Univ.-Prof. Dr. Kevin Tang

Thank you @sell-hhu.bsky.social for contributing to our annual Lehrendenvollversammlung and sharing with us the services that your team provide.

Vorträge - Tag der Forschung 5. Juli 2025 Übersichtsplan der Vorträge Studierendenvorträge – Hörsaal 5C In den Studierendenvorträgen kann man shene und hören, dass Forschung ein integraler Bestandteil des Studiums an der HHU ist. In jedem der...

Here’s to a future shaped by curious minds, strong mentorship, and a commitment to research excellence! 💬✨4/4
#TagderForschung #EnglishLinguistics #EnglishStudies #StudentResearch #UniLife #UniversityResearch #TeachingAndResearch #ProudDepartment

tagderforschung.hhu.de?page_id=94

🎓 Student researchers:
Andre Oppenheimer & Dalia Carvalho Rodrigues — B.A. English and American Studies
Dmitry Gromadsky — M.A. Comparative Studies in English and American Language, Literature, and Culture
Ann-Sophie Haan – MA Linguistic and proud member of our department 🌟 3/4
#studentresearcher

🔬 Our teaching staff presenters
: Akhilesh Kakolu Ramarao (PhD candidate) and Dr. Christian Uffmann (www.instagram.com/phonobro/) 🌟 2/4

@sell-hhu.bsky.social
#TeachingAndResearch
#ResearchledTeaching #UniversityResearch

Department of English Language and Linguistics (ANG3) ,
@hhu.de
strongly represented at Tag der Forschung (Research Day) 🧠📚 putting the ✨#glamour back into 📚 #grammar. We’re showing great teaching enables great research — at every level. 🌟 1/4
#TagderForschung #EnglishLinguistics #ProudDepartment

Welcome - Young Academy of Europe

4/ 🔗 Learn more about the Young Academy of Europe: yacadeuro.org
#YoungAcademyOfEurope #Linguistics #Academia#Mentorship #EarlyCareerResearch
#AcademicLeadership #ResearchCommunity
#Academia #SciencePolicy #InterdisciplinaryResearch

3/ I'm honoured to join this vibrant community and excited to contribute to its mission, especially in supporting early-career researchers. I also look forward to helping shape research strategies at the European level and bringing back what I learn to my university, @hhu.de
#KnowledgeExchange

2/ It brings together early- to mid-career researchers working in EU/associated countries who are active in both research and academic service. Membership is selective typically for those within 12 years of their PhDs, engaged in mentoring, group leadership, or public engagement alongside research.

1/ ✨ I'm happy to share that I’ve been accepted as a Fellow of the Young Academy of Europe(YAE) as of January 3rd, 2025. The YAE is a network of researchers across Europe focused on science policy, interdisciplinary collaboration, and supporting the next generation of scholars. #YoungAcademyOfEurope

📄 Anna Sophia Stein and Kevin Tang
Title: Modeling Probabilistic Reduction using Information Theory and Naive Discriminative Learning

#Interspeech2025 #SpeechRecognition #ASR #Bias
#Sociophonetics #Sociolinguistics
#InformationTheory #NaiveDiscriminativeLearning
#ComputationalLinguistics🧵3/3

📄 Hamid Mojarad and Kevin Tang:
Title: Automatic Speech Recognition of African American English: Lexical and Contextual Effects
#AAE #AfricanAmericanEnglish #phonologicalvariation #Bias #ASR 🧵2/3

🚨 Paper alert 🚨 🎉 Huge congrats to my mentees & collaborators for getting 3 papers accepted to @interspeech.bsky.social 2025 Preprints come soon!

📄 Dana Serditova, Kevin Tang & Jochen Steffens
Title: Automatic Speech Recognition Biases in Newcastle English: an Error Analysis #Geordie #ASR #Bias🧵1/2

These insights enhance our understanding of how acoustic cues influence the perception of credibility in speech. They have potential applications in communication strategies🗣️, media presentations 🎥, and the development of AI voice systems🤖💬. #CommunicationResearch 🧵5/5

Key findings:
Credible speech shows 🎤 higher energy (MFCC1) and 🗣️ faster rates than neutral. Irony features 🗣️ faster rates and higher spectral centroid. 👩‍🦰Gender differences in irony: women speak faster, men use higher pitch. 🧵4/5

This study analyzed acoustic features distinguishing credible, neutral & ironic speech using a German corpus by amateur speakers. A machine-learning-based multinomial logistic regression with recursive feature elimination identified key features linked to perceived credibility. #MachineLearning 🧵3/5

This is the first publication stemmed from the collaboration between my lab (slam.phil.hhu.de) at @hhu.de and the Institute of Sound and Vibration Engineering at Hochschule Düsseldorf @zdd-hsd.bsky.social with Prof. Dr. Jochen Steffens, Dr. Patrick Blättermann and Maximilian Sattler. 🧵2/5

🚨 New Paper Alert 🚨 🗣️ 📄 "How does a credible voice sound?" in the Journal of Acoustical Society of America @asa-news.bsky.social

🔗 Read the full paper here (doi.org/10.1121/10.0...)

#VoicePerception #Credibility #Acoustics #SpeechScience
🧵1/5

9/End Joint work by:
Alexis Davis, Joshua Martin, Eric Cooks, Melissa Vilaro,
Danyell Wilson-Howard, @kevintang.org, Janice Krieger.
Affiliations: @hhu.bsky.social, @mayocliniccancer.bsky.social, UF Linguistics, @ufhealthcancer.bsky.social, @ifas.ufl.edu, Bethune Cookman University. Please repost!

8/ Intrigued? 📑 Our full article (doi.org/10.2196/57528) breaks down:
✅ The iterative design process
✅ Lessons learned
✅ Opportunities for process improvement
We hope this inspires more inclusive approaches to health communication and bridge the gap between "English" and "Englishes."

7/ 🧩 This isn't just about AAE—it's a call to action for inclusive health communication.

No "one size fits all" for English speakers. Let’s adapt our strategies to reflect the richness of linguistic diversity. 🌟
#HealthCommunication

6/ 💬 Message designers: Let’s rethink how we approach language in interventions.

Beyond translations or "simplification," linguistic responsiveness means understanding the cultural and social nuances of how people speak and connect. 🌎
#LinguisticResponsiveness

5/ 🚧 Challenges? Oh, there were plenty!

Social stereotypes about AAE were tough to navigate. They slowed us down, but also deepened our understanding.

Our takeaway: A diverse team was essential to address these implicit barriers. 🤝

4/ 💡 Key insight: The process matters as much as the product.

We collaborated with:
👉 Communication scientists
👉 Linguists
👉 Community advisory boards
👉 Professional voice talents

Each voice helped us navigate challenges (and biases!). 🔍

3/ 🗣️ Our focus: Speakers of African American English (AAE).

We developed a culturally & linguistically grounded cancer prevention intervention, tackling not just the what of health messaging but how it's said.
#CancerPrevention

2/ 🌟 Why does linguistic accommodation matter in health interventions? 🌟

Language shapes how we connect, understand, and respond. But what happens when health messages are designed for "standard English" but audiences speak diverse "Englishes"? 🤔
#PublicHealth

From English to “Englishes”: A Process Perspective on Enhancing the Linguistic Responsiveness of Culturally Tailored Cancer Prevention Interventions Linguistic accommodation refers to the process of adjusting one’s language, speech, or communication style to match or adapt to that of others in a social interaction. It is known to be vital to effec...

1/🚨Exciting news!🚨 Our new article is out in the Journal of Participatory Medicine @jmirpub.bsky.social ! 🎉
"From English to 'Englishes': A Process Perspective on Enhancing the Linguistic Responsiveness of Culturally Tailored Cancer Prevention Interventions"✨
Key highlights! 🧵👇
doi.org/10.2196/57528