Member Spotlights

Co-director Bryan Gick named AAAS Fellow in 2020

Investigating how facemasks affect communication for those with hearing loss

How do facemasks and other COVID-19 preventative measures affect communication for individuals with hearing loss? Language Sciences member Dr. Brenda Poon aims to find out. As the Wavefront Centre for Communication Accessibility research division lead, and Assistant Professor with the UBC Human…

Congratulations and thank you to graduate student Steering Committee member, Monica!

Many congratulations to Monica Shank Lauwo and Lauwo George on the birth of their son Makusaro, the newest (and youngest) Language Sciences member! With this new responsibility, Monica will step down from her role as a member of the Language Sciences Steering Committee, representing graduate…

Indigenizing the courtroom in Mexico with Indigenous language interpreters to defeat ‘language superiority’

Dr. Mónica Morales-Good conducting fieldwork in San Miguel Suchixtepec, Oaxaca Imagine defending yourself in a courtroom using an unfamiliar language. This is often the case for Indigenous speakers in Mexico and Latin America, but Language Sciences member Dr. Mónica Morales-Good’s research…

App that allows audio skim ‘reading’ for commuting and tired eyes is first step towards visual impairment mode

Trying to read an article but been in front of the screen too long already? Your problems may be over thanks to the Skimmer app. Designed for people with situational impairments, such as those commuting or resting tired eyes, the prototype allows users to skim ‘read’ complex documents,…

Quite a conundrum: the multitudinous research questions of the talking drum

Samuel Akinbo has his hands full when it comes to researching the talking drum.   The UBC Linguistics doctoral student and Language Sciences member found drummers are able to represent syllables, lexical tones and tonal processes of Yorùbá speech with the gángan, a talking drum used…

A Q&A with Nigel Howard about teaching ASL as an official credit course at UBC

Language Sciences members receive CFI grants for language research

Language Sciences members received more than $550,000 in the latest Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) John R. Evans Leaders Fund (JELF) for language research. The fund provides researchers with the specialized infrastructure needed for their work. 'Ensuring Full Literacy in a Multicultural…

Are you a fan of COVID-19 briefings interpreter Nigel Howard? You can take his ASL courses this fall

You've likely seen Nigel Howard interpreting at the provincial COVID-19 briefings. You might even have joined his Facebook fan club. And come September, you'll be able to take American Sign Language (ASL) as an official credit course with him at the University of British Columbia. Howard, an…

Finding your voice: gender affirming voice training in BC helps people find their true voice

Image credit: Rachel Cripps @miss_rachelclaire A publicly funded gender affirming voice training program in BC gives participants the tools to find and develop their true voice. Developed in 2004 by School of Audiology and Speech Sciences (SASS) Clinical Assistant Professor Shelagh Davies,…