Lexicon Valley

A podcast about language, from pet peeves to syntax.

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About the Show

If you’ve ever had curious thoughts and questions about the ways we speak, read, and write, Lexicon Valley is the show for you. Hosted by linguist John McWhorter.

Host

S–t, Hell, and Darn

Dissecting three common curse words.

This Family Speaks 1,200 Languages

From Madagascar to Easter Island, Austronesian tongues traveled far and wide with early seafarers.

Language vs. Dialect

The difference between a language and a dialect is mostly meaningless and entirely political.

The Internet Loves the Exclamation Point!!

A conversation with linguist Gretchen McCulloch about her new book, Because Internet.

Why Is “Ph” Pronounced That Way?

The answer is positively phantastic.

Does Language Affect Thought?

We revisit the popular notion that our language helps shape our worldview.

A Fleeting Glance

The word transient reveals some enduring patterns in English pronunciation and etymology.

The Romance Languages

John McWhorter on the Romance languages.

Why Do Some Americans Say Warshed?

The letter R has a habit of intruding on spoken English. How come?

Flores Man vs. Sulawesi

A linguistic mystery in the Lesser Sunda Islands.

The Lingua Francas

A conversation with Gaston Dorren, author of Babel: Around the World in Twenty Languages.

Can Climate Influence Language?

Tonal languages evolved mostly in hot and humid places. What would explain that?

When Ain’t Was All Right

What we can learn about English from am, the seemingly simplest verb.

The Semitic Tongues

Where did Arabic, Hebrew, and Amharic originate? And what is a triconsonantal root?

Precious Little

How an old word for “child” morphed into a versatile, and very modern, suffix.

When Words Collide

Some more of the many ways that neologisms form.

The Many Meanings of Truth

An actually very literal discussion of true words. Really!

A Penetrating History of the F-Word

English speakers have been toying with “fuck” for centuries.

When Did English Get Happy?

A New Year’s meditation on a joyful word.

Why Language Can’t Be Tamed

A conversation with Lane Greene, author of Talk on the Wild Side, about the “vague and anarchic” nature of language.