Event Date
Biweekly Cluster Talk - Lindsey Clouse
Date: Thursday, Feb. 11th
Time: 12pm-1pm
Location: Zoom Meeting • https://ucdavis.zoom.us/j/92466490378 • Meeting ID: 924 6649 0378
Presenter: We are excited to introduce and welcome our guest presenter, Lindsey Clouse!
Talk title: “Bad” English on Screen: How Hollywood Depicts Stigmatized Dialects
Talk description: Hollywood has often been criticized for its shortcomings in race, class, and gender inclusivity, from #OscarsSoWhite to the Bechdel test for women on screen. But even as mainstream film makes gradual steps toward better representation, it continues to depict stigmatized race-, class-, and gender-based dialects in stereotypical ways. This talk will discuss my ongoing research into portrayals of Black English, Southern dialects of English, Spanish-accented and Chicano English, creaky voice, and uptalk in popular film. I will begin with my early interest in this topic as an undergraduate in the early 2000s, then discuss my recent work, including current research for a book in which I’m watching and annotating the 500 top-grossing films of the last twenty years. We’ll discuss my preliminary findings, namely, that mainstream film is more concerned with fulfilling audience expectations than with depicting these dialects accurately, and that these dialects are used by specific kinds of characters in predictable patterns. We’ll wrap up by discussing the potential consequences of these depictions.
Bio: I teach English and writing at Black Hills State University and Western Dakota Tech in Rapid City, South Dakota. I completed my undergraduate work in linguistics at the University of Kentucky and my graduate work in language and rhetoric at South Dakota State University. I’m particularly interested in dialect stigmatization in the U.S. and how cultural forces such as public education and mainstream media serve to reinforce inaccurate beliefs about stigmatized dialects. I gave a TED Talk on this topic in 2017 and published an article on Black English in film in 2019.
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* EVENT 2* Save The Date • Annual Language Symposium
• Please note - more details will be shared once they are confirmed.
7th Annual Language Symposium • Save The Date!
Date: Friday, May 21st, 2021
Location: Virtual via Zoom
The UC Davis Language Symposium is scheduled for Friday, May 21st! Please mark your calendars for this yearly student-organized conference whose purpose is to showcase work in language research done in a variety of fields.
The event will take place virtually and consist of a variety of student presentations, keynote speakers, and social activities designed to foster community and connection among participantes.
The Call for Proposals will be sent out in early February. We look forward to reading your abstracts!
Follow the Cluster on Language Research (https://www.languagecluster.com/home) on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/UCDclusterlangres) & Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/ucdlanguagecluster/) for updates!
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