English as a Lingua Nordica 2023: Language, Media, and Machines

• Date: Friday, April 21
• Place: Fabianinkatu 26, rooms 115 and 203, Helsinki, Finland
• Time: 2:00 to 4:30 pm Seminar
• 4:45 AGM
• 6:30 Dinner (optional)
• Price: 40 euros for NEaT members, 50 for others, to the NEaT account BIC NDEAFIHH, IBAN FI48 1237 3000 1522 20 with the message “ELN seminar”.
• RSVP to info@nordicedit.fi

The ELN series highlights the ways we can use language to contribute to a just society. This year’s seminar #ELN2023 will delve deep into two current issues in sociolinguistics affecting English use globally and in the Nordics. 

Robert Lawson, Associate Professor in Sociolinguistics at Birmingham City University, will speak on “Language maketh man: exploring positive masculinities in the media,” related to his new book Language and Mediated Masculinities: Cultures, Contexts, Constraints (Oxford University Press 2023).

Dave Sayers, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Language and Communication Studies at the University of Jyväskylä, will talk to us about “Language in the human-machine era: what happens when we are all cyborgs?” related to his work as Chair of the EU COST Action LITHME.eu. 

After the seminar closes at 5 pm, join us that evening for the Nordic Editors and Translators Annual General Meeting and for dinner.

Robert Lawson is Associate Professor in Sociolinguistics at Birmingham City University. He has held numerous international positions, including at the University of Pittsburgh as a Fulbright Scholar and the University of Jyväskylä as a Junior Visiting Professor. He is the editor of Sociolinguistics in Scotland, co-editor of Sociolinguistic Research: Application and Impact, and has publications in major peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of Sociolinguistics, Gender and Language, English World-Wide, Discourse, Context & Media, and Social Media+Society. His research focuses on language and masculinities, the application of language research outside academia, and language in media contexts.

His book Language and Mediated Masculinities: Cultures, Contexts, Constraints (Oxford University Press 2023): 

Dave Sayers is Chair of the LITHME Action 

I am a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Language and Communication Studies at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland; and chair of EU COST Action CA19102 ‘Language In The Human Machine Era’ (https://lithme.eu/). My research interests include language policy and language planning (particularly Welsh and Cornish), variationist sociolinguistics (including varieties of British English), and the impact of new and emerging technologies on language use. I’ve previously lectured at the University of Turku, Finland; Åbo Akademi University, Finland; and Sheffield Hallam University, UK. I’ve also worked as Research Manager for Caer Las Cymru, a charity in south Wales. Elsewhere I sit on the UK Economic and Social Research Council’s Peer Review College, and the International Panel of Experts at the Kazakh National Centre of Science and Technology Evaluation. I’m the founder and lead moderator of the Sociolinguistic Events Calendar and TeachLing. I’m also a member of the Language, Culture and Identity Research Network of the Wales Institute of Social & Economic Research, Data & Methods (WISERD). 

LITHME is a COST Action network with members from every EU member state, plus a number of other countries outside the EU. 

How will pervasive augmentation technology affect language in areas such as international law, translation, and other forms of language work? What will this mean for how people identify with specific languages? Could increasing reliance on real-time language technologies actually change the structure of language? Longer term, could developments in brain-machine interfaces serve to complement or even supersede language altogether? Linguistics will be far stronger for robust technological foresight, while developers will benefit from better understanding potential linguistic and societal consequences of their creations.

Meanwhile LITHME will shine a light on the ethical implications of emerging language technologies. Inequality of access to technologies, questions of privacy and security, new vectors for deception and crime; these and other critical issues would be kept to the fore. LITHME will equip linguists and stakeholders for the human-machine era.