Hot on the heels of Episode 40 (American Sign Language with Aidan Elliott-McCrea), I can release a special episode of ALILI, showcasing the audio edition of my new book! 'Why Q Needs U: A history of our letters and how we use them' was published on October 2nd, before which I undertook both its writing and its narrating as an audiobook. For this special, I've been given the first chapter of that audiobook (Chapter A) to share with you. It kicks off the story of the alphabet in Egypt, then takes you as far as the islands of Greece. The full audiobook is widely available on popular platforms like Spotify and ⁠Audible⁠. If you give it a listen, do let me know!

Official link to the book here: ⁠https://geni.us/WhyQNeedsU⁠

More info and reviews here: ⁠https://dannybate.com/book/⁠

Support the language-loving mission by joining the ALILI Patreon here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/ALanguageILoveIs⁠⁠⁠

Host: Dr. Danny Bate

Music: Acoustic Guitar by William King

Artwork: William Marler

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The ALILI podcast has reached forty episodes! As a fitting start to this fourth decade of language love, we have a first for the show: its first sign language. It was a privilege for me to talk to Aidan Elliott-McCrea, an expert linguist and online etymologist (through ⁠Word Family Friday⁠), about not just American Sign Language but sign languages in general. Our conversation begins with addressing misconceptions about sign languages (there isn't just one!), and moves on to the features of ASL that Aidan particularly likes.

Support the language-loving mission by joining the ALILI Patreon here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/ALanguageILoveIs⁠⁠

Transcript (automatically generated) available here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1m5gw2ewkXN3uUEnYI-yszmLqiugG7v2w5fDEHXK_9-s/edit?usp=sharing

Aidan's etymological website: ⁠https://www.aidanem.com/pages/word-families-overview.html⁠

Aidan's own Patreon: https://patreon.com/aidanem

Aidan's recommendations for reading:

• Linguistics of American Sign Language: An Introduction by Clayton Valli
• Sign Language and Linguistic Universals by Wendy Sandler and Diane Lillo-Martin
• Everyone Here Spoke Sign Language by Nora Ellen Groce

Host: Dr. Danny Bate

Guest: Aidan Elliott-McCrea

Audio Mixing and Mastering: Jeremiah McPadden

Music: Acoustic Guitar by William King

Artwork: William Marler

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode 39 is a return to Scotland! After Scots, way back at the start of the whole podcast, this next journey into Scottish speech explores Scottish Gaelic (Gàidhlig), the Insular Celtic language that's for centuries played a big part in the country's history, ever since it first arrived from Ireland. It was the choice of my guest, the linguist David Adger, who knows the language well and refers to it often in his research into the nature of word order. David and I discuss the medieval and modern story of Scottish Gaelic, as well as a globally unusual aspect of its syntax.

Support the language-loving mission by joining the ALILI Patreon here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/ALanguageILoveIs⁠

David's personal website: ⁠https://davidadger.org/⁠

Clip of Rosemary speaking Scottish Gaelic taken from here: ⁠https://wikitongues.org/videos/rosemary_20150113_gla/⁠

Website for the Sabhal Mòr Ostaig here: ⁠https://www.smo.uhi.ac.uk/?lang=en⁠

Host: Dr. Danny Bate

Guest: Prof. David Adger

Audio Mixing and Mastering: Jeremiah McPadden

Music: Acoustic Guitar by William King

Artwork: William Marler

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.