Tom Scott: Tom's Language Files

S1 · E1 · May 24, 2013

Why Jonathan Ross Can´t Pronounce His Rs Episode 1

S1 · E2 · May 31, 2013

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

S1 · E3 · Jun 7, 2013

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

S1 · E4 · Jun 14, 2013

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

S1 · E5 · Jun 21, 2013

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

S1 · E6 · Jun 28, 2013

Ghoti and the Ministry of Helth: Spelling Reform Episode 6

S1 · E7 · Jul 5, 2013

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

S1 · E8 · Jul 12, 2013

Mele Kalikimaka: Why You Can't Say "Christmas" in Hawaiian Episode 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 · Dec 4, 2013

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

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

S1 · E10 · Dec 11, 2013

Adjectival Order: Why A "Big Red Balloon", not a "Red Big Balloon"? Episode 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 · Dec 17, 2013

Why You Can Tweet More In Japanese: What Counts As A Character? Episode 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 · Dec 20, 2013

Making Flaps Vibrate In Your Throat: Voicing Episode 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 · May 21, 2015

Why Computers Suck At Translation Episode 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 · May 28, 2015

Crash Blossoms and Being Drunk: Ambiguity Episode 14

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

S1 · E15 · Jun 4, 2015

Why Can't Adults Learn Languages Like Children? Episode 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 · Jun 11, 2015

Long and Short Words: Language Typology Episode 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 · Jun 18, 2015

What Counts as a Word? Episode 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 · Jul 15, 2019

why typing like this is sometimes okay. Episode 18

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

S1 · E19 · Aug 5, 2019

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

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

S1 · E20 · Sep 2, 2019

The Language Sounds That Could Exist, But Don't Episode 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 · Dec 2, 2019

Can The Words You Read Change Your Behavior? Episode 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 · Dec 23, 2019

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

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

S1 · E23 · Feb 17, 2020

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

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

S1 · E24 · Apr 13, 2020

Abso-b████y-lutely: Expletive Infixation Episode 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 · May 4, 2020

The Hidden Rules of Conversation Episode 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 · May 25, 2020

Ə: The Most Common Vowel in English Episode 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 · Aug 24, 2020

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

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

S1 · E28 · Oct 19, 2020

It’s pronounced GIF. Episode 28

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

S1 · E29 · Dec 7, 2020

How Many Languages Are There? Episode 29

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

S1 · E30 · Mar 22, 2021

Why Shakespeare Could Never Have Been French Episode 30

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

S1 · E31 · Sep 18, 2023

How languages steal words from each other Episode 31

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

S1 · E32 · Oct 16, 2023

there’dn’t’ve Episode 32

This script was a nightmare to pronounce.

S1 · E33 · Nov 6, 2023

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

No. Mostly.