English Language

Fresh Air's language commentator Geoffrey Nunberg.

Language commentator Geoffrey Nunberg addresses the lengths companies go to in order to come up with the right names for new products.

Language Commentator Geoffrey Nunberg discusses whether it's possible, or even desirable, to eliminate gender bias in language.

Language Commentator Geoffrey Nunberg shares his thoughts on the peculiar grammatical logic of telephone answering machine recordings.

Language Commentator Geoffrey Nunberg will discuss the misleading nature of words, or when a "direct flight" isn't direct at all.

Language Commentator Geoffrey Nunberg discusses the centennial of Esperanto, a movement devoted to establishing a world language.

Language Commentator Geoffrey Nunberg discusses the overuse of the superlatives "world-class" and "serious."

Issac Asimov [a.k.a. Paul French], the dean of science fiction writers. Asmiov is arguably one of the most widely published authors ever.

Language Commentator Geoffrey Nunberg will discuss the effects of Minitel, the computer distributed by the telephone system in France that has brought a word processor to every home with a phone.

Jan Harold Brunvand explores urban legends and the etymology of earwigs.

Language commentator Geoffrey Nunberg on the efforts of France's culture guardians to keep American expressions out of the language.

While vacationing in France, linguist Geoff Nunberg visited a museum exhibit showcasing an early edition of the Grand Larousse dictionary. He considers the cultural significance of this text, and what it says about how the French view language.

Language commentator recalls how he learned Italian by watching dubbed American movies while studying abroad, and considers why Italian filmgoers prefer dubbing over subtitles.

The British performer is an accomplished film, TV and stage actor who also had a number of hits on the British pop charts. Her Emmy-nominated variety show on the Fox Network, The Tracey Ullman Show, was just renewed for a second season.

Linguist Geoff Nunberg considers the history and criticism of nouns becoming verbs. He takes issue not with the trend itself, but the often bombastic and bureaucratic reasons why people alter language.

Linguist Geoff Nunberg says that, regardless of the language they're written in, newspaper headlines demand a mastery of colloquialisms and pre-existing knowledge of current events--making them difficult for non-native speakers to comprehend.

Linguist Geoff Nunberg explains what people in his field actually study. It all boils down to the rules of language.

Linguist Geoff Nunberg reflects on recent efforts to make English the official language at the state and federal levels. He says that such measures only hurt immigrants seeking essential services.

Language commentator Geoff Nunberg argues that the increasingly insular and unintelligible vocabulary of businesses stems from a growing adherence to corporate culture.

Linguist Geoff Nunberg unpacks worries about different kinds of cultural and technical illiteracy--which he believes could more accurately be described as ignorance. Nunberg says we should be more concerned with the often overlooked problem of functional illiteracy.