nonfiction

Popular Nonfiction Books about Linguistics

Check out these nonfiction books about linguistics! They're fun and readable but don't require a linguistics degree to understand. There's something for everyone, no matter what you're interested in.

Got more suggestions? Send them to me here!

Fiction

YA Fiction & Memoir About Language and Linguistics

These books are fiction or memoir, but all of them deal with language or linguistic identity. As you read, you might think about how characters' identities are connected to their language, or what beliefs about language are represented in the book. It's also interesting to see how authors represent different languages or dialects in writing!

Got more suggestions? Send them to me here!

Documentaries

Documentaries & Videos

Crash Course: Linguistics

Mike Mena

The Accent Guy

Tom Scott's Language Files

The Five-Minute Linguist

Ben DuMonde

Erika Okrent

How to Tell a Realistic Fictional Language from a Terrible One

All Things Linguistic has a much more exhaustive list here!

Documentaries

We Still Live Here (As Nutayunean) A history of the Wampanoag Language Reclamation Project. Always a hit with my students.

Talking Black in America African-American Vernacular English / Black Language. A compelling documentary that covers an incredible amount of information in a short amount of time.

Signing Black in America A follow-up to Talking Black in America; this history and culture of Black sign language.

The Linguists: Two linguists travel the world to document endangered languages

The Adventure of English: 10-episode BBC series on the history of English. Slightly outdated but still holds up well, especially when covering topics like race and colonization.

Do You Speak American?: 3-part PBS series on American dialects. Very old, but great for using small clips
Stephen Fry's Planet Word: 5-part series on language change, acquisition, and storytelling

TED Talks

Web Series, Videos, & YouTube Channels

Go Ahead, Make Up New Words!

The Significance of Linguistic Profiling

Why Language is Humanity's Greatest Invention

How Language Shapes the Way We Think

Who Counts as a Speaker of a Language?

Accents--Where and Why?

The Joy of Lexicography

Linguistics in Space: Aliens and Long-Distance Space Travel

What Makes a Word "Real"?

Send me more suggestions here!

Please note: Most of these accounts post on linguistics as well as other topics. Listing does not imply endorsement of all posts. I trust these creators to post accurate information, but I do not vet every post.