Communicating Linguistics II

When?

28th of August 2024 11:15 EE / 10:15 NL / 09:15 UK

Where?

This is a hybrid event that will take place both online on zoom and at the University of Tartu in Ülikooli 18-139. You will get the zoom link after registration.

Preparation?

Participants will create a short description of their research or another linguistics topic before the workshop. Bringing a previously written academic abstract is okay, but if you have time, try making a more accessible version before you come.

First session
11:15-13:15 EE / 10:15-12:15 NL / 9:15-11:15 UK

Applying linguistics methodologies to... Devise explanations for broader audiences
How can we use our linguistic skills to analyse why some attempts to connect with the public leave people excited and engaged while others leave them falling asleep? In this first half of the workshop, participants will collectively analyse a series of texts at varying levels of accessibility and come up with a list of characteristics of engaging writing for broader audiences. Then, they will apply the guidelines they have just devised to rewrite one of their texts (such as an academic abstract) with an eye to a broader audience, share this effort with the group, and assess how each other's efforts could still be improved.

Second session
14:30-16:30 EE / 13:30-14:30 NL / 12:30-13:30 UK

Applying linguistics methodologies to... Find groups with which to share linguistics
How can we use our skills as linguists to effectively engage with particular communities? In this second half of the workshop, participants will analyse a series of examples of linguistics communication (lingcomm) activities, such as writing an article for a newspaper, participating in a festival, organising activities for high school students, working with a public library, and creating a podcast or video series. We will collectively develop a rubric for effectively defining and engaging with a particular audience, which participants will then apply to a group they are potentially interested in doing lingcomm with, share this attempt with the group, and discuss further directions and potential collaborations. Finally, we will integrate the morning and afternoon activities by revisiting the accessible descriptions created in the morning in light of how they can be tailored to the interests of specific groups.

Gretchen McCulloch is an internet linguist: she explores the language of the internet for the people of the internet. She’s the co-creator of  Lingthusiasm, a podcast that’s enthusiastic about linguistics, and the author of the New York Times bestselling book Because Internet: Understanding the New Rules of Language, which was published by Riverhead (Penguin) in 2019 and has been reviewed in the New York Times, the New Yorker, the Economist, TIME, the Atlantic, NPR, and Science Magazine. Because Internet was also named a Best Book of 2019 by TIME, Amazon, and the Washington Post.

McCulloch writes the Resident Linguist column at Wired and has also written for the New York Times, New York Magazine, Slate, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, and The Toast. She has a master’s in linguistics from McGill University and has spoken for South by Southwest, YouTube, Duolingo, Princeton, Facebook, Sotheby’s, Yale, and the Unicode Consortium. McCulloch is the creator of the linguistics blog All Things Linguistic, co-writer of the video series Crash Course Linguistics, and co-founder of LingComm, the International Conference on Linguistics Communication. In 2021, she was the recipient of the Linguistic Society of America’s Language, Linguistics, and the Public award. She is Canadian and lives in Montreal, but also on the internet. You can follow her on Twitter @GretchenAMcC.