135: Linguistic Illusions (with Dan Parker)

135: Linguistic Illusions (with Dan Parker)

From Because Language - a podcast about linguistics, the science of language. by Daniel Midgley, Ben Ainslie, and Hedvig Skirgård

April 3, 2026 · 2h 9m

About this episode

The episode explores linguistic illusions with Dr. Dan Parker, focusing on how grammar and perception can conflict.

"More people have listened to this episode than you have." Why does this sentence look so right, but feel so wrong? When your grammar says one thing, but your brain says another, you may have found a linguistic illusion. We're talking to Dr Dan Parker, author of Linguistic Illusions: A Case Study on Agreement Attraction. Video for this episode: https://youtu.be/_9BcmMZrH7s Timestamps Start: 0:00 Intros: 0:27 News: 6:30 Related or Not: 34:22 Interview with Dan Parker: 49:53 Words of the Week: 1:38:00 Comment: 1:54:16 The Reads: 1:58:19 Outtakes: 2:05:39

People in this episode

Hosts: Daniel Midgley, Ben Ainslie, Hedvig Skirgård

Guest: Dan Parker

Topics covered

  • linguistic illusions
  • grammar
  • agreement attraction
  • language perception
  • cognitive linguistics

Keywords

  • linguistic illusions
  • grammar
  • agreement attraction
  • language
  • cognitive linguistics

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Linguistic Illusions: A Case Study on Agreement Attraction

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