Department of Linguistics

“Historically, most collections of speech and language tend to be more male and white and middle class,” says UW Linguistics prof. Rachael Tatman.

For Martin Horst, with majors in French and linguistics, language is a bridge to other cultures.

Dept. of Linguistic's Alicia Wassink answers the Local Wonder question, "Why do so many people born and raised in this region pronounce the name of the state as 'Wershington'"?

Three A&S alumni recently opened Seattle's first cat café, which brings together two Northwest favorites: coffee and kitties.  

Got your attention? Turns out swear words provide unique insights into how language works.

Think we don't have an accent here in the Pacific Northwest? Think again. Scientists say we do, in fact, have an accent, though our native ears may not always pick up on it.

He's taught English in Russia and worked on messaging apps at Microsoft. Now Julian Chan ('07) is combining his two passions, language and technology.

The way we teach grammar is scandalous, according to linguist Geoffrey Pullum. We nitpick too much he says, and we rely too much on old rules that have little application today. Pullum spoke about how we can fix this in a talk recorded at the University of Washington's Kane Hall on February 12, 2013.

The UW Department of Linguistics is offering American Sign Language, with a full-time lecturer teaching two sections of ASL each quarter.

Chia-Hui Huang made a promise to herself to donate her first paycheck to the Linguistics Department after earning her PhD--and she kept her promise.