Welcome to Paul Meier’s free, monthly In a Manner of Speaking podcast, which he began in February 2018. Each podcast, usually with a distinguished guest, tackles a different topic related to the spoken word. Topics include idiolects, news reading, pragmatics, code-switching, Original Pronunciation, phonetics, dialect clichés and stereotypes, secret languages, and dialects of indigenous peoples.
Among his nearly 100 guests are renowned linguist, David Crystal, indigenous-speech expert Eric Armstrong, Audie Award-winning audiobook narrators Tavia Gilbert and Julia Whelan, renowned dialect coaches and designers Jim Johnson and Amy Stoller, actress Laraine Newman, and Australian bestselling author Mem Fox.
An RSS feed is available on this website, in the widget section on the right (or at the bottom of the page on mobile devices). The podcast is also available on iTunes (Apple podcasts), Audible, Amazon Music, iHeartRadio, Spotify, Podbay, Blubrry, Podbean, Podtail, PodcastAddict, ListenNotes, PlayerFM, Vurbl, and selectively on SoundCloud and YouTube. Or, to access the extra information Paul provides on his guests and their topics, click the links below to access each month’s podcast from here.
2025
January (Episode 84): “Why Animals Talk,” with Arik Kershenbaum — coming soon
2024
December (Episode 83): “Just How Boring Are You?” Be a Better Podcast Guest, with Jeremy Fisher and Gillyanne Kayes
November (Episode 82): American and British Dialects in Popular Song, with Karen Burgos
October (Episode 81): Voices of the Civil Rights Movement, with Jacqueline Springfield
September (Episode 80): Trace That Place, with David Crystal
August (Episode 79): Come from Away, with Joel Goldes
July (Episode 78): Transatlantic and Old Movie Dialects, with Barrie Kreinik
June (Episode 77): A Unique Path to Film and TV Success, with Lukas Hassel
May (Episode 76): African-American English, with Patricia Cukor-Avila
April (Episode 75): Loudmouths and the Sound of Silence
March (Episode 74): Folk Linguistics, with Dennis Preston
February (Episode 73): The American Dialect Society, with Betsy Evans
January (Episode 72): The Word: An Illusive Concept, with Victor Boucher
2023
December (Episode 71): The History of Silent Reading, with Paul Saenger
November (Episode 70): How American English Got Its Start, with Karen Burgos
October (Episode 69): Orality and Literacy, with Brian Ott
September (Episode 68): English Through the Ages, with David Crystal
August (Episode 67): Harmonic Overtone Chanting, with Jill Purce
July (Episode 66): Shakespeare’s Magical Keyboard
June (Episode 65): Namecoach, with Praveen Shanbhag
May (Episode 64): “What’s in a Name?” with Graham Pointon
April (Episode 63): The Oxford English Dictionary, with Catherine Sangster
March (Episode 62): Fast-Talkin’ Dudes
February (Episode 61): Irish: A Language in Danger, with Malachy O’Neill
January (Episode 60): Whistled Speech, with Julien Meyer
2022
December (Episode 59): Exploring Roy Hart’s Legacy, with Enrique Pardo and Linda Wise
November (Episode 58): Shakespeare’s Rhetoric, with Gideon Burton
October (Episode 57): How We Learn to Talk, with Jenny Saffran
September (Episode 56): Sounds Appealing, with David Crystal
August (Episode 55): Language Versus Reality, with Nick Enfield
July (Episode 54): The Woman’s Voice, with Patsy Rodenburg
June (Episode 53): The Bard of Bath, with Kevan Manwaring
May (Episode 52): How To Do Accents, with Edda Sharpe and Jan Haydn Rowles
April (Episode 51): Celebrating the First 50
March (Episode 50): The Power of Voice, with Denise Woods
February (Episode 49): You Are What You Speak, with Lane Greene
January (Episode 48): Pitch, with Jeremy Fisher and Gillyanne Kayes
2021
December (Episode 47): Teaching Dialects and Grammar, with Willem Hollmann
November (Episode 46): Highly Irregular, with Arika Okrent
October (Episode 45): Read Me a Story, with Elizabeth Wiley
September (Episode 44): Let’s Talk, with David Crystal
August (Episode 43): Heightened Language and Black Playwrights, with Jacqueline Springfield
July (Episode 42): Law Talk, with Pamela Keller
June (Episode 41): Glossolalia, with Paul de Lacy
May (Episode 40): Reading to Children, with Mem Fox
April (Episode 39): Speech and Voice Disorders, with Joanna Cazden
March (Episode 38): The Curious Affair of the Glottal Stop and the Schwa
February (Episode 37): Polari: The Secret Language of Gay Men, with Paul Baker
January (Episode 36): Shakespeare’s Shapely Language, with Jan Gist
2020
December (Episode 35): The First Sound Recordings, with Patrick Feaster
November (Episode 34): “It’s All Greek to Me,” with Rush Rehm
October (Episode 33): Voices of Africa, with Dr. Joyce Sukumane
September (Episode 32): So You Wanna Change Your Accent?, with Jerome Butler
August (Episode 31): Foreign-Language Accents
July (Episode 30): Introducing Estuary: a Discussion of Paul’s Latest Dialect Manual
June (Episode 29): Ritual Speech
May (Episode 28): Russian Language & Accents, with Curtis Ford
April (Episode 27): Secret Languages
March (Episode 26): Spanishes, with Micha Espinosa
February (Episode 25): Tongues of Scotland, with Ros Steen
January (Episode 24): Dialect-Coaching Film & TV, with Jill McCullough
2019
December (Episode 23): Coaching BBC Presenters, with Elspeth Morrison
November (Episode 22): Received Pronunciation (RP), with David Crystal
October (Episode 21): Movie Dialects, with Cameron Meier
September (Episode 20): A Conversation with Laraine Newman
August (Episode 19): Dictionary of American Regional English (DARE), with Joan Hall
July (Episode 18): Speaking and Singing, with Jeremy Fisher and Gillyanne Kayes
June (Episode 17): Vocal Authority, with Rena Cook
May (Episode 16): Voice and Speech, with Kristin Linklater
April (Episode 15): If It Ain’t Got Rhythm, with Phil Thompson
March (Episode 14): Caribbean Voices, with Elizabeth Montoya-Stemann and Dylan Paul
February (Episode 13): Releasing the Power of the Text, with David Alan Stern
January (Episode 12): The Australian Dialect of English, with Linda Nicholls-Gidley
2018
December (Episode 11): Idiolects, with Amy Stoller
November (Episode 10): “It’s Not What You Say; It’s How You Say It.”
October (Episode 9): Accents and Dialects, with Jim Johnson
September (Episode 8): Phonetics and Spelling: “Do phonetics! Change the World!”
August (Episode 7): What’s in a Name?
July (Episode 6): A Celebration of the 20th Anniversary of IDEA!
June (Episode 5): Pragmatics, with David Crystal
May (Episode 4): The Art of the Newscaster and Broadcast Journalist, with Cameron Meier
April (Episode 3): Speech of Indigenous People, with Eric Armstrong and Sera-Lys McArthur
March (Episode 2): Audiobook Narration, with Tavia Gilbert and Julia Whelan
February (Episode 1): Welcome to the First Podcast: Shakespeare’s Original Pronunciation
For more discussions of topics such as these, check out Paul’s Free Pronunciation Lessons.
In a Manner of Speaking is copyright Paul Meier Dialect Services, LC, and is a registered trademark of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (#90692553). The podcast is produced by Paul Meier and Cameron Meier, who occasionally appears on the podcast as co-host. Bach’s Cello Suite #1 in G Major BMV 1007 Prelude (by Ivan Dolgunov) is courtesy of Jamendo Licensing.
