Lexispodcast - Podcast Details

Shows

Lexis Episode 78 - John Kelly and the 2025 Words of the YearWelcome to episode 78 of Lexis in which Raj & Dan talk to John Kelly, former head of content at Dictionary.com, previous contributor to Merriam-Webster and Oxford Dictionaries, emoji lexicographer for Emojipedia, and school teacher. We discuss:How WOTY decisions were made at Dictionary.comWhether we should celebrate WOTY for getting us talking about words, or be cynical about it as a marketing exerciseWhat makes a WOTY stick aroundWhat qualities a good WOTY should haveThe sketchier WOTYs that we've seen2025’s crop of WOTY no...

2025-12-1352 min

Lexis Episode 77 - Lynne Murphy and the 'Americanisation' of young people's EnglishWelcome to episode 77 of Lexis in which Raj & Dan talk to Lynne Murphy, Professor of Linguistics at the University of Sussex about a flurry of recent news stories about children’s adoption of American vocabulary (and even accents). We discuss:What these stories are about and whether we can even tell if this 'Americanisation' is happeningThe main themes in them and their precursors in previous panics about ‘Americanisation’ The discourses within and behind these storiesWhat motivates them and how to approach them critically How British English is also mak...

2025-11-2529 min

Lexis Episode 76 - Dani Yin & Cheryl Wakslak on gender and exclamation marks in digital communicationWelcome to episode 76 of Lexis which features Raj & Dan (and guest interviewer & friend of the pod, Amanda Cole) talking about gender and exclamation marks in digital communication with Yidan (Dani) Yin, Assistant Professor in the Department of Management and Organization at the Smeal College of Business, Penn State University and Dr Cheryl Wakslak, Associate Professor of Management and Organization at USC Marshall.Their JESP (Journal of Experimental Social Psychology) paper (with Gil Appel): Nice to meet you.(!) Gendered norms in punctuation usage can be found here and is a fascinating read: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/397148363_Nice_t...

2025-11-201h 00

Lexis Episode 75 - Teachers' Accents specialWelcome back to Lexis. This is episode 75 and it’s a bumper edition. We pick up on a recent survey of teachers by Teacher Tapp about teachers’ accents and run with it…We talk to teacher, Arun Sharma about his experiences, we interview Alex Baratta, Amanda Cole and Rob Drummond and we discuss the survey results in more detail and cover some other stories about accents in the news. Teacher Tapp’s blog about this: https://teachertapp.com/articles/how-teachers-feel-about-their-accents/ Teacher Tapp: https://teachertapp.com/ The stories we discuss in Lang in the News...

2025-10-271h 21

Lexis Episode 74 - Laura Smith-Khan and the language of lawWelcome to Episode 74 of Lexis. Jacky and Dan talk to Dr Laura Smith-Khan, Senior Lecturer - School of Law, University of New England, Australia about…How she got into the linguistics of lawWhere and how law and language overlapClarity, accuracy and the power dynamics in legal languageMigration, borders, refugees and the lawAssessing ‘credibility’ and some of the processes of refugee lawCritically assessing media discourses around migrationLaura Smith-Khan’s university profile: https://www.une.edu.au/staff-profiles/law/Dr-Laura-Smith-Khan_ProfileLau...

2025-06-1244 min

Lexis Episode 73 - York English Language Toolkit preview 2025Welcome to Episode 73 of Lexis. Dan talks to Sam Hellmuth, Catherine Laing, Lauren Harrington and Salina Cuddy about the forthcoming York English Language Toolkit event for A Level English Language teachers. You can sign up here: https://englishlanguagetoolkit.york.ac.uk/workshops Previous workshops and case studies are here: https://englishlanguagetoolkit.york.ac.uk/case-studies Lexis is on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/lexispodcast.bsky.social ContributorsLisa Casey blog: https://livingthroughlanguage.wordpress.com/ & Twitter: Language Debates (@LanguageDebates)Dan Clayton blog...

2025-06-0727 min

Lexis Episode 72 - Karrin Vasby Anderson on gender, politics and powerWelcome to Episode 72 of Lexis. Raj and Dan talk to Professor Karrin Vasby Anderson, Department of Communication Studies, Colorado State University, USA about:Communication studies - what kinds of communication are studied and howPower and politicsToxic masculinity & TrumpGender and politicsThe ‘double-bind’ for women in politicsThe Presidential debates of 2016 and 2024Language, demagoguery & healthy democracies. Karrin’s University of Colorado page: https://www.libarts.colostate.edu/people/karrin/ The article in The Conversation about Trump and Zelenskyy that we discu...

2025-05-0254 min

Lexis Episode 71 - Mercedes Durham & Welsh EnglishWelcome to Episode 71 of Lexis. Lisa, Dan and guest presenter Amanda Cole talk to Professor Mercedes Durham, from the Centre for Language and Communication, Cardiff University about her work on Welsh English.We talk about:The Leverhulme Trust project "Sociolinguistic Variation in South East Wales: Change and Contact"What makes Welsh English distinctiveVarieties of Welsh English and how they’ve come to beAttitudes to Welsh English accentsThe power of Gavin and StaceyCharlotte from The TraitorsThe Speak For Yersel pr...

2025-03-2235 min

Lexis Episode 70 - Emma Humphries & prescriptivismWelcome to Episode 70 of Lexis. Raj and Dan talk to Dr Emma Humphries, Leverhulme Early Career Fellow, School of Arts, English and Languages, Queen’s University Belfast about all things prescriptivism. We talk about:What prescriptivism is and how it can de definedPrescriptivism in French and English and the role of the AcademyThe Your Wrong project that Emma is working onPrescriptivism in popular culture and traditional guides, manuals and grammarsWhy prescriptivism and descriptivism are not locked in a war and why it’s more...

2025-03-0850 min

Lexis Episode 69 - Natalie Braber & Alice Paver on accent stereotypesWelcome to Episode 69 of Lexis. Dan is joined by guest interviewer Amanda Cole for this episode as we talk to Dr Natalie Braber, Professor in linguistics at Nottingham Trent University and Alice Paver, Research Assistant at the Phonetics Laboratory, University of Cambridge about their new paper, ‘Stereotyped accent judgements in forensic contexts: listener perceptions of social traits and types of behaviour’. We talk about: Previous accent attitude research What makes their research different and more expansive Criminality and morality in relation to accent attitudes The rise (and fall) of Brummi...

2025-02-2737 min

Lexis Episode 68 - Tony Thorne on the new words of 2024 & 2025Show notes for Episode 68Here are the show notes for Episode 68, in which Lisa, Jacky, Raj and Dan talk to lexicographer extraordinaire, connoisseur of coinages and expert slangster, Tony Thorne,Language consultant at King’s College London, about the words of 2024, those on his radar for 2025 and what new words tell us (or don’t) about the world we live in today. We talk about:The WOTY lists of 2024Why WOTY generates interest and column inchesWhat didn’t make the cutWhat’s driving lexical changeWhy n...

2025-02-0840 min

Lexis Episode 67 - Joe McVeigh on how to spot a bad linguistics articleShow notes for Episode 67 Here are the show notes for Episode 67, in which Jacky and Dan talk to Joe McVeigh, Senior Lecturer in Communication at the Metropolia University of Applied Sciences, PhD candidate at University of Helsinki and formerly a Linguistics lecturer at the University of Jyväskylä in Finland about how to spot (and critique) a bad linguistics article, including how to look at: 1) misleading framing 2) contradictions, and 3) no evidence (or anecdotal evidence). The articles we discuss are here and we’d recommend reading them before listening! FT ar...

2024-12-2252 min

Lexis Episode 66 - Andreea Calude & the language of social mediaHere are the show notes for Episode 66, in which Raj and Dan talk to Dr Andreea Calude, author of The Linguistics of Social Media: an introduction (Routledge, 2024). Andreea is Associate Professor in Linguistics at the University of Waikato, in New Zealand, Associate of the Human Lang Tech Research Centre in Romania, and Lennoy chair in multilingualism at VUB in Brussels. Our conversation includes discussion of How we use social media for different purposes and for different audiences The affordances of different platforms Constructing & performing identity online Using ‘move analysis’ with social media...

2024-12-0141 min

Lexis Episode 65 - Jullietta Stoencheva on everyday extremismHere are the show notes for Episode 65, in which Raj and Dan talk to Jullietta Stoencheva, PhD candidate in Media and Communication Studies at Malmo University about: Extremist narratives and how they are constructed Who the ‘Us’ and ‘Them’ are in extremist Us vs Them narratives Everyday extremism, plausible deniability and ‘borderline discourse’ Pushing the Overton window Her latest work and what it reveals The Psychologist article about the everyday extremism project: https://www.bps.org.uk/psychologist/memes-and-mugs-everyday-extremism-digital-mainstream More about the OppAttune project: https://ec.europa.eu/in...

2024-11-2328 min

Lexis Episode 64 - Katie Mansfield on working-class children & standard English in the classroomShow notes for Episode 64 Here are the show notes for Episode 64, in which Raj and Dan talk to Katie Mansfield, PhD Researcher at The University of Sheffield & Lecturer in Education at The University of Gloucestershire about: Her research on working-class children, non-standard English and style shifting at school Combining approaches from linguistics and psychology to develop a suitable methodology Working memory, executive function and style shifting School and government policies on standard English and how they affect classroom practice, especially for working-class students How her A-Level study p...

2024-11-1451 min

Lexis Episode 63 - Isobelle Clarke and anti-science discoursesShow notes for Episode 63 Here are the show notes for Episode 63, in which Raj and Dan talk to Dr Isobelle Clarke, Lecturer in Security and Protection Science in the Dept of Linguistics and English Language at Lancaster University about: Anti-science discourses The language of climate change denialism The attraction and appeal of anti-science narratives Methodologies for analysing discourses: including why linguists still need to interpret patterns Exploring discourses around Islam and Muslims in the UK press Dealing with difficult data and problematic topics I...

2024-11-0740 min

Lexis Episode 62 - Fiona McPherson and 20 Years of Oxford WOTYShow notes for Episode 62 Here are the show notes for Episode 62, in which Raj and Dan talk to Fiona McPherson, senior editor at the Oxford English Dictionary about: 20 years of Oxford Word of the Year Why she can’t reveal any secrets about WOTY2024… Why some words stick around and others don’t What makes a good WOTY candidate Word formation processes Where and how new words are being generated and disseminated 20 Years of Words that Reflect our World: https://corp.oup.com/word-of...

2024-11-0129 min

Lexis Episode 61 - Lucy Jones on Words We Live By: A Guide to LGBTQ+ LanguageShow notes for Episode 61 Here are the show notes for Episode 61, in which Jacky and Dan talk to Dr Lucy Jones, Associate Professor in Sociolinguistics at the University of Nottingham about Words We Live By: A Guide to LGBTQ+ Language, including: Why language labels are so important when discussing sexuality and sexual identity Whether or not such labels categorise and divide more than they validate and unite The expanding lexicon of LGBT terminology and initialisms Why it’s important to start conversations around this language to learn more A...

2024-10-1635 min

Lexis Episode 60 - Stylistics with Peter Stockwell and Jessica NorledgeShow notes for Episode 60 Here are the show notes for Episode 60, in which Raj and Dan talk to Peter Stockwell, Professor of Literary Linguistics at the University of Nottingham and Jessica Norledge, Assistant Professor in Stylistics at the University of Nottingham about stylistics, including: What stylistics is and what it offers How English language students can apply linguistic analysis to literary texts The Nottingham Stylistics Toolkit project Some of their favourite tools in the toolkit Why stylistics is a linguistic superpower The (free!) Nottingham Stylistics...

2024-10-1039 min

Lexis Episode 59 - York English Language Toolkit 2024Show notes for Episode 59 Here are the show notes for Episode 59, in which Dan talks to Sam Hellmuth, Professor of Linguistics at the University of York about the 2024 York English Language Toolkit workshop. We also talk to Eytan Zweig and James Tompkinson about their sessions. You can sign up here: https://englishlanguagetoolkit.york.ac.uk/workshops Previous workshops and case studies are here: https://englishlanguagetoolkit.york.ac.uk/case-studies Contributors Lisa Casey blog: https://livingthroughlanguage.wordpress.com/ & Twitter: Language Debates (@LanguageDebates) Dan Cl...

2024-07-0641 min

Lexis Episode 58 - Vaclav Brezina and the new Frequency Dictionary of British EnglishShow notes for Episode 58 Here are the show notes for Episode 58, in which Dan talks to Professor of Corpus Linguistics, Dr Vaclav Brezina of Lancaster University about: The new Frequency Dictionary of British English What certain words can tell us about a changing language Using corpora to track change Why we need more than just words to understand patterns of language change Why media discourses around change might need to be treated with caution Vaclav’s University page: https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/ling...

2024-06-2630 min

Lexis Episode 57 - Lang in the News and Johanna Gerwin on MLEShow notes for Episode 57 Here are the show notes for Episode 57, in which Lisa, Jacky and Dan talk about some recent Lang in the News, including: Apostrophes and why their disappearance has signalled the end of civilisation Johanna Gerwin’s new paper on how MLE and ‘Jafaican’ have been ‘enregistered’ in the UK press Some articles about MLE A really good student answer to a question on MLE (thanks, Abi 😁 ) And then straight after that, Raj and Dan talk to the actual Dr Johanna Gerwin about her paper and abo...

2024-05-2357 min

Lexis Episode 56 - Danielle Turton and dialect studyHere are the show notes for Episode 56, in which Raj and Dan talk to Dr Danielle Turton, Senior Lecturer in Sociolinguistics at Lancaster University and Principal Investigator for a Leverhulme funded project on Lancashire rhoticity. We talk about: Dialect levelling and why it’s a complicated picture Why researching UK dialects is so interesting What’s happening to rhoticity in the North West (and beyond) Media discourses around dialect change Danielle Turton’s Lancaster page: https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/linguistics/about/people/danielle-turton Danielle Turton’s own pages...

2024-05-0335 min

Lexis Episode 55 - Christian Ilbury and online languageHere are the show notes for Episode 55, in which Jacky and Dan talk to Dr Christian Ilbury, Lecturer in Linguistics and English Language in the School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences at The University of Edinburgh about: Being an online linguist Social media and language change - why it’s complicated Why ‘slang’ is an unhelpful word and why ‘internet vernacular’ is a better term for the kind of styles he is looking at Appropriation and diffusion Media discourses about young people, online language and technology His contin...

2024-04-3038 min

Lexis Episode 54 - Florent MoncombleHere are the show notes for Episode 54, in which Raj and Dan talk to Dr Florent Moncomble, Senior Lecturer in English Linguistics at University of Artois, France about what English and French have in common and all the discourses swirling around French that are also relevant to English, including: The role of L’Académie Française Prescriptivism in French and English Complaints about decline, destruction, young people and migration and why they use the same language proxies as their English counterparts. What French linguists are doing to address these misunderstandings and mi...

2024-04-2448 min

Lexis Episode 53 - Language Awareness at School with Tim Marr & Steve CollinsShow notes for Episode 53 Here are the show notes for Episode 53, an episode aimed primarily at teachers, in which Jacky and Dan talk to Steve Collins (Head of English at Bishop Luffa School, Chichester) and Tim Marr (Visiting Professor at Icesi University, Cali, Colombia) about the ideas in their book, Language Awareness at School: A Practical Guide for Teachers and School Leaders, published in May 2023 by Routledge, including: The importance of language education across the curriculum Why language matters to each of them Why zero tolerance approaches and deficit models help...

2024-04-0539 min

Lexis Episode 52 - Migration discourses with Charlotte Taylor & Ana GavalasShow notes for Episode 52 Here are the show notes for Episode 52, a migration discourses bumper episode, in which we feature two interviews. First off, Dan and Raj talk to Professor Charlotte Taylor of the University of Sussex about: Why corpus linguistics can refresh the parts other approaches cannot reach Discourses around migration and the metaphors that are often used - water, commodity and them/us Why discourses around migration are usually about immigration Why nostalgia is such a powerful theme Whether the discourses around migration are worse n...

2024-03-271h 11

Lexis Episode 51 - Emily M. Bender and 'AI' hypeShow notes for Episode 51 Here are the show notes for Episode 51, in which Dan and (new Lexis team member) Raj talk to Professor Emily M. Bender of the University of Washington about: Why ‘Artificial Intelligence’ is not really the right term at all How Large Language Models work and why we should be sceptical of many of the claims made for them The biases inherent in LLMs and what to do about them Whether ‘neural networks’ and language processing can shed any light on child language development The disc...

2024-03-1933 min

Lexis Episode 50 - Jess Aiston and Critical Discourse AnalysisShow notes for Episode 50 Here are the show notes for Episode 50, in which Jacky and Dan talk to Dr Jessica Aiston of QMUL about: Critical Discourse Analysis and Critical Discourse Studies Why CDA/CDS are such useful approaches for A Level English Language students Some of the most useful elements of the CDA toolkit and why they’re helpful The work that Jess has done on the representation of women by men in the manosphere Using critical discourse approaches with social media data The ethics of u...

2024-02-0857 min

Lexis Episode 49 - Ife Thompson and Black British EnglishShow notes for Episode 49 Here are the show notes for Episode 49, in which Jacky and Dan talk to lawyer, community activist and author, Ife Thompson, about: Black British English Linguistic justice in schools, courts and the rest of the world Anti-Blackness in discourses about language in the media Drill lyrics and the criminalisation of Black cultural expression Why we should give Black people their flowers for lexical innovation and their huge influence on British English Why MLE is the wrong term to be using… BL...

2024-02-0753 min

Lexis Episode 48 - Frazer Heritage on representation of gender in videogames (and more)Show notes for Episode 48 Here are the show notes for Episode 48, in which Lisa, Jacky and Dan talk to Dr Frazer Heritage of Manchester Metropolitan University about: Representation of gender in video games What’s changed in the representation of gender and sexuality in video games since the 1980s Language methods for analysing representation Analysing how incels construct representations of gender Dealing with difficult data Frazer’s staff profile at MMU: Dr Frazer Heritage | Manchester Metropolitan University Some of Frazer’s work for Manches...

2024-01-2449 min

Lexis Episode 47 - Fiona McPherson of the OED and Words of the Year 2023Show notes for Episode 47 Here are the show notes for Episode 47, in which Dan talks to Fiona McPherson of the Oxford English Dictionary about: Word of the Year 2023 What makes a good word of the year Previous winners (and losers) What new words can tell us about the world Some of the best articles and updates about #WOTY2023 can be found here: ‘AI’ named most notable word of 2023 by Collins dictionary | Artificial intelligence (AI) | The Guardian AI named word of the year by Collin...

2023-12-1628 min

Lexis Episode 46 - Paul Kerswill & MLE Show notes for Episode 46 Here are the show notes for Episode 46, in which Lisa, Jacky and Dan talk to Paul Kerswill, Emeritus Professor, Department of Language and Linguistic Science at the University of York about what has driven his interests in linguistics, but mostly about Multicultural London English: What it is How it developed How it’s used now How it’s been reported on (and why it’s not ‘Jafaican’) The discourses and metaphors around it What it might sound like in the future...

2023-11-2641 min

Lexis Episode 45 - Alex Baratta and accentismShow notes for Episode 45 Here are the show notes for Episode 45, in which we talk to Dr Alex Baratta, Senior Lecturer in Language, Linguistics & Communication, Manchester Institute of Education, University of Manchester about: Accents, accents… and more accents! Teacher accents and ‘professionalism’ Social connotations and stereotypes of accents - good and bad Why one accent isn’t ‘better’ than another and why exposure to accents might be the way to overcome accentism In our regular Lang in the News segment we talk about how formal greetings and sign-offs mi...

2023-11-1142 min

Lexis Episode 44 - Kingsley Ugwuanyi + Amanda ColeShow notes for Episode 44 Here are the show notes for Episode 44, in which we talk to Dr Kingsley Ugwuanyi, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Horizon Europe’s RISE UP Research Project, School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics at SOAS about: Nigerian English Global Englishes and who ‘owns’ a language Accent attitudes and identity Models and theories of world Englishes In a Lang in the News bumper segment we talk about recent research into young people’s accents in the south east of England and media reactions to it, including a chat w...

2023-11-061h 08

Lexis Episode 43 - language & gender special part 2Show notes for Episode 43 Here are the show notes for Episode 43, the second part of a Language & Gender double episode special, in which Lisa, Jacky and Dan discuss ways to teach Language and Gender at A Level, from the 3 / 4 Ds models, to slightly tweaked and reverse Ds, through to corpus methods, treating gender as part of a wider ‘identity’ approach and much more. Some of the resources and links that we mention in this episode Cameron et al. on tag qns: https://web.stanford.edu/~eckert/PDF/CameronTags.pdf Clare Feeney’s Twitte...

2023-07-2740 min

Lexis Episode 42 - Deborah Cameron, language & gender special part 1Here are the show notes for Episode 42, the first part of a Language & Gender double episode special, in which we talk to Deborah Cameron, Professor in Language and Communication at Worcester College, Oxford about:Robin Lakoff 50 years on from Language and Woman’s PlaceWhere language & gender research has headed post-LakoffDeborah Cameron’s forthcoming book, Language, Sexism and Misogyny What kinds of more recent research we could be looking at for the A LevelOnline misogyny and Disney princessesThe other Deborah (Tannen)We’ll be b...

2023-07-1656 min

Lexis Episode 41 - Johanna Gerwin and London EnglishShow notes for Episode 41 Here are the show notes for Episode 41, in which Dan talks to Dr Johanna Gerwin, a sociolinguist at QMUL and DFG (German Research Foundation) post-doctoral researcher for the London Talks project about London English, including: The London Talks and Real Talk East projects What ‘enregisterment’ means and how language styles and varieties become enregistered ‘Metalinguistic’ discourses about London English - MLE, Cockney and Estuary The power of discourses around language Slang swag Johanna’s QMUL staff page: https://www.qmul.ac.uk/sllf/lin...

2023-06-2645 min

Lexis Episode 40 - York English Language ToolkitShow notes for Episode 40 Here are the show notes for Episode 40, a bumper edition in which Lisa, Jacky and Dan talk to four linguists from the University of York about their York English Language Toolkit website and teacher CPD sessions. We talk to: Sam Hellmuth about the Toolkit and some of her favourite sessions in the past 10 years. Tamar Keren-Portnoy about her child language research George Bailey about the Our Dialect app Claire Childs about her work on perceptions of non-standard grammar The York English Language Toolkit we...

2023-06-0756 min

Lexis Episode 39: Dan Collen on weaponized laughter memes & Heddwen Newton on Lang in the NewsShow notes for Episode 39 Here are the show notes for Episode 39, in which Lisa and Dan talk to Dan Collen, an online hate researcher from Canada about his work on the Weaponized Laughter: Memes and Hate in the Canadian Digital Landscape report he has helped produce. We talk about: Memes: what they are and how they work What is classified as hate speech and the ‘hallmarks of hate’ The discourses at work in hate speech Online communities and their role in shaping and influencing wider culture Dog whist...

2023-05-281h 07

Lexis Episode 38 - Anna Islentyeva and the representation of masculinity in advertisingHere are the show notes for Episode 38, in which Lisa and Dan talk to Dr Anna Islentyeva of Innsbruck University, Austria about the representation of masculinity in advertising, including: The “Real Men Score” paper she has recently published with her team Stereotypes around gender representation Methodologies and approaches to data Multimodal approaches to visual texts Anna’s university page: https://www.uibk.ac.at/anglistik/staff/islentyeva/islentyeva.html Anna on Twitter: https://twitter.com/hei_anni The “Real Men Score” paper: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1H...

2023-04-2348 min

Lexis Episode 37 - Heidi Colthup and the language of gamingShow notes for Episode 37 Here are the show notes for Episode 37, in which Dan and Jill talk to Dr Heidi Colthup of the University of Kent about the language of gaming, including: Her journey into academia How we define what a game is The language used around and about gaming Narrative and the power of storytelling in games Heidi’s university page: https://www.kent.ac.uk/cultures-languages/people/1705/colthup-heidi Heidi on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Heidi_Colthup Some of Heidi’s recommended reading...

2023-03-2552 min

Lexis Episode 36 - Claire Hardaker and forensic linguisticsHere are the show notes for Episode 36, in which Dan and Lisa talk to Dr Claire Hardaker about: Forensic linguistics What language can reveal about us The benefits and problems of technology in forensic linguistics The role of the forensic linguist in an unequal society The future of forensic linguistics Claire’s Lancaster University page: https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/linguistics/about/people/claire-hardaker Claire’s en clair podcast: http://wp.lancs.ac.uk/enclair/ Claire on Twitter: https://twitter.com/drclaireH Claire on Mastodon: https://mastodonapp.uk/@drclaireh And...

2022-12-3059 min

Lexis Episode 35 - an opinion articles special with Harriet WilliamsonHere are the show notes for Episode 35, an opinion articles special, in which Dan and Jacky talk to Harriet Williamson, the Voices Commissioning Editor at The Independent about: Opinion articles and what makes a good one, including pieces about language issues The job of a commissioning editor Paths into journalism Educating the public about language Harriet’s Independent page: https://www.independent.co.uk/author/harriet-williamson Harriet on Twitter: https://twitter.com/harriepw Indy Voices on Twitter: https://twitter.com/IndyVoices Harriet’s article on accent-shaming: https://www.independent.co.uk/voice...

2022-12-2359 min

Lexis Episode 34 - Arran Stibbe and ecolinguisticsShow notes for Episode 34 Here are the show notes for Episode 34, in which Dan and Jill talk to Arran Stibbe, professor of Ecological Linguistics, and teacher on the BA English course at the University of Gloucestershire (https://www.glos.ac.uk/enl) about: Ecolinguistics - what it is and why we need it The power of storytelling and the environment Critical language awareness and its role in fighting back against climate catastrophe Challenging ecologically damaging narratives, ‘greenwashing’, economic ‘growth’ metaphors and more… Arran’s university page: Arran Stibbe - Staff Profiles Taylor & Francis author inter...

2022-11-2646 min

Lexis Episode 33 - Katy Brown and discourse analysis Show notes for Episode 33 Here are the show notes for Episode 33, in which Dan and Jill talk to Katy Brown from the Department of Politics, Languages and International Studies at University of Bath about: The mainstreaming of far-right discourses around migration & race What we mean by ‘discourse’ and ‘discourses’ and the power of discourse Analysing discourses, metaphors and narratives around social and political issues Dog whistles and the reception of messages by audiences Methodologies for analysing patterns and specificities in language data Katy’s University of Bath page: https://researchportal.bath.ac.uk/en/persons/katy-brown Blog post on ma...

2022-11-2244 min

Lexis Episode 32 - Kate Barber and the language of misogyny in online communitiesShow notes for Episode 32 Here are the show notes for Episode 32, in which Lisa, Dan and Jill talk to Kate Barber from Cardiff University about: Forensic linguistics Researching discourse in online communities using corpora Discourse analysis of misogyny in the manosphere and far-right online communities Challenging and ‘inoculating’ against these narratives ***Many of the themes - misogyny, sexual violence and racism - and potentially some of the language, that we’ll be discussing in this interview will be disturbing and upsetting so please be aware that this might not be suitable for all listeners*** Kate’s page on the C...

2022-11-0143 min

Lexis Episode 31 - Danny Bate and the joys of etymologyShow notes for Episode 31 Here are the show notes for Episode 31, in which Lisa, Dan and (*drumroll*) new Lexis team member, Jill Lavender (*end drumroll*) talk to Edinburgh University PhD student and ‘that etymology guy’, Danny Bate about: Etymology (obvs) Connections between English and other languages What words can tell us about language change ‘Sound laws’ and historical linguistics Danny’s website: https://dannybate.com/ Danny on Twitter: https://twitter.com/DannyBate4 Lang in the News links Swearing - It's been in the news a fair bit… https://www.theguardian...

2022-10-2855 min

Lexis Episode 30 - Jessica Norledge and the Language of DystopiaShow notes for Episode 30 Here are the show notes for Episode 30, in which Jacky, Dan and Lisa talk to Dr Jessica Norledge, Assistant Professor in Stylistics at the University of Nottingham, about: Stylistics - what it is and how we can use it The language of and in dystopia ‘Text worlds’ and cognitive linguistics Her favourite dystopian novels Jess has just published The Language of Dystopia with Palgrave (see here: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-93103-2) - (40% off until Oct 31st 2022 with HAL40 code!) We also talk in our regular Lang in the News segment about rece...

2022-10-2159 min

Lexis Episode 29 - JPB GeraldShow notes for Episode 29 Here are the show notes for Episode 29, in which Dan and Lisa talk to Dr JPB Gerald about the tensions around standard language ideology when teaching English as a foreign language, the problems with the English teaching ‘industry’, and the spread of English around the world, along with many other themes featured in his new book, Antisocial Language Teaching: English and the Pervasive Pathology of Whiteness coming soon (30th September) from Multilingual Matters, Bristol. We also talk in our regular Lang in the News segment about recent news stories about accent redu...

2022-09-1755 min

Lexis Episode 28 - Kendra CalhounShow notes for Episode 28 Here are the show notes for Episode 28, in which Dan talks to Dr Kendra Calhoun, University of California President’s Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Anthropology, UCLA about her work on online communication, how racialised identities are performed and constructed online and the power of interdisciplinarity (fine if you can say it). Kendra Calhoun’s UCLA page: https://anthro.ucla.edu/person/kendra-calhoun/ Kendra’s website: https://kendrancalhoun.com/ research pages (where many of the projects we talk about are covered) https://kendrancalhoun.com/research/ and her teaching pages https://kendranc...

2022-06-2550 min

Lexis Episode 27 - MLE in the Media special Show notes for Episode 27 Here are the show notes for Episode 27, an MLE in the media special, in which we talk to Dr Matt Hunt Gardner from the Faculty of Linguistics, Philology and Phonetics, University of Oxford about recent stories and articles on Multicultural London English and look at the language, the views, the framing and the timing of those pieces in a bit more detail. Matt Hunt Gardner’s website: https://www.matthuntgardner.com/ Matt’s pages at University of Oxford: https://www.ling-phil.ox.ac.uk/people/dr-matt-hunt-gardner Matt on Twitter: https://twitter.com/matthuntgardner The arti...

2022-06-1937 min

Lexis Episode 26 - Robert McKenzie and Speaking of PrejudiceShow notes for Episode 26 Here are the show notes for Episode 26, in which Jacky, Dan, Lisa and Matthew talk to Dr Robert McKenzie of Northumbria University about implicit biases in accent attitudes, the benefits of approaching language study with a multidisciplinary approach and the Speaking of Prejudice project. Robert McKenzie’s Northumbria University webpage https://researchportal.northumbria.ac.uk/en/persons/robert-mckenzie The Speaking of Prejudice project website: https://research.northumbria.ac.uk/languageattitudesengland/ Student resources from Speaking of Prejudice project: https://drive.google.com/file/d/10ui8etPOB2z2OvO6k2...

2022-05-2239 min

Lexis Episode 25 - the OEDHere are the show notes for Episode 25, in which Jacky, Dan, Lisa and Matthew talk to Fiona McPherson and Freia Reimink-Layfield about their work on the OED: how they view the role of dictionaries, expand their pool of sources and reassess word definitions as time goes by. OED100: Repainting the dictionary https://public.oed.com/blog/oed100-repainting-the-dictionary/ Blog | Oxford English Dictionary Varieties of English Archives | Oxford English Dictionary Lang in the News Man arrested for allegedly threatening Merriam-Webster over definition of female - ABC News

2022-05-1144 min

Lexis Episode 24 - Kamran KhanShow notes for Episode 24 Here are the show notes for Episode 24, in which Jacky, Dan, Lisa and Matthew talk to Dr Kamran Khan of the University of Copenhagen about security studies, discourses around refugees and Muslims and the role of language in national identity, especially around language testing and citizenship. Kamran Khan on Twitter: https://twitter.com/SecurityLing Kamran’s ResearchGate page: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Kamran-Khan-45 https://archive.discoversociety.org/2020/01/08/the-counter-extremism-shift-in-esol-policy-and-the-double-securitisation-of-muslims/ The New York Times’ Trojan Horse Affair podcast can be found here: https://www.nytimes.com/inter...

2022-05-0945 min

Lexis Episode 23 - Gareth CarrolShow notes for Episode 23 Here are the show notes for Episode 23, in which Jacky, Dan, Lisa and Matthew talk to Dr Gareth Carrol of Birmingham University about his new book, Jumping Sharks and Dropping Mics and about modern idioms - where they come from, how they work and how they spread into popular discourse. Jumping Sharks and Dropping Mics: modern idioms and where they come from website: Jumping sharks and dropping mics from Iff Books Modern Idioms on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Modern_Idioms Gareth Carrol on Twitter: https://twitter.com/garethcarrol Dan was out of practice and forgot to...

2022-04-1149 min

Lexis Episode 22 - Katie EdwardsShow notes for Episode 22 Here are the show notes for Episode 22, in which Jacky, Dan, Lisa and Matthew talk to Dr Katie Edwards about grammar pedantry, accent shaming and why ‘grammar nazis’ need to get a life (and a new name). Warning: this episode contains some explicit language! Katie Edwards’ website: https://www.katiebedwards.com/ Katie on Twitter: https://twitter.com/KatieBEdwards Katie’s (fairly) recent language articles (some of which we discuss): Gerraway with accentism – I’m proud to speak Yorkshire | Katie Edwards No, You’re Shit: Grammar Pedantry and Knowing Your Place Putting the Accent On Prejudice. Rather than being yet...

2021-11-0946 min

Lexis Episode 21 - Robbie LoveShow notes for Episode 21 Here are the show notes for Episode 21, in which Jacky, Dan, Lisa and Matthew talk to Dr Robbie Love about his work on corpora, spoken English and how he has been looking at changes in swearing patterns in spoken English. 🔺Warning: this episode contains explicit language!🔻 Robbie Love’s website: https://robbielove.org/ Robbie on Twitter: https://twitter.com/lovermob A link to the paper in Text and Talk: Love, R. (2021). Swearing in informal spoken English: 1990s – 2010s. Text and Talk, 41, Special Issue: ‘Corpus Linguistics across the Generations: In Memory of Geoffrey Leech’. https://www.degruyter.com/document/d...

2021-09-2247 min

Lexis Episode 20 - Sandra JansenShow notes for Episode 20 Here are the show notes for Episode 20, a Language in the News special, in which Jacky, Dan, Lisa and Matthew talk to Dr Sandra Jansen of Paderborn University about linguistics stories in the media and discuss stories around accent bias, dialect change and suggestions for reading and evaluating stories about language in the media. Sandra Jansen’s Paderborn University page: https://www.uni-paderborn.de/en/person/66815/ Sandra on Twitter: https://twitter.com/sj2915 Sandra says she can send the English Today article, Predicting the Future of English, that’s mentioned in the article if you want to c...

2021-08-2934 min

Lexis Episode 19 - Elena SeminoShow notes for Episode 19 Here are the show notes for Episode 19 in which Jacky, Dan, Lisa and Matthew talk to Professor Elena Semino of Lancaster University about: The power of metaphor The universality of metaphor Metaphors for Covid, health campaigns and vaccinations Elena Semino’s Lancaster University webpage: Professor Elena Semino Elena on Twitter: Elena Semino (@elenasemino) Reframe Covid pages: #ReframeCovid Questioning Vaccine Discourse project: Quo VaDis: Questioning Vaccine Discourse Project (@vaccine_project) We’ll be back with a Language in the News special for episode 20 later this summer. Contact us @LexisPodcast. Subscribe: Lexis Podcast | Podcast on Spotify Contributors Matthew Butl...

2021-08-1841 min

Lexis Episode 18 - Emma Byrne*Explicit warning* Show notes for Episode 18 Here are the show notes for Episode 18 - our first birthday episode! - where Jacky, Dan, Lisa and Matthew talk about: ‘So’ and why it annoys language pedants and prescriptivists. Language discourses around two texts discussing ‘so’. And we talk to Dr Emma Byrne, author of ‘Swearing Is Good For You: the amazing science of bad language’ about...swearing. Obvs. Emma Byrne’s Swearing is Good for You page: Swearing is Good for You – Emma Byrne, Science Writer and Broadcaster Emma Byrne in The Guardian: Swear by it: why bad language is good for you...

2021-06-0950 min

Lexis Episode 17 - Dr Amanda ColeShow notes for Episode 17 Here are the show notes for Episode 17 where Jacky, Dan, Lisa and Matthew talk about: ‘Woke’... are we woke? Are we fighting a war on woke? What does it even mean and why is it being used to attack people for just being nice humans? Meghan Markle’s representation in the tabloid press And we talk to Dr Amanda Cole from the University of Essex about accents, identity and how accents in the South East of England have been changing. Barbara Windsor: you're more likely to hear a cockney accent in Essex than east London now Accent...

2021-05-2846 min

Lexis Episode 16 Ffion BrownShow notes for Episode 16 Welcome to Episode 16 of the Lexis podcast and our first new episode of 2021, in which Jacky, Dan, Lisa and Matthew talk about: The language of news reports on violence against women The power of language to represent and frame events And we talk to Ffion Brown about her work on the representation of mental health. Some of Ffion’s reading suggestions: Methods of Critical Discourse Studies - Ruth Wodak (Editor) Michael Meyer (Editor) https://uk.bookshop.org/books/methods-of-critical-discourse-studies/9781446282410 The Little Prince https://uk.bookshop.org/books/the-little-prince-colour-illustrations/9781909621558 Language in the News https://twitter.com/_chris_ha...

2021-04-2531 min

Lexis Episode 15 - Dana GablasovaShow notes for Episode 15 Welcome to Episode 15 of the Lexis podcast, our last for the hellscape that has been 2020, in which Jacky, Dan, Lisa and Matthew talk about: Words of the Year Words entering the dictionary Words leaving the dictionary And we talk to Dr Dana Gablasova from Lancaster University about Corpus Linguistics: what it involves what it can offer to students investigating language the ways it can open up questions to explore in data some important recent studies the Corpus in Schools project Dana Gablasova’s Lancaster University page: https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/linguistics/about/people/dana-gablasova Dana’s Tw...

2020-12-3138 min

Lexis Episode 14 - Emma MooreShow notes for Episode 14 Welcome to Episode 14 of the Lexis podcast in which Jacky, Dan, Lisa and Matthew talk about: How language frames and represents people and events Oscar Pistorius and Reeva Steenkamp Advice to women about personal safety And we talk to Professor Emma Moore from the University of Sheffield in a wide-ranging interview about: non-standard English and how it’s used for different purposes the importance of understanding the societal origins of attitudes to language why we need to understand the differences between spoken and written systems ...and how sociolinguistics saved our lives! Emma Moore’s Sheffield University page...

2020-12-2443 min

Lexis Episode 13 - Accent SpecialSHOW NOTES (TRANSCRIPT AT BOTTOM) Show notes for Episode 13 Welcome to Episode 13 of the Lexis podcast in which Jacky, Dan, Lisa and Matthew talk about accent in an accent prejudice special, including: Negative attitudes to regional and social accents Social attitudes to ‘regional’ accents Humour, pride and regional/social identity online Doric covid warnings As part of this we also talk to Lauren White whose report into accent and social attitudes at Durham University spurred several of these stories. Lauren’s report is here: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/344434314_A_REPORT_ON_NORTHERN_STUDENT_EXPERIENCE_AT_DURHAM_UNIVERSITY Language in the Ne...

2020-12-1525 min

Lexis Episode 12 - Vanja KaranovicShow notes for Episode 12 Welcome to Episode 12 of the Lexis podcast in which Jacky, Dan, Lisa and Matthew talk about: Children’s language development via Twitter videos of babies with huskies, lullabies and big-scale projects that measure children’s lockdown language. We also talk to Dr Vanja Karanovic about bilingual children’s language development. Vanja’s Twitter page: https://twitter.com/DrVanjaK Some of the texts referred to: Grosjean, F, 2012, Bilingual: Life and Reality, Harvard University Press Crystal, D, 1989, Listen to Your Child (2nd edition), Penguin (Chapter 7) De Houwer, A.,2009, BIlingual First Language Acquisition, Multilingual Matter Language in the News Baby and...

2020-11-1841 min

Lexis Episode 11 - Catherine LaingWelcome to Episode 11 of the Lexis podcast in which Jacky, Dan, Lisa and Matthew talk about: Interruptions: in the US presidential debate, in online classrooms via TikTok and how gender and power are factors in how we are treated in conversations. We also talk to Dr Catherine Laing from Cardiff University’s Centre for Language and Communication Research about child language development and infant-directed speech. Catherine Laing’s University page: https://www.cardiff.ac.uk/people/view/921190-laing-catherine Catherine’s Twitter account: https://twitter.com/cathelaing24 Schieffelin and Ochs’s paper (1986) on how child-directed speech isn’t used in some societies...

2020-10-1735 min

Lexis E10 Language, sexuality and identity specialShow notes for Episode 10 Welcome to Episode 10 of the Lexis podcast in which Jacky, Dan, Lisa and Matthew talk about: Another bad article about language, which takes a swipe at people who ask for people to respect their pronoun choices. We also talk to Associate Professor in Sociolinguistics at the University of Nottingham, Dr Lucy Jones about language, sexuality, gender and identity. Lucy Jones’ blog: https://queerlinglang.wordpress.com/ Lucy Jones’ University of Nottingham page: https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/english/people/lucy.jones Lucy’s Twitter account: https://twitter.com/jones_lucy Robert Podesva’s study on falsetto and identity...

2020-09-221h 00

Lexis Episode 9 - Tony ThorneShow notes for Episode 9 Welcome to Episode 9 of the Lexis podcast in which Jacky, Dan, Lisa and Matthew talk about: Good and bad articles about language, featuring an absolute peeve-fest from James Innes-Smith in The Spectator and a much better one from Stan Carey on emoji panics on the MacMillan Dictionary blog. We also talk to author, lexicographer, slang expert and visiting language consultant at King’s College, London, Tony Thorne about new words and lots more! Tony’s Twitter page: https://twitter.com/tonythorne007 Tony Thorne’s King’s College page: https://www.kcl.ac.uk/study/foundations/tony-thorne/who-is-t...

2020-09-0353 min

Lexis Episode 8 - Northern accent specialShow notes for Episode 8 Here are the show notes for Episode 8 which is a special edition on Northern accents where Jacky, Dan, Lisa and Matthew (2 proper Northerners, a Welsh person and a soft, southern shandy drinker) talk about: Northern accents, dialect levelling and reports of a new ‘educated middle class northern English accent’ emerging. And we talk to Dr Georgina Brown from Lancaster University about the study itself. Georgina Brown’s Lancaster University page: https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/linguistics/about/people/georgina-brown Northern accents are becoming more similar, suggests new research A link posted by project leader Patrycja Strycharczuk about...

2020-08-2129 min

Lexis Philip Seargeant - E7Show notes for Episode 7 Here are the show notes for Episode 7 where Jacky, Dan, Lisa and Matthew talk about: ‘Irregardless’ and why this word causes prescriptivists such angst. The Daily Mail going overboard on ‘man overboard’ and why challenging sexist language gets such a bad press. And we talk to Dr Philip Seargeant of the Open University about emoji and political storytelling. Philip Seargeant’s university page: http://www.open.ac.uk/people/ps4549 Philip Seargeant’s website: Philip Seargeant Twitter: https://twitter.com/philipseargeant Philip Searg...

2020-07-3048 min

Lexis Kelly Wright - E6Show notes for Episode 6 Here are the show notes for Episode 6 where Jacky, Dan, Lisa and Matthew talk about: language change related to the term ‘Karen’ and how its meaning has drifted and been debated the changing of the name of Washington’s American Football team And we talk to Kelly Wright in a wide-ranging interview about her work in experimental sociolinguistics, how race and ethnicity are represented in language, blackness and whiteness in voices and lots more... Kelly Wright’s website: Covert Racism | Wright Linguistics Publications and interviews: https://kellywright5.wixsite.com/raciolinguistics/recent-publications John Rickford on Rachel Jeantel’s testimon...

2020-07-1845 min

Lexis Ian Cushing - E5Show notes for Episode 5 Here are the show notes for Episode 5 where Jacky, Dan, Lisa and Matthew talk about language change and some of the arguments around banning and censoring language - the word game, Scrabble ‘banning’ racial slurs - slaves and masters, master bedrooms and nitty gritty: words that are being challenged and reviewed - political correctness, cancel culture and wokeness And we talk to Dr Ian Cushing about language in schools, the policing of language and the role, politics and importance of Standard English in education. You can find the links to the stories and research we’ve mention...

2020-07-1151 min

Lexis Shivonne Gates - E4Here are the show notes for Episode 4 where Jacky, Dan, Lisa and Matthew talk about - sacking headlines: who’s been sacked and who’s doing the sacking? - TikTok teens and K-Pop stans trolling Trump - and talk to Dr Shivonne Gates about Multicultural London English and how language is used by teenagers to express their social identities. You can find the links to the stories and research we’ve mentioned in this programme, below. Some of Shivonne Gates’ work mentioned in the interview: Voices and Practice...

2020-07-0432 min

Lexis Devyani Sharma - E3Show notes for Episode 3 Here are the show notes for Episode 3, where Jacky, Dan, Lisa and Matthew talk about - the language of subtitles: turning non-standard into Standard English? - the changing meanings and interpretations of gestures: taking a knee and what it might mean - and talk to Professor Devyani Sharma of QMUL about accents, identity and how to deal with accent bias… among other things! You can find the links to the stories and research we’ve mentioned in this programme, below. Accent Bias in Brit...

2020-06-2735 min

Lexis Rob Drummond - E2Here are the show notes for Episode 2, where Jacky, Dan, Lisa and Matthew talk about - the language used to report political protests, demonstrations and movements around the Black Lives Matter campaign - the language of the placards on the recent BLM London demonstration - and talk to Dr Rob Drummond from Manchester Metropolitan University about youth language, accents and how linguists can educate the public about language issues. You can find the links to the stories and research we’ve mentioned in this programme, below. Rob Drummond ...

2020-06-1948 min

Lexis Language in the News - E1Lexis Podcast Show notes for episode 1 Here are the show notes for Episode 1, where Jacky, Dan, Lisa and Matthew talk about - trending hashtags in the Dominic Cummings scandal - track and trace employees ‘sounding professional’ - the introduction of a Northern accent for the Beeb - and English with Lucy You can find the links to the stories and research we’ve mentioned in this programme, below. Dominic Cummings and Twitter #s. Here’s the blog post Lisa did on it: livingthroughlanguage.wordpress.com/2020/05/26/twitter-lesson-cummgate/Omnishambles names Word of the Year 2009 by Oxford English Dictionary: Omnishambles named word of the year...

2020-06-0926 min