Welcoming the Linguistics Dept.'s New Social Media Coordinator

    WHITL? has a new admin! 

Hi everyone, my name is Natasha Vujičić, and I’m the Linguistics Department’s Social Media Coordinator for this year. I’m beyond excited to start writing and bringing my vision for the blog to life! 

A bit about me:

I’m a third year undergraduate Linguistics specialist, with a huge passion for phonetics, phonology, Slavic languages, semantics, and heritage languages (although syntax is near and dear to my heart as well). I’ve been obsessed with language, speech, and sound since I was a child, and I treasure the fact that my passions have manifested so clearly in my studies at UofT. I love music, art, backpacking, and reading. My favourite book is The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, and my favourite bands/musicians are Pink Floyd, Yes, Fela Kuti, Nina Simone, and Kendrick Lamar. Feel free to send me music/book recommendations!

My goals for this year are as follows:

a. I want to involve student and faculty input as much as possible. I want to hear your ideas, feedback, and suggestions, because this is your blog! What’s the best way to get news communicated to you? What topics do you like getting covered on the blog? The best way to find out is to ask. I’ll be surveying students and faculty later this month for ideas, but please email me any and all of your thoughts (and fill out the survey below).

b. Visually re-work the blog and social media. I want to create a stronger identity for the department in regards to our digital presence, and I think creating a visually cohesive presence can facilitate that process!

c. More consistent posting on our Instagram and other social media. What’s the point of having a department social media if not to spread the word about department news? I want more people in the loop about events and opportunities, and posting consistently and punctually is critical. 

I’m stoked to get started on the blog and hear all of your wonderful ideas for it. That being said, I’ve set up a survey for WHITL? readers to respond to with feedback, ideas, suggestions, and anything else blog/social media-related. This form will be active throughout the year. There’s so much I want to do and only so much time, so contact me sooner rather than later! Should you want a blog post published on a noteworthy event, publication, or other news, please feel free to reach out. The same applies for our other social media – if you’d like a linguistics-related event notice posted, I’m the one to ask. Thanks for reading and I look forward to connecting with all of you!

utlinblog@gmail.com

natasha.vujicic@mail.utoronto.ca (I’ll respond quickest here)

@uoftlinguistics on Instagram, Twitter/X, and Facebook

Survey link: https://forms.office.com/r/9rJ5MQjRw3

Song Jiang successfully defends Thesis Proposal!

 

On September 27, 2024, Song Jiang (now PhD candidate) presented his thesis proposal, "Articulatory variability in the articulation and coarticulation of Mandarin rhotic vowels"

His supervisory committee consists of Alexei Kochetov (Supervisor; faculty), Peter Jurgec (faculty), and Tim Bressmann (faculty, SLP).

Congratulations Song on a successful thesis proposal presentation!

Linguistics Grad School Application Support Program for Black and Indigenous Students

The Racial Justice Committee in the Department of Linguistics at the University of Toronto is implementing a program to support students who identify as Black or Indigenous on applying to graduate school in linguistics in North America. This program is open to students applying to any graduate program in Canada/the United States, and not necessarily to the University of Toronto. 

Submissions will be accepted until December 1, 2024, but space is limited so we encourage applicants to apply early!

Students interested to participate will receive one round of feedback on their application materials, and anyone interested can fill out this form: https://forms.gle/wUvE4J9RAt4Ue4Li6.

The Department of Linguistics celebrates the start of the 2024-25 academic year!

On Friday, September 13, 2024, UofT linguists participated in an all-day event celebrating the start of the new academic year and, more importantly, welcoming new members to the department!

The day began with breakfast in the department lounge. Folks mingled around and numerous faculty members and students showcased their research posters. 

Keir Moulton (Graduate Chair) and Naomi Nagy (Department Chair) gave their welcome remarks. Keir reminded us that we also work on Fridays: we participate in research groups and learn new things; and we catch-up with colleagues as part of community building. Naomi then introduced the new cohort of MA and PhD students as well as our post-doctoral fellows.

Outside the lounge, students and faculty teamed up to play bowling! Congratulations to Derek Denis (faculty) and Nick Haggarty (PhD student), the winning team! 

The day progressed with a series of lightning talks in various research groups and labs. We got to hear about recent and on-going work in the (H)LVC, CSoL, Syntax, Semantics, PHON, and LDDR groups. We also got to see the Phonetics Lab, Experimental Syntax-Semantics Lab, the TLC lab, and the newly renovated grad space! After lunch, we got to hear from some faculty members about their research interests and works-in-progress.

We capped off our second-annual Kick-off Day with a welcome party at The Pilot! Department members enjoyed an afternoon filled with food, drinks, and laughter. 

Thank you to everyone (especially our administrative staff) for making this day a success!