How to teach yourself linguistics online for free
Wish you were enrolled in an intro linguistics class this semester? Starting a linguistics major and looking for extra help? Trying to figure out whether you should study linguistics and what comes after? Whether you’re just trying to grasp the basics of linguistics or you’re trying to construct a full online linguistics course, here’s a comprehensive list of free linguistics websites, podcasts, videos, blogs, and other resources from around the internet:
Linguistics Podcasts
Specific episodes:
The International Phonetic Alphabet
Constituency
Gricean Maxims
Kids These Days aren’t ruining language
Learning languages linguistically
Podcasts in general:
Lingthusiasm
The History of English Podcast
Talk the Talk
Lexicon Valley
The World in Words
A Way With Words
Linguistics Videos
Modular topics:
NativLang (cartoons)
The Ling Space
Tom Scott’s Language Files
Arika Okrent (whiteboard videos)
Structured video series like an online course:
Introduction to Linguistics (TrevTutor)
Another intro linguistics series (DS Bigham)
Phonology (TrevTutor)
Mathematical linguistics (TrevTutor)
Syntax (TrevTutor)
Another syntax series following the chapter structure of a free online syntax textbook (Caroline Heycock)
The Virtual Linguistics Campus at Marburg University
Blog posts
General
How much do I need to know before taking intro linguistics? (Spoiler: not much)
28 tips for doing better in your intro linguistics course
How to find a topic for your linguistics essay or research paper
For typesetting linguistics symbols: What is LaTeX and why do linguists love it? (with sample LaTeX doc to download and modify).
Further linguistics resources about specific areas, such as sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics, language acquisition (first/second), historical linguistics, neurolinguistics, prescriptivism.
Phonetics & Phonology
How to make your own paper model of the larynx
Teaching phonetics using lollipops
How to remember the IPA vowel chart
How to remember the IPA consonant chart
IPA transcription practice
A detailed explanation of sonorants, obstruents, and sonority
A very elaborate Venn diagram of English phonological features
The basics of how Optimality Theory works, with coffee analogy
Allophones of /t/, explained with internet gifs
Several good visualizations and explanations of the vocal tract
How to type IPA on your phone (Android and iOS)
Various ways to type IPA on a computer
Morphology & Syntax
Morphological typology cartoons
So you asked the internet how to draw syntax trees. Here’s why you’re confused.
Types of trees: a sentence is an S, a sentence is an IP, a sentence is a TP
A step-by-step guide to drawing a syntax tree, with gifs
Distributed Morphology
Garden path sentences: how they work, some examples
Structural ambiguity and understanding people in Ipswich
How to draw trees on a computer (TreeForm and phpSyntaxTree)
Pronoun typology and “the gay fanfiction problem”
The solution to violent example sentences: Pokemon
Semantics & Pragmatics
The difference between epistemic and deontic, necessity and possibility (with bonus modals as Hogwarts houses)
Why learn semantics? Comebacks to annoying people.
Presuppositions, implicature and entailment, and more presuppositions in Lizzie Bennet Diaries
Gricean maxims in Welcome to Night Vale
Scalar implicature and a duck gif
Giving a shit about Negative Polarity Items, NPIs explained using Mean Girls references, and a follow-up on Free Choice Items
The lambda calculus for absolute dummies
The Lambda Calculator (software for practising in Heim & Kratzer style)
Teaching & Academic/career advice
Linguistics resources for high school teachers
Teaching linguistics to 9-14 year olds
On writing an IB extended essay in linguistics (& follow-up)
IPA Bingo
IPA Jeopardy and IPA Hangman
Practising syntax trees using cards and string/straws
Find a linguistics olympiad near you!
Editing linguistics Wikipedia articles instead of writing a final paper that no one but the prof will read (see also wikiedu.org)
Should you go to grad school in linguistics? Maybe
Figuring out if you actually want to go to linguistics grad school
How to decide which linguistics grad school to go to
How to look for linguistics undergrad programs
How to interact with someone who’s just given a talk
An extensive list of undergrad and/or student-friendly conferences - apply to one near you!
Linguistics jobs - a series about careers outside academia
Languages
Linguistic approaches to language learning resource roundup
Will linguistics help with language learning? / Will learning a second language help with linguistics?
The problem with “economically useful” as a reason for language learning
Further link roundups
This list not enough? Try these further masterposts:
A very long list of linguistics movies, documentaries, and TV show episodes
Books (fiction and nonfiction) about linguistics
Linguistics podcasts
Linguistics videos on YouTube
20 linguistics blogs I recommend following
How to explain linguistics to your friends and family this holiday season
