Because Language - a podcast about linguistics, the science of language.

• 119: Eurovision Goes to Uni (with Paulette van der Voet and Solveig Bollig)

  It's Eurovision season! We love to talk about what we can learn about language from this international song contest, but even we didn't realise that there was so much to learn. Language choice, language policy, language and gender and metaphor — and all of this has been packed into a unit at Umeå University: Linguistics and the Eurovision Song Contest. Paulette van der Voet and Solveig Bollig are heading up the course, and they're here to tell us all about it… and nerd out with Hedvig besides. Timestamps Cold open: 0:00 Intros: 0:39 News: 7:39 Related or Not: 26:41 Interview with Paulette and Solveig: 38:53 Words of the Week: 1:30:08 Comment from John: 1:49:18 The Reads: 1:53:53 Outtakes: 2:02:25

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• 118: The A.I. Con (with Emily M. Bender and Alex Hanna)

  Artificial intelligence (so-called) is typified by its boom and bust cycles, and we're in a boom now. But as more and more money pours in with decreasing returns, we're going to see a shakeout, and hype is rushing in to stoke the enthusiasm. In other words, the con is on. Dr Emily M. Bender and Dr Alex Hanna are co-hosts of the podcast Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000, and the authors of The AI Con: How to Fight Big Tech’s Hype and Create the Future We Want. They join us for this episode.

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• 117: Sometimes It Feels Like I'm the Only One Trying to Fix English Around Here (live with friends for LingFest25)

  Video version of this episode: https://youtu.be/wxGeXMzlwng If you repeat something twice, how many times did you do it? Can more than one dinner be "the perfect dinner"? And what does "every other" mean? We are once again fixing English, in a live episode in which we pile all our friends into a room and vote on vexing semantic questions. These results are binding on English-speakers throughout time and space, because that's how language works. By committee! Timestamps Cold open: 0:00 Intros: 0:55 News: 4:12 Related or Not: 31:06 Fixing English: 47:59 Words of the Week: 1:13:44 The Reads: 1:34:00 Outtakes: 1:42:40

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• 116: Enough Is Enuf (with Gabe Henry)

  Spelling reform in English: a constant failure? Or a secret success? Waves upon waves of optimists have tried to make English spelling reflect its sound and escape its etymological origins, but have never seen their vision fully realised. Author Gabe Henry has chronicled the attempts, and he joins us on this episode.  Gabe is the author of Enough Is Enuf: Our Failed Attempts to Make English Easier to Spell, available from Dey Street Books. Timestamps Cold open: 0:00 Intros: 1:44 News: 9:50 Related or Not: 32:21 Interview with Gabe Henry: 49:23 Words of the Week: 1:33:41 Comment: 1:50:50 The Reads: 1:53:57 Outtakes: 2:03:28

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• 114: Bye Bye I Love You (with Michael Erard)

  First words and last words get a lot of attention. But how did words get to have such a place of prominence? What would we see if we focused on interaction instead? A new book looks at words, gestures, and silence at the beginning and end of life. Daniel has a chat with the author of Bye Bye I Love You, Dr Michael Erard. Timestamps Cold open: 0:00 Intros: 1:05 News: 6:59 Related or Not: 35;54 Interview with Michael Erard: 47:56 Words of the Week: 1:33:32 Comment: 1:45:46  The Reads: 1:49:43 Outtake: 1:56:01

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