16 Podcasts that Explore the Mystery and Beauty of Language

Language is a beautiful creature, a crucial and necessary component of our lives that is ever-changing, mercurial and mysterious as time goes on. If this seems like fanciful writing, you should know that I’m a linguist, and I have a lot of deep, emotional, almost incomprehensible sometimes, love for language and its role in our society. I also have a lot of frustration for the way we treat people who speak differently than us, people who speak distinct languages and dialects or people who don’t speak ours as fluently as we do. Language, and the way we treat it, is at the root of a lot of travesty and sadness; but it’s also the cause of celebration.

These are 16 podcasts that are powerful, educational examinations into language, society, and linguistics, the study of language. They’ll cover all kinds of linguistics from syntax and morphology to forensics and sociolinguistics, from historical linguistics to digital communication, and so much more. I’m going to be recommending some of my favorite episodes here for each podcast; a few of the entries are a single episode that happens to talk about language as a central part of the podcast’s overarching conversation.

Additionally, 2019 is the International Year of Indigenous Languages. I’ve included a few podcasts that deal specifically with the education and support of Indigenous languages and the conversation around their revitalization. Look up what Indigenous languages are looking for support in your area, and how you can help them.

Word Up

There’s very little media in the mainstream that celebrates and uplifts the languages of Indigenous cultures and Word Up, a podcast produced by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, does just that. Word Up explores words from any one of the many Australian Aboriginal languages with a guest who goes in detail into what the word means to them, what meaning it carries, and what resonates for them. Keeping these languages alive is vital, and Word Up helps do its part.

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The Allusionist

More than 100 episodes deep into The Allusionist, many people have found a kindred spirit in host Helen Zaltzman who is fascinated with language’s quirks and evolution and the transitive relationship between language and society. Zaltzman is absolutely one of the funniest podcast hosts out there, with a natural quickness to her humor that plays off well with her interview guests. This is the podcast to go to if you need to learn not just facts about language, but about the wild and cool ways people interact with language like in the episode “Words into Food” where Zaltzman interviews Kate Young, a chef who cooks foods from literature.

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Lingthusiasm

Linguistics Lauren Gawne and Gretchen McCulloch (author of Because Internet) are the two excited and warm hosts of Lingthusiasm, a podcast that truly reflects its name. For thirty minutes, you can sit down and excitedly trek down the path of fascinating questions about language and often debunking myths, like about what counts as a real word (spoiler alert: they’re all real words). Gawne and McCulloch take seriously the task of making these linguistic questions accessible and comprehensible to a listener who isn’t in the middle of a linguistics class, and to keep it to a half-hour or so in order to prevent information overload.

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Talk Talk: Indigenous Languages and Storytelling

Talk Talk is an exploration of Indigenous language and storytelling, between Kyas Sherriff and respected Elder Uncle Bruce Pascoe. The languages of First Nations Australia are connected to people who are alive and thriving today, so this conversation is rooted in a necessity to be aware of the relationships to country and one of the oldest living cultures in the world. Talk Talk is very intimate, deeply moving and emotional; language is about more than just words and grammar, but about knowledge and identity and how we pass those ideas down.

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Lexicon Valley

Slate’s Lexicon Valley is one of the longest-running language-focused podcasts, having been running for seven years and now hosted by John McWhorter. McWhorter is a consummate, entertaining host who breaks down etymology, syntax, historical linguistics, and sociolinguistics for people who may not be linguists. Lexicon Valley winds its way through dialect changes, the death of languages, and the effect of the internet on language–and that includes discussing the magic of languages beyond English too.

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Accentricity

Accentricity focuses on accents and dialect, and how the glorious expanse of variation results in linguistic prejudice. Host Sadie Durkacz Ryan, a PhD in sociolinguistics and education, is a lovely interviewer, who makes sure to interview more than just academics; she includes college students and other language speakers in her communities that speak about how people have perceived them because of their accents. If you’re wondering about things like how it’s possible that someone “doesn’t have an accent” (spoiler alert again: everyone has an accent) or how you seem to speak differently depending on where you are, cue up Accentricity for a calm and cheerful vibe.

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En Clair

En clair is the podcast for people who love the story about how a forensic linguist figured out that J.K. Rowling was the author of The Cuckoo’s Calling, as it is a podcast all about forensic linguistics and its intersection with mysteries and crime. Dr. Claire Hardaker researches cases that range from murder to plagiarism to digital crimes to cryptography, and narrates a cohesive story that doesn’t linger in the gruesome and instead narrows in on the clues and discoveries people made throughout. 

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All My Relations: Can Our Ancestors Hear Us?

This episode of All My Relations, one of Discover Pods’ Best Podcasts of 2019 So Far, is an enormous undertaking of collecting stories from across many Nations about the power of Indigenous languages and the work being done to revitalize them. Dr. Adrienne Keene and Matika Wilbur are, as always, incredible hosts who engage thoughtfully and critically. They have collected so many stories from different Nations and communities, because the language loss suffered is overarching, the histories are distinct, and these are voices that must be heard. There’s hope for resurgence there, too.

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Rough Translation

This NPR podcast wants to break out of the echo chambers, and discover how all kinds of things are being talked about in places that aren’t the US. Their current season discovers rebels and rule-breakers, who are changing the conversations that have been entrenched in culture and society. This is a beautiful, often heart-wrenching season, of people who have changed lives or changed their own all over the world; definitely check out “We Don’t Say That”, about changing racist terminology in France.

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The Vocal Fries

The Vocal Fries takes its title from the term “vocal fry” (or “creaky voice”), a term which immediately comes loaded with sexist and misogynist implications due to its association with young women (even though everyone uses it; yes, even you, young man). Hosts Carrie Gillon and Dr. Megan Figueroa focus on linguistic discrimination, and how to stop being an accidental jerk when it comes to judging people because of their language, via deep dives with linguists on language around subjects like reproductive justice, language revitalization, and inclusive language.

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Hoodrat to Headwrap: Everybody wanna be black til its time to be white: Non-Black POC & AAVE in Service to Antiblackness

Sex educator and speaker Ericka Hart, along with their partner Ebony Donnley, host the podcast Hoodrat to Headwrap: a decolonized podcast. This is a beautiful podcast where listeners sit in on a conversation between Hart and Donnley as they break down tangled topics like colorism, gentrification, and linguistic appropriation, from a queer Black lens. This episode from Hoodrat to Headwrap is an impressive ripping apart of the appropriation of AAVE and intersection with colorism, historical eugenics, and the rampant effects of colonization, using the experiences of their own distinct upbringings and knowledge.

“People love this idea of Blackness, but they don’t think from whence it sprang, and this idea of Blackness comes from the condition of having been othered.”

Ebony Donnley

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The Stoop: The problem with “sounding white”

The storytelling on The Stoop is from the Black diaspora and about how we talk about Blackness with hosts Leila Day and Hana Baba, often a close and emotional investigation that is partly a semi-scripted conversation between the two and party interviews with incredible guests. This classic episode, “The problem with ‘sounding white’”, is about the accusation of “sounding white” and what that means in different contexts. There’s discussion with poet and playwright Chinaka Hodge about r-fullness and performance, a talk with Joshua Johnson about being on national radio and assumed to be white, and Day and Baba being delightful and honest about their histories and how it’s affected them.

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Code Switch

Code Switch is one of NPR’s preeminent outlets and podcasts, one that studies the interweaving of race, ethnicity, identity, and culture. The term code switch refers to the linguistic tactic that occurs when people move between multiple languages and dialects. Some of my favorite episodes are the ones that deal directly with language and linguistic phenomena, like the episode embedded below “Talk American”, about what is called the “Standard American Accent”.

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Subtext

Have you ever wondered what the person you’re interested in meant by that ellipsis? Or why someone you’re dating sent something with SO many emojis? Subtext endeavors to answer all those dating and relationship questions with the combined knowledge of Michelle McSweeney, a linguist, and Sarah Ellis, a millenial (as they introduce themselves; Ellis is also a reporter and writer for Elite Daily). This is a fascinating podcast on digital dating communication, shifting focus on different aspects according to the needs of listeners who call in with their baffling, annoying, and difficult questions. The best part is that McSweeney and Ellis are incredibly empathetic, something incredibly necessary for this work, and it makes for an incredible journey in each episode.

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Unreserved

Hosted by Rosanna Deerchild, CBC’s Unreserved features interviews and stories about and for Indigenous Canada, about topics like repatriation, Inuit art fostering healing, and Indigenous cinema. One of their special series’ is ‘First Words’, a short episode where a special guest teaches listeners certain phrases or words in their language and what parts of their own personal history they’re connected to. They often also celebrate their guest’s accomplishments, like the winners of The Amazing Race Canada in the episode below (you will absolutely cry). It’s a wonderful celebration of the huge variety of Indigenous languages in Canada.

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Little Yarns

This children’s podcast from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation takes listeners on new journeys every episode to a different part of Australia and learning words from Indigenous languages. This podcast is a wonderful way to introduce younger listeners to Indigenous cultures and stories, as it provides concrete contexts and sounds for them to associate to the new word, with gentle music in the background.

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