Abdul-Mageed in Medium on the language of COVID-19
Muhammad Abdul-Mageed has published a piece in Medium exploring how language use on social media reflects the impact of COVID-19 based on a large 65-language dataset that he and collaborators at UBC constructed.
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 […]
Coronavirus phonetics cookbook
As a way to boost morale during isolation, the LING 314 (Instrumental Phonetics) class had an online potluck party, but, as they couldn’t actually share food, they shared recipes. The result was a coronavirus cookbook available to all.
West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics
UBC is hosting the annual West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics in March, and the program is now available.
Gitksan Lab — In the spotlight!
Check out this great piece on the Gitksan Lab, put together by the UBC Language Sciences initiative.
Bryan Gick and Arian Shamei on the astronomy-linguistics interface
Following up on an astronaut’s observation about what it’s like to speak after a return from space, faculty member Bryan Gick and doctoral student Arian Shamei researched the phonetic effects of space travel. They demonstrated that, in Arian’s words, freshly-returned astronauts “speak as if their tongues are effectively heavier.” In addition to being an early work […]
50th Anniversary Celebration
UBC Linguistics is celebrating its 50th anniversary. We would like to invite you to join us in our celebration! The event will take place from April 15-April 18 2019, at UBC Campus in Vancouver. The main locations will be Totem Field Studios and Stores Rd. Building. We look forward to seeing you there!
Festschrift in Honour of Henry Davis
We’re excited to announce that the festschrift in honour of Henry Davis‘ 60th birthday has been released! “Wa7 xweysás i nqwal’úttensa i ucwalmícwa: He loves the people’s languages” is a collection of essays inspired by the research and mentorship of Henry Davis, edited by Lisa Matthewson, Erin Guntly, Marianne Huijsmans, and Michael Rochemont. Much of […]