Podcasts have emerged as a significant digital medium for knowledge transfer, combining auditory engagement with accessibility. This linguistic study explores how podcasts facilitate the dissemination of information across various domains, emphasizing their role in education, professional development, and cultural exchange. The study highlights podcasts as an effective and flexible tool for sharing knowledge and fostering continuous learning.
The underlying hypothesis of this study is that podcasts employ different strategies tailored to their specific goals. These strategies influence both the structure of the podcasts and their linguistic design to achieve the desired communication objectives.
The study begins with a general introduction to the subject area. It explains the phenomenon of podcasting and addresses questions about its origins, functionality, producers, and users. The main part of the study consists of a linguistic analysis of selected podcasts. Before the actual examination, linguistic and language-related concepts are presented, serving as the foundation for the analysis. This includes aspects of academic language, knowledge transfer, text and conversation linguistics, and research on spoken language.
The following questions guide the linguistic analysis of scientific podcasts: How does the audio format influence the language and structure of the podcasts? What text types and conversational styles can be identified? Do the podcasts primarily aim to inform or entertain the listeners? How understandable are the presented contents, and how is the audience addressed?