Linguistics
The Southland accent - a rolling change
The Southland accent has a distinctive burr, and new research is revealing how those 'rolled Rs' have changed over time. Audio
The Southland accent - a rolling change
The Southland accent has a distinctive burr, and new research is revealing how those 'rolled Rs' have changed over time.
AudioOur Changing World for 23 May 2019
Southlanders are rolling their Rs more - and less - than 100 years ago, and the chemical element fluorine. Audio
Dr Natalie Schilling - Solving crimes through language
Many years ago, a 13-year-old girl went missing in California. In the early 2000s, a woman turned up claiming to be her. Right away there were things about the woman and her story seemed off. To help… Audio
Woof Woof the talking tui
Woof Woof the talking tui inspired University of Otago student Joel Zwartz to find out how birds and people talk. Audio
Woof Woof the talking tui
Woof Woof the talking tui inspired University of Otago student Joel Zwartz to find out how birds and people talk.
AudioInsight: Should te reo Māori be compulsory in school?
RNZs Maori News Correspondent Leigh-Marama Mclachlan asks, could compulsory te reo Māori in schools reduce racism? Audio
Language expert Roly Sussex: 'Expect lots more Chinese words in NZ'
Prof Roly Sussex is intrigued by the Kiwi accent, vernacular and vocab and how it's changing. He says we can expert more Chinese words to come into Kiwi English as China becomes a dominant cultural… Audio
'The children have no books in their language'
A group of linguists from the University of Auckland is trying to help save a local language under threat in Papua New Guinea. They've been running literature workshops in Bougainville with the aim of… Audio, Gallery
Lost in translation: navigating comedy across cultures
Samoan New Zealander Li'I Alaimoana, South African New Zealander Urzilla Carlson and Icelandic comic Ari Eldjárn explore comedy and culture. Video, Audio
The real Tower of Babylon
What was the real Tower of Babylon? Why do humans speak so many languages, sometimes over small geographical distances? On this little planet we speak over 7000 distinct languages, but they're… Audio
Nĭ Hăo! Chinese Language week kicks off
Today marks the beginning of the third New Zealand Chinese Language Week. So it’s a good time to get a primer on some of the basics. Language teacher Chunxiao Lu has been helping RNZ presenters up… Audio
Daniel Dor - Academic and activist
Dr Daniel Dor is the author of The Instruction of Imagination: Language as a Social Communication Technology (2015) which has challenged established ideas about the evolution and utility of language… Audio
Language, music and battling the pain: Whai Te Wiata
Whai Te Wiata recently graduated at Auckland University with a BA majoring in linguistics and Maori studies. He chose linguistics believing if he could work out how languages are constructed he could… Audio
The Panel pre-show for 29 May 2017
Your feedback, and a preview of the guests and topics on The Panel. Audio
Expert feature: The history of English
Our Monday expert is Mark Amsler - an Associate Professor Comparative Literature at the School of Cultures, Languages and Linguistics at the University of Auckland. He talks through the history of… Audio
Southlanders may get answers about their accent
Southlanders could be getting some answers into why they roll their 'R's with new research looking into the region's distinctive accent being given the green light.
Symbolic sounds
Consumer history is littered with product names that have been lost in translation. Now there's something else for people naming new products to worry about! Work in the field of sound symbolism by… Audio
Does your first language influence your trombone playing?
Matthias Heyne is investigating whether the tongue positions we learn as part of our native language influences the way trombonists play their instruments Video, Audio
Does your first language influence your trombone playing?
Matthias Heyne is investigating whether the tongue positions we learn as part of our native language influences the way trombonists play their instruments
Video, Audio