What You can Learn About Languages and English Pronunciation from Dr. Geoff Lindsey

I often recommend students and colleagues check out videos for both their entertainment value and worthiness in furthering out understanding of how languages work and communications in English. In this post I look at the amazing work by Dr. Geoff Lindsey, a YouTuber and academic who through video both teaches and entertains. At the end of the post I’ll embed a few favourites.

Please keep in mind that watching these videos you may learn some specific things about the English language and languages in general. One very cool aspect is Dr. Lindsey’s focus on pronunciation. Whether a student or teacher you can learn a lot from watching his videos.

TLDR – Summary

This blog post talks about Dr. Geoff Lindsey’s significant contribution to the field of linguistics and language education. It praises his skill in sharing knowledge through various platforms, making the study of language and pronunciation both informative and captivating for learners and enthusiasts alike. In this post I encourage you to explore Dr. Lindsey’s work so you may gain a deeper understanding of the English language and how it is spoken today.

Note: some people, particularly native speakers may find some of his videos mildly controversial, as he tackles things like accents in American or Australian or British speakers and often tries to inject his takes with a sense of humor.

A further note for learners of English. Some of the doctor’s videos are quite long. Try to watch at least 5-7 minutes of them to make sure you have gotten the gist. He often has a long-winded introduction but when he finally arrives at his main points he’s well worth watching.

Biography

Geoff Lindsey is a British linguist, writer, and director. He holds a BA in Linguistics from University College London (UCL) and an MA and PhD from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He trained in directing at the Bournemouth Film School.

Teaching and Writing

Lindsey is an Honorary Lecturer in Linguistics at UCL, where he directs the Summer Course in English Phonetics. He is also a pronunciation coach, giving workshops on contemporary English pronunciation at UCL and internationally. His publications include:

Sonic Signatures: Studies Dedicated to John Harris (2017)
English After RP: Standard British Pronunciation Today (2019)
SMART Speech: 5 Practice Techniques for Teachers and Learners of Pronunciation (2023).

Websites and Dictionary

Lindsey runs the website English Speech Services, where he discusses various aspects of English pronunciation and linguistics. He also co-edited CUBE, a free online pronunciation dictionary (cubedictionary.org), designed to reflect current pronunciations in Southern British English.

YouTube Channel

Dr. Lindsey has a YouTube channel called Dr. Geoff Lindsey, where he focuses on linguistics, with over 300,000 subscribers and over 25 million views.

Popular Videos:

Based on the image you provided and my search results, some of his popular videos include:

Why You Can’t Stand Vocal Fry
English Weak Forms
How do YOU pronounce the most important CONSONANT in English?
The most important CONSONANT in English
Australia we need to talk!

Video List

Weak Forms

Weak Forms is all about reductions. This video reviews how weak forms are constructed and why many people don’t sound like native speakers. He talks about the very important weak vowel sound known as “schwa.”

The Most Important Consonant in English

As a teacher I am constantly emphasizing the importance of final “s” or “z” at the end of words. They are key to understanding things like whether a noun is plural and countable or whether the verb is third person singular (works vs work, walks vs walk).

Here are the “Secrets of what I consider the most important consonant in English, the various ways it’s made, and how it differs from other languages.”

Vowel sounds – in “dress” and “trap” (or head and had)

A Singapore man was denied a $10,000 prize because of his pronunciation, despite the fact that he CORRECTLY identified singer Tony Hadley. Millions around the world pronounce words like “Hadley” and “Hedlye” the same – but for Brits, Americans, etc. it’s an important distinction. (After all the attention, the radio station finally gave Muhammad the prize.)
Tony Hadley messages Muhammad: