135: Linguistic Illusions (with Dan Parker)

“More people have listened to this episode than you have.” Why does this sentence look so right, but feel so wrong? When 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.

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

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Promo videos

@becauselangpod

French overtakes Arabic for fourth place! 🤔 Maybe. What kind of French do you like? It's in our new episode with Dan Parker! becauselanguage.com

♬ original sound – Because Language

@becauselangpod

How many of each kind of animal did Moses bring on the Ark? Dan Parker brings us a ✨linguistic illusion✨. From our latest episode, which you can watch or listen to in all the places. https://becauselanguage.com/135-linguistic-illusions/

♬ original sound – Because Language

@becauselangpod Why does this ungrammatical sentence sound just fine? Dan Parker of @theohiostateuniversity is the author of "Agreement Attraction". Available now from @cambridgeup ♬ original sound – Because Language

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Show notes

Adelson’s Checker-Shadow Illusion
https://www.illusionsindex.org/i/adelson-s-checker-shadow-illusion

MPF processa “Globo” por pronúncia da palavra “recorde”
proibidas.https://www.poder360.com.br/poder-justica/mpf-processa-globo-por-pronuncia-da-palavra-recorde/

[Auto-translated] Brazilian Federal Prosecutor’s Office sues Globo for mispronouncing the word “record”…
https://www-poder360-com-br.translate.goog/poder-justica/mpf-processa-globo-por-pronuncia-da-palavra-recorde/?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=wapp

French overtakes Arabic to become world’s fourth most spoken language
https://www.rfi.fr/en/france/20260320-french-overtakes-arabic-to-become-world-fourth-most-spoken-language

When it comes to language, context matters
https://news.mit.edu/2025/when-it-comes-language-context-matters-1210

[$$] Three distinct components of pragmatic language use: Social conventions, intonation, and world knowledge–based causal reasoning
https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2424400122

High-Context vs. Low-Context Cultures. Mind the Gap.
https://medium.com/@federicovitali/high-context-vs-low-context-cultures-mind-the-gap-c05b0c5aac7f

Hero shrew: Adaptive significance | Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hero_shrew#Adaptive_significance

The oestrous cycle of the rufous elephant-shrew, Elephantulus rufescens | Reproduction
https://rep.bioscientifica.com/view/journals/rep/66/2/jrf_66_2_037.xml

Linguistic Illusions: A Case Study on Agreement Attraction by Dan Parker
https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/linguistic-illusions/8A32219D7ABE35F934FA65B1B98F4CC2

Trump Putin: US president reverses remark on Russia meddling
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-44864739

Comparative illusion | Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparative_illusion

Dragon Illusion | Imgur
https://imgur.com/gallery/dragon-illusion-H9nqVll

Understanding Trumpflation: Inflation Concerns During Trump’s Era
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/t/trumpflation.asp

Double Dutch Bus by Frankie Smith, 1981