Tom Scott: Tom's Language Files

S1 · E1 · 24 мая 2013 г.

Why Jonathan Ross Can´t Pronounce His Rs Серия 1

S1 · E2 · 31 мая 2013 г.

Fantastic Features We Don't Have In The English Language Серия 2

S1 · E3 · 7 июн 2013 г.

All The Colours, Including Grue: How Languages See Colours Differently Серия 3

S1 · E4 · 14 июн 2013 г.

Why You Swear in Anglo-Saxon and Order Fancy Food in French: Registers Серия 4

S1 · E5 · 21 июн 2013 г.

There's Nothing Wrong With Saying "10 Items or Less": Descriptivism vs Prescriptivism Серия 5

S1 · E6 · 28 июн 2013 г.

Ghoti and the Ministry of Helth: Spelling Reform Серия 6

S1 · E7 · 5 июл 2013 г.

Gender Neutral Pronouns: They're Here, Get Used To Them Серия 7

S1 · E8 · 12 июл 2013 г.

Mele Kalikimaka: Why You Can't Say "Christmas" in Hawaiian Серия 8

It's not that Hawaiian has a completely different word for Christmas -- it's just that Kalikimaka is the closest that Hawaiian can possibly get to the word Christmas.

S1 · E9 · 4 дек 2013 г.

Why Do We Have "Ye Olde"? Obsolete Letters, and the Mysteries of Ye Olde Ming Серия 9

Why do we say "Ye Olde"? Why is "Menzies" pronounced "Mingis"? To find out, we have to go back into history.

S1 · E10 · 11 дек 2013 г.

Adjectival Order: Why A "Big Red Balloon", not a "Red Big Balloon"? Серия 10

The order of adjectives is one of those wonderful linguistic things that no-one really notices until it's pointed out to them.

S1 · E11 · 17 дек 2013 г.

Why You Can Tweet More In Japanese: What Counts As A Character? Серия 11

Twitter was set up to support 140 characters. And in the English alphabet, that's easy to understand: a character is a letter, number, space or punctuation mark. People more or less agree with computers there. And if it was twenty years ago, that's exactly how the system would work. That far, no further.

S1 · E12 · 20 дек 2013 г.

Making Flaps Vibrate In Your Throat: Voicing Серия 12

There's an interesting thing about English that hardly anyone thinks about. There are two "th" sounds. And if you want to know why it took me twenty-one takes to record this intro, you try switching them round.

S1 · E13 · 21 мая 2015 г.

Why Computers Suck At Translation Серия 13

Machine translation's a useful tool, don't get me wrong. But if you actually try to use it for regular conversation, it'll fall down really quickly. Why? What makes it so difficult?

S1 · E14 · 28 мая 2015 г.

Crash Blossoms and Being Drunk: Ambiguity Серия 14

One comma can make a lot of difference. Language is ambiguous -- but in some very specific ways. Here's how.

S1 · E15 · 4 июн 2015 г.

Why Can't Adults Learn Languages Like Children? Серия 15

Kids learn languages really easily, don't they? There's this thing in your brain that just works it out -- but it switches off when you're an adult. Right? Well, maybe. But it's not that simple.

S1 · E16 · 11 июн 2015 г.

Long and Short Words: Language Typology Серия 16

Some languages have longer words than others -- but that's not just a simple choice. There's a lot of different ways to mix up morphemes, even if they all mean the same thing in the end.

S1 · E17 · 18 июн 2015 г.

What Counts as a Word? Серия 17

"Word Count" is going to count plenty of things that aren’t words too -- and it doesn’t get to a more fundamental question: what actually is a word?

S1 · E18 · 15 июл 2019 г.

why typing like this is sometimes okay. Серия 18

Language changes over time, and that's fine. Time for a dose of descriptivism, as the Language Files return.

S1 · E19 · 5 авг 2019 г.

Why “No Problem” Can Seem Rude: Phatic Expressions Серия 19

"Hello!" "Thank you!" "You're welcome!" These are all phatic expressions, and people can argue about them.

S1 · E20 · 2 сен 2019 г.

The Language Sounds That Could Exist, But Don't Серия 20

The International Phonetic Alphabet: one sound for each symbol, and one symbol for each sound. Except for the sounds we can't make.

S1 · E21 · 2 дек 2019 г.

Can The Words You Read Change Your Behavior? Серия 21

"Priming" is the idea that the words you read can change the way you act. And yes, there are papers that show an effect: but we also need to talk about the Replication Crisis.

S1 · E22 · 23 дек 2019 г.

Why Do We Move Our Hands When We Talk? Серия 22

Gestures are a really important part of language. But how do we use them, and why?

S1 · E23 · 17 фев 2020 г.

The Sentences Computers Can't Understand, But Humans Can Серия 23

The Winograd schema is a language test for intelligent computers. So far, they're not doing well.

S1 · E24 · 13 апр 2020 г.

Abso-b████y-lutely: Expletive Infixation Серия 24

There are rules in the English language that you've probably never been taught, but you know anyway: how to split apart words with "infixes". But you've never been taught it because some of those infixes are words you probably shouldn't use in front of your high school English teachers...

S1 · E25 · 4 мая 2020 г.

The Hidden Rules of Conversation Серия 25

Gricean Maxims are a vital part of how we understand each other: a set of... well, maybe "rules" is a bit strong. They're guidelines that we follow without realising it. And it's the reason that "asbestos-free cereal" sounds suspicious.

S1 · E26 · 25 мая 2020 г.

Ə: The Most Common Vowel in English Серия 26

"Schwa" is the most common vowel in English. Every English speaker uses it, all the time, but most people have never heard of it.

S1 · E27 · 24 авг 2020 г.

Which Is "Bouba", and Which Is "Kiki"? Серия 27

Sooner or later, I was going to get around to this: it's one of the most famous experiments in linguistics.

S1 · E28 · 19 окт 2020 г.

It’s pronounced GIF. Серия 28

Is there a "right" way to pronounce it? And why is it so complicated?

S1 · E29 · 7 дек 2020 г.

How Many Languages Are There? Серия 29

The answer is, of course, a bit more complicated than you might think.

S1 · E30 · 22 мар 2021 г.

Why Shakespeare Could Never Have Been French Серия 30

Shakespeare sounds a certain way. Why? And why could it only work in English?

S1 · E31 · 18 сен 2023 г.

How languages steal words from each other Серия 31

This is the only pirate reference you're getting from me.

S1 · E32 · 16 окт 2023 г.

there’dn’t’ve Серия 32

This script was a nightmare to pronounce.

S1 · E33 · 6 ноя 2023 г.

Does the language you speak change how you think? Серия 33

No. Mostly.