Lingthusiasm - A podcast that's enthusiastic about linguistics

Monthly conversations exploring language, linguistics and communication AI summary

Gretchen McCulloch and Lauren Gawne Visit website › Science · EN · 121 episodes · latest 2026-10-15

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What it is about

A podcast that's enthusiastic about linguistics by Gretchen McCulloch and Lauren Gawne. "A fascinating listen that will change the way you see everyday communications." –New York Times. "Joyously nerdy" –Buzzfeed. Weird and deep half-hour conversations about language on the third Thursday of the month. Listened to all the episodes here and wish there were more? Want to talk with other people who are enthusiastic about linguistics? Get bonus episodes and access to our Discord community at www.patreon.com/lingthusiasm Shownotes and transcripts: www.lingthusiasm.com

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Latest episodes

121: Vampires, ghosts, imposters and more linguistic monsters

2026-10-15 · 42 min

Vampires, werewolves, witches, ghosts, zombies, imposters, and frankenstein have something in common: they're all possessed by the spirit of linguistics! In this silly spooky episode, your hosts Lauren Gawne and…
120: How (not) to kill a language - Interview with Sophia Smith Galer

2026-09-18 · 41 min

Narratives about smaller languages often focus on the death and endangerment sides of the story. There's generally less on the social and political reasons why some languages are favoured at the expense of others, and…
119: Irregularity is all over the place

2026-08-21 · 46 min

Talk, talked. Walk, walked. Go...went? In this episode, your hosts Gretchen McCulloch and Lauren Gawne get enthusiastic about the many ways that languages are irregular in their patterns! We talk about sound and…
118: Using tech to chat with bonobos, dogs, and whales

2026-07-17 · 46 min

Can we teach dogs to express their needs better by pressing buttons? What about the studies trying to teach bonobos and other primates to communicate through buttons or signs? What have we learned about whale…
117: What makes for beautiful writing, scientifically speaking - Interview with Julie Sedivy

2026-06-19 · 49 min

Sometimes, a phrase seems to leap off the page and lodge into your mind, crisp and shining like a precious jewel. Other times, you're reading something and it just won't stick, your eyes wandering away no matter how…
116: Cross-cultural communication (in space!)

2026-05-22 · 32 min

Sometimes, you're talking with someone and you just seem to click. Other times, you just can't seem to get comfortable: they're standing too close or too far away for comfort, making too much or too little eye contact,…
115: The long shadow of Daisy Bates with This Guy Sucked

2026-04-17 · 1 hr 1 min

What do you do when the only records that remain of a language were made by someone who had absolutely horrendous views of the people who spoke it? In this episode, your host Lauren Gawne gets enthusiastic about a…
114: Begonia, average coral, and sea pink - Defining colour terms with Kory Stamper

2026-03-20 · 54 min

begonia: a deep pink that is bluer, lighter, and stronger than average coral (see ‘coral’ 3B), bluer than fiesta, and bluer and stronger than sweet William, called also ‘gaiety’. In this episode, your hosts Gretchen…
113: Why "it's a diglossia!" explains so many social dynamics

2026-02-20 · 49 min

In some communities, everyone regularly uses two languages or varieties according to the social situation, with one of them being more prestigious (and more likely to be written down) than the other. This particular…
112: When language become-s(3SG) linguistic example-s(PL)

2026-01-15 · 49 min

Language is all around us. This sentence right here, is language! But between the raw experience of someone saying something and a linguistic analysis of what they've said, there are certain steps that make it easier…

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Publisher details

Owner: Lingthusiasm
Oldest episode in feed: 12/2016 · over 9 years
Typical length: 40 min

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