Best Linguistics After Dark Podcasts (2025)

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Episode 16: SOUTHWYIGHTCKPQRFML 1:35:24

30d ago1:35:24

1:35:24

Wherein we guess that’s part of our grammar now. Jump right to: 6:16 Linguistics Thing Of The Day: Vowel shifts 44:23 Question 1: Why do British people say “I was sat there” instead of “I was sitting there,” are they afraid of gerunds or something? 57:11 Question 2: I’ve noticed distinctions between how numbers are pluralised and ordinalized not on…

1
Episode 15: Mr. White Is On Blast 1:29:45

2M ago1:29:45

1:29:45

Wherein we enjoy swearing, big lakes, and ambiguity more than most people. Jump right to: 6:25 Linguistics Thing Of The Day: Swearing 26:10 After marrying my wife, who is from Chicago, I (who am a native of Boston) often get comments from my in-laws or wife's friends that my accent sounds "British" to them. I think that's ridiculous, but I'm wonder…

1
Episode 14: SNUBA (Snail Tuba) 1:44:07

5M ago1:44:07

1:44:07

Wherein we have an actual disagreement on the podcast! Jump right to: 2:42 Linguistics Thing Of The Day: Ways to Make Words! 42:18 Is it possible to have a different accent in your speaking voice versus your inner monologue voice on a regular basis? when I’m tired mine just throws from one accent to another, even ones I can’t make my mouth do but m…

1
Episode 13: A-blade-ive 52:02

8M ago52:02

52:02

Wherein we shove things away (with knives). Jump right to: 0:37 Is there a word in some language for “responding to the literal words and not the subtext of a request? 4:22 Response question from Spotify: With babies absorbing sounds even without learning the language, when learning a language would it be good to listen to that language even if you…

1
Episode 12: Dead Language Power 1:06:41

9M ago1:06:41

1:06:41

Wherein we are not warful. Jump right to: 3:36 A slight correction about the etymology of “magic” 5:55 Linguistics Thing Of The Day: Verb voice, aka diathesis 23:01 Question 1: I [once] initially used "tiring" to describe someone, and then realized it didn't quite fit right, so I used "tiresome" instead. [T]hose should basically mean the same thing…

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Episode 11: The Axiom of ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 1:11:14

10M ago1:11:14

1:11:14

Wherein we are not already in textbooks. Jump right to: 2:25 Linguistics Thing Of The Day: Ergativity 25:50 Some people would say “historic moment” or “electric field”; others seem to say “historical moment” or “electrical field”. Is there any study of this difference[, and] how would you describe [it]? I usually call it whether people use nouns ad…

1
Episode 10: Voiceless Alvie 1:23:53

11M ago1:23:53

1:23:53

Wherein we finally post this collection of tangents in a trenchcoat. Jump right to: 15:09 Sneaky Question 0: As my high school-aged daughter starts to look towards college, she wants to learn more about the study of linguistics, both in terms of the fundamentals and in terms of cutting edge research. Are there resources beyond your podcast that you…

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Episode 9: You Can't Live A Dangerous Banana 1:16:27

1y ago1:16:27

1:16:27

Wherein we finish the podcast in under four hours! Jump right to: 5:43 Language Thing Of The Day: Transitivity 34:55 Question 1: Are accents predictable? That is, there are specific accents people have based on the languages they have learned, and often these have specific-enough features to have stereotypes. But would a native speaker of Parisian …

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Episode 8: No Linguist Can Afford That House 1:20:47

1y ago1:20:47

1:20:47

Wherein we KISS-FIST linguistics. Jump right to: 3:15 Linguistics Thing Of The Day: Garden path sentences 25:05 How do [in/formal] registers change over time; do they stairstep as we invent new informal registers and then everything bumps up a notch and the old formal registers fall off as “staid”, or is it nonuniform? 37:21 Audio question! Is ling…

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Episode 7: The Fax Machine of Gondor 1:11:50

1+ y ago1:11:50

1:11:50

Wherein we spin a shitpost question into linguistics gold. Jump right to: 0:58 Mailbag; revisiting our treatment of linguistic typology 12:14 Language Thing of the Day: The Comparative Method 32:32 Question 1: Is English a creole? 40:34 Question 2: Are Old English and Modern English the same language? 51:07 Question 3: Is there any part of language…

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Episode 6: Hamburger. Hamburger? Hamburger! 1:12:57

1+ y ago1:12:57

1:12:57

Wherein we find an excuse to recommend a bunch of music to you. Jump right to: 2:26 Language Thing of the Day: Filler words 14:17 Question 1: How did we get nicknames that don't seem to make sense? Like how did "Peggy" come out of "Margaret"? 25:26 Question 2: Why do singers' accents almost always become less intense in their singing voices as oppo…

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Bonus Episode: LxAD LIVE @ CrossingsCon 2022 (full video with audio description at the end) 2:13:49

1+ y ago2:13:49

2:13:49

Wherein we #GiveLinguistsSwords. (Please note that this recording cut out a lot of background noise and claps/cheers, so if there is a weird volume jump up or down, that might be why.) Jump right to: 00:04:42 Is syntax fake? 00:10:14 Favorite and least favorite words 00:23:48 How has profanity evolved with language? 00:34:40 What are the rules for …

1
Bonus Episode: LxAD LIVE @ CrossingsCon 2022 2:14:04

1+ y ago2:14:04

2:14:04

Wherein we #GiveLinguistsSwords. (Please note that this recording cut out a lot of background noise and claps/cheers, so if there is a weird volume jump up or down, that might be why.) Jump right to: 00:04:42 Is syntax fake? 00:10:14 Favorite and least favorite words 00:23:48 How has profanity evolved with language? 00:34:40 What are the rules for …

1
Bonus Episode: LxAD LIVE @ CrossingsCon 2021 1:46:09

2y ago1:46:09

1:46:09

We've gone live for #CrossingsCon! ...two years ago. And before we fell further into our unintended hiatus, we forgot to post this episode anywhere besides YouTube. Oops!! So here is this, and a promise that we are back! Full show notes will be added here and uploaded to https://linguisticsafterdark.com when we get them written, and we have a bonus…

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LxAD @ CrossingsCon Announcement 1:34

4y ago1:34

1:34

Hello, and welcome to Linguistics After Dark! I'm Sarah, and this not really an episode—it's another teaser for next week's live show at CrossingsCon: Slipping Sideways. At 7pm New York time, Tuesday August 3rd, we'll be doing a live episode with real questions from real audience members! That's you! The convention is free to attend, and throughout…

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Bonus Episode: LxAD LIVE @ #LingFest 1:47:10

4y ago1:47:10

1:47:10

Check out the events from #LingFest 2021 at https://lingcomm.org/lingfest/, and get hype for CrossingsCon 21: Slipping Sideways, running from August 1-8 on Gather, with more information at https://crossingscon.org/. Our show has not been assigned a time slot yet, but we'll make sure to announce it as soon as we have one! ⁌⁍ ⁌⁍ ⁌⁍ Wherein we are LIV…

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Announcement: Linguistics After Dark LIVE! 1:28

4y ago1:28

1:28

Hi everyone! We have two big Linguistics After Dark announcements for you. The first announcement is: we're still here! We have two episodes that are in fact recorded and waiting to be edited, so look for those in the next little bit. The second announcement is that we'll be doing a live show! We'll be taking questions from all of you while streami…

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Episode 5: Schwa de Vivre 1:16:25

5y ago1:16:25

1:16:25

Wherein we talk a LOT. Jump right to: 1:50 The International Phonetic Alphabet 30:59 Corrections 36:08 Question 1: Computer languages: Are they languages (in a linguistic sense)? They have rules, syntax, even dialects. They can express certain complex ideas better than English, but they cannot (easily) express arbitrary ideas. 44:50 Question 2: Wha…

1
Episode 4: The HOA of Francophones 1:17:15

5y ago1:17:15

1:17:15

Wherein we frequently get off topic and get angry at Les Immortels. Jump right to: 1:08 Things Sarah Is Mad About Once She Did the Show Notes 3:39 Linguistic Thing of the Day: Borrowing! 8:00 L’Académie Française is annoying 22:27 Are there languages other than Irish that have the concept of helping vowels? 33:51 How do linguistic rules emerge? 51:…

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Episode 3: The Gospel of the Wug 1:07:33

5y ago1:07:33

1:07:33

Wherein we make wugability happen and invoke rule three. Jump right to: 3:40 The Part Where We Say The Title 20:22 Are clicks consonants? 30:22 Why do people like some words and hate others? 43:53 An uncharacteristically serious discussion about conversational styles and their relation or lack thereof to gender 65:18 The puzzler: What do the words…