Project | Lost For Words Lost For Words A feature documentary directed by Hannah Papacek Harper

Excited to be part of this gorgeous film homage to the natural world through language inspired by @robgmacfarlane.bsky.social, screening at Sheffield DocFest on 21 June! @HannahPapacekHarper @RetroviseurProductions @extinctionleeds.bsky.social
@lcsleeds.bsky.social
www.lostforwords.fr

Project | Lost For Words Lost For Words A feature documentary directed by Hannah Papacek Harper

Excited to be part of this gorgeous film homage to the natural world through language inspired by @robgmacfarlane.bsky.social, screening at Sheffield DocFest on 21 June! @HannahPapacekHarper @RetroviseurProductions @extinctionleeds.bsky.social
@lcsleeds.bsky.social
www.lostforwords.fr

This is an excellently clear account of how LLMs work and why they hallucinate. I would like all my students to read it.

A very exciting afternoon! I’m so grateful to the Faculty and all my wonderful collaborators - all the tackling accent bias in HE work has been (and continues to be) a huge collaborative effort! Congratulations to Henry, Karen, and all colleagues in @lcsleeds.bsky.social and the Language Centre! 🥳

The article title 'Rethinking the UK Languages Curriculum: Arguments for the Inclusion of Linguistics' on a blue background.

'Rethinking the UK Languages Curriculum: Arguments for the Inclusion of Linguistics' by @mishee54.bsky.social, Alice Corr, Anna Havinga, @jrkasstan.bsky.social & Norma Schifano argues for linguistics in the UK Mod Langs curriculum. Read it #OA: bit.ly/MLO-linguisitics @ciol-linguists.bsky.social

The peregrines are hatching! Much excitement!

Tackling accent bias in Higher Education could improve students’ success, sense of belonging, and wellbeing - HEPI One in three students fear their accent could harm future success, yet accent bias remains largely unaddressed in higher education.

Fantastic HEPI blog by @gisetomelourido.bsky.social and Julia Snell, calling on UK universities to tackle accent bias and promote #linguisticdiversity

Birmingham accent ranked ‘most hated’ on BBC’s unofficial league table, Kate Adie reveals Journalist shares details of broadcaster’s dislike for Brummie accent as archives of her life and career to be catalogued

I wish the media including @theguardian.com would stop promoting a stupid “hierarchy” of UK accents. This is a story about celebrating Kate Adie’s career - why choose this headline?

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

Went to the wonderful #GrantMuseum of Zoology the other day. If you like the Jar of Moles, you’ll love the Jar of Assorted Lizards

what a time to be alive

I have tariffed
the penguins
that are on
Heard Island

and which
you were probably
assuming
did not export goods

forgive me
they were taking advantage of us
so cunning
and so cold

But this is your publication, and readers should be able to access your whole paper, not just part of it. Plus this could be a useful learning experience for the editors!

I’d email the editors again. It’s not ok!

We're very much looking forward to this - “Watch your language! A linguist‘s tale of education, science and scholarship” @saschastollhans.bsky.social professorial inaugural lecture on 7 May at 5pm. We've got our tickets, to get yours register via Eventbrite www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/prof-sasch...

Democracy watch from abroad Email #13

open.substack.com/pub/kimmc072...

Update: 4 eggs!

You have until the 4th of April to apply for the Linguastars Residential! A great opportunity to explore what it’s is like studying languages at uni! For more information and how to apply, read below 👇 #languages #mfl #mfltwitterati

If anybody needs me I’ll be glued to the University of Leeds live peregrine falcon cam. She’s sitting on 3 eggs! sustainability.leeds.ac.uk/our-work/bio...

"To live and die in an age of extinction: a conversation with Juno Salazar Parreñas." A new paper published by #Extinction Studies PhD student MT Talensby explores experiences of studying #conservation, #death, #loss, and wider socio-cultural aspects of #fieldwork

You're Dead to Me - Julius Caesar’s Rise To Power - BBC Sounds Join Greg Jenner in Ancient Rome to meet one of history’s biggest names, Julius Caesar.

Seeing as it’s the Ides of March, here’s our very fun guide to how Julius Caesar rose to power and then destroyed the stability of the state, ignored the law, undermined political institutions, and leveraged the wealth of the richest man in the nation… ahem…

www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

First egg of 2025! From the brilliant peregrine falcon who lives at Parkinson clock tower, University of Leeds.
sustainability.leeds.ac.uk/our-work/bio...

For Indigenous Families in Russia, Keeping Language Alive Is an Impossible Task - The Moscow Times Friday marks the 25th annual International Mother Language Day, a holiday established by UNESCO to “underscore the role of languages in promoting inclusion.”  Russia has 155 living and 15 extinct languages native to the country as classified by the Linguistics Institute of the Russian Academy of Science.   While Russian is named as the sole “state-founding” language in the country’s Constitution, more than 30 languages of minoritized Indigenous communities are also recognized as official in Russia’s 21 ethnic republics.  In Dagestan, a North Caucasus republic known for its high linguistic diversity, this applies to 13 of more than 50 languages Indigenous to the region.  On paper, this special legal status allows these Indigenous languages to be used in lawmaking, court proceedings and as the language of school instruction.  But in reality, the number of speakers of most languages of Russia’s republics is on the decline, as they are primarily spoken inside the home. 

For Indigenous Families in Russia, Keeping Language Alive Is an Impossible Task www.themoscowtimes.c...

Proud to have published your excellent paper! I really enjoyed reading it.

How poetry can help us understand mass extinction events Poetry and palaeontology both work with strata.

"How #poetry can help us understand mass extinction events" - a new post on @theconversation.com by #Extinction Studies Researcher @kate-elspeth.bsky.social on #paleontology and poetic methods (strata/stanza, negative space) and how they interact

A poster advertising a talk on "Rethinking extinction "crises": The case of Asian songbird trade", by Sicily Fiennes on March 11 2025 at 2pm London time. There is an image of birds in cages and a photo of Sicily. A QR code is included to take you to the registration page.

Congratulations to @sicilyfiennes.bsky.social, one of our PhD students, who has been selected to give an invited seminar on their recent paper on "Rethinking #extinction 'crises'" by Cambridge Prisms Extinction. Tune in online on 11th March at 2pm UK time. Register here: buff.ly/42BfgtZ

Beautiful photography and blogs by PhD students in the Extinction Studies DTP @extinctionleeds.bsky.social, Land Lines Project

“Imperial language departments”? No, modern language study fosters global collaboration and decolonisation, argues our HoS @emmacayley.bsky.social and colleagues

Opinion | All the splinters we cannot see Regardless of the thorns in any of our feet, we all just have to carry on.

Read Monica Hesse www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...

Modern British Nature Writing, 1789–2020 by Will Abberley, Christina Alt | Waterstones Buy Modern British Nature Writing, 1789–2020 by Will Abberley, Christina Alt from Waterstones today! Click and Collect from your local Waterstones or get FREE UK delivery on orders over £25.

Happy publication day to Modern British Nature Writing, 1789-2020: Land Lines (Paperback)
www.waterstones.com/book/modern-...
#naturewriting #envhum