Main content

'...confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech.' Chris Ledgard explores some of the language ideas in the story of Babel.

"...confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech." The Babel story is one of best known in the Bible, the splintering of one global language into thousands of tongues. Chris Ledgard takes a linguistic look at the first nine verses of Genesis chapter 11, exploring the story itself, the idea of original languages and how we are able to reconstruct them, and the Babel theme of language, division and conflict.

Producer: Chris Ledgard.

Available now

28 minutes

Last on

Mon 29 Jul 2013 23:00

Broadcasts

  • Tue 23 Jul 2013 16:00
  • Mon 29 Jul 2013 23:00

From blunk to brickfielder: our wonderful words for weather

From blunk to brickfielder: our wonderful words for weather

Exploring creative descriptions for wind, rainfall and sunny spells from around the world

Digital body language 鈥 how to communicate better online

Digital body language 鈥 how to communicate better online

We need to find new ways of talking to each other 鈥渧irtually鈥.

Coinages that changed the world 鈥 and some that tried to...

Coinages that changed the world 鈥 and some that tried to...

Exploring the hidden histories of obscure words, and common buzz phrases.

Ittibitium, borborygmus, and Ba humbugi 鈥 14 wonderful science words you鈥檝e never heard of

Ittibitium, borborygmus, and Ba humbugi 鈥 14 wonderful science words you鈥檝e never heard of

Michael Rosen puts the language of science under the microscope.

Download this programme

Subscribe to this programme or download individual episodes.

Keywords for Our Time

Series of programmes examining key phrases in public debate.

Smiley face: Seven things you didn't know about emoji

Some facts about emoji - possibly the world's first truly global form of communication.

The funny words that kids invent

Have a look at some of the fantastic words that children invent and reimagine.

Podcast