LingComm

The LingComm Grants are back!

These grants started in 2020, as "hey let's help get lingcomm projects going during lockdown"

They've since run in 2022 and 2024, and thanks to generous folks we've always given out more than expected

But they only work if people apply!!! Please share this!!

Working on a project bringing linguistics to broader audiences? Apply for a 2026 LingComm Grant! Due: April 30, 2026. Details at link in bio.

Working on a project bringing linguistics to broader audiences?

The 2026 LingComm Grants are $300 USD grants to help you with your project!

Please apply and/or share with any up and coming lingcommers you know!

Details:
lingcomm.org/grants
#linguistics #langsky #lingcomm

World Linguistics Day November 26, 2025 stats! 127 greetings 34 countries 70 cities lingcomm.org

Who participated in #WorldLinguisticsDay 2025?

🌏 127 "Happy World Linguistics Day" or similar greetings
🌍 from 70 cities
🌎 in 34 countries

We've compiled these and more stats in a blog post:
lingcomm.org/2025/12/15/s...

Post #3 in the LingComm IRL series is about how doctoral candidate Lee Murray got asked by a friend to do some talks for a skeptics conference in Australia and they ended up directly changing people's minds on prescriptivism!

lingcomm.org/2025/09/30/l...

Post #2 in the LingComm IRL series is about how PhD student Mari-Liis Korkus got inspired by talking with people at the first @lingcomm.bsky.social conference to set up a linguistics club for high school students at home in Tartu, Estonia!

lingcomm.org/2025/08/27/l...

LingComm IRL with Girl Scouts – Interview with Nikole Patson Nikole Patson is a psycholinguistics professor at the Ohio State University, who’s been doing lingcomm with Girl Scouts in Columbus, Ohio, USA. Dr Patson kindly answered our questions for thi…

Starting a new series of interviews on the @lingcomm.bsky.social blog with people who are doing neat community collaboration linguistics projects that don't otherwise have much of a web presence

Starting with Linguistics + Girl Scouts!
lingcomm.org/2025/07/09/l...

World Linguistics Day World Linguistics Day is November 26th: what are you doing to celebrate?

World Linguistics Day is coming up on November 26th!

Have you made any plans yet to celebrate?
lingcomm.org/2025/10/26/w...

A screenshot of all the little avatars for people who attended LingComm25

That's a wrap for #LingComm25! And it was the biggest LingComm ever.
We'll be back next time for more panels, talks, how-tos, posters, and great chats with all the linguistic communicators.
Thanks to everyone who attended and made this conference such a success.

Plenary: @emilymbender.bsky.social on text extruders:
"Why are we automating that? How does it fit into the context we're trying to use it…? Who gets hurt if it goes poorly, if it puts errors? Who gets hurt if it works as intended, and who's benefiting from that being automated?
#LingComm25

@drjpb.bsky.social: "If you write something inaccesible, did you really write it?" After being intimidated by the academic style, he realised: "If I can't understand it, they didn't do a good job!"
#LingComm25

What does it mean to talk like a person, and not like a journal?
@mikemena.bsky.social: "It's more than switching vocabulary words. It's relating to a person on a different level."
Try using YOU. Just addressing the reader gives it a whole different vibe.
#LingComm25

Doing a Linguistics Day for high schoolers? Take a tip on terms from Frances Blanchette.

Morphology? ❌
Wordmaxxing ✅

#LingComm25

@malvinanissim.bsky.social heads up an Ethics in AI course at the University of Groningen, where one final project is to give a presentation to high school students. The uni students report that having to explain concepts to younger people forces them to consider multiple perspectives.
#LingComm25

"You take a complicated subject that everyone THINKS they understand and explain it in a way that people REALLY understand." @grantbarrett.com on a huge value of linguistics and lingcomm training
#LingComm25

If you can bring a bit of childlike silliness, even adults will respond.
#LingComm25

@Laura Wagner and Cecile McKee are showing how to share linguistics with respect. Right now they're role-playing teaching IPA with nametags, and linguistic concepts with dinosaurs! 🤯
#LingComm25

Valerie Friedman: "Forget what you know as a linguist in many ways, and all those internal battles we have… It's not about dumbing it down. It's about simplifying."
#LingComm25

Hedde Zeijlstra: "Try to think what you're going to accomplish with your writing" before you start. "Try to keep in mind who you write for."
#LingComm25

Final thoughts on book publishing:
Evangelia Adamou: "I feel personally that there is a lot of pressure to build your own audience. What I liked about @MITPress was they built the audience for me."
#LingComm25

Author Hedde Zeijlstra on publishing: "The hardest thing about writing was that there was a linguist sitting on my shoulder" playing the part of a critic.
"You just have to beat up that person on your shoulder."
#LingComm25

Tips on podcast audio from @becauselanguage.com
How hard do you go on the edit?
- UMs and UHs have a function, so try to leave them.
- Honour the conversation you had. Don't overwork it.
- Serve the show — if it's distracting, cut it.
And always always always record more than one way.
#LingComm25

Valerie Friedman has an important tip on publishing (on the English-speaking scene): Agents get paid when you do.
"If an agent is asking you for money up front — run."
#LingComm25

Evangelia Adamou: Writing a popsci book is a great way to consolidate yourself as an expert in the field.
However, "popular books don't always count the same [as academic books], especially early in your career. You may want to wait to get tenure first, before writing a popular book."
#LingComm25

Valerie Friedman on writing a popular book: "There's a point at which you have the confidence to say what *WE* do, rather than just what *I* do."
#LingComm25

Valerie Friedman has studied "vowel movement".
"I know I can say that in this crowd and not be mistaken for a gastroenterologist."
#LingComm25

Laura Wagner, on measuring impact in lingcomm:
“Not that any of us would ever have wrong ideas… but itš useful to have data to back up that we’re doing things the right way.”
#LingComm25

An interesting insight from Ionica Smeets:
In Netherlands, one goal is to increase public trust in science.
Another is increasing the trust scientists have in the public.
Mutual trust.
#LingComm25

A chart with faces ranging from happy to sad How do you feel after the experiment? Which words describe you and your feelings best?

Ionica Smeets road-tested their youth-oriented maths book. They used this chart to gauge emotional response; this is a good predictor for retention of material.
#LingComm25

An arrow that contains pieces like a puzzle. goal, audience, medium, style, topic

Ionica Smeets points out that there's a lot that goes into communication! Where do you start?
Answer: yes.
#LingComm25

Watching the Day 2 opening keynote at #LingComm25 from famous Dutch science communicator
@ionica.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy

"You can always tell how much jargon you're allowed to use by how colourful and glossy the photos are in the publication"