Because Language - a podcast about linguistic...

Daniel Midgley, Ben Ainslie, and Hedvig Skirgård

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All Episodes

131: Words of the Week of the Year 2025 (live with friends)

Video for this episode: https://youtu.be/Mqf05kN-TaI It's Word of the Year season, and we're counting down our Words of the Week of the Year! In the time-honoured tradition, we gathered them all up from our 2025 shows, and let everyone vote. And we're going to give a mention to e ... Show more

. 1h 31min

130: Back to the FTR (with Séan Roberts, Cole Robertson, and Annemarie Verkerk)

You know the story. The language you speak doesn't determine your savings. If your language has a future tense, there's no impact on the way you see or describe the future. Language and perception are separate. Well, maybe it's time to revisit this. Séan Roberts and Cole Robertso ... Show more

. 2h 53min

129: They Started It: Children and Language Evolution (with Madeleine Beekman)

We've asked linguists about how language began, but what would an evolutionary biologist tell you? Prof Madeleine Beekman says it's part of a complex web of body, brain, and community, and at the heart of it is (perhaps surprisingly) childcare. Madeleine is th ...

. 2h 25min

128: Across the Universe (with Natan Last)

Among so many great word games, crosswords still reign supreme. How have they survived — and even expanded — in our digital age? What goes into a good puzzle, and will computer techniques take over? Daniel chats with author Natan Last about his book Across the Universe: The Past, ... Show more

. 2h 7min

127: Oh (with Maia Chao, Kelly Wright, and Caitlin Green)

The "Oh" show was an experimental linguistics performance lecture. It happened in June 2025 at Creative Time HQ in New York City. Actors, musicians, and audience came together (with at least one linguist!) to act out dialogues from conversational analysis, and have fun with langu ... Show more

. 2h 15min