Structured Visions

Informações:

Sinopsis

New ways of thinking about social structure

Episodios

  • Episode 96 The Earth’s language

    29/02/2024

    We start the episode, as always, with a couple of questions: There’s an answer to Question 2 that will be true for anyone who says it. ‘I am here.’ But if you write it on a piece of paper, and then leave the room, it stops being true. Does that make spoken language more genuine? … Continue reading Episode 96 The Earth’s language

  • Episode 94 Language and the afterlife

    28/12/2023

    What happens when we die? Ideas about the afterlife (or the lack of an afterlife) requires theory building based on either faith or experience. What if you don’t have faith in stories about the afterlife and you’ve never experienced anything resembling a near-death experience (NDE)? In this episode I’ll guide you through a language-based exercise … Continue reading Episode 94 Language and the afterlife

  • Episode 93 Where do you stop and the rest of the world begin?

    30/11/2023

    Is there a distinction between you and the rest of the world? Where do you stop and the rest of the world begin? What’s the meaning of the word ‘now’? The gift of language is that it shapes and reshapes the experience of separateness. It’s a gift because it’s fluid. It’s more a membrane than … Continue reading Episode 93 Where do you stop and the rest of the world begin?

  • Episode 92 The grammatical shape of emotions

    25/10/2023

    When was the last time you lost language? And… how do you feel? The one time it feels like I’m losing language is when I let myself feel what I really feel. (We’re talking about weeping, wailing, keening—the dripping-nose ugly cry.) I’ve been thinking a lot about emotions and language because I’ve just made a … Continue reading Episode 92 The grammatical shape of emotions

  • Episode 91 The limits of language and selfhood

    28/09/2023

    Linguistic interaction involves much more than simply sharing information. It requires shaping the information so that it will fit in to a pre-existing structure. This is where we might run into problems if we ever get the chance to chat with intelligent extra-terrestrial beings. To what extent can we communicate if there is no shared … Continue reading Episode 91 The limits of language and selfhood

  • Episode 90 Language, intimacy and narcissism

    31/08/2023

    What’s the worst relationship you’ve ever been in? What’s the difference between this and that? There are at least three ways of understanding that second question, each of which reveals a different level of abstraction: metalinguistic, anaphoric and exophoric. Our exploration of this and that (proximal and distal demonstratives, that is) reveals the gift, the … Continue reading Episode 90 Language, intimacy and narcissism

  • Episode 89 Grammar as a gateway to mystery

    27/07/2023

    ‘Dreams, it turns out, are like clauses. They can be configured and reconfigured in an infinite number of ways. They are quanta of information about what could be transformed in the world, whether it’s your own world or a bigger social world, or both.’ (from my new book, Refreshing Grammar, p. 127) Can something be … Continue reading Episode 89 Grammar as a gateway to mystery

  • Episode 88 Grammar shame

    29/06/2023

    What’s your most mortifying experience of grammar shaming? Mine involved a misplaced apostrophe in an important email, and I still burn with shame to think of it. Grammar for many has a spectrum of negative associations, which ranges from the imposter syndrome you might get when you realise you can’t tell a preposition from a … Continue reading Episode 88 Grammar shame

  • Episode 87 What if you’re an alien?

    25/05/2023

    If you were told, definitively, that you were an alien, would it relieve a burden? Would it explain, or affirm, a few things? Would you look to the sky and long for home? If you’ve ever felt like an alien, then the story I published recently on grammarfordreamers.com is dedicated to you. According to ‘Exiles’, … Continue reading Episode 87 What if you’re an alien?

  • Episode 86 Feelings are, like, inside things

    27/04/2023

    When you were a kid, was there something that inspired wonder in you? Is there anything that has inspired wonder for you more recently? For me as a child it was something I read in a picture book: ‘Colours are outside things. Feelings are inside things.’ As an adult it was the idea that language … Continue reading Episode 86 Feelings are, like, inside things

  • Episode 85 How spooky is language?

    29/03/2023

    What makes Ouija boards spooky? Is it language? After all, it’s the letters of the alphabet that take up the most space on these devices, and they’re just waiting for something to be spelled out. Who’s doing the spelling? And what kind of spells are they, after all? In this episode we’ll be exploring the … Continue reading Episode 85 How spooky is language?

  • Episode 84 Language before language

    23/02/2023

    Where’s home? What’s your first language? What was your language before your first language? Join me to explore linguistic frames of reference in Guugu Yimithirr, polyglot newborns and the beauty and tyranny of language, self and home. The story I read in this episode is ‘Poor Magellan’, and it’s available on grammarfordreamers.com. Connect with me … Continue reading Episode 84 Language before language

  • Episode 83 Language goes viral

    28/01/2023

    How often have you prepared for a job interview by articulating your weaknesses? Apparently describing yourself as an empathic sponge who absorbs all the moods and emotions of the classroom is not the best self-promotional strategy when applying for an academic job. In this episode we explore interviews as discursive practices that require us, as … Continue reading Episode 83 Language goes viral

  • Episode 82 The hills are alive

    29/12/2022

    A question for the writers among us (writers of anything—novels, memoirs, short stories, theses, academic articles, monographs): What’s your relationship with words? Are you ringing in the New Year with a commitment to a daily, achievable word count target to ensure you achieve your writing goals by the end of 2023? If so (and I … Continue reading Episode 82 The hills are alive

  • Episode 81 What are your pronouns?

    29/11/2022

    ‘What are your pronouns?’ How often do you get asked that question? How does it make you feel to be asked? When did the question first start making sense to you? This episode explores the ways that pronoun usage has shifted over time to reflect new ways of thinking about the relationship between self and … Continue reading Episode 81 What are your pronouns?

  • Episode 80 Is nothing sacred?

    27/10/2022

    Is nothing sacred? What images or memories does this question conjure for you? Also, what are your aims? (Don’t answer that. This is not a self-help podcast.) When I ask my undergraduate students to articulate the aims for their entrepreneurial projects, I hope and pray they won’t ask me mine. Not because I don’t have … Continue reading Episode 80 Is nothing sacred?

  • Episode 79 Possession, duality and other grammatical mysteries

    29/09/2022

    In this episode I share what I believe are my most radical ideas, which normally I try to hide so that people don’t think I’m crazy: We’ll talk about some of those mysteries, specifically the grammatical principle of possession. To get a flavour of what’s in store, hold up one of your hands in front … Continue reading Episode 79 Possession, duality and other grammatical mysteries

  • Episode 78 Love, language, music and aliens

    31/08/2022

    Have you ever been in love? And if you could send a message to outer space, what message would it be? We’ll use these questions to guide us through an exploration of the evolution of language, music, intimacy and transformation. The book I discuss in this episode is Steven Mithen’s The singing Neanderthals: The origins … Continue reading Episode 78 Love, language, music and aliens

  • Episode 77 The erotic power of syllables

    28/07/2022

    What propels you, what drives you, what directs you in your life? Is it inner guidance? Or is it some external power or sense of exterior obligation? And, on a more light-hearted note, what’s your favourite syllable? In this episode we’re exploring selves, bodies, phonology and phonetics, and Audre Lorde’s essay, ‘The erotic as power’. … Continue reading Episode 77 The erotic power of syllables

  • Episode 76 Quantum linguistics

    30/06/2022

    Where do you get your ideas? The question presumes instrumentality and exchange, as if you could take a trip to your favourite high street shop and come home with the best ideas you can afford. That same sort of instrumentality comes into play when we think of language as a tool, a means by which … Continue reading Episode 76 Quantum linguistics

página 1 de 5