12: Sounds you can’t hear - Babies, accents, and phonemes (Patreon)

Why does it always sound slightly off when someone tries  to imitate your accent? Why do tiny children learning your second  language already sound better than you, even though you’ve been learning  it longer than they’ve been alive? What does it mean for there to be  sounds you can’t hear?

In Episode 12 of Lingthusiasm, your hosts  Lauren Gawne and Gretchen McCulloch explore the fundamental linguistic  insight at the heart of all these questions: the phoneme. We also talk  about how to bore babies (for science!), how sounds appear and disappear  in a language, and how to retain our sense of wonder when the /t/ you  hear doesn’t match up with the /t/ I hear.

LIVESHOW: A reminder for anyone in or near Montreal: We’re having a liveshow on Saturday, September 23rd!  It’s at 8pm (doors), 8:30 (start) at Argo Bookshop, 1915 Ste-Catherine W. The show is free, with snacks by donation, but please register via  Eventbrite so we have enough chairs and snacks for all! www.eventbrite.ca/e/lingthusiasm-a…kets-37904826356

This  month’s Patreon bonus was about linguistic research, and how to do it  when you don’t have a university or a research budget, as nominated and  voted on by our patrons. You can get access to it and previous bonuses  about language games, hypercorrection, swearing, teaching yourself  linguistics, and explaining linguistics to employers by supporting  Lingthusiasm on Patreon.

For the links mentioned in this episode, check out our shownotes page at: http://lingthusiasm.com/post/165591628291/lingthusiasm-episode-12-sounds-you-cant-hear