A Language I Love Is...

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 BateGuest: Dr. Lauren GawneAudio Mixing and Mastering: Jeremiah McPaddenMusic: Bossa Nova by William_KingArtwork: William Marler

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 BateGuest: Dr Colin GorrieAudio Mixing and Mastering: Jeremiah McPaddenMusic: Bossa Nova by William_KingArtwork: William Marler

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.html⁠⁠Host: Dr Danny BateGuest: Daniel ProhaskaAudio Mixing and Mastering: Jeremiah McPaddenMusic: Bossa Nova by William_KingArtwork: William Marler

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-podcastSample of spoken Burgenland Croatian from here: https://pangloss.cnrs.fr/corpus/Croate%20du%20Burgenland?lang=en&mode=proHost: Dr Danny BateGuest: Dr Katharina TyranAudio Mixing and Mastering: Jeremiah McPaddenMusic: Bossa Nova by William_KingArtwork: William Marler

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/yvanspijkYoïn's Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/yvanspijkHost: Danny BateGuest: Yoïn van SpijkAudio Mixing and Mastering: Jeremiah McPaddenMusic: Bossa Nova by William_KingArtwork: William Marler

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.io⁠Host: Danny BateGuest: Daria ZhornikMusic: Bossa Nova by William_KingArtwork: William Marler

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 BateGuest: Manish GoregaokarMusic: Bossa Nova by William_KingArtwork: William Marler

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 CrawfordGuest: Danny BateMusic: Bossa Nova by William_KingArtwork: William Marler

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=en⁠Emma'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).ogg⁠Host: Danny BateGuest: Emma GledhillMusic: Bossa Nova by William_KingArtwork: William Marler