Episode description

A language is a window onto a culture, history and way of life. So what do we lose when a community stops speaking the language of its ancestors? John Gallagher is joined by Gwenno, who writes and sings in Cornish, and researchers working to reclaim endangered languages around the world.

With Mandana Seyfeddinipur of the Endangered Languages Documentation Programme, and Mel Engman and Mary Hermes who work in communities that speak Ojibwe, an indigenous language of Minnesota and elsewhere in North America.

This New Thinking episode of the Arts and Ideas podcast was made in partnership with the Arts and Humanities Research Council, part of UKRI

Producer: Luke Mulhall

Other episodes in our series exploring language include: What Language did Columbus Speak? Lingua franca in 15th-century travel and today’s refugee camps.

Dead Languages: John Gallagher says hello in Oscan, the daily language of ancient Pompeii and looks at the translation of hieroglyphics.

The Black Country: Matthew Sweet hears about the way the region has been depicted in writing which seeks to celebrate the local accent.

Language, the Victorians, and Us: Greg Tate, Louise Creechan, Lynda Mugglestone and Simon Rennie.

And Arts and Ideas New Thinking podcast episodes on research into Accents: From variations in Mancunian to descriptions of the Geordie voice.

City Talk: Mapping the accents of Greater Manchester with a camper van and a laptop.