Kirby Conrod
@kirbyconrod.bsky.social
3.9K followers 520 following 6.5K posts
assistant prof in linguistics at swarthmore; phd in linguistics from u washington; sociosyntax; they/them or ey/em.
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kirbyconrod.bsky.social
btw i love being transgender and gay and teaching pronoun studies at a prestigious college
kirbyconrod.bsky.social
yeah, i don't think that that's a good *reason* for us to stop calling it grammatical gender (i have many other better reasons, lead among them "i wish we could stop doing confusing shit to undergrads") but it feels like possible downstream related factor
Reposted by Kirby Conrod
kilinguistics.bsky.social
Because I think better in pictures, here is a visualisation of languages according to documentation and endangerment status (I'm calling it glottocloud).

glottolog.org/langdoc/status
Graphic distribution of languages represented as dots in a two-dimensional space.
X: AES (endangerment level, ranging from "extinct" to "not endangered"
Y: MED (documentation level, ranging from "wordlist or less" to "long grammar"
kirbyconrod.bsky.social
and like yeah it really doesn't capture the Affect. the good brainfeel
kirbyconrod.bsky.social
1. i think it's overly modality specific, 2. my syntax trees don't look the same from semester to semester! so the trees on a flier are *always* inaccurate, and 3. it's kinda spoilery because i make them invent the concept of syntax trees for a couple weeks first
kirbyconrod.bsky.social
anyways i keep waffling about whether this goes in the "the right doesn't care what a pronoun is" bucket for me, also
kirbyconrod.bsky.social
can i put "the feeling of soft redwood bark on your bare feet on a foggy morning in the woods" for syntax and for socio lets uhhhh let's go with "watching your phd advisor talk extensively to a cab driver on the way to a conference dinner to get him to show off that NCVS"
kirbyconrod.bsky.social
i don't think there will ever be an image/graphic that i find semiotically satisfying to put on a "hey, sign up for {syntax 1 / sociolinguistics 1}" flier
kirbyconrod.bsky.social
man i really want a functioning government to give septa two billion doll hairs so they can buy these newfangled "trains that don't catch on fire"
kirbyconrod.bsky.social
gender reveal podcast makes me feel soooo smart and cool. npr for my people
Reposted by Kirby Conrod
christianilbury.bsky.social
Please share!

We have a number of fully funded PhD studentships in "Designing Responsible Natural Language Processing". I'm a possible supervisor & I'd be keen to support projects on sociolinguistics-AI, e.g., accent bias in AI, language+gender/sexuality+AI.

www.responsiblenlp.org
Our CDT is based in the Edinburgh Futures Institute – the University of Edinburgh’s brand new hub for research, innovation and teaching focused on socially just artificial intelligence and data.
www.responsiblenlp.org
Reposted by Kirby Conrod
pookleblinky.bsky.social
It is the exact *opposite* of a disability aid.

It *induces* executive dysfunction by turning tasks into tasks where every smallest detail must be checked, edited, analyze for "is this just fucking nonsense?" Etc.
kirbyconrod.bsky.social
yeah i keep thinking like how do we shift terminology field-wide? no one is ready to release an updated textbook for just that. idk, thinking about how i wish Language had an opinion section. i cd just email linguistlist? idk!
kirbyconrod.bsky.social
i am having my problem where i want to be pedantic at you for zero reason. i know you already know the stuff i want to be pedantic about
kirbyconrod.bsky.social
i really like the tune and havent encountered a version i dont enjoy, yeah
kirbyconrod.bsky.social
book draft hit 69K words today
Reposted by Kirby Conrod
skypeascientist.bsky.social
Look I know it'll shock you to know this, but we are almost out of archeologists AGAIN.

Do you know any archeologists? Are they willing to be matched with a LEGO team?

Please send 'em our way we need all hands on deck (STILL!)

We have had 585 requests for archeologists 🫠
forms.gle/PU3x7oayXGr3...
two men are pushing a small boat through the water .
Alt: Three young men are on a rowboat when it capsizes and then they salute as the ship sinks
media.tenor.com
kirbyconrod.bsky.social
if i had the ability to just do a huge areal psychic broadcast i would make you all listen to my playlist of all the renditions of brenda stubbert's reel i could find on bandcamp
kirbyconrod.bsky.social
yeah it's like. i cannot uncritically recommend my friends and students jump into this without more information, hence decline to boost, i think