Much Language Such Talk

Today we are joined by Nandi Sims. Nandi is a PhD Candidate at The Ohio State University in the Department of Linguistics. Her primary interests lie in language variation and change stemming from situations of ethnic contact in the US. To explore the variation related to social identities, institutional ideologies, and the hegemonic structure of race, she has conducted research on a number of topics including historical variation in African American Language morphosyntax, English prosodic rhythm comparisons between South Florida ethnicities, and the relationship between the language, ethnicity, and social identity of pre-teens.

Her dissertation is titled "Race, ethnicity, and social groups: Social and linguistic causes of language variation among 6th-grade students at a primarily Black South Florida middle school".  Join us in this week's episode to learn more about the concepts regarding language, race and ethnicity, about African-American language, and about language variation in different populations in the US.

Go to our website to read the transcript!

MLST is brought to you by volunteers at Bilingualism Matters Edinburgh. The views of our guests don’t always reflect our own, as we hope to provide an accessible platform for the findings of current research and the perspectives of experts. For more resources like definitions of linguistic terms, episode transcripts, and information about the team, go to our website at www.mlstpodcast.com.

Recorded on 4/3/2021

Music: Arc of the Sun by The 126ersssssss

Welcome to another episode of Much Language Such Talk. Today, we are joined by Prof. Rob Dunbar of the University of Edinburgh. Prior to assuming the Chair of Celtic at Edinburgh in June 2013, he was Senior Research Professor at the University of the Highlands and Islands, and Research Director of the inter-university Soillse Research Project. Previously, he was a lecturer then senior lecturer in Law at the University of Glasgow (1995-2004) and reader in Celtic and Law at the University of Aberdeen (2004-2010). As a native of Canada, he has been involved in Gaelic language development for almost twenty years, and has worked with international organisations such as the Council of Europe, of which he is an expert, and the OSCE, national and sub-national governments, including the National Assembly for Wales, and governmental and non-governmental organisations, on issues broadly relating to the maintenance and revitalisation of minority languages and the protection of their speakers.  He was a member of Bòrd na Gàidhlig from 2006 to 2012 and MG Alba from 2004 to 2012, and was involved in the development of the Gaelic Language (Scotland) Act 2005 and the creation of BBC Alba, Scotland's Gaelic digital television service.

Much of his research focuses on language policy and planning for Scottish Gaelic, and for minoritised languages more generally, and on legal instruments (international, national and sub-national) in support of such policy and planning initiatives. Gaelic broadcasting, and provision for broadcasting in other minoritised languages, also forms part of his research strand. His work also focuses on Gaelic literature, culture and society from the late eighteenth to the early twentieth century, and on Gaelic in Canada.

Go to our website to read the transcript!

MLST is brought to you by volunteers at Bilingualism Matters Edinburgh. The views of our guests don’t always reflect our own, as we hope to provide an accessible platform for the findings of current research and the perspectives of experts. For more resources like definitions of linguistic terms, episode transcripts, and information about the team, go to our website at www.mlstpodcast.com.

Recorded on 27/1/2021

Music: Arc of the Sun by The 126ersssssss

In this episode, we are joined by Dr. Katerina Strani who is an Associate Professor and Head of Cultural Studies at the Department of Languages and Intercultural Studies at Heriot-Watt University. Katerina has a background in Languages and Politics, having taught translation and interpreting for 10 years, and worked as a freelance translator, interpreter and later as a researcher for the shadow interior minister in Greece. She has published papers on intercultural dialogue, racist discourse, hate speech, language and heritage, as well as an edited volume on Multilingualism and Politics (Palgrave, 2020). Katerina has led EU-funded projects on racism and discrimination, intercultural training for educators, language and culture apps for newly arrived migrants and refugees, and a language and culture app for indigenous languages (IndyLan). She was also a Co-Investigator on a Global Challenge Research Fund project on digital inclusion of Rohingya refugees in Malaysia. More information and a list of publications are available here.

Katerina is a Chartered Linguist and speaks French, English, Russian and Greek (native). She has also learned German, but claims to speak it very badly. She plays the piano and sings at any given opportunity, but according to her, much to the dismay of anyone listening.

Go to our website to read the transcript!

MLST is brought to you by volunteers at Bilingualism Matters Edinburgh. The views of our guests don’t always reflect our own, as we hope to provide an accessible platform for the findings of current research and the perspectives of experts. For more resources like definitions of linguistic terms, episode transcripts, and information about the team, go to our website at www.mlstpodcast.com.

Recorded on 27/1/2021

Music: Arc of the Sun by The 126ersssssss

In this episode, we are joined by Prof. Monika S. Schmid from the University of Essex. Monika obtained her PhD in English Linguistics in 2000 from the Heinrich-Heine Universität Düsseldorf. The topic of her thesis was First Language Attrition, Use and Maintenance: the case of German Jews in Anglophone Countries -  and currently Monika's work focuses on various aspects of first language attrition, language change from learning new languages. Previously, she has held positions at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and at the Rijksuniversiteit Groningen. In September 2013, she became a Professor of Linguistics at the University of Essex, where in 2018 she became the Head of Department of Language and Linguistics. At Essex, Monika is a member of the Centre for Research in Language Development throughout the Lifespan (LaDeLi) and the Bilingualism Matters branch @EastofEngland.

Monika has published two monographs and edited several collected volumes and special issues of journals on attrition, most recently the Oxford Handbook of Language Attrition (2019).  Her website, Language Attrition, collects information on language attrition and provides tips on how to study it for non-specialists and researchers alike. She regularly also writes for The Conversation about related topics and, to date, has had over half a million reads!

Go to our website to read the transcript!

MLST is brought to you by volunteers at Bilingualism Matters Edinburgh. The views of our guests don’t always reflect our own, as we hope to provide an accessible platform for the findings of current research and the perspectives of experts. For more resources like definitions of linguistic terms, episode transcripts, and information about the team, go to our website at www.mlstpodcast.com.

Recorded on 18/1/2021

Music: Arc of the Sun by The 126ersssssss

In this episode, we talk with Professor Itziar Laka,  a researcher at the Department of Linguistics and Basque Studies, and the director of The Bilingual Mind research group at the University of the Basque Country. Itziar completed her PhD at MIT and was an Assistant Professor in Linguistics at the University of Rochester in New York before returning to Europe where she has been an invited professor at the Universities of Vienna, Utrecht, Naples and Río de Janeiro, and an invited research fellow at the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study in Humanities, and the Instituto Universitario Ortega y Gasset, among others. She is Member of Jakiunde, the Basque Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters, and corresponding member of Euskaltzaindia, the Academy for the Basque Language. Itziar has also written a book on Basque, A Brief Grammar of Euskara, the Basque Language, which was published in 1996 and is freely available on the internet. Her current research combines theoretical linguistics and experimental methods from psycholinguistics and neurolinguistics to inquire into the neural representation and processing of language, with a strong focus on syntax and bilingualism.

At the Bilingual Mind research group, they conduct research on the effects of bilingualism and plan to complete research on healthy older adults in the future. In the past, many of their studies looked at the effects on young adults and older adults who have cognitive impairments. So The Bilingual Mind will soon venture into new, exciting territory.

Go to our website to read the transcript! 

MLST is brought to you by volunteers at Bilingualism Matters Edinburgh. The views of our guests don’t always reflect our own, as we hope to provide an accessible platform for the findings of current research and the perspectives of experts. For more resources like definitions of linguistic terms, episode transcripts, and information about the team, go to our website at www.mlstpodcast.com.

Recorded on 16/12/2020 

Music: Arc of the Sun by The 126ersssssss

Dr. Ania Byerly is a Senior Teaching Fellow in Language Education at the Moray House School of Education and Sport, University of Edinburgh. She has worked with a variety of the university’s undergraduate and postgraduate programmes, such as MSc TESOL and MSc Language Education, Initial Teacher Education, BA Childhood Practice. Ania is a qualified Early Years and Primary School teacher, specialising in Teaching English as a Foreign Language to young children.

She has also worked with Edinburgh’s English as an Additional Language Service supporting bilingual Polish English Speakers in Edinburgh schools and nurseries. Ania focuses on student teachers and school teachers developing an understanding of various social justice issues: from social class, ethnicity and 'race' through to linguistic and religious diversity.

She is also going to be a part of the ‘Teaching that Matters for Migrant Students: Understanding Levers of Integration in Scotland, Finland, and Sweden’ (TEAMS) project in collaboration with  ten researchers from the Universities of Edinburgh, Stockholm, Jyvaskyla and Turku, who will study how teachers, schools and education systems facilitate migrant integration in schools. In particular, the project aims to identify educational practices and structural conditions that facilitate opportunities for migrants’ academic success, cross-cultural socialization, and developing a sense of belonging in their school communities.

Go to our website to read the transcript! 

MLST is brought to you by volunteers at Bilingualism Matters Edinburgh. The views of our guests don’t always reflect our own, as we hope to provide an accessible platform for the findings of current research and the perspectives of experts. For more resources like definitions of linguistic terms, episode transcripts, and information about the team, go to our website at www.mlstpodcast.com.

Recorded on 09/12/2020 

Music: Arc of the Sun by The 126ersssssss 

Sound effects: Record scratches by filmsndfx

2020 really has been a year like no other, but we managed to start a podcast!

I think we can all agree that this year has been a rollercoaster, and we wanted to bring a smile to your faces by embarrassing ourselves and to end the year on a funny note.

We don't currently have a transcript of the episode, but when we do you can find it on our website!

Sound effects: Beep by austin1234575

Music: Mariel Deluna and Arc of the Sun by The 126ersssssss

Dr Vicky Chondrogianni is a Senior Lecturer in Bilingualism at the University of Edinburgh and the Programme Director in Bilingual Development and Developmental language disorders at Bilingualism Matters.

Prior to joining the University of Edinburgh, she held research and teaching positions at various universities in the UK and overseas. Her research and teaching focuses on the language and cognitive development of bilingual children with and without Developmental Language Disorders. She investigates these issues from a crosslinguistic perspective. To date, she has conducted research on Greek, Dutch, Welsh, German, Scottish Gaelic, Mandarin Chinese, and English. She is also affiliated with the faculty of the Graduate Programme in Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences at the Graduate Centre of City University New York.

Go to our website for the transcript!

MLST is brought to you by volunteers at Bilingualism Matters Edinburgh. The views of our guests don’t always reflect our own, as we hope to provide an accessible platform for the findings of current research and the perspectives of experts. For more resources like definitions of linguistic terms, episode transcripts, and information about the team, go to our website at www.mlstpodcast.com.

Recorded on 7/12/2020

Music: Arc of the Sun by The 126ersssssss

In this episode, we are joined by Dr. Ella Jeffries, a lecturer in linguistics at the University of Essex, and her research interests lie in the field of sociolinguistics, with a particular focus on regional accent variation.  Her PhD research looked into children's developing perceptual awareness of phonological regional accent differences. She is currently Principle Investigator on the BA/Leverhulme Small Grant funded project 'Accent the positive' which investigates the development of implicit attitudes towards regional accents among primary school-age children.

Ella is also collaborating on a project which investigates language variation in change in Worcestershire and Herefordshire. Her work incorporates approaches from different fields of linguistic research including language variation and change, sociophonetics, language acquisition and psycholinguistics. She is part of a team of researchers working on collaborative projects within the Centre for Research in Language Development throughout the Lifespan (LaDeLi) at the University Of Essex, which also hosts the Bilingualism Matters East of England branch.

Go to our website for the transcript!

MLST is brought to you by volunteers at Bilingualism Matters Edinburgh. The views of our guests don’t always reflect our own, as we hope to provide an accessible platform for the findings of current research and the perspectives of experts. For more resources like definitions of linguistic terms, episode transcripts, and information about the team, go to our website at www.mlstpodcast.com.

Recorded on 17/11/2020 

Music: Arc of the Sun by The 126ersssssss

In this episode, we talk with Robbie Norval, a social entrepreneur who founded the organisation Lingo Flamingo in 2015. He is passionate about empowering individuals, especially those with cognitive impairments, and wanted to create an organisation which provides both stimulating and interactive activities. His goal is to show that it is never too late to learn and to highlight the amazing cognitive benefits of learning a second language. Lingo Flamingo is a social enterprise which focuses on providing language lessons to older adults in care homes and day centres across Scotland. Since 2015, they have provided hundreds of classes and opened a brick and mortar locations in Glasgow. Outside of care homes, the Lingo Flamingo "Hub" is open to anyone interested in language learning, where they offer classes in Spanish, French, Italian, German, and Japanese, to name a few.

In addition to his work with Lingo, Robbie is a PhD student at Glasgow Caledonian University focusing on the role that social enterprises play in delivering non-pharmaceutical interventions for older adults and people living with dementia.

Go to our website to read the transcript!

MLST is brought to you by volunteers at Bilingualism Matters Edinburgh. The views of our guests don’t always reflect our own, as we hope to provide an accessible platform for the findings of current research and the perspectives of experts. For more resources like definitions of linguistic terms, episode transcripts, and information about the team, go to our website at www.mlstpodcast.com.

Recorded on: 10/07/2020

Music: Arc of the Sun by The 126ersssssss