diff --git a/lib/linguist/pathname.rb b/lib/linguist/pathname.rb
index 749d43f6..7c6ee3d8 100644
--- a/lib/linguist/pathname.rb
+++ b/lib/linguist/pathname.rb
@@ -22,6 +22,22 @@ module Linguist
       Language.find_by_extension(extname)
     end
 
+    def lexer
+      if language
+        language.lexer
+      else
+        'plain'
+      end
+    end
+
+    def lexer_name
+      if language
+        language.name
+      else
+        'Text'
+      end
+    end
+
     def to_s
       @path.dup
     end
diff --git a/test/test_pathname.rb b/test/test_pathname.rb
index 8aad93be..70db3c87 100644
--- a/test/test_pathname.rb
+++ b/test/test_pathname.rb
@@ -41,4 +41,21 @@ class TestPathname < Test::Unit::TestCase
     assert_equal Language['Nu'], Pathname.new("itty.nu").language
     assert_nil Pathname.new("defun.kt").language
   end
+
+  def test_lexer
+    assert_equal 'ruby',   Pathname.new("file.rb").lexer
+    assert_equal 'ruby',   Pathname.new("Rakefile").lexer
+    assert_equal 'bash',   Pathname.new("file.ebuild").lexer
+    assert_equal 'python', Pathname.new("itty.py").lexer
+    assert_equal 'scheme', Pathname.new("itty.nu").lexer
+    assert_equal 'plain',  Pathname.new("defun.kt").lexer
+  end
+
+  def test_lexer_name
+    assert_equal 'Ruby',          Pathname.new("file.rb").lexer_name
+    assert_equal 'Gentoo Ebuild', Pathname.new("file.ebuild").lexer_name
+    assert_equal 'Ruby',          Pathname.new("Rakefile").lexer_name
+    assert_equal 'Nu',            Pathname.new("itty.nu").lexer_name
+    assert_equal 'Text',          Pathname.new("defun.kt").lexer_name
+  end
 end