Welcome to MUSL!
The Memorial University Sociolinguistics Laboratory (MUSL, pronounced “mussel”) was established in 2006 and is located in the Facilities Management building, FM-2006. Our goal is to be a resource for local sociolinguists, and eventually for researchers worldwide who are interested in language and society in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Latest news
New sociolinguistic textbook by Gerard Van Herk
Posted 10 January 2012
Congratulations to Gerard Van Herk, whose new textbook What is Sociolinguistics? will be released next month. Check it out here.
MUSL featured in Research Matters
Posted 10 January 2012
Last fall, Janet Harron sat down with Gerard Van Herk as well as graduate students Evan Hazenberg and Suzanne Power to talk about ongoing research initiatives at MUSL. You can read the article here.
Call for papers: Canadian Linguistic Association 2012
Posted 10 January 2012
The Canadian Linguistic Association will hold its 2012 conference as part of the
Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Waterloo,
Waterloo, ON Canada, from Saturday May 26 to Monday May 28, 2012. Members are
invited to submit abstracts representing all areas of linguistics. Only members
in good standing for 2012 may submit an abstract. Please visit the conference website for more information.
Abstract requirements and submission guidelines can be found here.
The deadline is February 5, 2012.
Call for papers: Change and Variation in Canada VI
Posted 05 January 2012
CVC VI will be held in Montreal June 2-3, 2012 and will be co-hosted by McGill University and the Université du Québec à Montréal. Presentations (in English or French) will be 20 minutes long, followed by a 10-minute question period. Abstracts should be no more than 300 words (not including title and references) and should be submitted to cvcanada6 at gmail dot com. Visit the website for more information.
The deadline is February 15, 2012.
Call for papers: New Ways of Analyzing Variation 41
Posted 12 December 2011
New Ways of Analyzing Variation 41 will be held in Bloomington at Indiana University on October 25-28, 2012. Invited Speakers: Norma Mendoza-Denton, Dennis R. Preston, and Sali Tagliamonte.
NWAV 41 invites submissions for papers and posters on all scientific approaches to analyzing and interpreting language variation and change, including papers that combine perspectives to enrich our understandings. Authors may submit up to two abstracts, one individual and one joint.
Abstract should not exceed 500 words, excluding title and references. (There may be an additional page for references.) Abstracts will be subjected to blind review, so author names should not appear anywhere on abstracts. Authors should include the following information on the EasyAbstracts web page: (1) name(s) of author(s); (2) affiliation(s); (3) postal address, email address, and phone number; (4) five keywords that describe the research; and (5) preference for oral or poster presentation (or either). Abstracts must be submitted through EasyAbstracts (EasyAbs) starting on April 15, 2012. Please direct all inquiries to nwav41(AT)indiana(DOT)edu.
The deadline is May 31, 2012.
Lavender Languages & Linguistics Conference
Posted 12 December 2011
MUSL worker Evan Hazenberg (M.A. Candidate, Memorial University) will be heading to Washington, D. C. in February to present a paper at the 19th Annual Lavender Languages & Linguistics Conference. His talk is entitled "Speaking of gender: Stereotype, attitude and intention in transsexual language choice". [abstract]
Gerard Van Herk is front page news!
Posted 21 November 2011
This past weekend, Gerard Van Herk graced the cover of the Telegram (Weekender) in a write-up on MUSL research, particularly current projects on English in Petty Harbour. His interview with Barb Sweet focuses on how Newfoundland English is NOT dying and discusses sociolinguistic conditioning of s-marking, a rare occurrence in media pieces. You can read the article here.
Upcoming Linguistics Seminar Series talk
Posted 21 November 2011
Eric Acton (PhD candidate, Stanford University) will be at Memorial University on Thursday November 24th to give a talk entitled "That straight talk": Demonstratives, solidarity, and Sarah Palin. (Co-authored with Christopher Potts). All are welcome to attend. Time: 3:30. Location: SN 2098.
Abstract
Sarah Palin’s manner of speaking has been the subject of both fervent praise and impassioned criticism. Supporters find Palin’s speech to be accessible, engaging, and “real” while opponents label her manner of speaking presumptuous, inauthentic, and “pseudo-folksy.” This talk focuses on one salient feature of Palin’s speech—namely, that characteristic use of demonstratives, as in the quote below from the 2008 vice-presidential debate:
(1) Americans are craving that straight talk.
Echoing Lakoff (1974), Liberman (2008, 2010) claims that such “affective demonstratives…carry an emotional as well as demonstrative load,” by implying a degree of “shared familiarity” between interlocutors. In this talk, I will present the results of two corpus-based experiments that speak to this claim. The first, based on users’ responses to posts on a social media web site, provides quantitative support for the notion that demonstratives can foster or manufacture a sense of familiarity, empathy,and solidarity. The second examines the 2008 vice-presidential debate, showing that Palin used demonstratives at a much higher rate than her opponent, Joe Biden. The results of the study further suggest that Palin’s use of demonstratives was part of a broader stylistic approach for engaging and aligning with her audience.The talk concludes by reflecting on how Palin’s use of demonstratives may help to explain why her speech is so polarizing.
