Blog Archives

Podcast episode 43: Judy Kaplan on universals

Combined book covers of "Universals of Language" and "Universals of Linguistic Theory"

In this interview, we talk to Judy Kaplan about universals in American linguistics of the mid-20th century.

Posted in Podcast

Podcast episode 42: Randy Harris on the Linguistics Wars

In this interview, we talk to Randy Harris about the controversies surrounding the generative semantics movement in American linguistics of the 1960s and 70s.

Posted in Podcast

Podcast episode 41: Chris Knight on Chomsky, science and politics

SAGE control room

In this interview, we talk to Chris Knight about Chomsky, pure science and the US military-industrial complex.

Posted in Podcast

Podcast episode 40: Interview with Nick Riemer on politics, linguistics and ideology

Theo Balden (1904-1995), Der Zeitungsleser, Museum der bildenden Künste, Leipzig.

In this interview, we talk to Nick Riemer about how linguistic theory and political ideology can interact.

Posted in Podcast

Podcast episode 39: Interview with Ingrid Piller on Life in a New Language

Life in a New Language Cover (©Sadami Konchi)

In this interview, we talk to Ingrid Piller about her forthcoming co-authored book Life in a New Language.

Posted in Podcast

Podcast episode 38: Interview with Dan Everett on C.S. Peirce and Peircean linguistics

Charles Sanders Peirce in 1859

In this interview, we talk to Dan Everett about the life and work of the American pragmatist philosopher Charles Sanders Peirce and Everett’s application of Peirce’s ideas to create a Peircean linguistics.

Posted in Podcast

Podcast episode 37: Interview with Michael Lynch on conversation analysis and ethnomethodology

Harvey Sacks in conversation analysis seminar 1975. Sacks archive UCLA.

In this interview, we talk to Michael Lynch about the history of conversation analysis and its connections to ethnomethodology.

Posted in Podcast

Podcast housekeeping December 2023

History of Modern Linguistics cover

In this brief audio clip, we provide an update on what’s been happening with the podcast – and what’s coming up.

Posted in Podcast

Podcast episode 36: Interview with Ghil‘ad Zuckermann on revivalistics

Language revivalists

In this interview, we talk to Ghil‘ad Zuckermann about language reclamation and revival in Australia and around the world.

Posted in Podcast

Podcast episode 35: Interview with Nick Thieberger on historical documentation and archiving

Apu Kalsarap Nemaf and Ati Limaas Kalsarap reading a dictionary of their language. Erakor village, Vanuatu, 2001.

In this interview, we talk to Nick Thieberger about the value of historical documentation for linguistic research, and how this documentation can be preserved and made accessible today and in the future in digital form.

Posted in Podcast

Upcoming events


8-11 January 2026
New Orleans, United States
NAAHoLS 2026 Annual Meeting


21-23 January 2026
Paris
SHESL Conference 2026
Versification and the History of Linguistic Ideas


17–20 March 2026
Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona (Spain)
XV Congreso Internacional de la Sociedat Española de Historiografía Lingüística
Prescriptivism and descriptivism from the peripheries


23–25 March 2026
Montpellier (France)
Asian Languages in the History of Lexicography


2-4 September 2026
Nottingham (UK)
Henry Sweet Society Colloquium 2026
(Non-)Native Speakers in the History of Linguistic Ideas


10-11 September 2026
Fribourg (Switzerland)
The Prague Linguistic Circle in Geneva and Paris: Circulations and Decenterings


19-21 November 2026
Sofia (Bulgaria)
La linguistique ‘fonctionnelle’ cent ans après la fondation du Cercle linguistique de Prague


23-27 August 2027
Niterói, Rio de Janeiro (Brazil)
ICHoLS XVII