Tessera

Dr Ursula Kania

@instantlinguist.bsky.social

Senior Lecturer in English Language (@ University of Liverpool). Corpus/culinary/queer linguist. Runner, feminist, food enthusiast, coffee lover. Views are my own. she/her

374 Posts715 Follower 506 Folgt

Prof Michaela Mahlberg @michamahlberg.bsky.social · 6d ago

How can the analysis of concordances be supported by algorithms? 📽️ Have a look at this new series of videos where we introduce the FlexiConc functionality in CLiC. 💻 CLiC is a free web app designed to support the computer-assisted study of narrative fiction. youtu.be/W9FYF81SYPQ?...

FlexiConc in CLiC: Tutorial 1

YouTube video by Text and Language Lab

youtu.be

Dr Katie Twomey @k2mey.eurosky.social · last wk.

This is quite cool. My university is the first organisation in the world to force Microsoft to allow us to turn off copilot summaries in Word 365, after a backlash against it from staff (including, very vocally, me). That cannot have been easy for our heroic IT people so hats very much off to them!

Dr Katie Twomey @k2mey.eurosky.social · 2w ago

Oooh!

Mike Frank@mcxfrank.bsky.social · 2w ago

We've just released a new version of childes-db, my lab's interface to the CHILDES database of child language transcripts. It lets you work with CHILDES data from R through a versioned, reproducible API. A few updates 🧵 childes-db.stanford.edu/

Screenshot of the childes-db website: 'A flexible and reproducible interface to CHILDES.' childes-db 2026.1 contains 56,579 transcripts from 9,151 children across 437 corpora, with panels for an R API tutorial and interactive visualizations of mean length of utterance by child age.

Sofia Lampropoulou @sofialampro.bsky.social · 2w ago

New book on Narratives and Migration available to preorder! Edited by the great Anna De Fina&Sabina Perrino. Very happy to have contributed a chapter with Millie Montiel McCann& @samtbennett.bsky.social. Pleased to see @drsimongoodman.bsky.social's endorsement too! www.bloomsbury.com/uk/narrative...

bloomsbury.com

Sofia Rüdiger @sofiaruediger.bsky.social · 3w ago

Call for papers (sharing on behalf of a colleague): Language and Culture in Small Hospitality Spaces: Perspectives on Talk, Place, and Social Life (ed. by Todd J. Allen, Andrew J. Barke, Momoyo Shimazu, and Xiangdong Liu) #LanguageAndFood #CulinaryLinguistics

Call for Chapters
About the project:
We invite chapter proposals for an edited volume on the social and cultural significance of
small hospitality spaces, including independently operated or community-oriented bars, pubs,
cafés, coIee shops, tea houses, izakayas, neighbourhood restaurants, and related venues (see,
for example, Allen, 2025; Allen & Liu, 2024, 2025; Liu & Allen, 2022).
Such establishments are often understood as “third places”: everyday settings located
between home and work that support sociability, informal public life, and local connection
(Oldenburg, 1989). They can also be viewed as part of a community’s social infrastructure,
providing spaces in which people encounter others, sustain social ties, and participate in local
life (Klinenberg, 2018; Farrer, 2022, 2024). Although commercial in form, small hospitality
spaces frequently exceed a purely transactional function. They provide settings for ordinary
conversation, recognition, temporary respite, cultural exchange, and the development of
familiarity over time.
These venues provide a valuable setting for examining how hospitality is accomplished
in practice (Allen & Liu, 2025b). Through interaction among owners, staI, regulars, and
newcomers, talk, embodied conduct, routines, material arrangements, and shared
expectations shape hospitable experience. This highlights the aIective and relational
dimensions of commercial hospitality (Lugosi, 2008; Allen & Liu, 2025a), while showing how
such spaces support identity negotiation, cultural exchange, boundary management,
belonging, and community.
This volume brings together work from sociolinguistics, linguistic anthropology,
pragmatics, discourse analysis, ethnography, cultural studies, hospitality studies, tourism
studies, intercultural communication, and urban studies. It is especially interested in research
that connects close analysis of interaction with broader questions of place, mobility,
representation, identity, neighbourhood life, and cultur…

3. Cultural Representation, Mediatisation, and Spatial Aesthetics
Examines how hospitality spaces are represented and designed through media, online
platforms, visual culture, signage, interiors, atmosphere, authenticity, and
neighbourhood identity.
4. Translocal Encounters and Comparative Perspectives
Considers intercultural interaction, migration, multilingualism, cultural adaptation, and
comparisons between hospitality spaces across cultural and geographical contexts.
We welcome empirically grounded chapters and theoretically informed contributions that
address the volume’s central question:
What do small hospitality spaces reveal about the relationship between language, culture,
place, and social life?
Contributions may explore these venues as sites of hospitality, participation, identity,
community formation, intercultural encounter, cultural representation, mobility, and spatial or
neighbourhood belonging, including how they are mediated, represented, and discussed
through digital platforms and social media. Authors are welcome to submit more than one
proposal, including proposals that engage with diIerent sections of the volume.
Submission details
Please submit:
• A chapter (unstructured) abstract of 500 words (maximum), excluding references
• A provisional chapter title
• A short biography of up to 100 words for each author
• Up to five keywords
Abstracts should indicate the chapter’s central argument, theoretical or methodological
approach, empirical material where relevant, and its fit with one of the four sections above.
Please submit proposals via: https://forms.gle/cMCqf9AaAGZPQ53K9
Provisional Timeline:
Date Stage
31 October 2026 Deadline for chapter proposals
15 November 2026 Notification of decisions
31 January 2027 Full chapter submission
February–March 2027 Double-blind peer review and editorial feedback
30 April 2027 Revised chapters due
31 May 2027 Final chapters due
31 July 2027 Completed manuscript submitted to the publisher
All accepted chapte…

Kat Gupta @mixosaurus.bsky.social · 3w ago

Delighted to be working with TransActual on this! We know that responding to this consultation was painful for many trans people and our supporters. We'd like to use these responses to find out more about our community's thoughts and experiences. Please read the info and contact me if you have qus

TransActual@transactualuk.bsky.social · 3w ago

TransActual is working with Dr Kat Gupta, a researcher in Politics, to examine how trans people and our supporters responded to this consultation. Please visit transactual.org.uk/blog/2026/09... for more information.

Text reads: Did you fill out the 2025 EHRC consultation on the revised Code of Practice?
Are you trans, non-binary or supportive of trans people?
Are you over 16?
Do you want to include your consultation response in a research project?
Visit our website for more details.

Alice Roberts @profaliceroberts.bsky.social · 4w ago

I’ve reached the point - well actually, I reached it a while ago - where I’m militantly anti-AI. Fine - use it in bioscience labs and radiology where it might help analyse data more effectively. Use it sparingly for systems engineering. Everywhere else, it can fuck off.

Veronika Koller @veronikakoller.bsky.social · last mo.

The latest episode of @wordsandactions.bsky.social is out and it's all about language #activism. wordsandactionspodcast.wordpress.com/2026/09/07/e... We revisit Covid metaphors, watch misleading headlines get rewritten, and hear what it’s like to live between academia and activism.

Netzwerk Queerlinguistik @queerlinguistik.bsky.social · last mo.

Lavender Languages and Linguistics 33: We are beyond excited to announce that we will host #LavLang33 from September 8-10, 2027, in beautiful Hamburg (Germany). Stay tuned for keynote speakers and call for papers! @lavlang.bsky.social

view from "Philosophenturm", a high-rise campus building at Hamburg University. In front of the building, greenery and other campus buildings. In the background, the TV tower, downtown Hamburg. At the horizon, the Hamburg docks.
On the right side, you can see part of the "Philosophenturm" building, a 1950s/60s high-rise with yellow and grey bricks.

Isabel Picornell Garcia @picornell.eurosky.social · last mo.

What makes something a threat? In today’s episode, our hosts Dr Nicci MacLeod and Professor Tim Grant are joined by Dr Isabel Picornell who tells us about a case in which this was the central question. O Scotland, Scotland #TwitterThreatTrial Listen to the podcast 👇💩 www.aston.ac.uk/research/for...

Writing Wrongs

aston.ac.uk

The Verge @theverge.com · last mo.

As a new Harry Potter trailer makes the rounds, it bears repeating that there’s no way to watch this show without supporting J.K. Rowling’s bigotry and the structural violence she’s inflicting on the trans community.

There is no ethical consumption of HBO’s Harry Potter series

You can’t without supporting Rowling’s transphobic bigotry.

theverge.com

Anna-Sophie Heinze @asheinze.bsky.social · last mo.

💔 Do you ever feel lonely – and have you ever thought of #loneliness as political? I’m super excited about this new publication with @mlewandowsky.bsky.social in @electoralstudies.bsky.social, in which we examine the relationship between loneliness and voting. 👉 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

John Wiswell @wiswell.bsky.social · last mo.

This Friday is my birthday! And my publisher just gave me some *audiobook codes* for The Dragon Has Some Complaints, so I'm celebrating with a giveaway. All you have to do to enter is 1) follow me on here 2) reskeet this post 3) reply naming one of your favorite monsters!

John Wiswell@wiswell.bsky.social · last yr.

Unveiling the cover for THE DRAGON HAS SOME COMPLAINTS! Garrodigh is a curmudgeonly three-headed dragon who pretends to be tame so he can eat for free at the local dragon-riding academy. Unfortunately, the rider he's assigned to is... a lot. Coming Summer 2026 from DAW (US) and Arcadia (UK)!

A cover illustrated by James Fenner. A woman with long red hair and padded clothing sits on the ground, petting the head of a smiling serpentine dragon. But the dragon has more than one head! On the left, a second giant dragon head emerges, frowning, looking at her while wearing a monocle. On the right, a third giant dragon head emerges, jaws wide, screaming in anger. The text is teal, contrasting sharply against the red and maroon of the creatures. The text on the cover reads "THE DRAGON HAS SOME COMPLAINTS. JOHN WISWELL, author of the Nebula and Locus Award-winning SOMEONE YOU CAN BUILD A NEST IN."

Auuuulet 🍂👻@aulet.es · last mo.

"LibreOffice 26.8 contains no generative AI features. Documents are not transmitted to remote services for processing, and no component of the suite requires network access to function. This is a deliberate position."

Linuxiac@linuxiac.bsky.social · last mo.

LibreOffice 26.8 is now available with a new Paragraph Composer in Writer, native OpenType variable font support, Calc improvements, and better document compatibility. linuxiac.com/libreoffice-... #OpenSource #OfficeSuite

Effie Seiberg is a spooky Cyborg @effies.bsky.social · last mo.

with alt-text (please alt-text your pics!)

sandwich board saying "IF 5-4 IS STAR WARS DAY CAN 9-25 BE DOLLY PARTON DAY?"

Taint@taint9.bsky.social · last mo.

Most definitely 💔

Kat Gupta @mixosaurus.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Returning to this article by @lauraclancy.bsky.social and @hannahyelin.bsky.social on public academia, the neoliberal university and digital hate journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/... Universities love academic visibility but rarely positioned to support the labour & risk of being in the public eye

Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.

journals.sagepub.com

Lancaster University @lancasteruni.bsky.social · 2mo ago

We're launching a ‘Food for Nature and Society’ doctoral programme to fund 30 PhDs! Taking an interdisciplinary approach, the Leverhulme Doctoral Programme will deliver 30 fully funded PhD scholarships over 7 years. 📰 tinyurl.com/4v5yn28h @leverhulme.ac.uk | @lec-reefs.bsky.social 📸 Hazel Healy

Corpus Linguistics 2027 @cl2027.info · 2mo ago

We are pleased to finally announce… 📢 Call for Papers: Corpus Linguistics 2027 Venice, Italy | 12th-16th July 2027 CfP details: www.cl2027.info/call-for-pap... Deadline: 8th January 2027 🔗 All links in bio 🔁 please share widely! #CL2027

#CL2027 - Call for Papers

Adaptation and Adaptability in Corpus Linguistics

cl2027.info

Dr. Sabrina Mittermeier @smittermeier.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Just stop instrumentalizing the queer community to justify your Anti-Arab racism and Islamophobia

Tarik Abou-Chadi @tabouchadi.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Being queer means being the target of violence. Every queer person knows this. It's deeply engraved in who we are. We live with it every day of our lives. Not because of terrorism but because it is structurally enshrined in our "free" societies. Violence against queer people is not an exception ...

Sofia Lampropoulou @sofialampro.bsky.social · 3mo ago

'Sign your card to Andy Burnham' to urge the govt to create safe routes to asylum claims and reject the divisive rhetoric around migration&asylum seeking

Refugee Action@refugeeaction.bsky.social · 3mo ago

"As people who have rebuilt our lives here after fleeing conflict and persecution, we ask you to show the compassionate leadership we know you are capable of. " - Please sign our housewarming card to the new Prime Minister! @rasvoice.bsky.social act.refugee-action.org.uk/page/195459/...

Dr Ursula Kania @instantlinguist.bsky.social · 3mo ago

10 out of 10, no notes. 🏳️‍⚧️

Natacha@natacha.bsky.social · 3mo ago

PSA on the Victoria Line tube in London. Phillipson and every other GC weirdo needs to take note.

Are you having fanatical thoughts about other people's crotches?
Has hating a minority group become your entire personality?
Do you obsess over other people's toilet use?
If so, you could be a danger to others - it's time to seek help.
Contact our team: youneedhelp@leavetranspeoplealone.com

Prof Michaela Mahlberg @michamahlberg.bsky.social · 3mo ago

⏳ Still time to apply - the deadline for applications is this Friday, 24 July

Prof Michaela Mahlberg@michamahlberg.bsky.social · 3mo ago

📣 Job opportunity: We are looking for up to 5 outstanding postdoctoral or doctoral researchers in #DigitalHumanities to join us at the @textandlanguagelab.bsky.social Please share widely 🙏 ⏰ Deadline: 24 July 2026 For more info: www.fau-jobs.de/jobposting/6...

Gretchen McCulloch @gretchenmcculloch.com · 3mo ago

Finally we have made the long-requested episode that you can share with your overly credulous friend who thinks the button dogs on instagram are actually cracking jokes rather than being highly edited (plus lots of whale facts!!)

Lingthusiasm@lingthusiasm.com · 3mo ago

Can we teach dogs to express their needs better by pressing buttons? How about bonobos? What have we learned from the first-ever recording of a sperm whale birth? In this episode we get enthusiastic about how people use technology to enhance our communication with these three animals!

Dr Ursula Kania @instantlinguist.bsky.social · 3mo ago

"The vocal gen Z backlash against AI should be a reminder to everyone that alternatives to an AI-saturated future are still possible." 👏 theconversation.com/gen-z-is-pus...

Gen Z is pushing back against AI – a reminder to all of us that the future isn’t written

Many baby boomers see AI as a revolutionary tool, while young people see it as taking away their agency.

theconversation.com

Zack Polanski @zackpolanski.bsky.social · 3mo ago

On the 5th August, the EHRC's Code of Practice becomes statutory guidance. It will make life even harder for many trans & non-binary people. It's unworkable & harmful. The Good Law Project is challenging & wants to hear from people affected by these exclusions. goodlawproject.org/discriminato...

‘Discriminatory’ and ‘unworkable’ trans guidance to come into force | Good Law Project

The equalities minister has ordered the government’s harmful code of practice will apply from 5 August – we’re pushing back

goodlawproject.org

Dr Ursula Kania @instantlinguist.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Excellent (if slightly dystopian/terrifying) thread on Realbotix/classroom 'education' robots.

Julie Carpenter, PhD@jgcarpenter.com · 3mo ago

As a robotics researcher, learning scientist, and author who has followed Realbotix for years, I'm compelled to do a Bluesky thread on this whole pivot that Realbotix is now trying, turning from humanoid sex robots to classroom "education" robots. Buckle up. nysfocus.com/2026/07/14/n... 🧵

CADAAD Journal @cadaad-journal.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Loved #cadaad2026? Publish your next paper in the CADAAD Journal: Open Access, no processing fees. Now accepting submissions: ugp.rug.nl/cadaad/about...

| CADAAD Journal

CADAAD Journal – Open access journal published by University of Groningen Press.

ugp.rug.nl

Sofia Rüdiger @sofiaruediger.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Final #BæFoLa talk of Season 10 coming up this Friday, July 17, 12:30-13:30 CEST 🍩🤩🍩 Join us to hear Revathi Suresh's talk on "Chattichoru as Spectacle: Constructing Malayali Identity and Food Narratives in Online Spaces". #LanguageAndFood #CulinaryLinguistics

Abstract:
The talk presents the semantic shift associated with the word chattichoru in Malayalam by exploring how Malayalam social media food content functions as a discursive project. In Kerala homes, chattichoru used to refer to a simple leftover meal directly eaten from a chatti or pan, usually by the women of a house. In contrast, the new chattichoru meal is a viral spectacle of abundance. The study examined ten YouTube Shorts on the chattichoru meal; the audio tracks were annotated, translated and transcribed using the tool ELAN and further glossing and lexical analysis was done using FLEx, a linguistics database software. Further analysis involved adapting the critical discourse approach (Fairclough 1995) by treating YouTube Shorts as multimodal texts, in line with Benson (2015). The findings show that along with the discourse structure of the short-form video, textual aspects such as repeated or exaggerated use of modifiers and sensorial language function as authenticity markers, thereby playing a crucial role in conventionalising the new meaning of chattichoru. The analysis attempts to place Malayalam food trends, such as the chattichoru videos, as a crucial meaning making and identity forming online practice in the contemporary gastro-political context in India.

TACC @tacc.org.uk · 3mo ago

We've launched our new Reddit community! 🏳️‍⚧️ Join us for UK trans advocacy, news, legal updates, complaint support, campaigns, and community discussion. Whether you're trans or an ally, we'd love to have you. www.reddit.com/r/tacc/

Trans Advocacy and Complaints Collective

TACC is an intersectional organisation started in 2024, dedicated to advocating for trans rights, addressing transphobia, and unofficial EHRC watchdog. This a space to share advocacy work, complaints...

reddit.com