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Here are the show notes for Episode 56, in which Raj and Dan talk to Dr Danielle Turton, Senior Lecturer in Sociolinguistics at Lancaster University and Principal Investigator for a Leverhulme funded project on Lancashire rhoticity. We talk about: Dialect levelling and why it’s a complicated picture Why researching UK dialects is so interesting What’s happening to rhoticity in the North West (and beyond) Media discourses around dialect change Danielle Turton’s Lancaster page: https://www.lancast...
Here are the show notes for Episode 55, in which Jacky and Dan talk to Dr Christian Ilbury, Lecturer in Linguistics and English Language in the School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences at The University of Edinburgh about: Being an online linguist Social media and language change - why it’s complicated Why ‘slang’ is an unhelpful word and why ‘internet vernacular’ is a better term for the kind of styles he is looking at Appropriation and diffusion Media discourses about young peopl...
Here are the show notes for Episode 54, in which Raj and Dan talk to Dr Florent Moncomble, Senior Lecturer in English Linguistics at University of Artois, France about what English and French have in common and all the discourses swirling around French that are also relevant to English, including: The role of L’Académie Française Prescriptivism in French and English Complaints about decline, destruction, young people and migration and why they use the same language proxies as their English count...
Show notes for Episode 53 Here are the show notes for Episode 53, an episode aimed primarily at teachers, in which Jacky and Dan talk to Steve Collins (Head of English at Bishop Luffa School, Chichester) and Tim Marr (Visiting Professor at Icesi University, Cali, Colombia) about the ideas in their book, Language Awareness at School: A Practical Guide for Teachers and School Leaders, published in May 2023 by Routledge, including: The importance of language education across the curriculum Why lang...
Show notes for Episode 52 Here are the show notes for Episode 52, a migration discourses bumper episode, in which we feature two interviews. First off, Dan and Raj talk to Professor Charlotte Taylor of the University of Sussex about: Why corpus linguistics can refresh the parts other approaches cannot reach Discourses around migration and the metaphors that are often used - water, commodity and them/us Why discourses around migration are usually about immigration Why nostalgia is such a powerful...
Show notes for Episode 51 Here are the show notes for Episode 51, in which Dan and (new Lexis team member) Raj talk to Professor Emily M. Bender of the University of Washington about: Why ‘Artificial Intelligence’ is not really the right term at all How Large Language Models work and why we should be sceptical of many of the claims made for them The biases inherent in LLMs and what to do about them Whether ‘neural networks’ and language processing can shed any light on child language development...
Show notes for Episode 50 Here are the show notes for Episode 50, in which Jacky and Dan talk to Dr Jessica Aiston of QMUL about: Critical Discourse Analysis and Critical Discourse Studies Why CDA/CDS are such useful approaches for A Level English Language students Some of the most useful elements of the CDA toolkit and why they’re helpful The work that Jess has done on the representation of women by men in the manosphere Using critical discourse approaches with social media data The ethics of u...
Lawyer and activist Ife Thompson explores the critical role of Black British English (BBE) in identity and culture, highlighting BLAM UK's work in education, advocacy, and mental health. She discusses the systemic linguistic injustice faced by BBE speakers, from media criminalization and the misuse of drill lyrics in courts to language policing in schools. Ife also challenges the problematic term "Multicultural London English," emphasizing the erasure of BBE's rich history and its deep roots in Jamaican Patois and other Black diasporic languages.
Show notes for Episode 48 Here are the show notes for Episode 48, in which Lisa, Jacky and Dan talk to Dr Frazer Heritage of Manchester Metropolitan University about: Representation of gender in video games What’s changed in the representation of gender and sexuality in video games since the 1980s Language methods for analysing representation Analysing how incels construct representations of gender Dealing with difficult data Frazer’s staff profile at MMU: Dr Frazer Heritage | Manchester Metropo...
Show notes for Episode 47 Here are the show notes for Episode 47, in which Dan talks to Fiona McPherson of the Oxford English Dictionary about: Word of the Year 2023 What makes a good word of the year Previous winners (and losers) What new words can tell us about the world Some of the best articles and updates about #WOTY2023 can be found here: ‘AI’ named most notable word of 2023 by Collins dictionary | Artificial intelligence (AI) | The Guardian AI named word of the year by Collins Dictionary ...
Show notes for Episode 46 Here are the show notes for Episode 46, in which Lisa, Jacky and Dan talk to Paul Kerswill, Emeritus Professor, Department of Language and Linguistic Science at the University of York about what has driven his interests in linguistics, but mostly about Multicultural London English: What it is How it developed How it’s used now How it’s been reported on (and why it’s not ‘Jafaican’) The discourses and metaphors around it What it might sound like in the future Paul’s Univ...
Show notes for Episode 45 Here are the show notes for Episode 45, in which we talk to Dr Alex Baratta, Senior Lecturer in Language, Linguistics & Communication, Manchester Institute of Education, University of Manchester about: Accents, accents… and more accents! Teacher accents and ‘professionalism’ Social connotations and stereotypes of accents - good and bad Why one accent isn’t ‘better’ than another and why exposure to accents might be the way to overcome accentism In our regular Lang in...
Show notes for Episode 44 Here are the show notes for Episode 44, in which we talk to Dr Kingsley Ugwuanyi, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Horizon Europe’s RISE UP Research Project, School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics at SOAS about: Nigerian English Global Englishes and who ‘owns’ a language Accent attitudes and identity Models and theories of world Englishes In a Lang in the News bumper segment we talk about recent research into young people’s accents in the south east of England and m...
Show notes for Episode 43 Here are the show notes for Episode 43, the second part of a Language & Gender double episode special, in which Lisa, Jacky and Dan discuss ways to teach Language and Gender at A Level, from the 3 / 4 Ds models, to slightly tweaked and reverse Ds, through to corpus methods, treating gender as part of a wider ‘identity’ approach and much more. Some of the resources and links that we mention in this episode Cameron et al. on tag qns: https://web.stanford.edu/~eckert/P...
This episode features Professor Deborah Cameron analyzing Robin Lakoff's foundational work on language and gender, contextualizing its original intent versus later misinterpretations. The discussion extends to subsequent empirical research, the pervasive issue of gender representation in media like Disney films, and the impact of social structures and online misogyny on language use. Cameron also critiques the overemphasis on "identity" in current studies, advocating for a focus on power and sexism in the rapidly changing field of gender linguistics, including AI biases and media reporting of sexual violence.
Show notes for Episode 41 Here are the show notes for Episode 41, in which Dan talks to Dr Johanna Gerwin, a sociolinguist at QMUL and DFG (German Research Foundation) post-doctoral researcher for the London Talks project about London English, including: The London Talks and Real Talk East projects What ‘enregisterment’ means and how language styles and varieties become enregistered ‘Metalinguistic’ discourses about London English - MLE, Cockney and Estuary The power of discourses around languag...
Show notes for Episode 40 Here are the show notes for Episode 40, a bumper edition in which Lisa, Jacky and Dan talk to four linguists from the University of York about their York English Language Toolkit website and teacher CPD sessions. We talk to: Sam Hellmuth about the Toolkit and some of her favourite sessions in the past 10 years. Tamar Keren-Portnoy about her child language research George Bailey about the Our Dialect app Claire Childs about her work on perceptions of non-standard grammar...
Show notes for Episode 39 Here are the show notes for Episode 39, in which Lisa and Dan talk to Dan Collen, an online hate researcher from Canada about his work on the Weaponized Laughter: Memes and Hate in the Canadian Digital Landscape report he has helped produce. We talk about: Memes: what they are and how they work What is classified as hate speech and the ‘hallmarks of hate’ The discourses at work in hate speech Online communities and their role in shaping and influencing wider culture Dog...
Here are the show notes for Episode 38, in which Lisa and Dan talk to Dr Anna Islentyeva of Innsbruck University, Austria about the representation of masculinity in advertising, including: The “Real Men Score” paper she has recently published with her team Stereotypes around gender representation Methodologies and approaches to data Multimodal approaches to visual texts Anna’s university page: https://www.uibk.ac.at/anglistik/staff/islentyeva/islentyeva.html Anna on Twitter: https://twitter.com/...
Show notes for Episode 37 Here are the show notes for Episode 37, in which Dan and Jill talk to Dr Heidi Colthup of the University of Kent about the language of gaming, including: Her journey into academia How we define what a game is The language used around and about gaming Narrative and the power of storytelling in games Heidi’s university page: https://www.kent.ac.uk/cultures-languages/people/1705/colthup-heidi Heidi on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Heidi_Colthup Some of Heidi’s recommended r...
Here are the show notes for Episode 36, in which Dan and Lisa talk to Dr Claire Hardaker about: Forensic linguistics What language can reveal about us The benefits and problems of technology in forensic linguistics The role of the forensic linguist in an unequal society The future of forensic linguistics Claire’s Lancaster University page: https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/linguistics/about/people/claire-hardaker Claire’s en clair podcast: http://wp.lancs.ac.uk/enclair/ Claire on Twitter: https://twit...
Hosts dissect Michael Deacon's Telegraph article attacking Amol Rajan's views on BBC accent bias, exploring its rhetorical strategies, personal attacks, and reader responses. They then interview Harriet Williamson, Commissioning Editor at The Independent, who shares insights on her role, pathways into journalism, the elements of a good opinion piece, and the media's responsibility in shaping language discourse. The discussion offers valuable lessons for aspiring journalists and language students.
Show notes for Episode 34 Here are the show notes for Episode 34, in which Dan and Jill talk to Arran Stibbe, professor of Ecological Linguistics, and teacher on the BA English course at the University of Gloucestershire ( https://www.glos.ac.uk/enl ) about: Ecolinguistics - what it is and why we need it The power of storytelling and the environment Critical language awareness and its role in fighting back against climate catastrophe Challenging ecologically damaging narratives, ‘greenwashing’, ...
Show notes for Episode 33 Here are the show notes for Episode 33, in which Dan and Jill talk to Katy Brown from the Department of Politics, Languages and International Studies at University of Bath about: The mainstreaming of far-right discourses around migration & race What we mean by ‘discourse’ and ‘discourses’ and the power of discourse Analysing discourses, metaphors and narratives around social and political issues Dog whistles and the reception of messages by audiences Methodologies f...
Show notes for Episode 32 Here are the show notes for Episode 32, in which Lisa, Dan and Jill talk to Kate Barber from Cardiff University about: Forensic linguistics Researching discourse in online communities using corpora Discourse analysis of misogyny in the manosphere and far-right online communities Challenging and ‘inoculating’ against these narratives ***Many of the themes - misogyny, sexual violence and racism - and potentially some of the language, that we’ll be discussing in this inter...
Show notes for Episode 31 Here are the show notes for Episode 31, in which Lisa, Dan and (*drumroll*) new Lexis team member, Jill Lavender (*end drumroll*) talk to Edinburgh University PhD student and ‘that etymology guy’, Danny Bate about: Etymology (obvs) Connections between English and other languages What words can tell us about language change ‘Sound laws’ and historical linguistics Danny’s website: https://dannybate.com/ Danny on Twitter: https://twitter.com/DannyBate4 Lang in the News lin...
Show notes for Episode 30 Here are the show notes for Episode 30, in which Jacky, Dan and Lisa talk to Dr Jessica Norledge, Assistant Professor in Stylistics at the University of Nottingham, about: Stylistics - what it is and how we can use it The language of and in dystopia ‘Text worlds’ and cognitive linguistics Her favourite dystopian novels Jess has just published The Language of Dystopia with Palgrave (see here: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-93103-2) - (40% off until Oct ...
Show notes for Episode 29 Here are the show notes for Episode 29, in which Dan and Lisa talk to Dr JPB Gerald about the tensions around standard language ideology when teaching English as a foreign language, the problems with the English teaching ‘industry’, and the spread of English around the world, along with many other themes featured in his new book, Antisocial Language Teaching: English and the Pervasive Pathology of Whiteness coming soon (30th September) from Multilingual Matters, Bristol...
Show notes for Episode 28 Here are the show notes for Episode 28, in which Dan talks to Dr Kendra Calhoun, University of California President’s Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Anthropology, UCLA about her work on online communication, how racialised identities are performed and constructed online and the power of interdisciplinarity (fine if you can say it). Kendra Calhoun’s UCLA page: https://anthro.ucla.edu/person/kendra-calhoun/ Kendra’s website: https://kendrancalhoun.com/ research ...
Show notes for Episode 27 Here are the show notes for Episode 27, an MLE in the media special, in which we talk to Dr Matt Hunt Gardner from the Faculty of Linguistics, Philology and Phonetics, University of Oxford about recent stories and articles on Multicultural London English and look at the language, the views, the framing and the timing of those pieces in a bit more detail. Matt Hunt Gardner’s website: https://www.matthuntgardner.com/ Matt’s pages at University of Oxford: https://www.ling-...
