UMD Language Science Center

Rebel with a Clause: film screening and Q&A with author Ellen Jovin and director Brandt Johnson, October 6 at 3:30 PM, Hoff Theater, UMD (www.go.umd.edu/rwac). Image shows Ellen Jovin at a “Grammar Table” with Brandt Johnson and a collage of travel images. Logos of event co-sponsors appear at the bottom: Maryland Language Science Center, Linguistics Dept., UMD Writing Center, School of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures, and Teaching & Learning, Policy & Leadership.

Register now!🚨📣 Join us on October 6th at UMD’s Hoff Theater for a screening of Rebel with a Clause and a live Q&A with author Ellen Jovin. Follow her 50-state grammar road trip, proof that even comma debates can bring us together. 🔗 Click here to register on Eventbrite: go.umd.edu/rwac

We didn’t have an LSLT today, but here are some great shots from Sanshiroh Ogawa’s talk last week to make up for it!

Two of our fantastic @umdleadlab.bsky.social undergrads will be presenting posters at Language Science Day next Friday, 9/19. We hope to see you there!

Language Science Day is right around the corner! Register by THIS MONDAY, September 15th, for our signature annual event: go.umd.edu/lsd25

Tomorrow! Be there and be square 😎

Yesterday, linguist Kate Mooney kicked off this semester’s Language Science Lunch Talk series with her presentation, Limits of Gestural Displacement. Click the link in our bio to read her abstract on the events calendar.

(THREAD 2/2) Explore family-friendly language science activities, try a study on climate change perception with @langscistation.bsky.social, and grab some free stickers!

👉When: September 6th • 8:30 to 6:00
👉Where: Walter E. Washington Convention Center
👉What: go.umd.edu/lsc-nbf-2025

"Library of Congress National Book Festival" is written in bold brown text in a white circle, layered over a pattern that reads "25 years" several times at different orientations

THREAD 1/2 Join us on September 6th at the @librarycongress.bsky.social #NationalBookFestival, our 2nd year as a Featured STEM District Organization! 🎉

Details in the thread below 👇🚨

SNL 2025 Access Award application The Society for Neurobiology of Language 2025 Access Award is being announced as a new opportunity for this 2025 meeting. This award will waive the registration fees for up to 20 students, trainees, a...

New funding is available for the Society for Neurobiology of Language 2025 meeting in DC! Gallaudet's Dr. Quant invites colleagues + students to attend!

Up to 20 randomly selected registration waivers are offered for disabled attendees. All disabilities welcome. Apply: tinyurl.com/SNLaccessaward

Language scientists filled the seats in our summer stats workshop quickly 🏃 This week's topic: Data Simulation & Hierarchical Models: Foundations with Dr. Scott Jackson 📈

Read about the workshop and next week's topic, Bayesian Modelling & Advanced Simulation: go.umd.edu/lsc-summer-ws

Study takes place at Gallaudet University
Email action.brain.lab@gallaudet.edu with subject: Iconicity Study to sign up or learn more!

IRB approved.

✅ You may qualify if you:
• Are a native English speaker
• Don’t know ASL or any other language before age 6
• Are right-handed
• Have normal or corrected-to-normal vision
• Have no history of neurological disorders or head injury

What you’ll do:
• Watch videos of ASL signs + name pictures while we record your brainwaves (EEG)!
• Get paid $20/hour (session lasts about 1 hour)

🧠 Paid Research Study on Language & the Brain! 🧠

The Action and Brain Lab at Gallaudet University is looking for hearing, non-signing adults to participate in a study on how we process American Sign Language.

DETAILS IN THREAD BELOW 👇

Photo of Paola (right) in front of her poster "Immigrant Roots, Cognitive Fruits: Does the bilingual advantage in theory of mind relate to immigration generation?"

Photo of Paola presenting her poster "Immigrant Roots, Cognitive Fruits: Does the bilingual advantage in theory of mind relate to immigration generation?" to a session attendee

So unbelievably proud of @alexusgramirez.bsky.social and my mentee Paola for her first ever poster presentation at UMD's SRI/REACH poster session today! Yay Paola!! 🥳🎉

Grant due today

Recordings from the Conference on Human Sentence Processing are officially on our YouTube channel. Watch them all here: www.youtube.com/@umd_lsc

LSC Coffee Hours are back! Stop by on Tuesdays from 9:30 AM to 12:00 PM for ✨free✨ coffee and pastries 🥐☕️ Come get some work done!

The Language Science Center presents... Language Science Lunch Talks: Kuan-Jung Huang. Understand Child Sentence Processing in Reading: Computational and Experimental Approaches. May 1, 2025. Lunch served at 12:15 PM. Language Science Center. 2130 HJ Patterson Hall.

We're kicking off May with our next LSLT, "Understand child sentence processing in reading: computational and experimental approaches" with Kuan-Jung Huang 🗣️📚

Join Dr. Jordan Boyd-Graber for a talk on why AI tools still struggle with questions, from movie plots to art descriptions. Stick around to test your knowledge against a trivia-playing robot! 🤖

📅 Sat, May 10 | Language Science Fair
📍 Planet Word | Free + all ages
🔗 Link in bio to register

Thanks to all the @umdleadlab.bsky.social friends who wrote the nomination letter!
@gavkhar-a.bsky.social
@ellroche.bsky.social
@elliektaylor.bsky.social
@alexamcd.bsky.social
@alexusgramirez.bsky.social
Victoria Terry (HDQM)
Mariah Egerton (HDQM)
Alicia Mortimer (HDQM)
Deena Shariq (PSYC)

LSC member @rachelromeo.bsky.social received the Graduate Mentor of the Year Award, awarded by the UMD Graduate School! Congratulations Rachel 🥳

The Language Science Center presents... Language Science Lunch talks: Susannah Paletz. From New Methods to New Findings: A Multidisciplinary Meander. APRIL 17TH, 2025. LUNCH SERVED AT 12:15 PM. LANGUAGE SCIENCE CENTER. 2130 HJ PATTERSON HALL

We're back! Join us this week for our latest LSLT with Susannah Paletz 🎉 Click the link to read her full abstract on our events calendar 📅
🔗 Learn more: languagescience.umd.edu/events/langu...

🚨Reminder🚨 This week's LSLT has been canceled, but here's a Minecraft movie meme to make you feel better. See everyone next week!

Shout out to Rochelle Nelson, our Admin and Finance Coordinator, for letting us display our stickers in her gorgeous handmade bowl! 🎨

Who doesn't love stickers? Here's a sneak peek at some of the ✨exclusive✨ freebies the LCC team has created for the 11th Language Creation Conference (LCC11), happening April 11–13 at UMD! Visit conlang.org to learn more about LCC11.

It was a privilege to host Julie Sedivy, author of Linguaphile: A Life of Language Love, at our most recent Language Science Lunch Talk. Until next time!

📸 Beautiful photo by Andrea Zukowski

Now that we’ve found our UMD language friends, who should we add next? go.bsky.app/75ZZntU