YouTube Recommendations from Your Neighbourhood Linguist

Kitty Liu

I’m a raging YouTube addict and have just finished the first year of my linguistics degree, so I feel qualified to review my favourite linguistics-related YouTube channels. This review will include a general overview as well as a comparison of each channel’s content in relation to the first year linguistics course at Cambridge. So here goes –

Artifexian

Artifexian is a channel about worldbuilding (the creation of fictional landscapes and cultures), and conlanging (the creation of constructed languages). The channel includes videos that break down the phonological and morphosyntactic structures of the world’s natural languages, helping conlangers make informed choices about their conlangs. This includes exploring the possible ways in which a language can structure things like morphosyntactic alignment, verb tense and aspect, number systems, and writing systems.

The videos are clear, fast-paced, and contain a lot of information. They not only explain the basic linguistic concept in question, but also its typologically rarer or more nuanced permutations. This level of detail often exceeds the content required in first year linguistics, but they do provide overviews of grammatical concepts that are sometimes not sufficiently explained in lectures. The channel isn’t necessarily concerned with showing the typological distribution of linguistic features in natural languages, as much as showing the typological diversity that is possible given existing linguistic structures.

Artifexian’s video on verbal aspect.

TheTrevTutor

TheTrevTutor has videos taking you through topics that come up in introductory linguistics courses. It’s like those maths tutoring videos featuring someone writing on a whiteboard and explaining it in a disembodied voice, but for linguistics. Their three linguistics playlists (‘Introduction to Linguistics’, ‘Phonology’, ‘Syntax’) introduce some key topics in syntax, semantics, morphology, phonology, and phonetics. The videos introduce key concepts in linguistics like phonological features, X-bar theory, and Gricean maxims, and give step-by-step instructions for rule ordering and drawing syntax trees. There are also the ‘Logic in Philosophy and Mathematics’ and ‘Mathematical Linguistics’ playlists that deal with the mathematical modelling of language, including predicate logic and context-free grammars.

I find TheTrevTutor to be a very accessible and bite-sized way to break down some key topics in linguistics. A lot of the channel would be helpful for the Li1 and Li2 papers which cover the sounds, structures, and meanings in language. Many of the videos on logic and mathematical linguistics exceed the scope of those papers, but expand on formal semantics in an accessible way.

TheTrevTutor’s video on the distinction between specifiers, adjuncts, and complements in X-bar theory.

Simon Roper

The main focus of Simon’s channel is the history of English and English dialectology. His videos from the past year include a history of Scouse phonology, an overview of Old English syntax, and two videos on the features and socio-cultural perceptions of African American Vernacular English. He also occasionally publishes videos on other topics in linguistics, such as the debate around Universal Grammar, and on archaeology, including aspects of Anglo-Saxon culture and how we view the past.

Many of Simon’s videos would be helpful for the Li4 ‘History and Varieties of English’ paper. Some videos deal directly with Li4 topics (e.g., the grammar of Old English, vowels in different accents), and some go beyond the scope of the paper (e.g., regional dialects of Old English), but they still provide interesting supplementary material.

The videos are very informative and well-researched, but have a chill conversational tone. Simon is interested in historical phonology and makes a point of using historical pronunciations of English, which are very helpful for giving an idea of how English sounded in different time periods.

Simon’s video on the history of Scouse.

jan Misali

This channel is home to the ‘Conlang Critic’ series, where jan Misali reviews constructed languages. Misali gives an overview of each language with regards to phonology, morphosyntax, and lexicon, and gives an opinion. It’s a fun way to casually explore the creativity of conlangers and their commitment to the craft, without having to personally trawl through the full conlang grammars. A bonus is that jan Misali pronounces the phonological inventory of each conlang, so you can hear how some of the less common IPA symbols sound. The channel also does deep-dives into the history of particularly versatile graphemes – so far there has been one on <w> and one on <c>. There are also occasional videos on number systems and topics in maths, and even some original music.

The videos are well-researched, informative, and fast-talking. It’s less overtly educational than the other channels reviewed in this article, but it provides some solid entertainment for linguistics nerds, and miscellaneous fun facts to tell your linguistically inclined friends.

jan Misali’s video on the conlang Ithkuil.

Tom Scott

If you haven’t already heard of Tom Scott – he’s an educational YouTuber whose content centres on fun facts, computer science, home-made game shows, and occasionally, linguistics. His ‘Language Files’ series features 5-minute discussions on specific topics in linguistics, such as the schwa vowel, why “big red balloon” works in English but “red big balloon” doesn’t, or why it’s difficult to translate iambic pentameter into French. While the videos tend to focus on a specific linguistic phenomenon, they tap into the bigger theories and debates in academic linguistics. Tom provides references to all his claims, which appear as footnotes onscreen, giving you a way to pursue the topics further yourself.

Tom’s video on how different typing styles are analogous to different registers of speech.

It makes me incredibly happy that there are many active YouTube creators who make linguistics engaging and accessible. The channels reviewed above engage substantially with academic linguistics but are still interesting even for a general audience. I’ve used the Cambridge first year linguistics course as a rough point of comparison, but these channels should be great for anyone with an interest in linguistics, as well as for more experienced linguists looking to refresh their basics. I hope some of these channels have piqued your interest!