News

Good vibrations: how vibrating devices can help wearers understand speech

Ever agreed wildly with someone at a party because you couldn’t hear what they were saying? What if a vibrating device could help you understand their speech? A project headed by Language Sciences members investigated how vibration against skin might help people understand speech in noisy…

Let’s talk about love, baby – and why we should define it

Lovers planning a romantic gesture this Valentine’s Day may want to consider their definitions first. Carrie Jenkins, Canada Research Chair in philosophy and a member of UBC’s Language Sciences Initiative, says discussing the definitions of key words often used in love—including “love” itself…

Showcasing undergraduate language research with LSURC

Pictured from left: Terrance Gatchalian, Ashley Chand and Paris Gappmayr​. The third annual Language Sciences Undergraduate Research Conference (LSURC) is coming up next week, showcasing undergraduate language research. Wholly student-organized and run, the conference provides a…

Helping to preserve a language 1,200 kilometres from home

“My name is Gawagani. I come from the house of Gamlaxyeltxw.” Gawagani, or Vincent Gogag, is 1,200 kilometres from home, and has just finished speaking the Gitksan language for a group of students on a Wednesday afternoon. This is part of Gogag’s role as a language consultant with the…

Language Sciences members win prestigious awards in 2018

Language Sciences members won a number of awards this year, including a University of British Columbia (UBC) Killam Research Fellowship, election to the Royal Society of Canada, and a Global Public Scholar award.   Language Sciences member and doctoral student Khia Johnson won a…

Camels and compliments: how language, culture and nature are interconnected

Have you ever been compared to a camel as a compliment? In Somalia, dromedaries are a favourable comparison for a woman’s beauty, something University of British Columbia Language Sciences Initiative invited speaker Luisa Maffi learned during her fieldwork for a Somali language dictionary…

Dr. Peter Trudgill, The Uniformitarian Hypothesis and prehistoric sociolinguistics: what were stone-age languages like?

Please join us for The Uniformitarian Hypothesis and prehistoric sociolinguistics: what were stone-age languages like?, a talk by Dr. Peter Trudgill, Emeritus Professor of English Linguistics at Fribourg University and Honorary Professor of Sociolinguistics at the University of East…

Dr. Luisa Maffi, Language, Culture, and the Environment: Thinking Out of the Silos

Please join us as we welcome Dr. Luisa Maffi, co-founder and Director of Terralingua for her talk Language, Culture, and the Environment: Thinking Out of the Silos. For over two decades, Maffi has spearheaded the efforts of Terralingua, an international NGO that…

Storybooks Canada Launch! Friday Nov 2nd, 3:00pm

Join the Storybooks Canada team and UBC Language Sciences for the public launch of Storybooks Canada on Friday, November 2nd, co-organized by Dr. Bonny Norton (LLED) and Dr. Janet Jamieson (ECPS). The launch will include opening and welcoming remarks from Dr. Gail Murphy, VP Research &…

Conlanging: The Art of Crafting Tongues - Screenings Oct. 29th and 30th, 2018