DNA analysis is revealing which speakers traveled where and when. Join Slate Plus! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. Sign up for a free trial today at www.slate.com/podcastsplus. Twitter: @lexiconvalley Facebook: facebook.com/LexiconValley Email: [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Feb 18, 2020•44 min
Let's talk about how we talk about that which already occurred. Join Slate Plus! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. Sign up for a free trial today at www.slate.com/podcastsplus. Twitter: @lexiconvalley Facebook: facebook.com/LexiconValley Email: [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Feb 04, 2020•42 min
Coming and going in languages around the world. Join Slate Plus! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. Sign up for a free trial today at www.slate.com/podcastsplus. Twitter: @lexiconvalley Facebook: facebook.com/LexiconValley Email: [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jan 21, 2020•41 min
How our idea of formality can affect the way we say certain words. Join Slate Plus! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. Sign up for a free trial today at www.slate.com/podcastsplus. Twitter: @lexiconvalley Facebook: facebook.com/LexiconValley Email: [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jan 07, 2020•48 min
Add to German a large helping of Hebrew and a dollop of Slavic. Stir. Let marinate. Enjoy! Join Slate Plus! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. Sign up for a free trial today at www.slate.com/podcastsplus. Twitter: @lexiconvalley Facebook: facebook.com/LexiconValley Email: [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Dec 24, 2019•47 min
What does a rooster have to do with male genitalia anyway? Join Slate Plus! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. Sign up for a free trial today at www.slate.com/podcastsplus. Twitter: @lexiconvalley Facebook: facebook.com/LexiconValley Email: [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Dec 10, 2019•41 min
Terms such as "like" and "sort of" are ways for English speakers to sound more polite. Join Slate Plus! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. Sign up for a free trial today at www.slate.com/podcastsplus. Twitter: @lexiconvalley Facebook: facebook.com/LexiconValley Email: [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Nov 26, 2019•46 min
What is it with people and animals and irregular plurals? Join Slate Plus! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. Sign up for a free trial today at www.slate.com/podcastsplus. Twitter: @lexiconvalley Facebook: facebook.com/LexiconValley Email: [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Nov 12, 2019•37 min
Slate Plus members get bonus segments and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now. Long-dead elements of the language still haunt our everyday speech. Twitter: @lexiconvalley Facebook: facebook.com/LexiconValley Email: [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Oct 29, 2019•35 min
Slate Plus members get bonus segments and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now. Come table-hopping as we discuss the linguistic quirks of some mealtime terms. Twitter: @lexiconvalley Facebook: facebook.com/LexiconValley Email: [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Oct 16, 2019•38 min
Slate Plus members get bonus segments and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now. Never mind those 26 letters—the English language has 44 unique sounds. Twitter: @lexiconvalley Facebook: facebook.com/LexiconValley Email: [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Oct 01, 2019•37 min
Slate Plus members get bonus segments and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now. English has shed many of its nuances over the centuries. Take pronouns, for example. Twitter: @lexiconvalley Facebook: facebook.com/LexiconValley Email: [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Sep 17, 2019•41 min
Slate Plus members get bonus segments and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now. Curse words can reveal a lot about language. S#!t, hell and darn, to name three, contain countless linguistic lessons. Join Slate Plus! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. Sign up for a free trial today at www.slate.com/podcastsplus. Twitter: @lexiconvalley Facebook: facebook.com/LexiconValley Email: [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...
Sep 03, 2019•37 min
Slate Plus members get bonus segments and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now. From Madagascar to Easter Island, Austronesian tongues traveled far and wide with early seafarers. Join Slate Plus! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. Sign up for a free trial today at www.slate.com/podcastsplus. Twitter: @lexiconvalley Facebook: facebook.com/LexiconValley Email: [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Aug 19, 2019•46 min
Slate Plus members get bonus segments and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now. The difference between a language and a dialect is mostly meaningless and entirely political. Join Slate Plus! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. Sign up for a free trial today at www.slate.com/podcastsplus. Twitter: @lexiconvalley Facebook: facebook.com/LexiconValley Email: [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Aug 06, 2019•42 min
Slate Plus members get bonus segments and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now. A conversation with linguist Gretchen McCulloch about her new book, Because Internet. Join Slate Plus! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. Sign up for a free trial today at www.slate.com/podcastsplus. Twitter: @lexiconvalley Facebook: facebook.com/LexiconValley Email: [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jul 23, 2019•39 min
Why is ph pronounced that way? The answer is positively phantastic. Join Slate Plus! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. Sign up for a free trial today at www.slate.com/podcastsplus. Twitter: @lexiconvalley Facebook: facebook.com/LexiconValley Email: [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jul 09, 2019•47 min
We revisit the popular notion that our language helps shapes our worldview. Join Slate Plus! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. Sign up for a free trial today at www.slate.com/podcastsplus. Twitter: @lexiconvalley Facebook: facebook.com/LexiconValley Email: [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jun 25, 2019•48 min
The word transient reveals some enduring patterns in English pronunciation and etymology. Join Slate Plus! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. Sign up for a free trial today at www.slate.com/podcastsplus. Twitter: @lexiconvalley Facebook: facebook.com/LexiconValley Email: [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jun 11, 2019•39 min
What an ancient, undecipherable manuscript says—and doesn't say—about Latin and its spawn. Join Slate Plus! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. Sign up for a free trial today at www.slate.com/podcastsplus. Twitter: @lexiconvalley Facebook: facebook.com/LexiconValley Email: [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
May 28, 2019•44 min
The letter R has a habit of intruding on spoken English. How come? Join Slate Plus! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. Sign up for a free trial today at www.slate.com/podcastsplus. Twitter: @lexiconvalley Facebook: facebook.com/LexiconValley Email: [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
May 14, 2019•48 min
A linguistic mystery in the Lesser Sunda Islands. Join Slate Plus! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. Sign up for a free trial today at www.slate.com/podcastsplus. Twitter: @lexiconvalley Facebook: facebook.com/LexiconValley Email: [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Apr 29, 2019•47 min
A conversation with Gaston Dorren, author of Babel: Around the World in Twenty Languages. Join Slate Plus! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. Sign up for a free trial today at www.slate.com/podcastsplus. Twitter: @lexiconvalley Facebook: facebook.com/LexiconValley Email: [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Apr 16, 2019•36 min
Tonal languages evolved mostly in hot and humid places. What would explain that? Join Slate Plus! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. Sign up for a free trial today at www.slate.com/podcastsplus. Twitter: @lexiconvalley Facebook: facebook.com/LexiconValley Email: [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Apr 02, 2019•45 min
What we can learn about English from am, the seemingly simplest verb. Join Slate Plus! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. Sign up for a free trial today at www.slate.com/podcastsplus. Twitter: @lexiconvalley Facebook: facebook.com/LexiconValley Email: [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Mar 19, 2019•39 min
Where did Arabic, Hebrew, Amharic and their kin originate? And what is a triconsonantal root? Join Slate Plus! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. Sign up for a free trial today at www.slate.com/podcastsplus. Twitter: @lexiconvalley Facebook: facebook.com/LexiconValley Email: [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Mar 05, 2019•45 min
This episode is brought to you by Babbel. Try for free today at babbel.com/lexicon. How an old word for child morphed into a versatile, and very modern, suffix. Join Slate Plus! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. Sign up for a free trial today at www.slate.com/podcastsplus. Twitter: @lexiconvalley Facebook: facebook.com/LexiconValley Email: [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Feb 19, 2019•42 min
This episode is brought to you by Babbel. Try for free today at babbel.com/lexicon. Some more of the many ways that neologisms form. Join Slate Plus! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. Sign up for a free trial today at www.slate.com/podcastsplus. Twitter: @lexiconvalley Facebook: facebook.com/LexiconValley Email: [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Feb 06, 2019•44 min
This episode is brought to you by Babbel. Try for free today at babbel.com/lexicon. An actually very literal discussion of true words. Really! Join Slate Plus! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. Sign up for a free trial today at www.slate.com/podcastsplus. Twitter: @lexiconvalley Facebook: facebook.com/LexiconValley Email: [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jan 22, 2019•39 min
English speakers have been getting it on with the F-word for centuries. Join Slate Plus! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. Sign up for a free trial today at www.slate.com/podcastsplus. Twitter: @lexiconvalley Facebook: facebook.com/LexiconValley Email: [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jan 08, 2019•46 min