How to lose a language in three generations: an introduction to language shift
17/06/2026 | 20 mins.
Why do grandchildren always seem to answer in the wrong language? Can a language lose a popularity contest? And is language shift just rebranding with better marketing? Tune into this episode to find out!
The language remix: an introduction to pidgins and creoles
03/06/2026 | 21 mins.
Could you survive an Arctic trading expedition armed with twenty words and your creativity? When is a pidgin fully fledged? And how can you accidentally invent a language? Tune into today's episode to find out!
A double take on contact phenomena: an introduction to code-switching
20/05/2026 | 14 mins.
Do you ever start a sentence in one language and terminarla en otra? Would you like to learn a cunning way to make people think you're bilingual? And the ancient grammarians are back! Tune in da learn bagaimana multilingual speakers miksaju i matchaju on a daily basis!
Grammar on the move: an introduction to syntactic borrowing
07/05/2026 | 14 mins.
Do you know your Balkans from your Baltic? Does that preposition have a passport? And how did the Normans get their own back on us for borrowing so many of their words? Tune into this episode on syntactic borrowing to find out about structural borrowing and convergence!
Finders keepers: an introduction to lexical borrowing
22/04/2026 | 18 mins.
Take a siesta from your schedule, hit the sofa in your pyjamas and rendezvous for a linguistic smorgasbord of loan words! Tune in to this episode to find out why and how we borrow words and where borrowing fits in to a more sinister picture!
Are you curious about how languages work? Have you ever wondered, for example, why humans speak and animals don’t, or why there are so many different languages? Maybe at some point you’ve asked yourself why some people start a sentence in one language and finish it in another, or whether women really do talk more than men, or who invented the alphabet, or where we get new words from. Perhaps you want to know why the language you’re learning has masculine and feminine words, or you’ve heard rumours of languages that consist entirely of whistling! And where do designer dogs fit into all this?!Well, you’ve come to the right place, because the Linguistics HQ podcast will answer all of these questions and many more! We’ll explore every aspect of the science of language, starting with the basics, from how languages are structured to how we can use our knowledge of linguistics to discover exciting things and even make our world a better place. Whatever sort of language enthusiast you are, Linguistics HQ has got something for you. I’m Dr Rebecca Mitchell and I’m a lecturer, teacher and public speaker, and I’m on a mission to make the science of language everyone’s business. So hit subscribe and let’s get thinking, talking and learning about linguistics!www.linguisticshq.co.uk
New Zealand