Bouncer George Bass on de-escalating conflict

Ever wondered where all our squiggles and dots of modern punctuation come from? Author of On The Mark Florence Hazrat gives us a witty and fascinating insight into how punctuation began and has evolved through the centuries, continuing to adapt and change as our methods of writin ...  Show more

Rob Drummond, Professor of Sociolinguistics at Manchester Metropolitan University, talks to Michael about the ways people talk in Greater Manchester. They discuss which areas are seen as more 'Lancashire' or more 'Manc' in their speech, and what is known as the 'happy vowel.' Plu ...  Show more

If you're bilingual or multilingual, you may have noticed that different languages make you stretch in different ways. This week, we revisit a favorite 2018 conversation with cognitive scientist Lera Boroditsky. She studies how the structure ...

Backed by research and personal anecdotes, Spanish professor Anna Babel reveals the intricate relationship between language and culture, showing how social categories and underlying biases influence the way we hear, regard and, ultimately, judge each other. A talk that will leave ...  Show more

Do you ever struggle to communicate with your mom? Or feel like you and your spouse sometimes speak different languages? We talk with linguist Deborah Tannen about how our conversational styles can cause unintended conflicts, and wha ...

Are there really dozens of words for snow in northern cultures? What did the movie Arrival have to do with language and cognition? Why are Russians better than Americans at distinguishing certain shades of blue? And what does any of this have to do with space, time, gender, and h ...  Show more