88: Linguistic Time Machine, part 1: History [Bonus episode]

What was language like a year ago? Ten years ago? A hundred? What about before that?

We’re climbing into the Linguistic Time Machine and finding out. Along the way, we’ll explain the resources that linguists use. And we’ll try to get away from English once in a while.

jump to transcript

Watch or listen to this episode

This is a bonus episode for patrons. Click through to join up and get bonus episodes, mailouts, shoutouts, and access to our great Discord community.

Video episode

https://www.patreon.com/posts/94237557

Audio episode

https://www.patreon.com/posts/88-linguistic-1-94356215

Become a Patron!

Patreon supporters

Huge thanks to all our great patrons! Your support means a lot to us. Special thanks to:

Iztin
Termy
Elías
Matt
Whitney
Helen
Jack
PharaohKatt
LordMortis
gramaryen
Larry
Rene
Kristofer
Andy
James
Nigel
Meredith
Kate
Nasrin
Joanna
Nikoli
Keith
Ayesha
Steele
Margareth
Manú
Rodger
Rhian
Colleen
Ignacio
Kevin
Jeff
Andy from Logophilius
Stan
Kathy
Rach
Cheyenne
Felicity
Amir
Canny Archer
O Tim
Alyssa
Chris
Laurie
aengry balls
Tadhg
Luis
Raina

Become a Patreon supporter yourself and get access to bonus episodes and more!

Become a Patron!

Show notes

From the slides

Have we fallen out of love with Wordle?
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-64627206

2015 Word of the Year is singular “they”
https://americandialect.org/2015-word-of-the-year-is-singular-they

We Asked Linguists Why People Are Adding -Ussy to Every Word
https://www.vulture.com/2022/01/bussy-trend-linguists-explain.html

[PDF] American Dialect Society Selects “-ussy” as 2022 Word of the Year
https://americandialect.org/wp-content/uploads/2022-Word-of-the-Year-PRESS-RELEASE.pdf

Large language models, explained with a minimum of math and jargon
https://www.understandingai.org/p/large-language-models-explained-with

My AI is racist | Reddit, r/ProgrammerHumor
https://www.reddit.com/r/ProgrammerHumor/comments/13nnm4o/my_ai_is_racist/

Because Race Car | Know Your meme
https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/because-race-car

Nonbinary pronouns are older than you think
https://blogs.illinois.edu/view/25/705317

Singular ‘they’ voted word of the decade by US linguists
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jan/04/singular-they-voted-word-of-the-decade-by-us-linguists

Here’s why some LGBTQ youth are now embracing the nonbinary pronoun ‘it/its’
https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/heres-why-some-lgbtq-youth-are-embracing-non-binary-pronoun-it-its-223331366.html

The WIRED Guide to Emoji
https://www.wired.com/story/guide-emoji/

Lord’s Prayer/Our Father: A Diachronic Data Set for English
https://www.wtamu.edu/~mjacobsen/lp.htm

Singular *you*: Language authorities like this 1821 edition of Murray's English Grammar, used in many American schools, insisted that *thou* was singular, *you* plural, even though students and their teachers, not to mention serious writers, had switched to singular *you.* pic.twitter.com/qq7uVXORJu
— Dennis Roy Baron (@DrGrammar) February 16, 2019