Pumpkin Spice Linguistics
What the words “pumpkin spice” teach us about language change and indigenous history
It’s officially pumpkin spice season (according to Starbucks), which means it’s time to talk about something important: Pumpkin Spice Linguistics.
These two little mouth-watering words—pumpkin spice—may not seem like anything special as far as the lexicon of English goes, but if we dig a little deeper, we’ll see that these two words can actually teach us a great amount about language change, language ideology, and Indigenous vs. Western perspectives on history.
In this 20-minute talk, I take you on an etymological adventure through the winding history of these two words—and the people who shaped them. Happy Fall!
This talk was originally presented at Nerd Nite Edmonton in 2022, and a modified version of it at Nerd Nite Chicago in 2023.
