This is the second edition of Talkin' About Talk, a series of 52 short audio essays--conversational in tone, light and anecdotal in style-- that encourage language study and invite listeners to look further into the subject of each essay. Titles such as: What language did Adam and Eve Speak? Is Spanish Taking Over the U.S.? How Do Babies Learn Their Mother Tongue? What Causes Foreign Accents? Did German Almost Become the Language of the U.S.? Originally part of the Year of Languages celebration, the series has been edited and updated to make it most useful for language teachers at all levels and especially for language advocacy. In addition to classroom use, the material can be broadcast on commercial and campus radio stations or piped through a high school intercom system. It has been used effectively in ESOL as well as foreign language programs, and in introductory courses in Linguistics, Anthropology, and the training of new language teachers.
Co-sponsored by the College of Charleston (SC) and the National Museum of Language, the series was written by a wide-ranging group of experts, including some of the most well-known linguists in America. In January 2007 it was the recipient of the prestigious “Linguistics, Language and the Public” award, conferred by the Linguistic Society of America.
The architect and voice of Talkin' about Talk is Dr. Rick Rickerson, Professor Emeritus at the College of Charleston. Transcripts of the essays and brief biographies of the authors can be found on the College’s website: www.cofc.edu/linguist. A full set of 4 CD’s can be ordered on the site for $12.95 + postage.
The radio series is now also available in book form under the title: The Five-Minute Linguist: Bite-Sized Essays on Language and Languages, which can be purchased at ACTFL’s on-line bookstore. Price: $12.95.
Click here to order The Five-Minute Linguist: Bite-Sized Essays on Language and Languages from ACTFL!
For questions on either the audio essays or the book, please contact Dr. Rickerson directly at erickerson@comcast.net.
Sit back, relax and enjoy these programs with your students!
The following files are available in MP3 format. You will need an audio player such as RealPlayer or QuickTime, for example.
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To download the files, RIGHT CLICK on
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After left-clicking on "Listen" please allow time for the file to open.
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| JANUARY 2005 |
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| Program #1 |
Robert Rodman
"What's special about language?"
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| Program #2 |
Paul Lewis
"How many languages are there in the world?" |
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| Program #3 |
Barry Hilton
"What was the first language?" |
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| Program #4 |
Allan Bomhard
"Did all languages come from one source?" |
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| FEBRUARY 2005 |
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| Program #5 |
Marty Abbott/Steve Ackley
"What is the Year of Languages?" |
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| Program #6 |
John Algeo
"Where Did English Come From?" |
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| Program #7 |
Rick Rickerson
"Whatever happened to Esperanto?" |
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| Program #8 |
Orin Hargraves
"Who owns English?" |
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| MARCH 2005 |
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| Program #9 |
Walt Wolfram
"Do all Southerners have the same dialect?" |
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| Program #10 |
Catherine Ingold
"Is there a language crisis in the US?" |
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| Program #11 |
Nina Garrett
"What does it take to learn a Second Language?" |
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| Program #12 |
June Phillips
"What's the History of Language Study in the US?" |
Listen
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| Program #13 |
Gerald Lampe
"Should we be learning Arabic?" |
Listen
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| APRIL 2005 |
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| Program #14 |
Leila Monaghan
"Is sign language a universal language?" |
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| Program #15 |
Walt Wolfram
"Are dialects dying the the US?" |
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| Program #16 |
John McWhorter
"Why Do Languages Change?" |
Listen
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| Program #17 |
John Lipski
"Is Pidgin English Just Bad English?" |
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| MAY 2005 |
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| Program #18 |
Nancy Nenno
"Was German Almost the Language of America?" |
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| Program #19 |
Roberta Golinkoff/Kathy Hirsh-Pasek
"How Do Babies Learn Their Mother Tongue?" |
Listen
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| Program #20 |
Katie Sprang
"Can Monolingualism Be Cured?" |
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| Program #21 |
Barry Hilton
"Why is Chinese so hard to learn?" |
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| JUNE 2005 |
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| Program #22 |
Gladys Lipton
"Should we teach languages in elementary school?" |
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| Program #23 |
Peter T. Daniels
"Where did writing come from?" |
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| Program #24 |
Steven Weinberger
"What Causes Foreign Accents?" |
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| Program #25 |
Amelia Murdoch
"How can you keep languages in a museum?" |
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| Program #26 |
Marianne Mithun
"How many Native American languages are there?" |
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| JULY 2005 |
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| Program #27 |
Ben Rifkin
"Should we still be studying Russian?" |
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| Program #28 |
Geoffrey K. Pullum
"Does Language influence the way we think?" |
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| Program #29 |
Erin McKean
"How are dictionaries made?" |
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| Program #30 |
Robyn Holman
"What's Cajun and where did it come from?" |
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| AUGUST 2005 |
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| Program #31 |
Dennis Preston
"Can you set standards for language?" |
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| Program #32 |
Maria Carreira
"What is the future of Spanish in the US?" |
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| Program #33 |
G. Tucker Childs
"Is it a dialect or a language?" |
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| Program #34 |
Blaine Erickson
"Is Japanese related to Chinese?" |
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| SEPTEMBER 2005 |
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| Program #35 |
Pardee Lowe Jr.
"Why are linguists interested in Icelandic?" |
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| Program #36 |
Michael Erard
"Why is language a National Security issue?" |
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| Program #37 |
Donald Osborn
"Is Swahili the language of Africa?" |
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| Program #38 |
Robert Rodman
"Is each person's language unique?" |
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| Program #39 |
David Savignac
"How good is machine translation?" |
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| OCTOBER 2005 |
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Program #40
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Kevin Hendzel
"What does it take to be an interpreter?" |
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| Program #41 |
David Goldberg
"Who speaks what languages in the U.S.?" |
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| Program #42 |
Sheri Spaine Long
"Why study abroad?" |
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| Program #43 |
Dr. Michael Erard
"What does language have to do with national security?" |
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| NOVEMBER 2005 |
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| Program #44 |
Dr. Michael Erard
"How many languages is it possible for a person to speak?" |
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| Program #45 |
Dr. Henk Haarmann
"Is there such a thing as too much language learning?" |
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| Program #46 |
Dora Johnson
"What does it mean to be bilingual?"
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| Program #47 |
Chris Moseley
"Why do languages die?" |
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| DECEMBER 2005 |
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| Program #48 |
Akira Yamamoto, Marcellino Berardo,
Tracy Hirata-Edds, Mary Linn, Lizette Peter,
and Kimiko Yamamoto
"Can threatened or dying languages be revived?" |
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| Program #49 |
Chris Moseley
"Does anybody here speak Klingon?" |
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| Program #50 |
Dr. Paul B. Garrett
"Is language important enough to fight about?"
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| Program #51 |
Dr. Frederick Jackson
"Can you make a living loving languages?" |
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| Program #52 |
"What don't we know about language?" |
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