Farewell WHITL

After 15 years of activity, the Toronto Linguistics Blog is retiring. Our first post was published on November 16th, 2009, and our last on December 31st, 2024. Almost 1800 posts and 700,000 views later, WHITL? is closing its doors, as all good things must come to an end. What a journey it's been!

While WHITL? itself is retiring, the website will remain public as an archive of 15 years of department history, and new blog posts will be uploaded to the department website. This is not the end of the blog, but rather the beginning of a new chapter on a new platform. 

Thank you to everyone who has read, commented, and supported WHITL? over the years. On behalf of the Linguistics Department and blog writers, your continued support and presence is greatly appreciated. We hope to see your engagement continue as we transition to the department website in 2025!

Happy New Year and farewell from your final WHITL? writer!

RIP Bob Bayley

RIP Bob Bayley

 

We are so sad to learn that Dr. Robert Bayley, Professor Emeritus of Linguistics, UC Davis, and an associate member of the Centre for Research on Language Contact at York University in Toronto, died this week (Dec. 29, 2024). 

He made many important contributions in documenting language variation, particularly in bilingual and second language populations, including co-editing The Oxford Handbook of Sociolinguistics.

Many of his will remember him for a visit to our Department in 2022 as part of our department's UTQAP review. As always, he was generous with his time and knowledge.

He will be deeply missed.  Tributes are collecting here: https://www.weremember.com/robert-bayley/0b4p/memories. Feel free to add yours!

Department field trip to Niagara: My Fair Lady at the Shaw Festival

Earlier this fall, the Department of Linguistics invited faculty members and graduate students to watch My Fair Lady at the Shaw Festival at Niagara-on-the-Lake. 

The musical is about a phonetics professor and language documenter, and discusses implicit bias in language. 

Thank you everyone for coming!

Grad Writing Day

Group smiles for a job well done (or well on the way)

On Friday, Dec 13, 2024, graduate students rallied in silence in the Lounge for a "Writing Day" retreat. Term papers, GPs, and data analyses received a long-due, disciplined treatment! 

Satisfied writers Rhoda and Claudia

With a lot of enthusiastic feedback on the experience, the Department hopes to host a more regular writing accountability group in the future.

Thanks, Claudia, for organizing!

 

RIP William Labov

 Here are a few of the many tribute pages to Bill, who died on Dec. 17, 2024, at the age of 97.

 

He influenced many of us in the Department, sometimes in ways we don't even recognize. He is already missed!

https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=67399&unapproved=1625507&moderation-hash=bd11b34febeebb20dbf9fbaf6de83e83#comment-1625507Links to an external site.

 

https://www.linguisticamente.org/william-labov-1927-2024/Links to an external site.

This tribute has one of Naomi's favourite quotes (from here), from Labov many years ago:

"We have a growing number of students who are afraid neither of people nor of mathematical symbols."

His obituary was published in the Philadelphia Inquirer: https://www.inquirer.com/obituaries/william-labov-father-sociolinguistics-dead-20241223.html?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=ios&utm_campaign=app_ios_homefeed_share&utm_content=FQJKVMLHWRAG3P7C2XDLXR6OFI

 

Undergraduate Award Recipients 2023-2024

 Please join us in congratulating our Undergraduate Linguistics Award recipients! 

The Jack Chambers Award is awarded to Robin Huo.

The Henry Rogers Memorial Award is awarded to Lucy Meanwell (MA student).

The McNab Scholarship in Linguistics is awarded to Zayd Jose Diz.

The Elaine Gold Award for Undergraduate Achievement in Linguistics is awarded to Benjamin Kobina Eku Sangmuah. 

The Massam/Roberge Scholarship in Linguistics is awarded to Charlie Morocz. 

Please join us in congratulating our winners, Robin, Lucy, Zayd, Benjamin, and Charlie! Well done everyone.

Professor Naomi Nagy's Book Launch at the Canadian Language Museum

Professor Naomi Nagy (department chair) introduced her new work, Heritage Languages: Extending Variationist Approaches, earlier this semester at the Canadian Language Museum at Glendon College. 

This book is a part of the larger Heritage Language Variation and Change in Toronto project (HLVC), and an accumulation of hard work of linguists at the UofT, and heritage language speakers across the city. 

Professor Nagy at the Book Launch

Read the publication at this link, accessible through University of Toronto libraries.

Congratulations Professor Nagy on your publication and launch! 

Canadian Language Museum
Picture credits: Craig Diegel