Subtitle

Language unites and divides us. It mystifies and delights us. Patrick Cox and Kavita Pillay tell the stories of people with all kinds of linguistic passions: comedians, writers, researchers; speakers of endangered languages; speakers of multiple languages; and just speakers—people like you and me.

Latest Episodes:

Once upon a hyphen… Dec 15, 2021

Show notes

Some people have origin stories. Pardis Mahdavi has a hyphenation story. Her Iranian family was the target of a hate crime in Minnesota. She was stripped of her citizenship in Iran. Eventually she embraced the hyphen between the words 'Iranian' and 'American' as her identity: two cultures within one person.

But what exactly is the function of a hyphen? Does it unite two ideas, or divide them? Together with Pardis Mahdavi, we trace the many disputes surrounding this seemingly humble horizontal line, from Romans and Celts, then via Hollywood to politicians and lexicographers.

Photo of Pardis Mahdavi (center) and her family courtesy of Pardis Mahdavi. More info about her here.

Music by Damma Beatz, Nylonia, Walt Adams, Amaranth Cove, Marc Torch, Pulsed, and Saira Ridley. Read a transcript of the episode here.

Season 3 is coming Dec 02, 2021

Show notes

In our upcoming season, we'll have stories on people who have "lost" their mother tongue, the language of self help, why certain sounds make us laugh, and much more. The first episode drops December 15. Subtitle is a production of Quiet Juice and the Linguistic Society of America. Music by Organized Chaos. Photo by Nola Cox.

A language that survived the boarding schools Sep 29, 2021

Show notes

Gwich’in is among Alaska’s most threatened languages. but Princess Daazhraii Johnson is determined to change that. Her mother, she says, was of "that boarding school generation that was hit for speaking Gwich’in.” Today, more Gwich’in people are learning their language, and kids are exposed to it by shows like PBS’ Molly of Denali. In this episode, Princess Daazhraii talks about the past, present and future of her people’s native tongue. This episode is reported by Kavita Pillay and comes to us via the Seedcast podcast.

Music by Podington Bear, Reveille, Dream Themes, Mark Himley, Four Trees, and Grant Borland and Blue Dot Sessions. Photo by Adam Jones. Read a transcript here.

A tale of edible intrigue Jul 28, 2021

Show notes

Who writes the fortunes in fortune cookies? Why are so many of them not really fortunes at all? Why did some fortunes turn ominous for a while? (“After today, you shall have a deeper understanding of both good and evil.”) And who was behind the theft of countless fortunes? Lidia Jean Kott has the answers to these questions, and to one more: Where do fortune cookies come from? Hint: It's not China. Music in this episode by Lisa Germano, Podington Bear and Blue Dot Sessions. Photo by Megan Swan/Museum of Food and Drink. Read a transcript of the episode here.

The pleasure and pain of spelling Jun 23, 2021

Show notes

With the Scripps National Spelling Bee back after a Covid-enforced year off, we conduct our very own spelling quiz. Also, Kavita Pillay offers her take on why Indian American kids perform so well in spelling bees. And author and self-described “crummy" speller David Wolman tells us why he wrote a history of English spelling and the many attempts to reform it.

Photo of a spelling bee in Fulton, MD, by Howard County Library System via Flickr/Creative Commons. Music in this episode by Cloudline, Podington Bear and Alexander Boyes. Read a transcript of the episode here.

We are the people Jun 09, 2021

Show notes

The German word "Volk" usually translates as "people," but it means a whole lot more than that. In 1989 as Germans tore down the Berlin Wall, they chanted, "Wir sind das Volk!" ("We are the people!") Today, though, "Volk" no longer unites Germans. Some understand it to mean everyone living in Germany. Others define it along ethnic lines, thereby excluding immigrants. Now with parliamentary elections looming as they did in 2017 when Patrick Cox first reported this, voters are again wondering: Who are the "Volk" of Germany? Who belongs, and who doesn't?

Photo by Patrick Cox of German publisher and far-right activist Götz Kubitschek with his wife Ellen Kositza at their home in Schnellroda, Germany. Music in this episode by Podington Bear and Blue Dot Sessions. Read a transcript here.

The little pronoun that could May 26, 2021

Show notes

In 2012, a children’s book in Sweden sparked a nationwide debate— not about the book’s content but a three-letter word used by the main character. Hen was a relatively new, gender-neutral pronoun which challenged Swedish grammar norms. The use of hen tapped into a conversation the country was already having about gender and equality. Can the introduction of one word make a difference in changing societal views? Nina Porzucki goes to Sweden to find out.

Photo by Nina Porzucki. Music by Blue Dot Sessions and Podington Bear. Read a transcript of this episode here.

How the alphabet won our hearts May 12, 2021

Show notes

If you're under the impression that encyclopedias and dictionaries in the West were always organized from A to Z, think again. We have chosen to classify knowledge in many ways, each reflecting the values of the age. Patrick Cox speaks with Judith Flanders, author of A Place for Everything: The Curious History of Alphabetical Order about the centuries-long resistance to alphabetization, and why A to Z may now be here to stay.

Photo of a dictionary in the Boston Public Library by Trevor Pritchard via Creative Commons. Music in this episode by Circus Marcus, Jason Leonard, Alexander Boyes, Podington Bear, Die Minimalistin, Yan Terrien and Lobo Loco. Read more about Judith Flanders here. Read a transcript of the episode here.

Japan’s mystery language Apr 28, 2021

Show notes

Japan is an ethnically homogenous nation where everyone speaks Japanese, right? Not exactly. Other groups including the Ainu also have called Japan home, perhaps for longer than the Japanese themselves. Today, the Ainu language is spoken by only a handful of people. One of them, Russian-born linguist Anna Bugaeva, takes Patrick Cox to meet Ainu speakers (and non-speakers) on the island of Hokkaido. Along the way, we learn about the mysteries of Ainu, a "language isolate" unrelated to any other language in the world. Bugaeva says Japanese children aren't taught about the Ainu because their presence—and language—contradict standard Japanese history.

Music in this episode by Tonality Star, Podington Bear, Circus Marcus and Blue Dot Sessions. Photo of Ainu language activists Maki and Kenji Sekine by Patrick Cox. More on Anna Bugaeva's research here. Read a transcript of the episode here.

The dots and their future Apr 14, 2021

Show notes

Will technology make Braille obsolete as the primary reading tool for blind people? Will talking apps and audiobooks win out over embossed dots? Braille has been written off before; each time it has come back stronger. We trace Braille from its beginnings in Napoleon's France, through the "War of the Dots" in the early 20th century to the age of the smart phone, and beyond.

Photo by Brickset. Music in the episode from Marcel, Blue Dot Sessions, Podington Bear, Cuicuitte and gargle. More on contributors Sheri Wells-Jensen here, Joshua Miele here and Chancey Fleet here. Read a transcript of this episode here.

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