A Language I Love Is...

Episode 2 of ALILI and it's time to head back to ancient Mesopotamia and hear all about Akkadian, an influential lingua franca of the ancient world. Old it may be, but Akkadian still has much to tell us about its many cousin languages still spoken to this day. Akkadian expert Iris Kamil both introduces and shares a little of her boundless enthusiasm for the language and its surprisingly relatable sources.

Host: Danny Bate

Guest: Iris Kamil

Music: Bossa Nova by William_King

Artwork: William Marler

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

Episode 11 of ALILI sees us back beside the Baltic Sea, where Dr Francis Young guides us into the story of Lithuania and the Lithuanian language. Francis discusses both history and prehistory in detail, and joyously shares some rather wrong ideas that people have held about the origin of this Indo-European language.

To learn more from Francis, here's his ⁠website⁠ and ⁠Twitter⁠.

Host: Danny Bate

Guest: Dr Francis Young

Music: Bossa Nova by William_King

Artwork: William Marler

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

Here's Episode 1, in which my friend Sarah van Eyndhoven kindly offers both her time and expertise to join me to talk about the Scots language. This language of the Lowlands of Scotland has a long history, reaching back into early medieval times, and also a complicated history with its southern cousin, English. Sarah is on hand to untangle all this history, as well as offering her thoughts on the future of the language. The episode ends with a fun fact from me about a superb Scots sound.

Host: Danny Bate

Guests: (Dr) Sarah van Eyndhoven

Music: Bossa Nova by William_King

Artwork: William Marler

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

Episode 3 of ALILI is a deep dive into the Germanic languages, expertly navigated by George Walkden, who shares a wealth of information about this language family through his love for one particular member: Old Saxon. Having introduced the language, its few (but fun) sources and himself, George uses the example of Old Saxon to make some great points about the connections between language, politics and the accidents of history.

Host: Danny Bate

Guest: Prof. George Walkden

Music: Bossa Nova by William_King

Artwork: William Marler

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

Episode 4 of ALILI is here and its task is to introduce the linguistic cosmos that is the Sanskrit language. Dr Krishnan Ram-Prasad joins me to run through the basics of Sanskrit, from its prehistoric origins to its prestigious status in India today. Krishnan expertly offers a wealth of information, all presented with the palpable enthusiasm of a true fan.

Find Krishnan's website and work here: https://krishnanjramprasad.co.uk

Host: Danny Bate

Guest: Dr. Krishnan Ram-Prasad

Music: Bossa Nova by William_King

Artwork: William Marler

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