Bryan Gick named AAAS Fellow
Bryan Gick has been named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) for distinguished contributions to the field of experimental phonetics, notably for advances in multimodal perception and biomechanics. Congratulations, Bryan!
New course on the languages of Africa
The department is offering a new survey course, LING 308: Languages of Africa. Students will study African languages and cultures from the ground up, including through inquisitive exploration in language projects.
Three grad students recognized as UBC Public Scholars
Three grad students have been recognized as UBC Public Scholars. The Public Scholars Initiative supports doctoral students “make purposeful contributions to the public good through collaborative, action-oriented, and/or creative forms of scholarship.” They are Anne Bertrand, Roger Yu-Hsiang Lo, and Michael Schwan. Congratulations all around!
Two students win Edna Dharmaratne Award
Two students have been honored with the Edna Dharmaratne Award: Nicole Ebbutt, an undergrad in speech sciences, and Ife Adebara, a Ph.D. student in linguistics. Congratulations to both!
Ryan Bochnak profiled
New semantics faculty member Ryan Bochnak was profiled in a piece in the Faculty of Arts newsletter.
Samuel Akinbo on talking drums
Linguistics grad student Samuel Akinbo’s research on ‘talking drums’ is profiled in an interesting and entertainingly pun-filled discussion on the Language Sciences site. The crucial observation is that the gángan, a drum used in Nigeria, can convey a rich array of linguistic information about spoken Yorùbá.
Sóskuthy and Abdul-Mageed receive infrastructure grants
Assistant professors Marci Sóskuthy and Muhammad Abdul-Mageed both received funding to support digital infrastructure through the Canada Foundation for Innovation John R. Evans Leaders Fund. Read more about it here.
Nigel Howard offers ASL classes
Adjunct linguistics professor Nigel Howard, who has become a local celebrity providing American Sign Language interpretation at provincial COVID-19 briefings, will be teaching courses in ASL this fall.
Bryan Gick on speaking moistly
The prime minister recently raised eyebrows by referring to ‘speaking moistly’ during a coronavirus press briefing. Bryan Gick discussed what this might mean from a scientific perspective on CBC radio, and participated in this brief Q&A on the topic. It’s not at all dry, in the best possible sense—and, among other things, raises the interesting question […]