News

Kira Hall Receives LSA Zwicky Award for Pioneering Scholarship in Queer Linguistics

Katlyn Econom — Mon, 17 Nov 2025 18:01:28 +0000

Kira Hall Receives LSA Zwicky Award for Pioneering Scholarship in Queer Linguistics Katlyn Econom Mon, 11/17/2025 - 11:01

Dr. Kira Hall, CU ��ý�� Distinguished Professor of Linguistics and Anthropology, has received the Zwicky Award from the Linguistic Society of America. Named in honor of Arnold Zwicky—the first openly LGBTQ+ president of the LSA—the award recognizes LGBTQ+ scholars and those whose work in linguistics benefits LGBTQ+ communities.

In announcing the 2026 recipient, the LSA cited Dr. Hall’s foundational role in establishing queer linguistics as a field, beginning with the landmark volume Queerly Phrased (Oxford University Press, 1997). The citation further noted that her ethnographic and theoretical research on queer discourse practices in India and the United States has been consistently at the forefront of scholarship on language, gender, and sexuality.

Congratulations to Dr. Hall on this distinguished recognition.

Dr. Kira Hall, Distinguished Professor of Linguistics and Anthropology, has been awarded the prestigious Zwicky Award by the Linguistic Society of America.

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Dr. Rai Farrelly Highlights Learner Agency in Keynote at Michigan TESOL Conference

Katlyn Econom — Tue, 11 Nov 2025 23:22:52 +0000

Dr. Rai Farrelly Highlights Learner Agency in Keynote at Michigan TESOL Conference Katlyn Econom Tue, 11/11/2025 - 16:22

On November 8, 2025, Dr. Raichle (Rai) Farrelly, Associate Teaching Professor in CU Linguistics and Director of the TESOL Program, gave a keynote address at the Michigan TESOL Conference, hosted this year by Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti, Michigan.

The 2025 conference centered on the theme Elevate, Motivate, Unite, foregrounding the role of English language educators as advocates, collaborators, and community leaders. Dr. Farrelly’s keynote, titled “Mapping Knowledge and Language for a Change Agent Mindset,” aligned closely with this theme by examining how TESOL educators can support learner agency and position students as active participants in social change.

Drawing on social-emotional, inquiry-based, and experiential pedagogical frameworks, Dr. Farrelly emphasized classroom practices that foster curiosity, deepen knowledge-building, and encourage meaningful action. Her address highlighted the potential of English language classrooms to function not only as sites of language development, but also as spaces for equity, connection, and global engagement.

On November 8th, 2025, Dr. Raichle ‘Rai’ Farrelly, CU Linguistics Associate Teaching Professor and Director of the TESOL Program, spoke as a keynote speaker at the 2025 Michigan TESOL Conference.

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Dr. Andrew Cowell’s work to build databases for the Arapaho language featured in Colorado Arts and Sciences Magazine

Katlyn Econom — Mon, 03 Nov 2025 15:56:15 +0000

Dr. Andrew Cowell’s work to build databases for the Arapaho language featured in Colorado Arts and Sciences Magazine Katlyn Econom Mon, 11/03/2025 - 08:56

Dr. Andrew Cowell, a professor of linguistics and faculty director of the Center for Native American and Indigenous Studies (CNAIS), has spent years building databases cataloging the Arapaho language. His work is featured in the Colorado Arts and Sciences Magazine. The article, "Building a digital home for Arapaho, one sentence at a time," shares how the databases were built and are currently being used to develop a curriculum to teach Arapaho.

Read the article in A&S Magazine

Dr. Andrew Cowell’s work to build databases for the Arapaho language featured in Colorado Arts and Sciences Magazine

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Dr. Bhuvana Narasimhan co-edits newly published Oxford Handbook of Dravidian Languages

Katlyn Econom — Fri, 31 Oct 2025 18:48:41 +0000

Dr. Bhuvana Narasimhan co-edits newly published Oxford Handbook of Dravidian Languages Katlyn Econom Fri, 10/31/2025 - 12:48

The Oxford Handbook of Dravidian Languages, co-edited by Dr. Bhuvana Narasimhan and R. Amritavalli, is now available online and will soon be available in print. The Dravidian languages of South India, spoken by approximately 222 million speakers across South Asia, was first recognized as a distinct group in the 19th century. One of the largest language families in the world, it has inspired research from a variety of disciplinary perspectives, offering unique insights into the nature of human language, mind, history, and society. The Oxford Handbook of Dravidian Languages represents some of the field's most influential current scholarship exploring the origins of the Dravidian peoples, their languages, and the history of script in the Indian subcontinent. The volume aims to provide readers with an accessible introduction to this area of study.

Bhuvana Narasimhan and R.Amritavalli publish co-edited volume, The Oxford Handbook of Dravidian Languages.

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$2.9 Million NIH Grant Awarded to Professor Chase Raymond and Colleagues

Katlyn Econom — Mon, 06 Oct 2025 15:26:56 +0000

$2.9 Million NIH Grant Awarded to Professor Chase Raymond and Colleagues Katlyn Econom Mon, 10/06/2025 - 09:26

Professor Chase Raymond, who shares a secondary appointment with the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Colorado, Anshutz School of Medicine, and his colleagues from Colombia University’s School of Nursing, Dr. Veronica Barcelona and Dr. Maxim Topaz, have been awarded a $2.9 million National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant.

Funded by the NIH’s Healthcare and Health Disparities Study Section, the study is titled, “Identifying Stigmatizing Language in Hospital Birthing Care: The ID-STIGMA study.” Dr. Raymond and his colleagues will be researching how stigmatizing language impacts the birthing experience. Using natural language processing (NLP), a data science approach, to identify and analyze documentation patterns, the study will be used to influence institutional change and improve patient outcomes.

First, the study will expand and refine an existing NLP system to identify documentation patterns in obstetric clinical notes. The expanded NLP system will then be applied to examine documentation patterns by patient demographic characteristics. Associations between these patterns and morbidity outcomes for pregnant women and newborns will be used to inform various interventions surrounding documentation practices, policies, and trainings.

Congratulations, Dr. Raymond and fellow researchers!

A figure from the study demonstrating how data increases awareness of stigmatizing language.

In collaboration with colleagues from Colombia University’s School of Nursing, Professor Raymond will research how stigmatizing language impacts the birthing experience. Using natural language processing to identify and analyze documentation patterns, the study will be used to influence institutional change and improve patient outcomes.

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Profs. Farrelly and Gutiérrez Lorenzo Featured in Coloradan

Ethan McGinnis — Wed, 30 Jul 2025 20:37:22 +0000

Profs. Farrelly and Gutiérrez Lorenzo Featured in Coloradan Ethan McGinnis Wed, 07/30/2025 - 14:37

The language reclamation and revitalization work of CU Linguistics professors Rai Farrelly and Ambrocio Gutiérrez Lorenzo were recently highlighted in the CU's alumni magazine, the Coloradan.

Farrelly and Gutiérrez Lorenzo just wrapped up their second summer conducting community-centered education abroad programs in Teotitlán del Valle, where Prof. Gutiérrez Lorenzo grew up speaking TdV Zapotec. Participating students get hands on experience partnering with community members and heritage speakers of that language, and help create pedagogical materials that will contribute to the intergenerational flourishing of TdV Zapotec.

We are excited to see these efforts of Profs. Farrelly and Gutiérrez Lorenzo continuing to grow, as they help us reimagine what it means to preserve so-called endangered languages!

Photo courtesy of Dr. Rai Farrelly.

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Patrick Das Wins 2025 Mellon/ACLS Dissertation Innovation Fellowship

Ethan McGinnis — Thu, 29 May 2025 14:39:45 +0000

Patrick Das Wins 2025 Mellon/ACLS Dissertation Innovation Fellowship Ethan McGinnis Thu, 05/29/2025 - 08:39

Our own Patrick Das is one of two CU ��ý�� PhD students to be awarded a 2025 Mellon/American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) Dissertation Innovation Fellowship!

Just 45 PhD students from across the country were awarded the prestigious fellowship, in recognition of their innovative approaches to their dissertation research in the humanities or social sciences.

The fellowships, made possible by a grant from the Mellon Foundation, recognize doctoral students “who show promise of leading their fields in important new directions,” according to the ACLS. “The fellowships are designed to intervene at the formative stage of dissertation development, before writing is advanced, and provide time and support for emerging scholars’ innovative approaches to dissertation research—practical, trans- or interdisciplinary, collaborative, critical or methodological.

Das is researching how geography and multilingualism shape language change in Tikhir, an endangered language of eastern Nagaland, India, near the border with Myanmar. Through spatial analysis, the project maps patterns of interaction between Tikhir and neighboring indigenous languages. Das’ findings offer new insights into how small languages evolve within complex multilingual ecologies.

You can read more about CU's awardees here: /asmagazine/2025/05/05/cu-boulder-scholars-recognized-innovation-phd-research

Congratulations, Patrick!

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LING Undergraduates Shine at the Studio Lab Poster Extravaganza

reku3206 — Thu, 24 Apr 2025 15:08:58 +0000

LING Undergraduates Shine at the Studio Lab Poster Extravaganza reku3206 Thu, 04/24/2025 - 09:08

This year’s Studio Lab Poster Extravaganza showcased some incredible work from our Linguistics undergraduates!

Chloe Circenis, Abigail Major, Tessa Moskoff, and Chase Hutton presented their poster on "Acoustic Realization of Maternal Child-Directed Speech", supervised by Rebecca Scarborough, Allison Hilger (SLHS), and Bhuvana Narasimhan. Their research explores how caregivers modify their speech when talking to children.
Kate French co-authored a poster on "Breath Control and Ataxic Dysarthria", supervised by Allison Hilger, contributing valuable insights into speech motor control.

We’re so proud of their hard work, creativity, and dedication to linguistics research!

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Zygmunt Frajzyngier & Raichle Farrelly's Works Recognized in CHA's Magazine: Faculty Celebration of Major Works in 2024

reku3206 — Thu, 13 Mar 2025 19:38:54 +0000

Zygmunt Frajzyngier & Raichle Farrelly's Works Recognized in CHA's Magazine: Faculty Celebration of Major Works in 2024 reku3206 Thu, 03/13/2025 - 13:38

Zygmunt Frajzyngier (Prof. Emeritus) and Professor Raichle Farrelly had their works recognized in the Center for the Humanities & the Arts magazine: Faculty Celebration of Major Works in 2024.

From the Center for the Humanities & Arts:

Dedicated. The faculty whose 2024 major accomplishments are highlighted in this magazine are abso- lutely dedicated to their arts and/or humanities disciplines. They are rigorous researchers, accomplished artists, and superb scholars. The evidence is in their works, which you can read about in the pages of this magazine. The arts and humanities are fully alive and doing well at the ��ý��. The musical compositions, performances, visual exhibitions, films, and books that are in this magazine are testament to the strength of arts and humanities here and everywhere. I'm so glad to see my arts and humanities col-
leagues celebrated for their wonderful works!

Read the magazine Faculty Celebration of Major Works in 2024

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Elaina Caywood's PACES Article Featured in CU ��ý�� Today

reku3206 — Fri, 07 Mar 2025 16:54:42 +0000

Elaina Caywood's PACES Article Featured in CU ��ý�� Today reku3206 Fri, 03/07/2025 - 09:54

Undergraduate TESOL/LING student Elaina Caywood's PACES Article, "Words of Hope: Revitalizing the Zapotec Language," featured in CU ��ý�� Today.

Read the article: PACES

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News

Kira Hall Receives LSA Zwicky Award for Pioneering Scholarship in Queer Linguistics

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Dr. Rai Farrelly Highlights Learner Agency in Keynote at Michigan TESOL Conference

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Dr. Andrew Cowell’s work to build databases for the Arapaho language featured in Colorado Arts and Sciences Magazine

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Dr. Bhuvana Narasimhan co-edits newly published Oxford Handbook of Dravidian Languages

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$2.9 Million NIH Grant Awarded to Professor Chase Raymond and Colleagues

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Profs. Farrelly and Gutiérrez Lorenzo Featured in Coloradan

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Patrick Das Wins 2025 Mellon/ACLS Dissertation Innovation Fellowship

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LING Undergraduates Shine at the Studio Lab Poster Extravaganza

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Zygmunt Frajzyngier & Raichle Farrelly's Works Recognized in CHA's Magazine: Faculty Celebration of Major Works in 2024

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Elaina Caywood's PACES Article Featured in CU ������ý���� Today

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Elaina Caywood's PACES Article Featured in CU ��ý�� Today