Shows
Speculative Grammarian PodcastLanguage Made Difficult, Vol. LLanguage Made Difficult, Vol. L — The SpecGram LingNerds are on their own this time. After some Lies, Damned Lies, and Linguistics, the LingNerds discuss the dangers of mispronouncing the names of Canadian provinces, and then advise students as to what they should not do. They also fail to celebrate the 50th episode. Many outtakes are provided.
2017-01-0900 minSpeculative Grammarian PodcastLanguage Made Difficult, Vol. XLIXLanguage Made Difficult, Vol. XLIX — The SpecGram LingNerds are joined by returning guest Tim Pulju. After some Lies, Damned Lies, and Linguistics, the LingNerds discuss purported evidence against Chomsky, and then reveal the titles of their books, all beginning with Language:.
2017-01-0200 minSpeculative Grammarian PodcastLanguage Made Difficult, Vol. XLVIIILanguage Made Difficult, Vol. XLVIII — The SpecGram LingNerds are joined by returning guest Kean Kaufmann. After some Lies, Damned Lies, and Linguistics, the LingNerds discuss a one hundred word language, and then move on to the royal and other orders for adjectives.
2016-12-2600 minSpeculative Grammarian PodcastLanguage Made Difficult, Vol. XLVIILanguage Made Difficult, Vol. XLVII — The SpecGram LingNerds are joined by guest Kean Kaufmann. After some Lies, Damned Lies, and Linguistics, the LingNerds briefly discuss some innovative bits of English Grammar—no, totally!—and then try out some new parlor games featuring archaic English words.
2016-12-1900 minSpeculative Grammarian PodcastLanguage Made Difficult, Vol. XLVILanguage Made Difficult, Vol. XLVI — The SpecGram LingNerds are joined by returning guest Pete Bleackley. After some Lies, Damned Lies, and Linguistics, the LingNerds discuss something else that tries to look like iconicity, and then look at some innovative and/or abominable on-going changes in English.
2016-12-1200 minSpeculative Grammarian PodcastLanguage Made Difficult, Vol. XLVLanguage Made Difficult, Vol. XLV — The SpecGram LingNerds are joined by guest Pete Bleackley. After some Lies, Damned Lies, and Linguistics, the LingNerds discuss something that tries to look like iconicity, and then share their favorite linguistical jokes.
2016-12-0500 minSpeculative Grammarian PodcastPlagiarize This!Plagiarize This!; by An Unidentifiable Subset of the SpecGram Editorial Board; From Volume CLXXII, Number 3, of Speculative Grammarian, March 2015 — It has come to our attention that entirely unfounded, spurious, and indefatigable accusations of heinous plagiarism have been made against the X. Quizzit Korps Center for Advanced Collaborative Studies. Specifically, these allegations involve recent articles in degenerative linguistics, which, we are told, included “large” blocks of “identical” text. (Read by Zack Sjöberg.)
2016-06-0400 minSpeculative Grammarian PodcastPlagiarism Uncovered in SpecGram PagesPlagiarism Uncovered in SpecGram Pages; by The Linguistic Inquirer; From Volume CLXXII, Number 3, of Speculative Grammarian, March 2015 — Pursuant to the terms of the pre-litigious resolution of “Grammar Entelechy v. Speculative Grammarian” the editors of SpecGram have recently disclosed the truth about the academically distasteful practices by which the allegedly “esteemed” journal foists its linguistic and paralinguistic agenda on the profession. (Read by Butch McBastard, Jonathan van der Meer, Declan Whitford Jones, and Trey Jones.)
2016-06-0400 minSpeculative Grammarian PodcastTop Tips For Linguists—Part IITop Tips For Linguists—Part II; by The SpecGram Editorial Board; From Volume CLXXIV, Number 4, of Speculative Grammarian, December 2015 — Realizing that many linguists, young and old, find themselves unsure of how best to succeed (or have success thrust upon them), we of the Speculative Grammarian Editorial Board have assembled a collection of high-impact protips that will help any linguist achieve their full potential—and then some! (Read by The SpecGram Players.)
2016-04-1600 minSpeculative Grammarian PodcastTop Tips For Linguists—Part ITop Tips For Linguists—Part I; by The SpecGram Editorial Board; From Volume CLXXIV, Number 3, of Speculative Grammarian, November 2015 — Realizing that many linguists, young and old, find themselves unsure of how best to succeed (or have success thrust upon them), we of the Speculative Grammarian Editorial Board have assembled a collection of high-impact protips that will help any linguist achieve their full potential—and then some! (Read by The SpecGram Players.)
2016-04-1600 minSpeculative Grammarian PodcastYe Olde Punnery—The Jigglepike FragmentYe Olde Punnery—The Jigglepike Fragment; by SpecGram Wire Services; From Volume CLXX, Number 1, of Speculative Grammarian, May 2014 — A small fragment of a manuscript believed to be part of the lost play “Ye Olde Punnery” by Willhebe Jigglepike has been unearthed at the bottom of a centuries-old Oxyrhynchus® Brand Garbage Dump outside the sleepy burg of Stratford-upon-Revlon. (Read by The SpecGram Players.)
2016-04-0400 minSpeculative Grammarian PodcastReviewerish Field NotesReviewerish Field Notes; by Cy Tayshon and M. Paktphaq-Torr; From Volume CLXXV, Number 2, of Speculative Grammarian, February 2016 — One of the most important skills linguists-to-be must develop is the ability to interpret the true meaning behind apparently transparent locutions used by more senior practitioners of the art and science of linguistics. (Read by The SpecGram Players.)
2016-03-2500 minSpeculative Grammarian PodcastLabyrinths & LinguistsLabyrinths & Linguists; by Craig Kopris; From Volume CLXXIII, Number 3, of Speculative Grammarian, July 2015 — While perusing the wax cylinder recordings stored at one of the major archives on the eastern seaboard (which will be left unnamed to protect the reputations of all concerned), I ran across a particular cylinder that caught my attention. Sticking out of one end was the charred remains of a wick. Curious as to why someone would attempt to destroy such a precious object (assuming, of course, that they hadn’t simply mistaken it for a defective candle), I searched the online catalog for more information. Nothing was...
2015-09-2000 minSpeculative Grammarian PodcastLinguistic Emissions Reduction SoughtLinguistic Emissions Reduction Sought; by SpecGram Wire Services; From Volume CLIII, Number 1, of Speculative Grammarian, September 2007 — Sanaa, Yemen—Tempers flared at global climate talks today, as environmental and linguistic concerns met head-on. The dispute is about so-called “inefficient articulations,” which detractors say increase the metabolic cost of speaking, while offering no linguistic benefit to speakers. These articulations, such as the large transition between the uvular [q] and palatal [i] in the Arabic surname Sadeqi, require more metabolic energy than most other segmental transitions, and are contributing to global warming, detractors say. (Read by Jonathan van der Meer.)
2015-07-0300 minSpeculative Grammarian PodcastIntroducing.. The SpecGram ⅔ Ellipsis™©Introducing.. The SpecGram ⅔ Ellipsis™©; by The Editors of SpecGram; From Volume CLIX, Number 2, of Speculative Grammarian, June 2010 — Introducing.. The SpecGram ⅔ Ellipsis™©—More than a Comma.. Less than a Semicolon!℠® (Read by James Campbell.)
2015-06-0500 minSpeculative Grammarian PodcastLanguage Made Difficult, Vol. XLIVLanguage Made Difficult, Vol. XLIV — The SpecGram LingNerds are joined once again by returning guests Jason Wells-Jensen and Tim Pulju. After some Lies, Damned Lies, and Linguistics, the LingNerds discuss tongue twister research and reveal their academic nightmares. Stick around for the outtakes to hear some “interesting” “musical” interludes and other fun stuff.
2015-05-2900 minSpeculative Grammarian PodcastLanguage Made Difficult, Vol. XLIIILanguage Made Difficult, Vol. XLIII — The SpecGram LingNerds are joined by returning guests Tim Pulju and Jason Wells-Jensen. After some Lies, Damned Lies, and Linguistics, the LingNerds discuss how to fake a language, and then contemplate ways in which English spelling, morphology, etc., could be revamped.
2015-05-2200 minSpeculative Grammarian PodcastLanguage Made Difficult, Vol. XLIILanguage Made Difficult, Vol. XLII — The SpecGram LingNerds are joined by returning guest Hedvig Skirgård. After some Lies, Damned Lies, and Linguistics, the LingNerds see what comes out of their mouths after reading an article claiming awareness comes after speaking, and then they discuss various linguistical ideas—real and imagined—that are ready for retirement.
2015-05-1500 minSpeculative Grammarian PodcastLanguage Made Difficult, Vol. XLILanguage Made Difficult, Vol. XLI — The SpecGram LingNerds are joined by guest Hedvig Skirgård. After some Lies, Damned Lies, and Linguistics, the LingNerds go into denial about their own “fingerprint words”, and then flip the script with some descriptivist confessions.
2015-05-0800 minSpeculative Grammarian PodcastLanguage ReviewsLanguage Reviews; by Dr. P. Nonoir; From Volume CLIX, Number 3, of Speculative Grammarian, July 2010 — This month we asked avid SpecGram reader Dr. P. Nonoir, Professor of Oenological Linguistics at the Sorbonne, to review some of his favourite languages. (Read by James Campbell.)
2015-04-0300 minSpeculative Grammarian PodcastSpecGram, the ReligionSpecGram, the Religion; by Margo T. Cip, A. M. Grössten, & Strčprst Kskrzkrk; From Volume CLXI, Number 2, of Speculative Grammarian, March 2011 — Linguists have always had several choices of deity—including Bloduwedda and her lot, or Θωθ, the pre-technological deity of computational linguistics—but there have never been any gods of satirical linguistics. However, on a recent data-diving expedition, we three junior SpecGram archivists have discovered that we are not as theologically lonely as we might have once thought. (Read by Trey Jones.)
2015-03-1300 minSpeculative Grammarian PodcastNew Course Offerings in LinguisticsNew Course Offerings in Linguistics; from l’École de SpecGram, Paris; From Volume CLXVI, Number 3, of Speculative Grammarian, February 2013 — NEW: Degree in Linguodontics / The Paris campus of l’École de SpecGram is pleased to announce the introduction of a new degree program in Linguodontics. (Read by Les Strabismus.)
2015-03-0600 minSpeculative Grammarian PodcastLanguage Made Difficult, Vol. XLLanguage Made Difficult, Vol. XL — The SpecGram LingNerds are joined yet again by returning guest Madalena Cruz-Ferreira. After some Lies, Damned Lies, and Linguistics, the LingNerds discuss Twitter Tribes and why biologists shouldn't do corpus linguistics, and then make a number of particularly humorous prescriptivist confessions.
2015-01-0900 minSpeculative Grammarian PodcastLanguage Made Difficult, Vol. XXXIXLanguage Made Difficult, Vol. XXXIX — The SpecGram LingNerds are joined again by returning guest Madalena Cruz-Ferreira. After some Lies, Damned Lies, and Linguistics, the LingNerds discuss angry texting orthography, and then attempt to lend a helping hand to non-academics.
2015-01-0200 minSpeculative Grammarian PodcastLanguage Made Difficult, Vol. XXXVIIILanguage Made Difficult, Vol. XXXVIII — The SpecGram LingNerds are joined yet again by returning guest Tim Pulju. After some Lies, Damned Lies, and Linguistics, the LingNerds discuss automating historical linguistic reconstructions, and then discuss ideas for new linguistics- and language-themed holidays.
2014-12-2600 minSpeculative Grammarian PodcastLanguage Made Difficult, Vol. XXXVIILanguage Made Difficult, Vol. XXXVII — The SpecGram LingNerds are joined by returning guest Tim Pulju. After some Lies, Damned Lies, and Linguistics, the LingNerds discuss cross-linguistics differences in language acquisition (with special references to lemurs) and share some more Randomata. Also, identify the Secret Word of the Day and email Trey (@SpecGram.com) within a week of the episode's release for a chance to win a free copy of The Speculative Grammarian Essential Guide to Linguistics!
2014-12-1900 minSpeculative Grammarian PodcastLanguage Made Difficult, Vol. XXXVILanguage Made Difficult, Vol. XXXVI — The SpecGram LingNerds are joined again by guest Jason Wells-Jensen. After some Lies, Damned Lies, and Linguistics, the LingNerds discuss the pointlessness of baby talk compared to the pointlessness of lemur screeches, and review more comprehensive exam questions. Also, identify the Secret Word of the Day and email Trey (@SpecGram.com) within a week of the episode's release for a chance to win a free copy of The Speculative Grammarian Essential Guide to Linguistics!
2014-12-1200 minSpeculative Grammarian PodcastLanguage Made Difficult, Vol. XXXVLanguage Made Difficult, Vol. XXXV — The SpecGram LingNerds are joined by guest Jason Wells-Jensen. After some Lies, Damned Lies, and Linguistics, the LingNerds discuss the wisdom of trying to revive “Indo-European”, and partake in some Linguistic Parlor Games. Also, identify the Secret Word of the Day and email Trey (@SpecGram.com) within a week of the episode’s release for a chance to win a free copy of The Speculative Grammarian Essential Guide to Linguistics!
2014-12-0500 minSpeculative Grammarian PodcastUsing NLP to Defeat NLPUsing NLP to Defeat NLP; by The Γραμματο-Χαοτικον; From Volume CLXV, Number 4, of Speculative Grammarian, October 2012 — We are the Γραμματο-Χαοτικον, an underground alliance of linguists, philologists, and polyglots. Our self-appointed role is to encourage arbitrary and capricious change both in Language and among languages, world-wide. Our exploits are legion, and now reasonably well documented (see “The Γραμματο-Χαοτικον Manifesto”, SpecGram CL.4). (Read by Trey Jones.)
2014-10-2400 minSpeculative Grammarian PodcastOn Linguistic Death CultsOn Linguistic Death Cults; by The Managing Editor; From Volume CLXII, Number 4, of Speculative Grammarian, September 2011 — For those not familiar with the casting of pods in which some of the editors of SpecGram engage, I feel obligated to comment on a story we recently discussed, in which it was reported that the last two speakers of Ayapaneco refuse to talk to each other (“Language at risk of dying out—the last two speakers aren’t talking” by Jo Tuckman, The Guardian, April 14, 2011). This is clearly a linguistic suicide pact. (Read by Trey Jones.)
2014-06-2700 minSpeculative Grammarian PodcastUniversity Sues Self for PlagiarismUniversity Sues Self for Plagiarism; by SpecGram Wire Services; From Volume CLXVII, Number 4, of Speculative Grammarian, August 2013 — The University of Texas at Austin has filed suit against itself for theft of intellectual property. A countersuit, also by the University against itself, demands recompense for emotional damages. The University expects a net windfall of at least $12 million from these lawsuits. (Read by Trey Jones.)
2014-06-1300 minSpeculative Grammarian PodcastThe Patented SpecGram 5 Minute Interview: Arika OkrentThe Patented SpecGram 5 Minute Interview: Arika Okrent — My guest today is Arika Okrent, linguist, author of In the Land of Invented Languages, fan of conlangs and, I think, conlangers, speaker of Klingon and Hungarian, signer of ASL, and contributor to Mental Floss and Slate’s Lexicon Valley, where she writes about conlangs, ASL, old fonts, and even makes a decent case for the use of “I could care less”.
2014-05-2300 minSpeculative Grammarian PodcastThe Patented SpecGram 5 Minute Interview: Philip ResnikThe Patented SpecGram 5 Minute Interview: Philip Resnik — My guest today is Philip Resnik, a professor at the University of Maryland, with joint appointments in the Department of Linguistics and at the Institute for Advanced Computer Studies. Phillip is the director of the University of Maryland Computational Linguistics and Information Processing Laboratory, and a researcher and consultant with extensive experience in natural language processing and text analytics, specializing in combining knowledge based and corpus based statistical techniques. He is also a Strategic Technology Advisor to 3M Health Information Systems and the Founder of React Labs.
2014-05-2300 minSpeculative Grammarian PodcastLanguage Made Difficult, Vol. XXXIVLanguage Made Difficult, Vol. XXXIV — The SpecGram LingNerds are joined by once again by returning guest Devan Steiner. After some Lies, Damned Lies, and Linguistics, the LingNerds discuss whether or not all the forms of "to be" in Indo-European languages are derived from Arabic roots (hint: they're not!), and take on Comprehensive Exam Questions in computational linguistics, pidgins, phonology, and more.
2014-05-0200 minSpeculative Grammarian PodcastLanguage Made Difficult, Vol. XXXIIILanguage Made Difficult, Vol. XXXIII — The SpecGram LingNerds are joined by returning guest Devan Steiner. After some Lies, Damned Lies, and Linguistics, the LingNerds discuss how physicists rediscovered glottochronology and have used it to date the Iliad less accurately than philologists already had, and in the spirit of such cross-disciplinary enterprise, they offer a helping linguistic hand to other fields, like math, biology, astronomy, and chemistry.
2014-04-2500 minSpeculative Grammarian PodcastLanguage Made Difficult, Vol. XXXIILanguage Made Difficult, Vol. XXXII — The SpecGram LingNerds go it alone again in this episode. After some Lies, Damned Lies, and Linguistics, the LingNerds discuss their prescriptive confessions, whether science is generally screwed, and whether linguistics is a science and thus also screwed.
2014-04-1800 minSpeculative Grammarian PodcastLanguage Made Difficult, Vol. XXXILanguage Made Difficult, Vol. XXXI — The SpecGram LingNerds go it alone in this episode. After some Lies, Damned Lies, and Linguistics, the LingNerds discuss word aversion and random interesting linguisticky factoids.
2014-04-1100 minSpeculative Grammarian PodcastLanguage Made Difficult, Vol. XXXLanguage Made Difficult, Vol. XXX — The SpecGram LingNerds are joined yet again by Madalena Cruz-Ferreira. After some Lies, Damned Lies, and Linguistics, the LingNerds discuss a prescriptive terrorist, and our favorite SpecGram articles.
2014-04-0400 minSpeculative Grammarian PodcastLanguage Made Difficult, Vol. XXIXLanguage Made Difficult, Vol. XXIX — The SpecGram LingNerds are joined again by Madalena Cruz-Ferreira. After some Lies, Damned Lies, and Linguistics, the LingNerds discuss a proposal for a new character for "the", and reflect on the coolest features English could have.
2014-03-2800 minSpeculative Grammarian PodcastSpecGram Suzie!SpecGram Suzie!; by Psammeticus Entertainment; From Volume CLIII, Number 4, of Speculative Grammarian, March 2008 — Psammeticus Entertainment proudly presents... SpecGram Suzie! (Read by Trey Jones and Sheri Wells-Jensen.)
2014-03-1400 minSpeculative Grammarian PodcastLinguistic CocktailsLinguistic Cocktails; by The SpecGram Mixologists; From Volume CLX, Number 3, of Speculative Grammarian, December 2010 — Interest in cocktails has had a resurgence lately, with people trying new combinations and reviving forgotten blends. We shouldn’t forget the long history the grand subfield of Mixological Linguistics has. Here is a mix of old favorites and new delights. (Read by Trey Jones.)
2014-01-3100 minSpeculative Grammarian PodcastAn Apology to MathematiciansAn Apology to Mathematicians; by Yahya Abdal-Aziz; From Volume CLVII, Number 2, of Speculative Grammarian, September 2009 — It has been brought to our attention that the ‘Lettres to the Editour’ in the special “Canada Day” edition of SpecGram, Vol CLI, No 3, is an imperfect translation of the ‘Letters to the Editor’ to be found (cunningly!) on the same page. (Read by Tuuli Mustasydän.)
2014-01-1000 minSpeculative Grammarian PodcastParamount Seeks To Leverage Linguistic CapitalParamount Seeks To Leverage Linguistic Capital; by SpecGram Wire Services; From Volume CL, Number 3, of Speculative Grammarian, July 2005 — Attempting to leverage the success of its Klingon monopoly, Star Trek owner Paramount Pictures has been making aggressive advances on the world’s minority languages. Offers for majority ownership of such diverse languages as Eastern Yugur, Basque, and Mofu are reported by knowledgeable sources as running well into the tens of millions of US dollars. (Read by Keith Slater.)
2013-11-1500 minSpeculative Grammarian PodcastLanguage Made Difficult, Vol. XXVIIILanguage Made Difficult, Vol. XXVIII — The SpecGram LingNerds go it alone once again. After some Lies, Damned Lies, and Linguistics, the LingNerds discuss some problems with (the) French, and reveal their least favorite subdisciplines of linguistics.
2013-08-2700 minSpeculative Grammarian PodcastOptimality Theory Was a Hoax—Prince and Smolensky finally come cleanOptimality Theory Was a Hoax—Prince and Smolensky finally come clean; by SpecGram Wire Services; From Volume CLXVI Number 4, of Speculative Grammarian, March 2013 — At a tearful news conference during the 2013 Annual Meeting of the Linguistic Society of America, Allen Prince confessed that Optimality Theory was a hoax. “I just can’t live with the lies any longer,” he said. (Read by Brianne Hughes.)
2013-08-0900 minSpeculative Grammarian PodcastLanguage Made Difficult, Vol. XXVIILanguage Made Difficult, Vol. XXVII — The SpecGram LingNerds go it alone this time. After some Lies, Damned Lies, and Linguistics, the LingNerds discuss the grammaticalization of "slash" and review some Comprehensive Exam questions and answers.
2013-08-0600 minSpeculative Grammarian PodcastLinguist Sues Language CommunityLinguist Sues Language Community; by SpecGram Wire Services; From Volume CLXVI, Number 2, of Speculative Grammarian, January 2013 — Graduate student Simon Ticks, of University of Minnesota Department of Linguistics, is suing a White Hmong village in Northern Thailand for failing to provide the evidence needed for his dissertation project. (Read by Veronika Reeve.)
2013-07-1900 minSpeculative Grammarian PodcastLanguage Made Difficult, Vol. XXVILanguage Made Difficult, Vol. XXVI — The SpecGram LingNerds are joined again by guest Aya Katz. After some Lies, Damned Lies, and Linguistics, the LingNerds discuss whether English has a perfectly phonetic orthography, and some of the interesting languagey things that linguists notice out in the world. (And in the outtakes Trey insults various programming languages left and right, potentially sparking a future holy war.)
2013-06-2800 minSpeculative Grammarian PodcastLanguage Made Difficult, Vol. XXVLanguage Made Difficult, Vol. XXV — The SpecGram LingNerds (including new LingNerd Sheri Wells-Jensen) are joined by guest Aya Katz. After some Lies, Damned Lies, and Linguistics, the LingNerds discuss the applications of involuntary gripping in response to hand-related verbs, and review a surprisingly large number of language-related books.
2013-05-2300 minSpeculative Grammarian PodcastHelp with the SpecGram Podcast!Help with the SpecGram Podcast; by Trey Jones
2013-05-1700 minSpeculative Grammarian PodcastLanguage Made Difficult, Vol. XXIVLanguage Made Difficult, Vol. XXIV — The SpecGram LingNerds are joined yet again by Gabe Olsen. After some Lies, Damned Lies, and Linguistics—with returning guest Jonathan Downie—the LingNerds discuss the unreasonable prestigiousness of mathematics, and review likely comprehensive exam questions and effective answers thereto.
2013-04-2700 minSpeculative Grammarian PodcastLanguage Made Difficult, Vol. XXIIILanguage Made Difficult, Vol. XXIII — The SpecGram LingNerds are joined again by Gabe Olsen, this time for the whole show. After some Lies, Damned Lies, and Linguistics—with guest Jonathan Downie—the LingNerds discuss whether English is a Scandinavian language, and review a list of the worst words of 2012.
2013-03-2200 minSpeculative Grammarian PodcastLanguage Made Difficult, Vol. XXIILanguage Made Difficult, Vol. XXII — The SpecGram LingNerds are joined yet again by Sheri Wells-Jensen. After some Lies, Damned Lies, and Linguistics, they discuss whether linguists make grammaticality judgements like "normal people", and confess more of their prescriptive tendencies.
2013-01-0400 minSpeculative Grammarian PodcastLanguage Made Difficult, Vol. XXILanguage Made Difficult, Vol. XXI — The SpecGram LingNerds are joined by returning guest Sheri Wells-Jensen for Lies, Damned Lies, and Linguistics, and she sticks around for the rest of the show. They discuss the "reading level" of US Congressional speeches, and then they discuss the ins and outs of teaching linguistics at university.
2012-12-0700 minSpeculative Grammarian PodcastLanguage Made Difficult, Vol. XXLanguage Made Difficult, Vol. XX — The SpecGram LingNerds are joined again by guest Madalena Cruz-Ferreira for Lies, Damned Lies, and Linguistics. They also discuss the spread of the -ome suffix and the biological approach to solving the riddle of the urheim of PIE. Finally, they discuss more questions and answers from comprehensive exams.
2012-11-0500 minSpeculative Grammarian PodcastLanguage Made Difficult, Vol. XIXLanguage Made Difficult, Vol. XIX — The SpecGram LingNerds are joined by guest Madalena Cruz-Ferreira for Lies, Damned Lies, and Linguistics. They also discuss the fact that German speakers can’t say “squirrel” and whether “modulo” is the nerdiest preposition. Finally, they give more Prescriptivist Confessions.
2012-10-0500 minSpeculative Grammarian PodcastLanguage Made Difficult, Vol. XVIIILanguage Made Difficult, Vol. XVIII — The SpecGram LingNerds are joined again by guest Editor Emeritus Tim Pulju for Lies, Damned Lies, and Linguistics; and then he sticks around for the rest of the podcast, again. They also discuss otovermology and whether Burushaski is Indo-European, and interview Tim about his early days with SpecGram.
2012-09-0500 minSpeculative Grammarian PodcastLanguage Made Difficult, Vol. XVIILanguage Made Difficult, Vol. XVII — The SpecGram LingNerds are joined by guest Editor Emeritus Tim Pulju for Lies, Damned Lies, and Linguistics; and then he sticks around for the rest of the podcast. They also discuss aggressiveness in teenage girls caused by the character limitations of social media and the information density of various languages, as well as exploring a number of phonetical things you know that you may not know that you know.
2012-08-0500 minSpeculative Grammarian PodcastLanguage Made Difficult, Vol. XVILanguage Made Difficult, Vol. XVI — The SpecGram LingNerds are joined again by guest Scott Yarborough for some Lies, Damned Lies, and Linguistics. They also discuss doing NLP “from scratch” and automated news story writing, as well as exploring a number of language-related conspiracy theories.
2012-07-1500 minSpeculative Grammarian PodcastLanguage Made Difficult, Vol. XVLanguage Made Difficult, Vol. XV — The SpecGram LingNerds are joined by guest Scott Yarborough for some Lies, Damned Lies, and Linguistics. They also discuss bio- and linguistic diversity, the likability of simple names, and give high-quality sample answers to common linguistics comprehensive exam questions.
2012-06-2600 minSpeculative Grammarian PodcastThe Collected Wisdom of Linguists, Part ΓThe Collected Wisdom of Linguists, Part Γ; by The SpecGram Council of Sages; From Volume CLXIV, Number 3, of Speculative Grammarian, May 2012. — In this third of three installments, we share with you the proverbial wisdom of ancient sages of philology and linguistics, honed and refined through the ages by the folk wisdom and common sense of the masses. Should you sense a contradiction, recall also that “Proverbs run in pairs.” (Read by Jonathan van der Meer.)
2012-06-1500 minSpeculative Grammarian PodcastLanguage Made Difficult, Vol. XIVLanguage Made Difficult, Vol. XIV — The SpecGram LingNerds are joined again by guest Gabe Olsen for some Lies, Damned Lies, and Linguistics. They also discuss how our brains make other people less boring, the likability of left-handed- vs right-handed-typed words, and a book about hyperpolyglots.
2012-06-0500 minSpeculative Grammarian PodcastThe Collected Wisdom of Linguists, Part ΒThe Collected Wisdom of Linguists, Part Β; by The SpecGram Council of Sages; From Volume CLXIV, Number 2, of Speculative Grammarian, March 2012. — In this second of three installments, we share with you the proverbial wisdom of ancient sages of philology and linguistics, honed and refined through the ages by the folk wisdom and common sense of the masses. Should you sense a contradiction, recall also that “Proverbs run in pairs.” (Read by Jonathan van der Meer.)
2012-05-2000 minSpeculative Grammarian PodcastLanguage Made Difficult, Vol. XIIILanguage Made Difficult, Vol. XIII — The SpecGram LingNerds are joined by guest Gabe Olsen for some Lies, Damned Lies, and Linguistics. They also discuss chimpanzee gestures and the shutter-upper gun, and indulge in more Prescriptivist Confessions.
2012-05-1000 minSpeculative Grammarian PodcastThe Collected Wisdom of Linguists, Part ΑThe Collected Wisdom of Linguists, Part Α; by The SpecGram Council of Sages; From Volume CLXIV, Number 1, of Speculative Grammarian, February 2012. — In this first of three installments, we share with you the proverbial wisdom of ancient sages of philology and linguistics, honed and refined through the ages by the folk wisdom and common sense of the masses. Should you sense a contradiction, recall also that “Proverbs run in pairs.” (Read by Jonathan van der Meer.)
2012-04-2700 minSpeculative Grammarian PodcastLanguage Made Difficult, Vol. XIILanguage Made Difficult, Vol. XII — The SpecGram LingNerds discuss goat and other mammalian accents, and liberal vs. conservative linguistics. They also investigate more Lies, Damned Lies, and Linguistics with repeat guest Sheri Wells-Jensen, and have another visit with Mr. Linguist.
2012-04-0700 minSpeculative Grammarian PodcastLanguage Made Difficult, Vol. XILanguage Made Difficult, Vol. XI — The SpecGram LingNerds discuss how vowels control your brain, and whether toddlers listen to themselves, or are just stupid. They also investigate more Lies, Damned Lies, and Linguistics with guest Sheri Wells-Jensen, and discuss their futurological visions for English.
2012-03-1000 minSpeculative Grammarian PodcastThe Linguistic Singularity and the Linguistic MultiverseThe Linguistic Singularity and the Linguistic Multiverse; by Mikio Chachu; From Volume CLX, Number 3 of Speculative Grammarian, December 2010. — The tripe piles higher and deeper in the pages of SpecGram, a journal I once respected, as so-called “linguophysicists” barely worthy enough to utter the name of our noble profession spew out wholly inappropriate and wildly unsupported theories of Big Linguistic Crunches, Rips, Freezes, and Bounces. While the immature pretenders to cosmolinguistics paddle around in the shallow end, the true deep thinkers have deeply pondered the deep future. Their deep conclusions are deeply profound. (Read by Joey Whitford.)
2012-01-1100 minSpeculative Grammarian PodcastLanguage Made Difficult, Vol. XLanguage Made Difficult, Vol. X — The SpecGram LingNerds discuss Danish and its vowels, and Proto-Ape-Wave. They also investigate more Lies, Damned Lies, and Linguistics, and confess their prescriptive tendencies.
2011-12-2100 minSpeculative Grammarian PodcastThe Linguistic Big RipThe Linguistic Big Rip; by Charlie Saygone; From Volume CLIX, Number 3 of Speculative Grammarian, July 2010. — In the June 2010 issue, Block claims that there is an impending “Linguistic Big Crunch.” I am appalled that SpecGram would allow such tripe to be published. (Read by David J. Peterson.)
2011-12-1100 minSpeculative Grammarian PodcastLanguage Made Difficult, Vol. IXLanguage Made Difficult, Vol. IX — The SpecGram LingNerds discuss parrot naming practices and "discuss" the "loss" of "cursive" "handwriting". They also investigate more Lies, Damned Lies, and Linguistics, and Ask Mr Linguist about the legitimacy of the word "funner".
2011-11-2000 minSpeculative Grammarian PodcastLanguage Made Difficult, Vol. VIIILanguage Made Difficult, Vol. VIII — The SpecGram LingNerds discuss the "oldest" words in English and whether kids really are better than adults at learning languages. They also investigate more Lies, Damned Lies, and Linguistics, and Ask Mr Linguist about a mythical beast called the "thesaurus".
2011-10-2000 minSpeculative Grammarian PodcastLanguage Made Difficult, Vol. VIILanguage Made Difficult, Vol. VII — The SpecGram LingNerds are joined by surprise guest Comptroller General Joey Whitford for Lies, Damned Lies, and Linguistics, discuss stubborn speakers of a dying language and robot conlangers, enjoy more Words of Wisdom from Lady Fantod, and discuss the Slater Method with its creator.
2011-08-1900 minSpeculative Grammarian PodcastHow to Pay for Linguistic FieldworkHow to Pay for Linguistic Fieldwork; by The SpecGram Editorial Board; From Volume CLVIII, Number 4, of Speculative Grammarian, April 2010. — The thing is is that fieldwork is expensive, and yet we have to somehow pay for it. Or we won’t get to do it. And really, heaven help the poor soul who can’t pay for a trip even to Tahiti, and has to try to come up with some topic on English syntax that hasn’t already been beaten like a dead metaphor. (Read by Trey Jones.)
2011-08-1000 minSpeculative Grammarian PodcastLanguage Made Difficult, Vol. VILanguage Made Difficult, Vol. VI — The SpecGram LingNerds are joined by guest Devan Steiner for Lies, Damned Lies, and Linguistics, discuss a Boston Accent Eradication Program and the suddenly uncertain future of the Oxford Comma, enjoy more Words of Wisdom from Lady Fantod, and answer tweets from fans.
2011-07-2100 min
Language Creation SocietyInterview with Sheri Wells-Jensenhttp://conlang.org/podcast/LCS_Podcast-013-Wells-Jensen.mp3
David and Sai interview Sheri Wells-Jensen about her work in the world of conlanging, and her work as a linguist at Bowling Green State University.
.mp3 recording | Dr. Wells-Jensen’s Webpage
Talk about a really, really good idea. Wouldn’t it be cool if you could google a person and hear what they sounded like? Ooh! Or even better! Take an audio sample of someone’s voice, play it into your computer’s microphone, and have it find that person! I found this aspect of her work the m...
2011-07-0300 minSpeculative Grammarian PodcastLanguage Made Difficult, Vol. VLanguage Made Difficult, Vol. V — The SpecGram LingNerds discuss just how wrong Chomsky is and whether phoneme inventories shrink with distance form Africa, and investigate more Lies, Damned Lies, and Linguistics. We also enjoy more Words of Wisdom from Lady Fantod and grill DJP on his experience creating the Dothraki language for HBO.
2011-06-2000 minSpeculative Grammarian PodcastLanguage Made Difficult, Vol. IVLanguage Made Difficult, Vol. IV — The SpecGram LingNerds discuss the anatomical oddities of phoneticians, the fact that Big Brother may now be watching your every word, and more Lies, Damned Lies, and Linguistics. We also enjoy Words of Wisdom from Lady Fantod and discuss Twitter Feedback from “fans” of the show. Someone leaves the tape running too long, but power through it for an explosive musical bonus at the end of the episode.
2011-05-2000 minSpeculative Grammarian PodcastSurvey of Linguistic Evidence of Meta-Consciousness in Tier-19 Terran PrimatesSurvey of Linguistic Evidence of Meta-Consciousness in Tier-19 Terran Primates; by Cëŏjpruustcrêrt êe Âgriüsturttâiy Fuördrêostsklanöukklėû Růŕskramnnuũrgciwä and Ëø Daerl stiic Uasŝăź swerz Ê; From Volume CLV, Number ζ of Speculative Grammarian, January 2009. — The following message arrived several months ago at the SpecGram main offices as a steganographic message encoded in the gift card attached to a Big Ol’ Bucket O’ Meat gift basket from Big Stu’s World of Taste—which had been the usual method of communication between the SpecGram editorial board and one of our top informants, known only to us by the code name Elbüo. We have good...
2011-04-2200 minSpeculative Grammarian PodcastLanguage Made Difficult, Vol. IIILanguage Made Difficult, Vol. III — The SpecGram LingNerds discuss linguistic “thought experiments”, physicists modelling bilingual societies, a letter from a young proto-linguist concerning the word “lukewarm”, and Lies, Damned Lies, and Linguistics.
2011-04-1500 minSpeculative Grammarian PodcastLanguage Made Difficult, Vol. IILanguage Made Difficult, Vol. II — The SpecGram LingNerds discuss mammal individuality and population size, architectural linguistics, a letter from a young proto-linguist concerning Urban Dictionary; and Lies, Damned Lies, and Linguistics.
2011-03-2000 minSpeculative Grammarian PodcastLanguage Made Difficult, Vol. ILanguage Made Difficult, Vol. I — The SpecGram LingNerds discuss the Sapir Worf Hypothesis; “New” vs “Nyoo”; and a letter from a young proto-linguist concerning IBM’s Watson on Jeopardy. Plus Lies, Damned Lies, and Linguistics.
2011-03-1000 minSpeculative Grammarian PodcastFrench Sues EnglishFrench Sues English; by SpecGram Wire Services; From Volume CLIX, Number 2 of Speculative Grammarian, June 2010. — The Académie Française filed a lawsuit today at the European Court of Language Slights in Brussels against the English language, claiming 650 million euros in compensation. The suit against the English language describes “the intentional misappropriation of core elements of French and imitation of its distinctive sound.” The Académie seeks damages and an injunction that, if granted, would prevent English from being spoken until the case has been resolved. (Read by Stephany Dunstan.)
2010-12-1000 minSpeculative Grammarian PodcastThe Linguistics WarsThe Linguistics Wars; by Dæriam Landec, Ph.D., l’École de SpecGram, Istanbul; From Volume CLI, Number 1 of Speculative Grammarian, January 2006. — As is widely known—though not exhaustively covered in the linguistic, academic, or mainstream press—an unfortunate series of events that have become widely known as “The Linguistics Wars” unfolded in Montana in the spring of 2005. Over the course of a few days, several devastating attacks were launched between the Montana Morphemic Militia (or M³)—a group that has been variously described as a linguistic-oriented paramilitary organization and a military-oriented paralinguistic organization—and the Montana field office of the First Earth Bat...
2010-11-1500 min