Showing posts with label award. Show all posts
Showing posts with label award. Show all posts

August 12, 2024

The heat is on this summer - you need SPF!

The 2024 annual Summer Phonetics - Phonology Forum (SPF) took place on August 7th, and now we know why they call it SPF!

UofT linguists, attendees and presenters alike, gathered for the reception, presentations, and lunch held at the Linguistics Lounge, pictured below.

Session 1, chaired by Professor Alexei Kochetov, saw presentations by both faculty and graduate students.

Louis Careri, Laura Griffin, Youmna Mohamed, Jemi Samuel, Avery Ozburn
Developing a model for community engagement in phonetics and phonology fieldwork
Louis Careri describes p-sided
challenges associated with fieldwork


Laura Griffin's YouTube Shorts Sample, a
language learning resource targeted towards the
younger generation of Mbembe speakers.


New approaches to stress patterns of Oneida 

Professor Yoonjung Kang chaired Session 2, seeing the following presentations:


Jessica Yeung
Where to go from here? Directionality and morphological structure in vowel harmony

Liam McFadden, Shana Rosenberg, Gianna Giovio Canavesi, Avery Ozburn
An artificial language learning experiment on rounding harmony target asymmetries

Lunch was held at Sidney Smith in the Linguistics Lounge.


Session 3, chaired by presenter and Professor Avery Ozburn, showcased two projects.

Jack Mahlmann
Can you hear the silence? Perceptual learning of plain-ejective contrast
 

B. Elan Dresher, namesake and founder of the prize of the same name (see Yanfei above)
Features and contrast: The universal versus the language particular 

Session 4 was chaired by Jessamyn Schertz, Professor of Language Studies at UTM.



Laura Escobar
Gender differences in f0, intonation and particle use in conversation and performative speech in Japanese


Derek Denis, Lauren Bigelow
Speech rhythm, stance, and sociolinguistic identity: Two case studies from Ontario Englishes

Session 5 was chaired by Professor Nathan Sanders, and saw the following presentations, followed by closing remarks.

Alessandro Jaker (Sisseton Wahpeton College)
How natural is tonal phonology? What happens to stress-tone interactions when tones reverse


Laura Griffin
Tonal alternations in Mwaghavul associative constructions
 
 

Closing remarks were brief! Thanks to everyone for participating and organizing!

WHITL and the Forum's organizers, Samuel Akinbo, Yoonjung Kang, Alexei Kochetov, Philip Monahan, Avery Ozburn, Nathan Sanders, and Jessamyn Schertz, have much to be proud of, and much to look forward to next year!

July 26, 2024

Sali Tagliamonte's CRC Grant is Renewed!

Sali Tagliamonte is one of Spring 2024's recipient of a Canada Research Chair (CRC) Grant renewal!

The renewal of this grant, which was confirmed earlier in June, awards $200,000 annually for 7 years to the University College linguist. 

For more information, see https://www.utoronto.ca/celebrates/14-u-t-researchers-awarded-new-or-renewed-canada-research-chairs or check out the relevant accounts: @salitag, or @theucprincipal, as well as:

X: @UC_UofT

Instagram: @uc_uoft; @theucprincipal

YouTube: @UC_UofT

Facebook: @universitycollegetoronto


Congratulations once more to Sali, and best of luck in the future!

July 4, 2024

2023-2024 Cowper and Dresher Prizes - Congratulations Calvin and Yanfei!


Named after two emeriti professors in Linguistics Department, Elizabeth Cowper and Elan Dresher, the Cowper and Dresher Prizes are distinguished awards for graduate students of Linguistics. 

The 2023-2024 winners were announced earlier in June 2024.

Calvin Quick, a PhD student interested in Mediaeval Welsh poetry, won the Cowper Prize for his papers “Tense and finiteness in embedded bod-clauses” and “Problematizing Linear Approaches to Modifier-Head Adjacency Restrictions.”

For her paper, “An OT Analysis of Stress Patterns of Oneida (Iroquoian)” Yanfei Lu was awarded the Dresher Prize, a recognition within the LIN department for outstanding graduate student work in Phonology.

Yanfei Lu, winner of the
Dresher Prize.

We are so proud of both the students, congratulations!

July 2, 2024

Tri-Agency Confirms Increased Funding for CIHR, NSERC, and SSHRC Awards!

Earlier in June, Tri-Agency confirmed that, effective September 1st, 2024, the Government of Canada will be increasing award values for students and postgraduate researchers, including new and current award holders.

Advocating for "fairness for every generation," and a commitment to researchers of the future, this increase in budget is funded by Canada’s federal granting agencies, including CIHR, (Canadian Institutes of Health Research) NSERC, (Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada) and SSHRC (Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada).

The value of master's scholarships will be increased to $27,000/year, while those for doctoral students will jump to $40,000/year. Current and new postdoctoral fellowships will increase to $70,000.

Students holding an SSHRC Doctoral Fellowship are also included in this increase, totaling $40,000/year. 

Programs not affected by this increase include Vanier and Banting, worth $50,000 and $70,000 respectively.

More goals expected to be met by this budget increase can be found on the Budget Canada website.

To apply for any of these incredibly exciting awards, see the list below:

  • CIHR Health Research Training Award Programs
  • NSERC Students and Fellows
  • Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council

  • At the Linguistics Department blog, we strongly encourage any and all interested and qualifying parties to apply for these awards, especially after these recent increases, and we look forward to writing many posts documenting your success.

    June 21, 2024

    Elaine Gold Receives the Governor General's Meritorious Service Award

    Director Elaine Gold at Glendon Hall
    Elaine Gold, retired from the Linguistics Department, and head of the Canadian Language Museum (CLM) has been awarded the Governor-General's Meritorious Service Award. Congratulations!!

    The co-Chair of the International Network of Language Museums has seen her museum's exhibits touring across the world, including and especially those pertaining to Indigenous languages. 

    Director Gold's star-studded career since retirement from our Department includes speaking about Canadian Indigenous Language policies at the Austronesian Languages Revitalization Forum in Taipei, September 2023.

    She and the CLM are now collaborating with the Indigenous Languages Research Foundation to translate their booklet, Indigenous Languages in Canada, into Mandarin. 

    The CLM also hosted the art exhibit Anthem: Expressions of Canadian Identity during the fall, which will be presented from May to September at the Canadian Embassy's Prince Takamado Gallery in Tokyo. On June 20th, she, her team, and four artists, will attend the exhibition's reception. 

    Director Gold giving her presentation in Taipei, September 2023.

    Currently on display in the CLM is "Toronto Voices," an exhibit created as part of community outreach, exploring and detailing the identity of young Torontonians through their vocabulary in collaboration with The Spot, a drop-in center in the Jane-Finch area. 

    This recognition of Gold's tireless devotion to languages of Canada, and especially of Toronto, is a fantastic credit to her work in both national and international linguistic communities.

    We are so inspired by Gold's impact on reconciliation and language revitalization, especially in the field of Indigenous languages and cultures.


    November 20, 2023

    Undergraduate Awards 2022-2023

     We are pleased to announce the winners of 5 Undergraduate Awards in Linguistics for 2022-23:

    • The Chambers Award is awarded to Wilson Sy.
    • The McNab Award is awarded to Tony (Juntao) Hu.
    • The Rogers Award is awarded to Patrick Joseph Kinchsular.
    • The Gold Award is awarded to Lucy Meanwell.
    • The Roberge/Massam Award is awarded to Ho Ming Wong.
    Congratulations to all these students for their incredible academic achievements!

    October 17, 2023

    Laura Griffin wins NWAV Prize

     Laura Griffin joins of UofT linguists* being recongized by the

    LILLIAN B. STUEBER STUDENT NWAV PRESENTATION PRIZE


    "This is a prize for the best student presentation that treats variation in languages that have been missing from or are less frequently represented at NWAV."  (NWAV51 website)

    Laura won this for her HLVC talk, 

    "They’re j/u/st about the same!: Vowel Shift in Heritage and Homeland Seoul Korean."

    Laura describes her reaction, Naomi looks on proudly.

    Holman Tse, a member of the Stueber Prize Committee, joins in for a photo.
     

    Along with talks by Yoonjung Kang and her colleagues, Laura helped bring the number of talks about Korean up to 3 at this NWAV, contributing to the diversity of languages at this NWAV [see purple Korean slice in graph].



    *Previous UofT winners and runners-up:

    Justin Leung, NWAV49
    Chris LeGerme, NWAV49
    Robert Prazeres, NWAV48

    May 3, 2023

    Sali wins CLA National Achievement Award 2023

     

     Congratulations Sali!

    La Dre Sali Tagliamonte   [English version below]

    La professeure Sali Tagliamonte (PhD U. d’Ottawa, 1991; MA U. d’Ottawa 1983; BA (Hons) U. de Toronto, 1981), directrice du département de linguistique de l'Université de Toronto, est une spécialiste mondialement reconnue de la sociolinguistique variationniste. Sa solide réputation mondiale repose sur plusieurs aspects, notamment son développement astucieux de la théorie sociolinguistique, son adoption essentielle de la méthodologie sociolinguistique qui a changé la discipline et l'impact de ces contributions sur la description dans le domaine. En effet, son leadership scientifique au Canada et dans le monde, manifesté par des contributions pionnières substantielles et distinguées au cours des trois dernières décennies, une communication efficace des résultats de la recherche grâce au mentorat universitaire et à la sensibilisation du public, et des initiatives extraordinaires de renforcement de la communauté linguistique, ont élargi les frontières de la recherche et grandement enrichi le domaine de la sociolinguistique variationniste.

    Certaines de ses contributions les plus importantes sont les suivantes: elle a publié des livres universitaires innovateurs, des manuels scolaires révolutionnaires et une chronique authentique engageante et importante de l'émergence de ce sous-domaine linguistique du pionnier William Labov (1927-) et de ses contemporains. Ces travaux constituent à eux seuls une Å“uvre inhabituelle dans un domaine où les articles dans des revues internationales sont la norme. En effet, Cambridge University Press, le principal éditeur de travaux dans ce domaine, s'est engagé à recevoir d'elle deux autres livres. La professeure Tagliamonte a également initié et dirigé des avancées dans les méthodes statistiques et quantitatives pour étudier la variation et le changement de la langue; elle a dirigé plusieurs projets de collecte de données sociolinguistiques, inégalés en taille et en portée; ses archives VSLX Lab, contenant une profondeur temporelle inégalée de locuteurs couvrant les années de naissance de 1879 à 2011, et plus de 16,3 millions de mots de plus de 1,400 personnes, ont adopté, numérisé et transcrit un certain nombre d'enregistrements dialectologiques et d'histoire orale représentant les premiers stades de l'anglais en Ontario. En tant qu'enseignante remarquablement performante et innovante, elle a spécifiquement conçu des pratiques pour intégrer l'apprentissage et transmettre l'enthousiasme et l'importance de la recherche à ses étudiants, en commençant par les étudiants de premier cycle et en continuant jusqu'aux boursiers postdoctoraux. Enfin, grâce à des processus concurrentiels, elle a obtenu plus de deux millions de dollars en soutien financier fédéral pour aider à fournir ces contributions exceptionnelles.

    L'excellence en recherche de la professeure Tagliamonte a été reconnue par ses collègues nationaux et internationaux. En 2013, un jury composé de ses pairs l'a Ã©lue membre de la Société royale du Canada - la plus haute distinction pouvant être obtenue par un universitaire canadien. Cette même année, en compétition avec des collègues de toutes les disciplines, elle a également remporté l'une des six prestigieuses bourses nationales de recherche Killam. En mai 2017, elle a obtenu une chaire de recherche du Canada très convoitée, 1 sur 142 à l'échelle nationale; 1 sur 45 en Ontario; et 1 sur 28 à l'Université de Toronto, et a été Ã©lue, encore une fois par un jury composé de ses pairs, comme membre de la Linguistic Association of America (fondée en 1924) en reconnaissance de ses contributions distinguées.

    L'Association canadienne de linguistique est ravie de reconnaître la Dre Tagliamonte en lui décernant le Prix national d'excellence 2023.

     
    Dr. Sali Tagliamonte

    Professor Sali Tagliamonte (PhD U. of Ottawa, 1991; MA U. of Ottawa 1983; BA (Hons) U. of Toronto, 1981), Chair of the Department of Linguistics at the University of Toronto, is an acknowledged world-leading scholar of variationist sociolinguistics. Her sterling global reputation rests upon several foundations including her astute development of theory, her pivotal embrace of discipline-changing methodology, and the impact of these contributions on description in the field. Indeed, her scholarly leadership in Canada and beyond, manifested through substantial and distinguished pioneering contributions across three decades, effective communication of research findings through academic mentoring and public outreach, and extraordinary linguistic community-building initiatives, have extended research boundaries and greatly enriched the field of variationist sociolinguistics.
     
    Some of her most significant contributions include the following: she has published ground-breaking academic books, field-changing text books, and an engaging and important authentic chronicle of the emergence of this linguistic subfield from pioneer William Labov (1927- ) and his contemporaries onward. These alone constitute an unusual body of work in a field where journal articles are the norm. Indeed, Cambridge University Press, the leading publisher of work in this field, has contracted to receive two more books from her. Professor Tagliamonte has also initiated and led advances in statistical and quantitative methods for studying language variation and change; she spearheaded multiple sociolinguistic data collection projects, unmatched in size and scope; her VSLX Lab archives, containing an unparalleled time depth of speakers spanning birth years from 1879–2011, and over 16.3 million words from over 1,400 individuals, have adopted, digitized and transcribed a number of dialectological and oral history recordings representing earlier stages of English in Ontario. As a remarkably successful and innovative teacher, she has specifically designed practices to embed learning and convey the excitement and importance of research to her students, beginning with undergraduates and continuing through to post-doctoral fellows. Finally, through competitive processes, she secured over two million dollars in federal funding support to help deliver these outstanding contributions.

    Professor Tagliamonte’s research excellence has been recognized by her national and international colleagues. In 2013, a jury of her peers elected her as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada - the highest honour achievable by a Canadian academic. That same year, competing against colleagues across all disciplines, she also won one of only six prestigious national Killam Research Fellowships. In May, 2017, she secured a coveted Canada Research Chair, 1 of 142 nationally; 1of 45 in Ontario; and 1 of 28 at the University of Toronto, and was elected, again by a jury of her peers, as a Fellow to the Linguistic Association of America (est. 1924) in recognition of her distinguished contributions.
     
    The Canadian Linguistic Association is delighted to recognize Dr. Tagliamonte by awarding her the 2023 National Achievement Award.

    December 8, 2022

    First-ever winners of the Dean's Research Excellence Awards!

    This year, the Faculty of Arts and Science established the Dean's Research Excellence Awards to recognize faculty members whose research achievements have been cited as especially noteworthy!

    Given that brief description, it is no surprise to see that Naomi Nagy (Faculty) is one of the five recipients! As this award is aimed to help researches compete successfully in national award competitions, winners will receive $10, 000 to further their professional development. 

    The five recipients of this year's Dean's Research Excellence Award: (clockwise from top left) Wil Cunningham (Psychology), Megan Frederickson (Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Randall Hansen (Political Science, Munk School) Naomi Nagy (Linguistics) and Kaley Walker (Physics) 


    Nagy’s Heritage Language Variation and Change Project positions her at the front and centre of her generation of scholars. With students and colleagues in several countries, she has been documenting studies of variation in 10 heritage languages spoken in Toronto. Nagy has also been engaged in a longitudinal study of an endangered, unwritten, Franco-Provençal language called Faetar.

    Huge congratulations goes out to Naomi Nagy! We are excited to see more of her amazing work! 

    June 16, 2022

    Undergrad Award Recipient 🎓🎉

    Huge congratulations to Gianna Francesca Giovio Canavesi (now UTM undergrad alum) for graduating and receiving two esteemed awards! 

    She is the recipient of the UofT Excellence Award for her work on "Production and Perception of Keiyo Vowels,"a research project supervised by Dr. Avery Ozburn. She also received the Outstanding Program Performance Award in Language Studies at UTM! 

    Congrats Gianna! Your hard work has paid off and we are excited to see the amazing things you'll accomplish as you pursue your Masters in Speech-Language Pathology! 



    March 29, 2022

    Elaine Gold Award Recipient!

    We want to give a huge congratulations to the 2021 recipient of the Elaine Gold Award; Robin Huo! 

    This award is given in recognition of Outstanding Achievements in the required 200-level Linguistics courses. 

    Robin is a third-year student studying linguistics and computer science. He has had an interest in languages and computing since middle school, which has led him to the University of Toronto for its reputation for excellence in both fields. He now hopes to combine these interests through the development or application of computational methods to contribute towards linguistic research.

    Congrats on your amazing work Robin!