A Language I Love Is...

Chitimacha and Daniel W. Hieber

Tue, 17 Mar 2026 16:43:00 GMT

The final episode of Series 3 is here, and we're ending with a good'un. Daniel W. Hieber, the linguist behind the popular ⁠Linguistic Discovery⁠ platform, joins me to discuss an indigenous language of North America: Chitimacha. In cooperation with the Chitimacha Tribe of Louisiana, Daniel is contributing to the revitalising of this dormant language – which is gifting him so much in return. We discuss the history and prehistory of Chitimacha and its speakers, as well as intriguing parts of its grammar and the leading role it has played in the development of modern linguistics.

Support the language-loving mission by joining the ALILI Patreon here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/ALanguageILoveIs⁠⁠⁠⁠

Check out and sign up to Linguistic Discovery: ⁠https://linguisticdiscovery.com/⁠ (also on Substack, Instagram, YouTube)

Sample of Chitimacha, by speaker Chief Benjamin Paul, provided by Daniel.

Continue learning with the Chitimacha Wikipedia page: ⁠https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chitimacha⁠

Daniel's personal website: ⁠https://www.danielhieber.info/⁠

Host: Dr. Danny Bate

Guest: Dr. Daniel W. Hieber

Audio Mixing and Mastering: Jeremiah McPadden

Music: Acoustic Guitar by William King

Artwork: Willow Marler

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Modern Irish and Liam Ó Duibhiolla

Sat, 31 Jan 2026 13:05:55 GMT

Dia daoibh, language lovers! Episode 44 is here and it sees a return to the Irish language (Gaeilge), but this time with a focus on its modern shape and story. In this regard, the episode forms a trio with episodes 39 (Scottish Gaelic and David Adger) and 15 (Old Irish and Danny Bate – that is, me, your host). Modern Irish was the choice of guest Liam Ó Duibhiolla, a speaker and teacher of Irish. Liam is the founder of the platform ⁠Learn Irish Online⁠. Our chat touches on his work and how it fits into a recent uptick for the language, after two very difficult centuries.

Support the language-loving mission by joining the ALILI Patreon here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/ALanguageILoveIs⁠⁠⁠

Learn Irish online and find out more about Liam's work here: ⁠https://www.learnirishonline.com/⁠

Sample of Irish, by speaker Mairéad Uí Lionáird (reading the first paragraph of Mo Sgéal Féin) from here: ⁠https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:MSF_chapter_1.ogg⁠

Host: Dr. Danny Bate

Guest: Liam Ó Duibhiolla

Audio Mixing and Mastering: Jeremiah McPadden

Music: Acoustic Guitar by William King

Artwork: Willow Marler

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Italian and Sophia Smith Galer

Wed, 31 Dec 2025 12:34:25 GMT

As 2025 ticks out its final hours, here’s one last episode of ALILI for the year, and it’s buonissimo! Journalist, author, content creator and linguist Sophia Smith Galer joins me to share the love for Italian. Our conversation has a focus on the sociolinguistic dynamics of Italian, namely how this national language fits into the lives of speakers up and down the peninsula, and how it might be harming the other languages of Italy in the process. Sophia also shares her personal relationship with Italian, as a ‘heritage language’ of hers that she is now working to promote in London.

Support the language-loving mission by joining the ALILI Patreon here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/ALanguageILoveIs⁠⁠

Sophia’s splendid website: ⁠https://www.sophiasmithgaler.com/⁠

Pre-order How to Kill a Language here: ⁠https://www.sophiasmithgaler.com/how-to-kill-a-language⁠

Sample of Italian (by speaker Sebastiano) from here: ⁠https://wikitongues.org/videos/sebastiano_20131103_ita/⁠

Host: Dr. Danny Bate

Guest: Sophia Smith Galer

Audio Mixing and Mastering: Jeremiah McPadden

Music: Acoustic Guitar by William King

Artwork: Willow Marler

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Old Norse and Jackson Crawford

Sat, 22 Nov 2025 15:00:00 GMT

'Hi, I'm Old Norse specialist Dr. Jackson Crawford' – so begin the YouTube videos with the smooth-talking, stetson-wearing scholar, discussing ancient languages in the scenic Rocky Mountains. To pay Jackson back for having me on ⁠his channel⁠ three times (most recently ⁠here⁠), I gladly hosted him on ALILI. Hence, this forty-second episode is all about Old Norse – what it is, who spoke it, where it came from, and what it became.

Support the language-loving mission by joining the ALILI Patreon here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/ALanguageILoveIs⁠⁠

Get your copy of the translated Poetic Edda here: ⁠https://hackettpublishing.com/the-poetic-edda-expanded-second-edition⁠

Jackson's YouTube channel: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@JacksonCrawford⁠

Host: Dr. Danny Bate

Guest: Dr. Jackson Crawford

Audio Mixing and Mastering: Jeremiah McPadden

Music: Acoustic Guitar by William King

Artwork: Willow Marler

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

SPECIAL: Exclusive clip from my new book 'Why Q Needs U'!

Tue, 28 Oct 2025 12:53:14 GMT

Hot on the heels of Episode 40 (American Sign Language with Aidan Elliott-McCrea), I can release a special episode of ALILI, showcasing the audio edition of my new book! 'Why Q Needs U: A history of our letters and how we use them' was published on October 2nd, before which I undertook both its writing and its narrating as an audiobook. For this special, I've been given the first chapter of that audiobook (Chapter A) to share with you. It kicks off the story of the alphabet in Egypt, then takes you as far as the islands of Greece. The full audiobook is widely available on popular platforms like Spotify and ⁠Audible⁠. If you give it a listen, do let me know!

Official link to the book here: ⁠https://geni.us/WhyQNeedsU⁠

More info and reviews here: ⁠https://dannybate.com/book/⁠

Support the language-loving mission by joining the ALILI Patreon here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/ALanguageILoveIs⁠⁠⁠

Host: Dr. Danny Bate

Music: Acoustic Guitar by William King

Artwork: Willow Marler

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

American Sign Language and Aidan Elliott-McCrea

Mon, 20 Oct 2025 12:10:19 GMT

The ALILI podcast has reached forty episodes! As a fitting start to this fourth decade of language love, we have a first for the show: its first sign language. It was a privilege for me to talk to Aidan Elliott-McCrea, an expert linguist and online etymologist (through ⁠Word Family Friday⁠), about not just American Sign Language but sign languages in general. Our conversation begins with addressing misconceptions about sign languages (there isn't just one!), and moves on to the features of ASL that Aidan particularly likes.

Support the language-loving mission by joining the ALILI Patreon here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/ALanguageILoveIs⁠⁠

Transcript (automatically generated) available here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1m5gw2ewkXN3uUEnYI-yszmLqiugG7v2w5fDEHXK_9-s/edit?usp=sharing

Aidan's etymological website: ⁠https://www.aidanem.com/pages/word-families-overview.html⁠

Aidan's own Patreon: https://patreon.com/aidanem

Aidan's recommendations for reading:

Linguistics of American Sign Language: An Introduction by Clayton Valli
Sign Language and Linguistic Universals by Wendy Sandler and Diane Lillo-Martin
Everyone Here Spoke Sign Language by Nora Ellen Groce

Host: Dr. Danny Bate

Guest: Aidan Elliott-McCrea

Audio Mixing and Mastering: Jeremiah McPadden

Music: Acoustic Guitar by William King

Artwork: Willow Marler

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Scottish Gaelic and David Adger

Wed, 10 Sep 2025 16:05:52 GMT

Episode 39 is a return to Scotland! After Scots, way back at the start of the whole podcast, this next journey into Scottish speech explores Scottish Gaelic (Gàidhlig), the Insular Celtic language that's for centuries played a big part in the country's history, ever since it first arrived from Ireland. It was the choice of my guest, the linguist David Adger, who knows the language well and refers to it often in his research into the nature of word order. David and I discuss the medieval and modern story of Scottish Gaelic, as well as a globally unusual aspect of its syntax.

Support the language-loving mission by joining the ALILI Patreon here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/ALanguageILoveIs⁠

David's personal website: ⁠https://davidadger.org/⁠

Clip of Rosemary speaking Scottish Gaelic taken from here: ⁠https://wikitongues.org/videos/rosemary_20150113_gla/⁠

Website for the Sabhal Mòr Ostaig here: ⁠https://www.smo.uhi.ac.uk/?lang=en⁠

Host: Dr. Danny Bate

Guest: Prof. David Adger

Audio Mixing and Mastering: Jeremiah McPadden

Music: Acoustic Guitar by William King

Artwork: Willow Marler

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Old South Arabian and Imar Koutchoukali

Sun, 17 Aug 2025 18:02:27 GMT

At last, dear language lovers, Episode 38 is here. To make up for my podcasting tardiness, this episode stars not just one language, but rather a whole group of them! Following Akkadian in Series 1 and Biblical Hebrew in Series 2, I'm glad to offer you another audio trip into ancient Semitic languages. Old (or Ancient or Epigraphic) South Arabian languages were the choice of Dr. Imar Koutchoukali, a scholar who has long been fascinated by the ancient history of Arabia. In our chat, Imar introduces this now-lost linguistic group – at one time vibrant and influential in the region. Included among them is the language of the Queen of Sheba herself!

Support the language-loving mission by joining the ALILI Patreon here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/ALanguageILoveIs⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Imar's academia.edu page: ⁠https://univie.academia.edu/ImarKoutchoukali⁠

Host: Dr. Danny Bate

Guest: Dr. Imar Koutchoukali

Music: Acoustic Guitar by William King

Artwork: Willow Marler

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Proto-Indo-European and Laura Spinney

Mon, 07 Jul 2025 16:14:56 GMT

Episode 37's star language is another 'proto'-tongue, arguably the most famous of all reconstructed prehistoric languages: Proto-Indo-European. This ancient language, whose linguistic descendants can now be found across the world, has long been the goal of an intellectual quest.

The task of identifying the facts of PIE began in the realms of philology and linguistics, but archaeology and genetics have since contributed much to our understanding. Bringing together the insights of those three fields was the goal of my guest, the science journalist and writer Laura Spinney, and her book Proto: How One Ancient Language Went Global is now available to buy, read and enjoy! Laura joins me to discuss the motivations and goals behind Proto and what exactly drew her to research and write about this strange language from along ago.

Support the language-loving mission by joining the ALILI Patreon here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/ALanguageILoveIs⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Laura's website: ⁠https://www.lauraspinney.com/⁠

Clip of reconstructed Dragon Slaying Myth in Proto-Indo-European (reconstruction by Andrew M. Byrd and Riccardo Ginevra, voice by Phill Barnett) taken with permission from here: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1SXeSHY9p0⁠

Host: Dr. Danny Bate

Guest: Laura Spinney

Audio Mixing and Mastering: Jeremiah McPadden

Music: Acoustic Guitar by William King

Artwork: Willow Marler

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jèrriais and Geraint Jennings

Mon, 09 Jun 2025 19:17:00 GMT

Bouônjour! Join me on a journey to Jersey, an island off the coast of France, where for centuries the local language of Jèrriais has kept up its role in the life of the Islanders, despite considerable pressure from linguistic heavyweights in the area (first French, later English). My guest for episode 36 of ALILI is Geraint Jennings, a language teacher, translator and lover of Jèrriais, who was the ideal person to present the history of Jersey and the status of Jèrriais today. We discuss where Jèrriais comes from, how it's faring in the modern world, and what makes it distinct from French on the mainland. Both my guest and this episode's beloved language are sure to leave you entchéthaûdé!

Support the language-loving mission by joining the ALILI Patreon here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/ALanguageILoveIs⁠⁠⁠⁠

Start your own Jèrriais journey here at the page for the L’Office Du Jèrriais: https://www.jerriais.org.je/

Clip of Jèrriais by Geraint taken from the L’Office Du Jèrriais SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/jerriais

Host: Dr. Danny Bate

Guest: Geraint Jennings

Audio Mixing and Mastering: Jeremiah McPadden

Music: Acoustic Guitar by William King

Artwork: Willow Marler

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dza and Peace Benson

Tue, 20 May 2025 18:42:03 GMT

Episode 35 of ALILI is a new part of the world and a new language family: West Africa, and Niger-Congo! Our way into this corner of the linguistic world is Dza (also known as Jenjo or just Jen), an endangered language spoken in Nigeria. My guest is Peace Benson, who is actively working to spread awareness of her native language through academic research and infectious enthusiasm. We discuss all sorts of Dza-related topics, from its distinctive vowels to the sociolinguistic situation of Nigeria. Stay tuned to the end for some Swahili content from me.

Support the language-loving mission by joining the ALILI Patreon here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/ALanguageILoveIs⁠⁠⁠⁠

Clip of Dza (Jenjo) supplied by Peace.

Host: Dr. Danny Bate

Guest: Peace Benson

Audio Mixing and Mastering: Jeremiah McPadden

Music: Acoustic Guitar by William King

Artwork: Willow Marler

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ternate and Maria Zielenbach

Sun, 27 Apr 2025 01:00:00 GMT

Episode 34 is a trip to Indonesia, specifically to the small island of Ternate. Don't let the island's size fool you though – it has a rich and complex history, which this episode explores through the Ternate language. This was the choice of my guest, PhD researcher Maria Zielenbach, who introduces Ternate's history, sounds, lexicon and complicated family situation. You may be surprised to hear how Ternate word formation works a little bit like Welsh and Irish...

Support the language-loving mission by joining the ALILI Patreon here: ⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/ALanguageILoveIs⁠⁠⁠

Maria's academic blog: ⁠https://halmahera.hypotheses.org/⁠

Maria's recent book chapter about Dutch influence in Ternate: ⁠https://www.benjamins.com/catalog/impact.55.12sch⁠

Host: Dr. Danny Bate

Guest: Maria Zielenbach

Audio Mixing and Mastering: Jeremiah McPadden

Music: Acoustic Guitar by William King

Artwork: Willow Marler

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Na'vi and Stefan Mir-Mackiewicz

Sun, 13 Apr 2025 10:42:17 GMT

Now here's a first for the podcast: its first conlang! Na'vi, the language created for the Avatar films, was the choice of Stefan Mir-Mackiewicz, a language enthusiast who plays a role in shaping this constructed language. We discussed the origins of Na'vi, its sources of inspiration, its sounds and grammar, and the community that continues to develop it. Some language history and 'Proto-Na'vi' even get a mention!

Support the language-loving mission by joining the ALILI Patreon here: ⁠⁠patreon.com/ALanguageILoveIs⁠⁠

Start your own journey into Na'vi here:

- ⁠https://learnnavi.org/⁠

- ⁠https://kelutral.org/⁠

- ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@HTML_Rrta⁠

Content note from Stefan: it's a common misunderstanding that Paul Frommer inspired directly by Polynesian languages; rather, the original words he was given by James Cameron had a "Polynesian flavour".

Host: Dr. Danny Bate

Guest: Stefan Mir-Mackiewicz (screen name: HTML_'Rrta)

Audio Mixing and Mastering: Jeremiah McPadden

Music: Acoustic Guitar by William King

Artwork: Willow Marler

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Classical Latin and Luke Ranieri

Mon, 24 Mar 2025 20:18:07 GMT

Series 3 continues with another prominent public-facing linguist, only this time we're travelling back in time, to Ancient Rome! My guest is Luke Ranieri, a linguist, a language teacher and the YouTuber behind the popular platforms ⁠polýMATHY⁠ and ⁠ScorpioMartianus⁠.

Luke took a break from activities as diverse as teaching for The Ancient Language Institute, speaking Latin on Vatican Radio, and flying helicopters, to talk to me about the Latin language – and what was so good about the era of Caesar and Cicero that their language deserved to be called 'classical'.

Join the ALILI Patreon here: ⁠patreon.com/ALanguageILoveIs⁠

Check out Luke's personal website here: ⁠https://lukeranieri.com/⁠

Host: Dr. Danny Bate

Guest: Luke Ranieri

Audio Mixing and Mastering: Jeremiah McPadden

Music: Acoustic Guitar by William King

Artwork: Willow Marler

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Montreal French and Gretchen McCulloch

Sun, 09 Mar 2025 16:56:42 GMT

We're back! The first episode of an all-new series of the language-loving podcast is here at last.

Since one of the co-stars of the hit podcast Lingthusiasm concluded the second series, it seemed only right that the other co-star should kick off the third. Gretchen McCulloch – linguist, podcaster and author of Because Internet – joins me to navigate the linguistic complexities of Canada, specifically in the city of Montreal.

This episode is part sociolinguistic survey, part survival guide for how to speak in Quebec, and Gretchen expertly and warmly takes us through Canadian bilingualism and her own experiences and perspectives of it.

Join the ALILI Patreon here: patreon.com/ALanguageILoveIs

Gretchen's personal website: https://gretchenmcculloch.com/

Lingthusiasm's website: https://lingthusiasm.com/

Host: Dr. Danny Bate

Guest: Gretchen McCulloch

Audio Mixing and Mastering: Jeremiah McPadden

Music: Acoustic Guitar by William King

Artwork: Willow Marler

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Series 3 Teaser!

Thu, 27 Feb 2025 17:56:03 GMT

Hello there, dear language lovers! After a couple of months, I'm pleased to say that I'm getting back into the swing of linguistic podcasting, and that means that A Language I Love Is... will soon be returning!

While I get the first few episodes ready for airing, here's a teaser for the third series of the show, featuring some expert voices that you can look forward to, as well as some additional annoucements from me.

For fans and subscribers of the show, I'd like to express sincere thanks for bearing with me during this inter-series hiatus. Speak to you soon!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Yolmo and Lauren Gawne

Sun, 01 Dec 2024 20:23:37 GMT

ALILI has reached episode 30 and the end of two whole series! To mark the occasion, the show has the privilege to host a star of public linguistics, Dr. Lauren Gawne, one of the two fabulous co-hosts of the hit podcast Lingthusiasm. Lauren is here to lead the show into a new part of the world and a new language family, namely Yolmo, a Tibeto-Burman language spoken in Nepal. Lauren takes us through the modern state of the language, her profound connection to it, and the grammatical phenomenon of evidentiality.

Enter the word of Lingthusiasm here: ⁠⁠https://lingthusiasm.com/⁠⁠

Lauren's personal website: ⁠⁠https://laurengawne.com/⁠⁠

Host: Dr. Danny Bate

Guest: Dr. Lauren Gawne

Audio Mixing and Mastering: Jeremiah McPadden

Music: Bossa Nova by William_King

Artwork: Willow Marler

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Old English and Colin Gorrie

Sun, 20 Oct 2024 17:03:40 GMT

Episode 29 is here at last, and a certain language is making a repeat appearance, but introduced by a new linguistic lover – what does Colin Gorrie have to say about Old English? We chat the basics of Old English and what makes it so 'old', before getting into how Colin teaches the language, and why he recommends it as a springboard for further linguistic adventures.

Find the details about the brilliant new Osweald Bera book here: https://ancientlanguage.com/osweald-bera/

Check out and subscribe to Colin's substack: https://colingorrie.substack.com/

And don't forget to subscribe to A Language I Love Is...!

Host: Dr Danny Bate

Guest: Dr Colin Gorrie

Audio Mixing and Mastering: Jeremiah McPadden

Music: Bossa Nova by William_King

Artwork: Willow Marler

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Cornish and Daniel Prohaska

Sun, 01 Sep 2024 18:50:04 GMT

Dydh da! Episode 28 of ALILI is here, and Daniel Prohaska joins me to discuss Cornish! This Celtic language has a long and fascinating history, stretching back to Roman Britain. It's a story not only of slow decline, but also of resurrection. Daniel was the ideal expert to introduce it, being involved in modern efforts to revitalise and popularise Cornish for the twenty-first century.

Daniel's professional website: ⁠⁠https://www.ryan-prohaska.com/⁠⁠

Daniel's Cornish website: https://kernowekbew.com/

Daniel's audio Cornish course: ⁠⁠https://www.kernewegva.com/deskikernowek.html⁠⁠

Host: Dr Danny Bate

Guest: Daniel Prohaska

Audio Mixing and Mastering: Jeremiah McPadden

Music: Bossa Nova by William_King

Artwork: Willow Marler

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Burgenland Croatian and Katharina Tyran

Sun, 04 Aug 2024 13:48:21 GMT

Time for Episode 27 and a return to the Slavic languages! Unsurprisingly, Croatian is a Slavic language widely spoken in the modern-day country of Croatia, but did you know that it has many speakers in eastern Austria too? Burgenland Croatian is the starring language of this episode, beloved and chosen by Dr Katharina Tyran. As one of its native speakers and researchers, Katharina is the ideal person to introduce the past, present and future of this minority language.

Katharina's University of Vienna page: https://slawistik.univie.ac.at/personen/person/user/tyrank65/inum/1079/backpid/12319/

Listen to Katharina podcasting in Burgenland Croatian here: https://www.hrvatskicentar.at/de/centar-podcast

Sample of spoken Burgenland Croatian from here: https://pangloss.cnrs.fr/corpus/Croate%20du%20Burgenland?lang=en&mode=pro

Host: Dr Danny Bate

Guest: Dr Katharina Tyran

Audio Mixing and Mastering: Jeremiah McPadden

Music: Bossa Nova by William_King

Artwork: Willow Marler

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Proto-Germanic and Yoïn van Spijk

Sun, 14 Jul 2024 18:19:05 GMT

Episode 26 is a first for the show: a language so old that it's theoretical! This time, ALILI is discussing the whole Germanic language family, from English to Icelandic, since this episode's starring language is the family's common ancestor: Proto-Germanic. This prehistoric point of origin is the choice of my guest, Yoïn van Spijk, expert etymologist and Dutch dialectologist. Thanks to him, I get to chat linguistic reconstruction, language change and some underappreciated Finnish connections.

Go check out more from Yoïn!

Yoïn's website: https://taalaandewandel.com/

Yoïn's Twitter: https://x.com/yvanspijk

Yoïn's Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/yvanspijk

Host: Danny Bate

Guest: Yoïn van Spijk

Audio Mixing and Mastering: Jeremiah McPadden

Music: Bossa Nova by William_King

Artwork: Willow Marler

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mansi and Daria Zhornik

Sun, 23 Jun 2024 09:00:53 GMT

Episode 25 is here and it's a return to the Finno-Ugric languages with expert linguist Daria Zhornik. The particular member of Finno-Ugric is Mansi (specifically Northern Mansi), spoken in two regions of Russia. Daria both documents and researches this language, and so is full of good information about its history, genealogy, current status, future, and its speakers' very particular and periphrastic ways of talking about animals...

Check out Daria's website here: ⁠https://dariazhornik.github.io ⁠

Host: Danny Bate

Guest: Daria Zhornik

Music: Bossa Nova by William_King

Artwork: Willow Marler

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Marathi and Manish Goregaokar

Mon, 10 Jun 2024 16:44:48 GMT

Episode 24 of ALILI is a return to India, this time to dive into Marathi, the official langauge of the state of Maharashtra and India's third-largest language. My guest is Manish Goregaokar, a software engineer and a real expert on language and writing. We discussed history, geography, society, phonology and vocabulary, as well as Manish's personal experience of speaking Marathi alongside other languages.

Manish's Twitter: ⁠https://x.com/ManishEarth⁠

Sample of spoken Marathi from here: ⁠https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:ChitpavaniMarathi.wav⁠

Host: Danny Bate

Guest: Manish Goregaokar

Music: Bossa Nova by William_King

Artwork: Willow Marler

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

SPECIAL: Talking Indo-European with Jackson Crawford

Mon, 27 May 2024 09:27:07 GMT

This is an episode of ALILI with a twist, as Dr Jackson Crawford, YouTube's charming Old Norse expert, had me back on his channel to chat syntax, old languages and public linguistics. Chatting to him and his Patreon supporters was a real treat for me, both to share the ideas of my recent PhD work, and to get his perspective on the state and future of linguistics online. I hope you enjoy these excerpts from our chat!

Jackson's stellar YouTube page: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@JacksonCrawford⁠

Jackson's Patreon site: ⁠https://www.patreon.com/norsebysw⁠

Host: Dr Jackson Crawford

Guest: Danny Bate

Music: Bossa Nova by William_King

Artwork: Willow Marler

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Romansh and Emma Gledhill

Sun, 28 Apr 2024 18:19:56 GMT

For episode 22, we're travelling high into the Alps, to join linguist and translator Emma Gledhill in the Graubünden/Grisons canton of Switzerland. Emma's chosen language is Romansh, the distinct Romance language of the region that, despite its endangered and disunited state, nonetheless holds the status of one of Switzerland's four official languages. Emma leads us through the origins, history and social standing of Romansh, as well as some delightful bits of vocabulary.

Emma's Twitter: ⁠https://twitter.com/linguistforsail?lang=en⁠

Emma's LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/emma-gledhill-0608425/⁠

For more about the Chartered Institute of Linguists: ⁠https://www.ciol.org.uk/⁠

Sample of spoken Romansh by native speaker Daniel from here: ⁠https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Romansh_(Wikitongues).ogg⁠

Host: Danny Bate

Guest: Emma Gledhill

Music: Bossa Nova by William_King

Artwork: Willow Marler

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Catalan and Alba Clopés and Joey Barber

Sun, 14 Apr 2024 21:09:43 GMT

For episode 21, ALILI becomes A Language We Love Is, as two guests, Alba Clopés and Joey Barber, join me to chat Catalan. Our conversation ranges from its Latin origins to ongoing efforts to build up popular usage of the language. Through the phonology, orthography, morphology, history and sociolinguistics of Catalan, you can see why Alba and Joey share a passion for this Romance language.

Sample of spoken Catalan by Ona, from here: ⁠https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WIKITONGUES-_Ona_speaking_Catalan.webm⁠

Host: Danny Bate

Guest: Alba Clopés, Joey Barber

Music: Bossa Nova by William_King

Artwork: Willow Marler

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

P'urhepecha and Kate Bellamy

Sun, 31 Mar 2024 09:00:40 GMT

ALILI has reached 20 episodes! The twentieth beloved language is P'urhepecha, a language of Mexico introduced by Dr. Kate Bellamy. Kate enthusiastically takes us through the geography, history, morphology and lonely genealogy of P'urhepecha, as well as the reasons why it deserves to be better known outside Mexico.

Kate's Leiden page: ⁠https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/staffmembers/kate-bellamy#tab-1⁠

Kate's Academia.edu page: ⁠https://leidenuni.academia.edu/KateBellamy⁠

Spoken example of P'urhepecha taken from the textbook Ju je uantani, section 3.1, p. 50: https://lanmo.unam.mx/jujeuantani/

Host: Danny Bate

Guest: Dr. Kate Bellamy

Music: Bossa Nova by William_King

Artwork: Willow Marler

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Kashmiri and Sāmapriẏa Basu

Sun, 17 Mar 2024 17:56:01 GMT

Episode 19 sees the show's first returning guest, as the maestro of Indo-Iranian languages, Dr. Sāmapriẏa Basu, joins me again, this time to introduce Kashmiri. Beginning with its geographical and political situation, our conversation explores the many distinct features of Kashmiri that, for Sāmapriẏa, make it a 'linguist's language'.

Sample of spoken Kashmiri by Aakriti Khaibri, available here: ⁠https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WIKITONGUES-_Aakriti_speaking_Kashmiri.webm⁠

Sāmapriẏa's wonderful Twitter site: ⁠⁠https://twitter.com/avzaagzonunaada⁠⁠

Host: Danny Bate

Guest: Dr. Sāmapriẏa Basu

Music: Bossa Nova by William_King

Artwork: Willow Marler

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Biblical Hebrew and Benjamin Suchard

Sun, 03 Mar 2024 10:55:48 GMT

The third episode of this second series is a Biblical bonanza, as Dr Benjamin Suchard comes on the show to introduce the linguistic world of Biblical Hebrew. We discuss the language's history, its family tree, its layer of loanwords and external influences, and how human this holy language can be.

Benjamin's website: ⁠https://bnuyaminim.wordpress.com/⁠

Benjamin's Academia page: ⁠https://kuleuven.academia.edu/BenjaminSuchard⁠

Host: Danny Bate

Guest: Dr Benjamin Suchard

Music: Bossa Nova by William_King

Artwork: Willow Marler

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Bulgarian and Leonid Motz

Sun, 25 Feb 2024 11:38:05 GMT

Episode 17 of ALILI is a linguistic and historical voyage into the Bulgarian language, as Vienna's Leonid Motz guides us through the language's many ingredients, far-reaching connections, and membership of the Balkan Sprachbund.

To hear more from Leonid:

His Twitter: ⁠https://twitter.com/ulaantenger⁠

His podcasting performance with Jeremy Bradley: ⁠https://www.recet.at/podcast/detail/episode-37-minority-languages-in-russia⁠

Host: Danny Bate

Guest: Leonid Motz

Music: Bossa Nova by William_King

Artwork: Willow Marler

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mari and Jeremy Bradley

Sun, 18 Feb 2024 10:55:02 GMT

ALILI is back for a second series! Here's episode 16 with Jeremy Bradley, who takes us on a journey into the Mari language. This is a linguistic tour de force, surely the episode that mentions and discusses the most languages, from Estonian to Indonesian.

Jeremy's Twitter: ⁠https://twitter.com/Chi_con_carnage⁠

The Mari website: ⁠https://mari-language.univie.ac.at/⁠

Host: Dr Jeremy Bradley

Guest: Danny Bate

Music: Bossa Nova by William_King

Artwork: Willow Marler

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Old Irish and Danny Bate

Sun, 10 Dec 2023 18:00:05 GMT

It's episode 15 and the finale of the first series of ALILI! To mark the occasion, the tables have been turned and your usual host now finds himself on the receiving end of the format he created, as Krishnan Ram-Prasad rejoins the show to interview me about the amazing Old Irish language. We dive into what this language is, who spoke it, who wrote in it, and why it's terrifying at first but actually rather wonderful.

Books to get you started!

- Sengoidelc by David Stifter: ⁠https://press.syr.edu/supressbooks/1022/sengoidelc/⁠

- A Student's Companion to Old Irish grammar by Ranke de Vries: ⁠https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Se7VzQEACAAJ&source=gbs_book_other_versions⁠

Host: Dr Krishnan Ram-Prasad

Guest: Danny Bate

Music: Bossa Nova by William_King

Artwork: Willow Marler

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tigrinya and Gioia Cacchioli

Sun, 26 Nov 2023 17:00:11 GMT

It's time for the fourteenth and penultimate episode of the first series of ALILI, in which Gioia Cacchioli joins me to talk about Tigrinya, a Semitic and syntactically striking language of eastern Africa. Gioia introduces the language, its family tree, its word-building, its use of the Ge'ez script, and how she came to love Tigrinya.

Here's Gioia's website: ⁠https://gioiacacchioli.com/⁠

The word of the episode: abugida (⁠https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abugida⁠)

Host: Danny Bate

Guest: Gioia Cacchioli

Music: Bossa Nova by William_King

Artwork: Willow Marler

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welsh and Victoria Noble

Sun, 19 Nov 2023 13:54:58 GMT

Here's episode 13 and it's all about Welsh! Victoria Noble, a PhD researcher in the semantics of Welsh and Arabic, joins me to share her enthusiasm and admiration for the Welsh language, discussing both its cool linguistic features and the difficult details of its history.

Note from Victoria: the annual population survey mentioned at 8:02 is from 2023, not 2003.

You can find Victoria on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/LinguisVic

Host: Danny Bate

Guest: Victoria Noble

Music: Bossa Nova by William_King

Artwork: Willow Marler

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Czech and Radek Šimík

Sun, 12 Nov 2023 16:50:25 GMT

For episode 12, I popped along to Charles University in Prague, to interview Dr Radek Šimík, a linguist, lecturer and researcher there, and to talk all about the local language: Czech. The topics ranged from the history of Czech and its dialects, to the influences of German and a special bit of syntax, which made for a great discussion.

You can find Radek's personal website here.

Host: Danny Bate

Guest: Dr Radek Šimík

Music: Bossa Nova by William_King

Artwork: Willow Marler

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lithuanian and Francis Young

Sun, 29 Oct 2023 17:00:52 GMT

Episode 11 of ALILI sees us back beside the Baltic Sea, where Dr Francis Young guides us into the story of Lithuania and the Lithuanian language. Francis discusses both history and prehistory in detail, and joyously shares some rather wrong ideas that people have held about the origin of this Indo-European language.

To learn more from Francis, here's his ⁠website⁠ and ⁠Twitter⁠.

Host: Danny Bate

Guest: Dr Francis Young

Music: Bossa Nova by William_King

Artwork: Willow Marler

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Persian and Alexander Jabbari

Sun, 22 Oct 2023 11:48:29 GMT

ALILI has made it to ten episodes, and this tenth instalment is a suitably sensational journey into the linguistic and cultural cosmos of Persian. Alexander Jabbari joins me to talk about this influential language, and demonstrate why Persian is a hugely important yet surprisingly accessible global tongue.

Alexander's ⁠website⁠ and ⁠Twitter⁠.

Host: Danny Bate

Guest: Dr Alexander Jabbari

Music: Bossa Nova by William_King

Artwork: Willow Marler

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mexican Spanish and Gilly Marchini

Sun, 15 Oct 2023 12:41:35 GMT

Episode 9 is here and it's all about Mexico! The wonderful Gilly Marchini, a PhD researcher at Edinburgh, guide us into the linguistic landscape of Mexico and its particular variety of Spanish, and into the practice of linguistic fieldwork and documentation. Gilly's passion and principles combine to make for a fun and fascinating look at Mexican Spanish.

Gilly's website can be found here: https://gillymarchini.wordpress.com/

Host: Danny Bate

Guest: Gilly Marchini

Music: Bossa Nova by William_King

Artwork: Willow Marler

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Medieval Latin and Charles Roe

Sun, 08 Oct 2023 10:58:35 GMT

For the eighth episode of A Language I Love Is..., Charles Roe joins me to introduce into the linguistic world of Latin in the Middle Ages. Charles offers a great example of how a particular language is often not defined linguistically, and demonstrates how Latin after Rome was anything but a dead language.

Host: Danny Bate

Guest: Dr. Charles Roe

Music: Bossa Nova by William_King

Artwork: Willow Marler

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Estonian and Johanna Laakso

Sun, 24 Sep 2023 15:00:21 GMT

Episode 7 of ALILI... is a journey into the Uralic language family, specifically via one of its famous European members: Estonian! Prof. Johanna Laakso joins me to share her long-held love for a language very similar to her native Finnish, yet interestingly different in lots of ways, thanks to the specific ingredients that have gone into the Estonian of today.

Host: Danny Bate

Guest: Prof. Johanna Laakso

Music: Bossa Nova by William_King

Artwork: Willow Marler

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Old English and Stephen Hopkins

Sun, 17 Sep 2023 11:30:58 GMT

Time for the 6th episode of ALILI... and for Dr Stephen Hopkins to wind back the clock on the language you are currently reading – we're heading back to Old English! Stephen is a real pro, and this interview with him is both an engaging and entertaining introduction to the earliest days of English.

Stephen's brilliant Twitter site: https://twitter.com/phil_lol_ogist

Host: Danny Bate

Guest: Dr. Stephen Hopkins

Music: Bossa Nova by William_King

Artwork: Willow Marler

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ossetian and Sāmapriẏa Basu

Sun, 10 Sep 2023 06:40:24 GMT

Here's Episode 5 of A Language I Love Is... and for this episode, Dr Sāmapriẏa Basu guides us into the Caucasus, the "mountain of tongues", a region rich in languages and language families. Our way in is via the modern language of Ossetian, an Indo-European relative marooned by history from the rest of its family.

Sāmapriẏa's wonderful Twitter site: ⁠https://twitter.com/avzaagzonunaada⁠

Host: Danny Bate

Guest: Dr. Sāmapriẏa Basu

Music: Bossa Nova by William_King

Artwork: Willow Marler

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sanskrit and Krishnan Ram-Prasad

Sun, 03 Sep 2023 15:36:27 GMT

Episode 4 of ALILI is here and its task is to introduce the linguistic cosmos that is the Sanskrit language. Dr Krishnan Ram-Prasad joins me to run through the basics of Sanskrit, from its prehistoric origins to its prestigious status in India today. Krishnan expertly offers a wealth of information, all presented with the palpable enthusiasm of a true fan.

Find Krishnan's website and work here: https://krishnanjramprasad.co.uk

Host: Danny Bate

Guest: Dr. Krishnan Ram-Prasad

Music: Bossa Nova by William_King

Artwork: Willow Marler

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Old Saxon and George Walkden

Sun, 27 Aug 2023 08:26:13 GMT

Episode 3 of ALILI is a deep dive into the Germanic languages, expertly navigated by George Walkden, who shares a wealth of information about this language family through his love for one particular member: Old Saxon. Having introduced the language, its few (but fun) sources and himself, George uses the example of Old Saxon to make some great points about the connections between language, politics and the accidents of history.

Host: Danny Bate

Guest: Prof. George Walkden

Music: Bossa Nova by William_King

Artwork: Willow Marler

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Akkadian and Iris Kamil

Tue, 22 Aug 2023 14:52:37 GMT

Episode 2 of ALILI and it's time to head back to ancient Mesopotamia and hear all about Akkadian, an influential lingua franca of the ancient world. Old it may be, but Akkadian still has much to tell us about its many cousin languages still spoken to this day. Akkadian expert Iris Kamil both introduces and shares a little of her boundless enthusiasm for the language and its surprisingly relatable sources.

Host: Danny Bate

Guest: Iris Kamil

Music: Bossa Nova by William_King

Artwork: Willow Marler

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Scots and Sarah van Eyndhoven

Sat, 19 Aug 2023 15:49:41 GMT

Here's Episode 1, in which my friend Sarah van Eyndhoven kindly offers both her time and expertise to join me to talk about the Scots language. This language of the Lowlands of Scotland has a long history, reaching back into early medieval times, and also a complicated history with its southern cousin, English. Sarah is on hand to untangle all this history, as well as offering her thoughts on the future of the language. The episode ends with a fun fact from me about a superb Scots sound.

Host: Danny Bate

Guests: (Dr) Sarah van Eyndhoven

Music: Bossa Nova by William_King

Artwork: Willow Marler

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A Language I Love Is... – Introduction

Sat, 19 Aug 2023 15:46:11 GMT

Hello there! This is my introduction to a new podcast all about language, linguistics and loving both. In this initial episode, I set out the premise and format of the whole idea, which I've been thinking over for a couple of years now. Watch this space for the episodes proper, very soon!

Music: Bossa Nova by William_King

Artwork: Willow Marler

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.