Just got my exam copy from CUP in the mail, excited to read this and figure out how I might use it in my undergrad classes!

What these admins will never tell you is that the *courses* in these majors are often full. Students don't *major* in these fields, but they really want to take the classes. They use number of majors as a metric on purpose so they can achieve their cuts.

partial drop-down menu of options including Dutch (middle), Dutch (flemish), Dyula, Erik, Egyptian (ancient), English, English (middle), English (old), Esperanto, Estonian, Ewe

filling out check-in forms online before an appointment and impressed by the inclusivity of this urgent care's "preferred language" options #linguistics

I am seriously considering going no laptops for my first year seminar in the Fall, but wonder about pushback re: accommodations - have you had to navigate this at all?

We do now know the NSF is proceeding with dissolving the Social and Behavioral Sciences Division. Congress might reverse it, but it is now already underway. YOU CAN NO LONGER SUBMIT FUNDING PROPOSALS TO SBE. Program officers are being moved to different parts of the agency. Call your Congress member

This. AI claims to do my job. I don’t want that. I love the work of writing, research & teaching.
I want someone to take all the additional work that has been added over the years in the name of austerity off my plate. Dismantle the harmful structures that make it hard to do my job, please.

Looking forward to the next time the associate dean tells our department to "get grants"

Fiscal Year 2027 Budget Request to Congress

I am shocked to see this language from the NSF.

“The U.S. National Science Foundation's Fiscal Year 2027 Budget Request reflects a strategic alignment of resources in a constrained fiscal environment while eliminating woke and weaponized grant programs that previously funded radical DEI projects.”

Rats taught to drive tiny cars to lower their stress levels Researchers taught rats to drive tiny "ratmobiles" in exchange for food, which helped the rats relax.

Somewhere up in heaven, Richard Scarry is like “fuck yeah, told you so”: www.bbc.com/news/world-u...

as long as the shuttle had room for my earplugs, white noise machine, soft slipper socks, special pillow, cpap, and book light, and could be kept at a precise temperature of 68 degrees with blackout curtains to keep out all that pesky moon and earthlight, I'd be good I think - NASA sign me up!!

This chapter describes how we see the relationship between sociophonetics & "formal" fields of linguistics, and discusses each of the rest of the chapters in the volume. It's pretty short, and will give you a good sense of whether you want to read (and, ahem, maybe *acquire* 👀) the whole book

Sociophonetics: Opportunities for phonology and phonetics Abstract. This chapter provides a broad overview of the field of sociophonetics, and argues that sociophonetic research provides a crucial empirical basis

📗More book promotion: for the next month, you can download and read Chapter 1 of my & @lhlew.bsky.social 's new book, Sociophonetics: Implications for Phonological and Phonetic Theory, for free! #linguistics academic.oup.com/book/61815/c...

LLMs are Not Just Another Research Automation – Væl Space

I’ve been thinking about the construal of LLMs as tools for research automation, and as someone who’s put a lot of effort into research facilitation tools, I don’t agree

Again and again, executives don’t want AI to enhance work, only to replace workers, while telling us it will enhance work, while the AI vendors say “this is your problem if it screws up.”

They seem to think we don’t notice this.

www.microsoft.com/en-us/micros...

A line graph showing awards over time at NSF's SBE. The line for this year, 2026, is extremely FLAT compared to prior years. By this time in 2025, 179 grants had been awarded. In 2021, it was 243. This year... 16.

NSF's Social, Behavioral and Economic Directorate has awarded only 16 grants since October.

No big budget cuts went through. No freeze. The courts have acted to keep funds flowing at every turn. The money just isn't going out.

Why...?

1/x

source: grant-witness.us/funding_curv...
🟦🧠 #academicsky

‘Gen Z Language? Y'all Mean AAVE’: The Appropriation of African American Vernacular English as ‘TikTok Language’ Sociolinguistic research has long documented the appropriation of African American Vernacular English (AAVE) across media including film, music and advertising. In this article, we add to this body o...

see also @christianilbury.bsky.social and Walcott's recent work on this topic: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

How Black culture is shaping Gen Z slang YouTube video by NBC News

Linguistics on The News: A lot of "Gen Z slang" comes from African American Language - w/comments from Minnie Quartey Annan, Sonja Lanehart, and Jamaal Muwwakkil youtu.be/6GtW_PHNjo4?... #linguistics

We are fast moving from cold spots to blackout. This is not trivial and the impact in terms of access to languages education will be inter generational. How do you “level up” or promote “growth” without a multilingual workforce and the know-how to deploy? www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

There's a learned helplessness here that feels a lot like obeying in advance. Use your brain, don't let anyone tell you you can't, and definitely don't tell others they can't.

picture of the book Sociophonetics: Implications for Phonological and Phonetic Theory, edited by Jennifer Nycz and Lauren Hall-Lew, with promotion code AUFLY30, which can be used for 30% of the book at global.oup.com/academic

Mulling whether to buy my book w/@lhlew.bsky.social, Sociophonetics: Implications for Phonological & Phonetic Theory? With code AUFLY30 you can get it for 30% off via OUP at global.oup.com/academic ! Spend down those research funds (if you have them) before the end of the fiscal year! #linguistics

Big Toot Science?

She's right, and has thought way, way more about LLMs, language, and society than almost every reply guy on here, but they simply can't resist fighting with a world-class expert.

LSA Executive Committee Nomination Form: Nomination Deadline March 13, 2026 Take this survey powered by surveymonkey.com. Create your own surveys for free.

Last call! The LSA Nominating Committee & COSIAC are seeking nominations for VP/President-Elect, EC Members-at-Large, and Student Rep to the EC. We especially encourage nominations from those historically underrepresented in LSA governance. Deadline: 3/13. buff.ly/EkqLh7j

Thanks so much to everyone who came to my Georgetown University Linguistics GURT talk today! I really appreciate that you took the time to stay til Sunday afternoon. The talk was recorded, so I'll post the video as soon as I get it!

imagine being such an incompetent researcher that you think an llm can write your literature review

The 2026 Georgetown University Round Table: FUTURING Linguistics - Georgetown University Round Table website for GURT, the Georgetown University Round Table in Linguistics, GURT 2026

Hello, Washington, D.C.! So excited for the Georgetown University Linguistics GURT conference and so honored to be the closing plenary speaker on Sunday at 11:30 in the Bunn Intercultural Center! Come on through! gurt.georgetown.edu/gurt-2026/

Now it's March I can say "applications close next month!"

Still lots of time to finesse your idea for a cool linguistics communication project!

Street name "Prince Andrew Court" with the last part crossed out and changed to "caught".

cot-caught-court on a British high street ;-) #linguistics

So cool how my university isn't hiring new faculty but they HAVE recently announced they'll be "deploying Google’s generative AI solution, Gemini, to students, faculty and staff in the coming weeks"