Linguistics Now

In this episode, I am delighted to welcome Natalie Schilling for a conversation about forensic linguistics, interesting cases she has worked on, sociolinguistic fieldwork and her books. We explore studying language in communities and how linguistic knowledge can contribute to forensic investigations. Thank you, Natalie, for such a fascinating conversation!🎧 Listen to the episode and share your thoughts in the comments.#LinguisticsNow #NatalieSchilling #ForensicLinguistics #Sociolinguistics #Fieldwork #MeetthePhDs #MeetthePhDsBookClubNatalie's books: Schilling, N. (2013). Sociolinguistic fieldwork. Cambridge University Press. Wolfram, W., & Schilling, N. (2015). American English: Dialects and variation (3rd ed.). Wiley-Blackwell. Chambers, J. K., & Schilling, N. (Eds.). (2013). The handbook of language variation and change (2nd ed.). Wiley-Blackwell. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118335598You can also watch: - Natalie on Brian Entin's show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dg4kS8icgX8&t=14s- The Mary Day case on 48 hours that Natalie and I discussed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KheUErGCFJA&t=6s- Natalie's Substack: https://nschilling.substack.com/

How did linguistics help catch the Unabomber? In this episode, we go true crime!In this fascinating episode of 𝗟𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘂𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗰𝘀 𝗡𝗼𝘄, I speak with 𝗝𝗮𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝗙𝗶𝘁𝘇𝗴𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗹𝗱, an American forensic linguist, criminal profiler, and author. He is also a retired FBI agent and best known for his role in the UNABOM investigation, which resulted in the arrest and conviction of Ted Kaczynski. We discuss:• How language evidence was used in the case• The linguistic clues hidden in the Unabomber's writings• The role of forensic linguistics in criminal investigations• Authorship analysis and language profiling• The challenges and ethics of using linguistic evidence in legal contextsThis episode offers a rare behind-the-scenes look at one of the most famous cases in forensic linguistics and demonstrates how the careful analysis of language can contribute to solving major criminal investigations.🎧 Listen to our amazing discussion - James is absolutely fascinating! Thank you so much, Jim!

In this episode, I am excited to talk with Dr. Elaine Gold, a remarkable Canadian linguist and founder of the Canadian Language Museum. Dr Gold is truly a national treasure of Canada, whose work highlights the beauty and diversity of Canada’s linguistic heritage. I have admired her work for years!We discuss her journey leading her to linguistics, creating the Canadian Language Museum, why documenting language matters, and how language connects us to culture and identity. If you love accents, history, and stories about how people speak, this episode offers inspiring perspectives you will not want to miss.🔗 Learn more about the Canadian Language Museum here: https://languagemuseum.caThank you ever so much, Elaine!

In this episode of Linguistics Now, I speak with Professor Adrian Leemann of the University of Bern — a leading scholar in sociophonetics and dialectology. Together, we explore how dialects evolve in our increasingly mobile and digital world, what our voices reveal about identity, and how linguistic diversity continues to shape the way we connect.Having lived and worked in several countries, Professor Leemann brings a uniquely international perspective to language variation and change.As my PhD supervisor, he has also been a guiding influence on my own research journey - making this conversation both personal and deeply insightful.His latest books that we discuss are: Dialäktatlas: 1950 bis heute An Introduction to Forensic Phonetics and Forensic LinguisticsThank you so much, Adrian! What an amazing discussion we have had - enjoy it!

My guest for this episode is the fantastic Sam Kirkham!Sam Kirkham is senior lecturer in the Phonetics Lab, Department of Linguistics and English Language and Data Science Institute at Lancaster University. He is also associate editor at Journal of Phonetics.His research investigates the dynamics of spoken language, such as how people coordinate movements of the tongue, lips and larynx to produce speech. Sam does experiments that monitor vocal tract movements using sensors and imaging technology, and build computational models of the cognitive and physical mechanisms that underpin spoken language.He is currently working on the following projects:Interpretable acoustic-articulatory relations in speech production (Royal Society, 2025-27)Modelling the dynamics of phonetic variation & phonological change (AHRC fellowship, 2024-25)TARDIS: Targets and dynamics in speech (AHRC, 2019-23)You can read more of his extensive work here. Thank you so much, Sam!

My guest for this episode is the spectacular Erez Levon!Erez is Professor of Sociolinguistics, at the University of Bern. His work focuses on how people produce and perceive socially meaningful patterns of variation in language. He is particularly interested in how variation signals group membership and in the relationship between language and broader structures of social inequality. Join us in a compelling conversation about social identity, class, gender, sexuality, and national belonging in various countries and linguistic communities.You can read his numerous and very interesting publications here. Thank you so much and what an honour, Erez!

My guest for this episode is Matthew Hadodo!Matthew is a postdoctoral researcher and lecturer at the University of Salzburg. His work encompasses variationist and discursive approaches to how people use language in relation to how they view themselves and others. He has mostly been focusing on the endangered Istanbul Greek dialect, and balances ethnographic fieldwork with sociophonetic approaches to studying language contact and change. We discuss all of this, his family and their languages, being a heritage speaker and so much more. You will also hear the occasional sprinkle of Greek words between us!If you would like to read more about his work, here is the book he has co-authored with Petros Karatsareas and Elena Ioannidou:Greek in Minoritized Contexts: Identities, Authenticities, and Institutions by Routledge Follow Matthew on Academia and on ResearchGate to read more of his articles and work.

For Episode 2, I have another great linguist, Prof Dr Daniel Schreier, from the University of Zurich! Daniel Schreier is Professor of English Linguistics at the University of Zurich. He has taught and researched in the United States, New Zealand and Germany, and held an Erskine Fellowship at the University of Canterbury (Christchurch, New Zealand). Listen to our fascinating discussion regarding his research interests, which include varieties of English around the world, language variation and change, contact linguistics and sociolinguistics, as well as English dialectology and varieties of English around the world, better- and lesser-known. He is author of several books on English in the South Atlantic, editor of books on language change in English, including written sources, has published some eighty articles, co-edited the journal English World-Wide (from 2013-2019) and is Co-Editor of the Cambridge Handbook of World Englishes. He has been Head of the English Department at UZH (2009-13, 2017-21) , Member of the Faculty's Research Committee (2007-2019) and Laufbahn Committee (2017-), Member of the Swiss National Science Foundation (Ambizione program; 2008-2019), and 2002/3: Royal Society of New Zealand Marsden Postdoctoral Fellow. He is currently the President Senior:innenuniversity UZH3, for senior citizens who wish to study and research. He has also served/is serving on the editorial boards: English World-Wide: A Journal of Varieties of English, Advances in Historical Sociolinguistics, Atlantis (Journal of the Spanish Association of Anglo-American Studies). And I am extremely fortunate to have him as my PhD supervisor! Enjoy Episode 2!

For this very first episode of Linguistics Now, I am thrilled to announce my first guest - Professor David Britain! David Britain is a sociolinguist and dialectologist in the Department of English at the University of Bern in Switzerland and a linguist I have admired and read for a very long time.  His research interests are in the following areas: Variation and change in contemporary English, especially the Englishes of East Anglia, the South of England, the Southern Hemisphere (esp. New Zealand, Australia and the Falkland Islands) and Micronesia, as well as lesser-known varieties of English; The dialectological consequences of geographical mobility, especially dialect contact, dialect accommodation, diffusion, supralocalisation, second dialect acquisition, koineisation and new dialect formation; The dialectology – human geography interface, especially with respect to mobility, isolation and the urban-rural dichotomy; Language variation 'on the move': mobile methods in variationist sociolinguistics and the effects of walking, driving, travelling on variation; Language ideologies as they relate to non-standard dialects; Language and dialect obsolescence. ​Dialectological data collection using mobile phone apps. You can follow him:  on ResearchGate on Twitter  I would like to thank him for being such a great guest - I could listen to him for hours, and I think you will feel the same too!