@Linguist_CIOL
DECEMBER/JANUARY The Linguist 27
REVIEWS
Panayiota Vatikioti MCIL
From the linguists
Gretchen McCulloch and
Lauren Gawne, this is one
of my favourite podcasts.
Gretchen focuses on the
language of the internet
and is the author of
bestseller Because Internet: Understanding
the new rules of language. Lauren's interest is
how people speak and she runs the generalist
linguistics website Superlinguo.
With a new 30-minute episode every
month, they have released 50 podcasts since
launching Lingthusiasm three years ago.
Subjects include language learning, translation
and constructed languages (e.g. Esperanto).
One standout episode is 'How Languages
Influence each Other', exploring African
languages through an interview with Hannah
Gibson, who reveals unusual details (did you
know that Swahili has 16 grammatical
genders?). I also loved the one about the
way people integrate emojis with words.
The hosts explore various interesting topics.
Their style is direct, fun, friendly, enthusiastic
and passionate – as if you are having coffee
with friends and talking about language!
lingthusiasm.com
CIOL staff, volunteers and members have it covered
Philosophy Bites
John Worne, CEO
In my favourite podcast,
David Edmonds and Nigel
Warburton interview top
philosophers on a wide
range of topics. Since
launching the podcast in
2007, they have written
and produced an enormous range of
endlessly fascinating content, including two
very successful books based on the series.
As well as discussing ethics and aesthetics,
Philosophy Bites covers language, psychology
and the philosophy of mind, with some great
episodes for lovers of language and linguistics.
Three of these which set me thinking were
Guy Longworth on J L Austin and Ordinary
Language, which argues that when it comes to
language, context is everything; Barry Smith
on Wittgenstein's Conception of Philosophy,
which covers the argument that language is
necessarily shared; and Joshua D Greene on
the Construction of Thought, exploring areas
in the left temporal cortex and suggesting
they may be a subject-object-verb 'structure'
in the brain. Language is what makes us
human; Philosophy Bites explores that and
more with precision and erudition – a joy!
philosophybites.com
Lingthusiasm
Alexandra Man, CIOLQ Development Officer
A Way with Words is a
really funny podcast
focusing on languages. The
two co-hosts – American
writer and radio presenter
Martha Barnette and
American lexicographer
Grant Barrett – discuss all things related to
languages with callers from across the world.
From complex questions about grammar,
literature and linguistics to entertaining ones
concerning slang, dialects, expressions, jokes
and riddles, the podcast is a fun way to relax.
In one episode the discussion centred on
whether the term 'bloody' is offensive. It was
amusing to stop and think about the
connotations of this word, which is so
popular in Britain.
Accessible to all generations, the podcast
is especially useful to those who are studying
English as a foreign language and want to
learn all kinds of linguistic titbits. I've always
wondered why we say what we say, and how
certain expressions came into English.
Barnette and Barrett give answers to such
questions and enable listeners to discover
new things. It's a must for language lovers!
www.waywordradio.org
A Way
With Words
