The Language Project Podcast
Come and take a listen to all the ways that language impacts our society! In this podcast we'll explore various topics related to language - everything from how it defines us as humans, how it manifests itself in our technology and our media and arts and impacts the way we think, and how its automation makes our lives easier but also brings its own set of ethical challenges. I'll be joined by many special guests whose own lives have been notably impacted by language, as well as experts in the field of linguistics.
Episodes
24 episodes
TikTok and Bias: Pt. 2
In Pt. 2 of my series on TikTok, I continue to delve deeper into TikTok's algorithms to explore the question of whether they introduce and propagate bias. I'll also share the results of a survey I conducted to assess whether people could detect...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 14
•
10:15
TikTok and Bias: Pt 1
To explore technology bias, I recently did a research project about TikTok, a popular social media platform. In this Part 1 of a two part series, I'll introduce the background and history of TikTok as well as some key important industry terms l...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 13
•
12:20
Delving Deeper into Text-to-Speech Technology: Pt. 2 w/ Dr. Sue Hertz
I continue my conversation with Dr, Sue Hertz, digging deeper into the complexities of text-to-speech technology, including the challenges of embedding emotions into speech. We talk about specific examples of speech nuance - like the differe...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 22
•
20:19
From ‘Cot’ vs ‘Caught’ to Pioneering Technologies: Interview with Dr. Sue Hertz
Come join me as I speak with Dr. Sue Hertz, Adjunct Professor at Cornell University and President of Synfonica LLC, a speech technology company developing knowledge-based text-to-speech systems and related applications. She shares what initi...
•
Episode 21
•
19:09
Language Extinction: Pt 2 w/ Professor Cisneros
I continue my conversation with Professor Cisneros as we delve further into his interest in minority languages such as Mixtec and Guaymi. We discuss the many reasons languages can become extinct, including globalization and colonialism. We also...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 20
•
20:19
Minority Languages and Culture: Interview w/ Professor Cisneros
Come join me as I speak with Professor Carlos Cisneros, former Linguistics professor at Berkeley. In this podcast, we talk about how his interest in Mesoamerican culture sparked his interest in the study of linguistics. We also discuss&nb...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 19
•
21:07
Story Salads: Pt 2 w/ Professor Erk
"The fire destroyed the apartment complex.""People curled up next to the fire with their cocoa."The word "fire" here means something very different within the context of each of the broader stories, in a way that a dictionary cannot cap...
•
12:48
Computational Semantics: Interview with Professor Erk
Come join me as I speak with Professor Katrin Erk, a professor of Computational Linguistics at the University of Texas at Austin. We explore what sparked her initial interest in this field, as well as her specialty in computational semantics. W...
•
Season 2
•
12:29
Vision and Language: Pt 2 with Professor Elsner
Come join me as I continue my discussion with Professor Elsner. In this podcast we learn about the connection between language and vision, and how language can help us understand visual systems and vice versa. What does the popular children's g...
•
Season 2
•
Episode 16
•
13:59
"The Labor of Lifetimes": Interview with Professor Elsner
Come join me as I speak with Professor Micha Elsner, a professor of Computational Linguistics at Ohio State University. We explore his intellectual journey and what sparked his interest in this field. We also dig into one of his areas of focus ...
•
Season 2
•
Episode 15
•
22:24
Sanskrit: Both Ancient and Modern
In this podcast, I will explore the modern applications of the Sanskrit language, a classical language of ancient India. Is Sanskrit the perfect language for coding and AI? Are there certain attributes of Sanskrit that make computers perhaps un...
•
Season 2
•
Episode 14
•
9:26
"The Revolution Will Not Be Monolingual" - Part 2 with Jacqueline Gutierrez
Join me as I continue my discussion with Jacqueline Gutierrez, the Youth Program Coordinator of Poder, where we continue to explore the impact of language on community. We talk about the day to day challenges that non-English speaking communiti...
•
Season 2
•
Episode 13
•
27:06
Jacqueline Gutierrez of Poder: Part 1
Please join me in my conversation with Jacqueline Gutierrez as I continue my mini-series focusing on how language plays a role in immigrant and multilingual communities. Jacqueline is the Youth Program Coordinator of Poder, a San Francisco base...
•
Season 2
•
Episode 12
•
18:08
Part 2: Marco Montenegro of Excelsior Works
Come join me for Part 2 of my conversation with Marco Montenegro of Excelsior Works, where we continue to explore the role of language on workforce development. We explore questions such as - what does equity mean when it comes to opportu...
•
Season 2
•
Episode 11
•
17:50
Marco Montenegro of Excelsior Works: Part 1
Join me in a new mini-series where I explore how language plays a role in immigrant and multilingual communities. Today, I will be talking to Marco Montenegro, the director of Excelsior Works, a San Francisco-based multicultural and multilingua...
•
Season 2
•
Episode 1
•
19:17
Linguistical Diversity in India
Did you know that India is one of the most linguistically diverse countries in the world? In this podcast, I'll explore some of the origins of the various language families in India, what it means to be an official 'classical language', a...
•
Episode 9
•
6:45
Part 2: Ethics and AI with Yoav Schlesinger
In this podcast, I continue my discussion with Yoav Schlesinger in which we dig further into the ethics of AI. Join me as we hear him walk us through how something as seemingly benign as voice assistants can propagate bias through a 'stac...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 8
•
24:03
Part 1: Ethics and AI with Yoav Schlesinger
In this podcast, I speak with Yoav Schlesinger, a Principal AI Architect in the technology space. We'll discuss ethical and responsible innovation and the benefits and challenges. We'll explore several interesting questions such as - what is th...
•
Episode 7
•
19:05
Conversational Assistants in Linguistics
In this podcast, I'll explore the topic of conversational assistants. We'll talk about concepts such as high involvement vs high considerateness speakers, contextualization clues, the importance of diversity in language models, and whethe...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 6
•
20:32
Texts as Career Inspiration: Interview with Greg Bennett
In this podcast, I interview Greg Bennett, a conversational designer in the tech field. Join me to learn more about how an impactful series of text messages he received in his youth led to his interests in interactive social linguistics.
•
Season 1
•
Episode 5
•
30:56
From Sci Fi to Language Scholarship: Interview with Giorgia Troiani
In this podcast, I interview Giorgia Troiani , a researcher at UCSB. Join me to learn more about the path she took to becoming a linguistics scholar (hint: an interest in Sci Fi served as an early spark!) and how her journey took her to interes...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 4
•
26:44
Rap and Hip Hop: How Language IS Music
In this podcast, I explore the historical roots of modern rap and hip hop, and how language has played an important role in how this musical form has evolved to be such an impactful cultural force in our society.
•
Season 1
•
Episode 3
•
9:47
