127: Oh (with Maia Chao, Kelly Wright, and Caitlin Green)

About this episode

The episode features an experimental linguistics performance lecture discussing the intersection of art and language.

The "Oh" show was an experimental linguistics performance lecture. It happened in June 2025 at Creative Time HQ in New York City. Actors, musicians, and audience came together (with at least one linguist!) to act out dialogues from conversational analysis, and have fun with language. Are there more ways we can perform linguistics? We're talking with artist and linguistics fan Maia Chao . Timestamps Cold open: 0:00 Intros: 0:38 News: 7:16 Related or Not: 40:03 Interview with Maia Chao: 55:08 Words of the Week: 1:30:31 Bonus chat with Caitlin Green: groyper: 1:54:40 The Reads: 2:07:48 Outtakes: 2:14:59

People in this episode

Hosts: Daniel Midgley, Ben Ainslie, Hedvig Skirgård

Guests: Maia Chao, Kelly Wright, Caitlin Green

Topics covered

• experimental linguistics
• performance lecture
• conversational analysis
• language
• art

Keywords

• linguistics
• performance
• dialogues
• language fun
• conversational analysis

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Creative Time HQ

Places: New York City

More episodes of Because Language - a podcast about linguistics, the science of language.

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• 134: True Colour (with Kory Stamper) · March 13, 2026 · 2h 21m
• 133: Why We Talk Funny (with Valerie Fridland) · February 26, 2026 · 2h 28m
• 132: WotY 2025, the Final Word (with Kelly Wright) · February 17, 2026 · 1h 30m
• 131: Words of the Week of the Year 2025 (live with friends) · December 20, 2025 · 1h 32m