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New Books in Language is an author-interview podcast channel showcasing new books translators, linguists and and language scholars (broadly conceived).

The channel has a back catalog of over 80 podcast episodes. New Books in Language is part of the New Books Network author-interview podcast consortium. http://www.newbooksnetwork.com/

23/05/2022

Against a groundswell of critiques of global English, VERNACULAR ENGLISH: Reading the Anglophone in Postcolonial India (Princeton University Press) argues that literary studies have yet to confront the true political import of the English language in the world today. A comparative study of 3 centuries of English literature and media in India, this original and provocative book tells the story of English in India as a tale not of imperial coercion, but of a people’s language in a postcolonial democracy. Focusing on experiences of hearing, touching, remembering, speaking, and seeing English, Akshya Saxena delves into a previously unexplored body of texts from English and Hindi literature, law, film, visual art, and public protests, revealing ittle-known debates and practices that have shaped the meanings of English in India and the Anglophone world, including the overlooked history of the legislation of English in India. She also calls attention to how low castes and minority ethnic groups have routinely used this elite language to protest the Indian state. Challenging prevailing conceptions of English as a vernacular and global lingua franca, Vernacular English does nothing less than reimagine what a language is and the categories used to analyze it. Learn more on the podcast ↙️

https://newbooksnetwork.com/vernacular-english

02/05/2022

Old English is the language you think you know until you actually hear or see it. Unlike Shakespearean English or even Chaucer’s Middle English, Old English—the language of Beowulf—defies comprehension by untrained modern readers.

THE WORDHORD: Daily Life in Old English (Princeton University Press) takes readers on a journey through Old English words and customs related to practical daily activities (eating, drinking, learning, working); relationships and entertainment; health and the body, mind, and soul; the natural world (animals, plants, and weather); locations and travel (the source of some of the most evocative words in Old English); mortality, religion, and fate; and the imagination and storytelling. Each chapter ends with its own “wordhord”—a list of its Old English terms, with definitions and pronunciations. Learn more as Hana Videen joins Mark Klobas on the podcast 👇

https://newbooksnetwork.com/the-wordhord

18/04/2022

In SPEAKING of RACE: Language, Identity, and Schooling Among African American Children (Rowman & Littlefield), Jennifer Delfino explores the linguistic practices of African American children in an after school program in Washington, DC. Drawing on ethnographic research, Delfino illustrates how students’ linguistic practices are often perceived as barriers to learning and achievement and provides an in-depth look at how students challenge this perception by using language to transform the meaning of race in relation to ideas about academic success. listen in as Delfino joins us on the podcast ↙️

https://newbooksnetwork.com/speaking-of-race

07/04/2022

Nick Enfield’s book, LANGUAGE vs. REALITY: Why Language is Good for Lawyers and Bad for Scientists (MIT Press), argues that language is primarily for social coordination, not precisely transferring thoughts from one person to another. Drawing on empirical research, Enfield shows that human lexicons the world over are far more coarse-grained than our perceptual faculties. Yet, at the same time, languages vary in the structure and sophistication of their representations. This means that, for instance, how different languages carve up the world influences not only how their speakers talk about the world, but also how they think about it. The book explores a range of linguistic phenomena, from lexical diversity to linguistic framing to the effects of narrative. As a result of understanding how language shapes our understanding of reality, Enfield argues that we can make more informed—and more ethical—decisions about our own language use, as individuals and communities. PODCAST LINK 👇

https://newbooksnetwork.com/language-vs-reality

16/12/2021

Hoping to unite all of humankind and revolutionize the world, Ludwik Zamenhof launched a new international language called Esperanto from late imperial Russia in 1887. Ordinary men and women in Russia and all over the world soon transformed Esperanto into a global movement. ESPERANTO and LANGUAGES of INTERNATIONALISM in REVOLUTIONARY RUSSIA (Bloomsbury Academic) traces the history and legacy of this effort: from Esperanto's roots in the social turmoil of the pre-revolutionary Pale of Settlement; to its links to socialist internationalism and Comintern bids for world revolution; and, finally, to the demise of the Soviet Esperanto movement in the increasingly xenophobic Stalinist 1930s. Brigid O'Keeffe's fills us in ↙

https://newbooksnetwork.com/esperanto-and-languages-of-internationalism-in-revolutionary-russia

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http://newbooksnetwork.com/category/politics-society/language/

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