical documentation for linguistic research, and how this documentation can be preserved and made accessible today and in the future in digital form. Download | Spotify | Apple…Read more ›

In this episode, we talk to Mary Laughren about research into the languages of Central Australia in the mid-twentieth century, with a focus on the contributions of American linguist Ken Hale. Download | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts…Read more ›

In this episode, we examine the formalist aspects of the linguistic work of Edward Sapir and Leonard Bloomfield, and see how their methods were turned into the doctrines of distributionalism by the following generation. Download | Spotify | Apple Podcasts…Read more ›

In this episode, we discuss the leading American linguist Leonard Bloomfield and his connections to the psychological school of behaviourism and the philosophical doctrines of logical positivism. Download | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts References for Episode 32…Read more ›

In this episode, we explore the historical background to linguistic relativity or the so-called ‘Sapir-Whorf hypothesis’. Download | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts References for Episode 31 Primary sources Boas, Franz, ed. (1911), Handbook of American Indian Languages,…Read more ›

This clip is a brief audio update on what’s been happening with the podcast, and what’s going to happen in the next few months. Download | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts

In this episode we talk to Andrew Garrett about the life, work and legacy of American anthropologist Alfred Kroeber. Kroeber achieved a number of firsts in American anthropology: he was Boas’ first Columbia PhD and the first professor of anthropology…Read more ›

In this interview, we talk to Marcin Kilarski about the history of the documentation and description of the languages of North America. Download | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts References for Episode 29 Primary sources Bloomfield, Leonard. 1946.…Read more ›

In this episode, we begin our exploration of American linguistics by looking at the innovative contributions of Franz Boas (1858–1942) and his circle of students. Download | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts References for Episode 28 Primary sources…Read more ›

In this interview, we talk to Peter Trudgill about how the structure of speaker communities may influence the structure of languages. Download | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts References for Episode 27 Aronoff, Mark. 1994. Morphology by itself: stems…Read more ›

In this interview, we talk to Philipp Krämer about the history of the study of creole languages and present-day efforts to standardise creoles around the world. Download | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts References for Episode 26 Primary…Read more ›

In this interview, we talk to Felicity Meakins about Pidgins, Creoles, and mixed languages. We discuss what they are, and how they are viewed in both linguistic scholarship and in speaker communities. Download | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Google…Read more ›

In this interview, we talk to Lorenzo Cigana about Louis Hjelmslev and the Copenhagen Linguistic Circle. Download | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts References for Episode 24 Primary Sources ‘Travail collectif du Cercle linguistique de Copenhague’, in Proceedings…Read more ›

In this interview, we talk to Noam Chomsky about the intellectual environment in which generative grammar emerged. Download | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts References for Episode 23 Primary Sources Bloomfield, Leonard (1933). Language. New York: Henry Holt…Read more ›

In this interview, we talk to Christopher Hutton about linguistic scholarship under National Socialism and how this relates to linguistics today. Download | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts References for Episode 22 Primary Sources Boas, Franz (1911), Handbook…Read more ›

In this episode, we look at psychologist Karl Bühler’s (1879–1963) Organon model of communication and observe its influence on the linguists Nikolai Trubetzkoy (1890–1938) and Roman Jakobson (1896–1982), who were associated with the Prague Circle. Download | Spotify | Apple…Read more ›

In this interview, we continue the theme of the previous episode and talk to Jacqueline Léon about John Rupert Firth (1890–1960), Bronisław Malinowski (1884–1942) and the London School. Download | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts References for Episode…Read more ›

In this episode, we look at the central role the analysis of meaning played in British linguistics in the first half of the twentieth century. We focus on the work of John Rupert Firth (1890–1960) and Bronisław Malinowski (1884–1942) and…Read more ›

In this interview, we talk to H. Walter Schmitz about pioneer of semiotics Victoria Lady Welby. Download | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts References for Episode 18 Primary Sources Hayakawa, Samuel Ichiyé (1939), Language in Thought and Action,…Read more ›