Slate Debates
A feed from the Slate podcast network featuring episodes with enlightening conversations, opposing views, and plenty of healthy disputes. You'll get a curated selection of episodes from programs like What Next, The Waves, and the Political Gabfest, with deep discussions that go beyond point-counterpoint and shed light on the issues that matter most.
176
The Languages of Southeast Asia
Why are so many of the languages of Southeast Asia "like Chinese"?
36 min
177
Irregardless Make You Cringe? Relax.
English is full of redundancies—so why are we bothered by only a select few?
37 min
178
Nine Nasty Words
John McWhorter teases his new book about off-color English expressions, starting with c!#k.
36 min
179
The Invisible Complexities of Translation
A single word—take "self," for example—reveals the thorny nature of literary translation.
42 min
180
English Is Plain Weird
Don't be fooled into thinking that English is a typical language. It's not.
40 min
181
Subject-Verb-Object. Right?
For many languages, the idea that the subject belongs up front is plain backwards.
39 min
182
Parting Company
How did a word meaning "with bread" come to sprout its corporate connotation?
40 min
183
Wallowing in Negativity
From the evolution of ain't to double negatives, simply saying no is wonderfully complex.
42 min
184
Fossil Hunting in English
Our language contains a trove of buried clues, petrified remnants of its past. But you have to know where to dig.
41 min
185
Why Do Languages Have Gender?
Lots of languages divide words into categories, like male and female. How does that happen?
52 min
186
Forgetting Your Roots
Words have a way of rebelling against their etymological parents, acquiring meanings of their own.
55 min
187
Future English Speaker, Can You Read Me?
That language changes is certain. How quickly or slowly is another matter.
62 min
188
Getting Got
The story of how one little verb developed a seemingly endless capacity to absorb new meanings.
40 min
189
On the Origin of English
A controversial theory holds that English, along with other Germanic languages, was profoundly influenced early on by Phoenician. The evidence is intriguing.
57 min
190
White Author, Black English. Problem?
Mark Twain famously depicted what he called the "Missouri Negro dialect" of Jim. Would that be acceptable today?
52 min
191
Do Cats Have Language?
Animals bark, sing, purr and even gesture, all fascinating but a far cry from human communication.
58 min
192
Sergeant, Corporal, Colonel!
Peculiar linguistic tales of America's soldiers.
36 min
193
To Reason Why
There's more than one way to ask why. How come? What for?
34 min
194
When Talking to Your Mother-In-Law Is a Minefield
From baby talk to formal varieties, languages around the world offer—or even require—different ways of speaking for different situations.
40 min
195
The Incredible Story of the Traveling Creole
Enslaved people developed a hybrid language that sailed from Africa to the Caribbean and—unbelievably—back again.
59 min
196
This Am a Minstrel Stereotype, Right?
A longstanding mystery of Black English may finally be solved.
52 min
197
When Jews Adapted Spanish
Languages of the Ottoman Empire, inspired by historian Alan Mikhail's new book God's Shadow.
44 min
198
Does English Have a Future?
49 min
199
Defund Karen
On the insults, acronyms and sloganeering of America's racial reckoning.
39 min
200
Beyond the Five Ws
The curious grammar of questions in languages around the world.
49 min