| Frequency | Quarterly |
|---|---|
| First issue | 2012 |
| Company | Babel: The Language Magazine, Ltd. |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Based in | Leeds, West Yorkshire |
| Language | English |
| Website | www |
| ISSN | 2051-7297 |
| OCLC | 881446057 |
Babel: The Language Magazine is a quarterly magazine about language and linguistics. Its aim is to make linguistics and linguistic research accessible to a non-expert audience. The magazine is available in print and digital format and offers individual and institutional subscriptions with international shipping. Its first issue appeared in November 2012.
Babel was founded by the linguistics professors Lesley Jeffries and Dan McIntyre and originally produced from the Department of Linguistics and Modern Languages at the University of Huddersfield, UK. In 2023, Babel became a not-for-profit limited company and is no longer affiliated with any university.[1]
The British linguist David Crystal serves as linguistic consultant and the magazine has been endorsed by the writer, actor and broadcaster Stephen Fry.[2]
Babel's current editorial team is as follows:
| Editors |
|---|
| Lesley Jeffries |
| Dan McIntyre |
| Assistant editor |
|---|
| Matthew Evans |
| Editorial assistants |
|---|
| Hazel Price |
| Erica Gold |
Since 2015, Babel has hosted an annual public lecture. The Babel Lecture aims to celebrate the discipline of linguistics, and to enhance public understanding and awareness of this field by providing popular and accessible analysis of language and communication. The list of Babel lectures to date is as follows:
| Year | Speaker | Title | Venue |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Brendan Gunn[3] | The breath of meaning: Applying linguistics | University of Huddersfield, UK |
| 2016 | David Crystal | The English tone of voice | University of Huddersfield, UK |
| 2017 | Peter French | Their own tongues speak against them: Phonetics in the criminal justice system | University of Huddersfield, UK |
| 2018 | Susie Dent | The -ize have it: The Americanization of English and what we can do about it | University of Huddersfield, UK |
| 2019 | Jessica Coon | The linguistics of Arrival: Aliens, fieldwork and Universal Grammar | University of Huddersfield, UK |
| 2020 | No lecture, due to Covid-19 | ||
| 2021 | Jean Berko Gleason | The wug test | Online |
| 2022 | Stephen Fry | What we have here is a failure to communicate[4] | University of Huddersfield, UK |
| 2023 | Robin Ince | Weapons of empathy: How the written word lets us walk in the boots and minds of others | Media City, Salford, UK |
The magazine also organises an annual Young Writer's Competition, for which there are two age groups one can compete in - a 16-18 category and an undergraduate category.[5] Submitted essays may be on any linguistics-related topic, up to 2,500 words in length. Winners of the competition receive a year's subscription to Babel Magazine. The first edition of the competition ran in 2014, and past winners have written on topics such as British Sign Language, Spoonerisms, and language death.