Language

British author and journalist, and great granddaughter of Ernest Gowers, whose 1948 English usage guide Plain Words she has just updated. Audio

Measuring non-native English speakers' accents show changes depending on the situation and what they are talking about Audio

Split infinitives, long sentences and the word that are all off-limits to those who draft letters and speeches for the Attorney-General and Government Minister, Chris Finlayson. Audio

Defining and defending equality for women with feminist blogger Deborah Russell. This time Deborah focuses on the words we use to describe women. Audio

Author of the Schott's Miscellany series, and the new book Schottenfreude: German Words for the Human Condition. Audio

From alphabets to zipcodes, the surprising story of our 26 letters. Language expert, Michael Rosen asks how we fixed upon our 26 letters, and what they mean. Audio

This longer web-only story explores University of Otago research looking at whether names fit particular shapes and faces Audio

A New Yorker piece is predicting that words used incredibly often, like "iconic", will soon disappear through contempt. Audio

Victoria University Professor Laurie Bauer on some of the peculiarities of the English language. His specialist area is morphology, the way words are brought together to create new ones. Professor… Audio

Ten English words you didn't know existed. Or maybe you did? Audio

The phenomenon of word aversion - ordinary sorts of words that some people just detest. Audio

Wellington speech and language therapist Christian Wright discusses myths and misunderstandings held by parents regarding children's speech and language development. Audio

Katy Gosset is learning to talk with her hands - tackling this country's third official language. Here in New Zealand, sign language is spoken by about 24,000 people including deaf, hearing impaired… Audio

Erina O'Donohue has been looking at the latest Broadcasting Standards Authority survey of words and phrases people believe shouldn't be allowed on the air. Audio

Dianne Bardsley is a lexicographer and author of the Book of New Zealand Words, which contains more than 1,500 unique words and expressions. Audio

Katy Gosset checks out an acclaimed and provocative play that explores being deaf within a hearing family. Audio

As a native speaker of te reo Maori, Joe Mcleod gives examples of mispronounced Kupu Maori (Maori words). Audio

Simon Mercep gets a one-on-one lesson in te reo Maori with Evelyn Tobin, who's a Maori Language Commissioner and whose contribution to Te Reo has been recognised by the Queen. They examine the phrase… Audio