1044. Today, I'm talking about a strange disappearance that forensic linguist Natalie Schilling worked on that she calls "the case of the mystery dialect." This is the original bonus segment from our conversation back in October. Grammarpaloozians who support the show get these segments right when they come out, and maybe more importantly, give us the help we need to keep going and produce the bonus segments. So many thanks to all you wonderful Grammarpaloozians!

Natalie Schilling is a professor emerita of linguistics at Georgetown University in Washington, DC, and runs a forensic linguistics consulting firm. You can find her on LinkedIn.

🔗 Share your familect recording in a WhatsApp chat.

🔗 Watch my LinkedIn Learning writing courses.

🔗 Subscribe to the newsletter.

🔗 Take our advertising survey.

🔗 Get the edited transcript.

🔗 Get Grammar Girl books.

🔗 Join Grammarpalooza. Get ad-free and bonus episodes at Apple Podcasts or Subtext. Learn more about the difference.

| HOST: Mignon Fogarty

| VOICEMAIL: 833-214-GIRL (833-214-4475).

| Grammar Girl is part of the Quick and Dirty Tips podcast network.

Audio Engineer: Dan Feierabend
Director of Podcast: Brannan Goetschius
Advertising Operations Specialist: Morgan Christianson
Marketing and Publicity Assistant: Davina Tomlin
Digital Operations Specialist: Holly Hutchings
Marketing and Video: Nat Hoopes

| Theme music by Catherine Rannus.

| Grammar Girl Social Media Links: YouTube. TikTok. Facebook.Threads. Instagram. LinkedIn. Mastodon. Bluesky.