iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Quixley the Zebra @wildrepublicsd.bsky.social · 27/07/2025

I got a pin at last weekend’s Pride parade—yes, Pride is in July in San Diego; don’t worry about it. —qxz

Quixley (a stuffed zebra) wearing rainbow earrings and a rainbow smiley-face pin.

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Quixley the Zebra @wildrepublicsd.bsky.social · 27/07/2025

Murray is excited for the last day of the Tour de France today!

Murray (a plush anteater) sitting on a toy bicycle on a table, watching the Tour de France on television.

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Quixley the Zebra @wildrepublicsd.bsky.social · 30/06/2025

Ruth joins us from her old job at one of the National Parks; here she is showing Rochester around when we came to pick her up on the #WildRepublicRoadTrip.

Ruth (a plush meadowlark) and Rochester (a plush bison) sitting on a fence looking at Balanced Rock, a rock formation that looks like a boulder precariously balanced on top of a pillar, with another rectangular rock formation next to it.

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Quixley the Zebra @wildrepublicsd.bsky.social · 30/06/2025

Here's Archy in her onboarding meeting with Rochester, Alphonse, and Melora (who she'll be working with closely).

On a white blanket, from left to right: Archy (a plush meadowlark), Melora (a plush prairie dog), Rochester (a plush bison), and Alphonse (a plush hippo); in the background are pillows and bookshelves

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Quixley the Zebra @wildrepublicsd.bsky.social · 30/06/2025

Now that we're back from the #WildRepublicRoadTrip, we can introduce the newest member of our office team! Meet Ruth "Archy" Archibald, joining us from the department of the Interior!

Ruth (a plush meadowlark) sitting on a threadbare tan pillow

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Quixley the Zebra @wildrepublicsd.bsky.social · 30/06/2025

Back home in San Diego at last! (Well, a week ago, but we've been too busy unpacking to post about it.) It was a wild #WildRepublicRoadTrip, but it's great to be back!

A bunch of plush animals on a bed, with a black and white duvet, a pillow with a Steven Universe pillowcase, and a rainbow neck pillow. On top of the rainbow pillow, Pascale (a wolverine) and Marietta (a platypus); in front of the rainbow pillow, Odoacer (a round narwhal) and Tritica (a jaguar), and on the bed, Trudy (a shark), Rochester (a bison), the fox, Quixley (a zebra), and Barry (an elephant).

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Quixley the Zebra @wildrepublicsd.bsky.social · 22/06/2025

...and the giant sequoias in Calaveras Big Trees State Park! #WildRepublicRoadTrip

Tritica (a plush jaguar) sitting in a hollow in a slab of a giant sequoia tree, mounted vertically to show its growth rings

Rochester (a plush bison) looking up at a massive giant sequoia tree

Tritica looking at a tiny tree sapling next to a sign that says "Sequoia Seedling / Plántula del Secuoya" with a "don't step on it" symbol

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Quixley the Zebra @wildrepublicsd.bsky.social · 22/06/2025

On Friday, Rochester and Tritica admired the Sierra Nevada in Tuolumne County... #WildRepublicRoadTrip

Rochester (a plush bison) and Tritica (a plush jaguar) sitting on a rock, looking out at trees and snowy mountains in the distance

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Quixley the Zebra @wildrepublicsd.bsky.social · 22/06/2025

I got to try an extraterrestrial beverage! —qxz #WildRepublicRoadTrip

Quixley (a plush zebra) on a shelf posing with a can of Star Trek–branded "Roman Ale Energy Drink".

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Quixley the Zebra @wildrepublicsd.bsky.social · 22/06/2025

...and Marietta and I took in the sights on the Extraterrestrial Highway! #WildRepublicRoadTrip

Quixley (a plush zebra) sitting on top of a crashed flying saucer, in an outdoor setting with trees and desert in the background

Quixley and Marietta (a plush platypus) sitting on a highway sign saying EXTRATERRESTRIAL HIGHWAY in a space-age font, with the symbol for Nevada state highway 375 and a picture of a spaceship on it. A piece of paper is taped to the sign saying "DO NOT FOR ANY REASON WRITE ON THIS SIGN!! / MANAGEMENT". The sign is hung on a white wall which is covered in signatures and graffiti, mostly in black ink.

Marietta and Quixley sitting on a step-stool in front of a flying saucer monument in a parking lot in the desert

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Quixley the Zebra @wildrepublicsd.bsky.social · 22/06/2025

More busy times on the #WildRepublicRoadTrip! On Thursday, Rochester admired the rock formations at Kolob Canyon at Zion National Park...

Rochester (a plush bison) in the foreground, looking across a parking lot and a vegetation-covered hillside to a mountain of reddish rock beyond

Rochester sitting on a National Park Service placard, looking at reddish mountains beyond some trees in the distance

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Quixley the Zebra @wildrepublicsd.bsky.social · 19/06/2025

Barry was excited to join in when he heard there was a rock formation called the "Parade of Elephants"; he said he was pleased by the recognition. #WildRepublicRoadTrip

Barry (a plush elephant) sitting on a fencepost in the foreground, facing to the left; in the background is the Parade of Elephants, a giant rock formation that looks *very* approximately like an elephant facing to the left.

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Quixley the Zebra @wildrepublicsd.bsky.social · 19/06/2025

Rochester had an amazing time at Arches National Park today! #WildRepublicRoadTrip

Rochester (a plush bison) sitting on a fence in the foreground, looking at Balanced Rock in the background—a giant rock formation that looks like a boulder balanced precariously on top of a pillar.

Rochester looking at the Double Arch: a rock formation in which two huge stone arches meet on the left, one closer to the camera and one extending back away from it.

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Quixley the Zebra @wildrepublicsd.bsky.social · 18/06/2025

At our hotel in Utah last night, we were invited to stay in the King Executive Suite! #WildRepublicRoadTrip

Stuffed animals lined up in front of the pillows on the head of a king-size hotel bed in front of a row of pillows: Barry (an elephant), Quixley (a zebra), Tritica (a jaguar), Rochester (a bison), Pascale (a wolverine), Trudy (a shark), Marietta (a platypus), and Odoacer (a round blue narwhal). The fox sits on the middle pillow above Rochester.

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Quixley the Zebra @wildrepublicsd.bsky.social · 18/06/2025

And later in the day on Monday, Rochester saw the sights in downtown Cheyenne, Wyoming! #WildRepublicRoadTrip

Rochester (a plush bison) sits on the toe of a giant statue of a cowboy boot; the upper part of the boot is painted with pictures of Cheyenne buildings. In the back are a park and a sign pointing toward the Sand Creek Massacre Trail.

Rochester sits on a statue of a young boy dressed as a cowboy and holding a saddle (Rochester is on the saddle). The statue is outdoors on a street corner, and a plaque identifies it as "Rarin' to Ride" by George Lundeen

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Quixley the Zebra @wildrepublicsd.bsky.social · 18/06/2025

And of course the high point of the #WildRepublicRoadTrip so far was a visit to Carhenge—a sacred space indeed!

Nine stuffed animals sit on the roof of a car in a parking lot: a jaguar (Tritica), a zebra (Quixley), a shark (Trudy), a round blue narwal (Odoacer), a bison (Rochester), a fox, a wolverine (Pascale), an elephant (Barry), and a platypus (Marietta). In the background is Carhenge, a replica of Stonehenge made of old cars painted gray (one car is yellow and orange).

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Quixley the Zebra @wildrepublicsd.bsky.social · 18/06/2025

And on Monday, he got to visit two historic rock formations in Nebraska—the Courthouse and Jail Rocks, and the famous Chimney Rock! He also enjoyed the museum at the Chimney Rock visitor center. #WildRepublicRoadTrip

Rochester (a plush bison) in the foreground, looking across a green grassy field at two massive rock formations emerging from the landscape in the distance, the Courthouse and Jail rocks: one smaller (but still huge), roughly cone-shaped rock and one about three times as wide as the other, narrowing slightly up to the height of the other one, with a smaller top section rising above the height of the first.

Rochester looking past a fence and across a grassy plain at Chimney Rock, a giant rock formation that looks like a narrow, pointy chimney sticking out of the top of a wide, conical mountain.

Rochester sitting below a round panel on the wall showing an illustration in red on a white background of an adult bison and a young bison, standing on a field in front of a river and two buttes with smoke rising from them. A placard says: "MIDDLE ARCHAIC FORAGERS. Middle Archaic people lived in this region about 3,000 to 5,000 years ago. They lived atop the buttes lining the valley, watching for game and enemies. Signal Butte and Barn Butte are well known to archaeologists, rich in artifacts and animal bones, and with numerous fireplaces, storage pits, and refuse dumps buried within them."

Rochester looks through a pair of high-powered binoculars through a window at Chimney Rock in the distance

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Quixley the Zebra @wildrepublicsd.bsky.social · 18/06/2025

It's been a busy few days on the #WildRepublicRoadTrip, especially for Rochester! On Sunday, he got to visit the Union Pacific Railroad Museum. Here he is admiring the Golden Spike and the Dale Creek Bridge, and operating a 19th-century telegraph and a modern train.

Rochester (a plush bison) sits on a table looking at a transparent plastic case containing replicas of a golden railroad spike and a gold and silver railroad spike.

Rochester in front of a diorama of a trestle bridge extending from a canyon wall

Rochester on a shelf with his left hood on the switch of a telegraph signal

Rochester in a train operator's chair, facing a bank of switches and instruments, with the track visible through the train's front window

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Quixley the Zebra @wildrepublicsd.bsky.social · 15/06/2025

Outside the museum, Marietta and I admire the USS Riverside. #WildRepublicRoadTrip —qxz

A model of a Star Trek ship, outdoors next to a lawn and a street. The ship's warp nacelle has a partly-visible label saying "...RSIDE NCC-1818". It sits on a pedestal saying "Riverside Iowa's Annual TREKFEST / The official future birthplace of Captain James T. Kirk / www.trekfest.org". Marietta (a plush platypus) sits on the pedestal, and Quixley (a plush zebra) on a model shuttlecraft labeled "donations", next to the ship.

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Quixley the Zebra @wildrepublicsd.bsky.social · 15/06/2025

We made a side trip today so I could visit the Voyage Home Museum in Riverside, Iowa—the future birthplace of Captain Kirk! I sat in the captain's chair, worked at Data's desk, used the transporter, and wrestled the Gorn! #WildRepublicRoadTrip —qxz

Quixley (a plush zebra) sits in a replica of a Star Trek captain's chair, with various Star Trek magazines and cardboard cutouts visible in the background

Quixley sits on a plastic table with a plaque saying "Data's Desk: Used in Next Generation and Voyager series. Also in theatre show with William Shatner / Donated by Ed & Rachel Harrigan / 2018". Also on the desk is a framed still from Star Trek: The Next Generation showing Data sitting at the desk, with part of a note written on the photo visible: "...The Riverside Museum / ...s for taking care / ...my desk! / Data".

Quixley stands in a mockup of a Star Trek transporter pad. Also on the pad are life-size cardboard cutouts of Captain Kirk, Dr. McCoy, and Spock.

A standing costume of the Gorn from the Star Trek episode "Arena", holding Quixley in the crook of his arm.

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Quixley the Zebra @wildrepublicsd.bsky.social · 15/06/2025

Marietta was excited to stop for lunch at the World's Largest Truck Stop, home of the Trucking Museum! She played the world's largest Pac-Man game, but couldn't find a novelty license plate with her name on it. #WildRepublicRoadTrip

Marietta sitting on the sideboard of an old-fashioned red pickup truck, on whose door are the words "Iowa 80 Trucking Museum"

Marietta at the controls of a game of Pac-Man; the screen is several feet high and takes up most of the wall behind the controls. At the top is a sign saying "World's Largest Pac-Man".

Marietta in a gift shop looking at a rack of novelty Iowa license plate, which have names such as Maria, Mariah, Marissa, Mark, Martin, Mary, Matt, and Mason on them.

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Quixley the Zebra @wildrepublicsd.bsky.social · 13/06/2025

This morning in Cleveland, we visited North America’s biggest candy store! Barry was in heaven #WildRepublicRoadTrip

Barry (a plush elephant) sitting on a bag of Tootsie Pops, Dots, and other such candies on a candy store shelf

Barry standing among a display of large lollipops on a candy store shelf

Barry standing in front of a mural for the B.A. Sweetie Candy Company

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Quixley the Zebra @wildrepublicsd.bsky.social · 13/06/2025

On the first day of the second leg of this year’s #WildRepublicRoadTrip, we stopped in Buffalo to meet the Shark Girl—and we have a buffalo and shark girl of our own!

Shark Girl—a statue of a girl in a blue dress with the head of a shark sitting on a boulder, on a walkway overlooking a canal. On the boulder next to her sit Trudy (a plush shark) and Rochester (a plush bison).

Trudy and Rochester next to Shark Girl, seen from closer to the level of the stuffed animals, looking up at Shark Girl.

Now Trudy is sitting in Shark Girl’s lap.

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Quixley the Zebra @wildrepublicsd.bsky.social · 13/04/2025

Pascale says chag sameach!

Pascale (a plush wolverine) poses with a seder plate

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Katie Carmichael @drkatcarm.bsky.social · 10/03/2025

Continued IPA lessons at school! 🥺 My second grader spontaneously made this chart and started lecturing me about schwa and its relationship to the American English spelling system, — my heart grew 3 sizes this day! Little does he know, schwa lectures are my love language 🫶

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Quixley the Zebra @wildrepublicsd.bsky.social · 27/02/2025

…and Marietta faced off against the Kaskaskia Dragon! #WRRoadTrip

A giant metal statue of a dragon in a field, with Marietta (a plush platypus) facing it from the edge of the frame.

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Quixley the Zebra @wildrepublicsd.bsky.social · 27/02/2025

Yesterday Barry and I visited the City Museum of St. Louis… #WRRoadTrip

The front of the City Museum—and old brick buildings with a huge climbing structure for kids, including an entire airplane. Quixley (a plush zebra) looks on from the corner of the frame.

Barry (a plush elephant) sits on the wheel of an old fire engine.

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Quixley the Zebra @wildrepublicsd.bsky.social · 26/02/2025

Yesterday Odoacer met one of his personal heroes: the Blue Whale of Catoosa! #WRRoadTrip

The Blue Whale of Catoosa: a big blue cartoonish statue of a whale, in a pond in a park, seen from the side. On the right side of the frame, Odoacer (a Squishable blue plush narwhal) looks on.

Odoacer poses in front of the Blue Whale of Catoosa, both facing the camera. The footpath leading from the park into the Blue Whale’s mouth is visible.

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Quixley the Zebra @wildrepublicsd.bsky.social · 24/02/2025

We visited Cadillac Ranch today on the #WRRoadTrip and Marietta was very excited!

Cadillac Ranch—a row of old cars half-buried in the soil, sticking up at an angle, and covered in graffiti; and Marietta (a plush platypus) in the foreground at the same angle.

Marietta looking at graffiti on a car reading “in omnia paratus” with a pink heart.

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Quixley the Zebra @wildrepublicsd.bsky.social · 24/02/2025

Today #WRRoadTrip was in Albuquerque, and Rochester visited the Pueblo Cultural Center and the Piedras Marcadas petroglyphs!

Rochester (a plush bison) in the parking lot in front of the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center.

Rochester in front of a cliffside of boulders, some of which have inscriptions on them of geometric shapes and figures of animals.

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Quixley the Zebra @wildrepublicsd.bsky.social · 23/02/2025

In Phoenix this morning, Rochester explored the S’eḏav Va’aki Museum, showcasing the remains of a prehistoric indigenous O’odham village!

Rochester (a plush bison) at the door of a replica ancient O'odham house. Visible in the house are adobe walls; wooden roof beams and a wooden pole supporting them, tall and short woven baskets, a fire pit, stones, a bench, and a tapestry and a gourd hanging on the wall.

Rochester on a railing with a sign saying "the northwest compound", overlooking a prehistoric platform mound on which the remnants of building walls can be seen.

Rochester sitting on a bench in the sun; behind him are the remnants of walls of a prehistoric platform mound.

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Quixley the Zebra @wildrepublicsd.bsky.social · 22/02/2025

Day 1 of #WRRoadTrip 2025! Marietta was excited to visit the exact center of the world. There was a granite monument about her family, and a replica of the Liberty Bell!

Marietta (a plush platypus) in front of a granite slab engraved with facts about platypuses and a large picture of one.

Marietta standing on top of a half-scale replica of the Liberty Bell in the desert.

Marietta on the floor next to a brass plaque labeled “official center of the world”

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Quixley the Zebra @wildrepublicsd.bsky.social · 20/02/2025

Here’s Rochester packing for #WRRoadTrip 2: the sequel! Some members of our team are spending the spring in Pittsburgh, and driving there over the coming week.

Rochester, a plush bison, sitting on top of a purple suitcase in a hallway. Other bags are visible in the foreground and background.

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Aaron Dinkin @ajdinkin.bsky.social · 18/02/2025

Also, THOUGHT seems to have a *lowered* allophone before L in traditional New Orleans English, in contrast to its behavior in other dialects, but one sign of approaching merger is that that allophonic conditioning is being lost!

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Katie Carmichael @drkatcarm.bsky.social · 18/02/2025

My paper with @ajdinkin.bsky.social on the low-back merger in New Orleans is out in Journal of English Linguistics! The tl;dr is that - LOT/THOUGHT are merging in NOLA & not just because of retreat from marked Yat features like raised THOUGHT. Check it out 👉 journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1...

journals.sagepub.com

Making a Merger: Social and Linguistic Factors in the Low-Back Merger in New Orleans English - Katie Carmichael, Aaron J. Dinkin, 2025

The merger of lot and thought, sometimes called the low-back merger, is a feature rapidly spreading across North America, even in locales historically resistant...

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Bronwyn @bron.bsky.social · 12/02/2025

This is absolutely astonishing, given so many things about development in the Boston area, but I think it's important to note: a bunch more linguists may get to talk about living on the Fourth Floor.

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Megan McIntyre @rcmeg.bsky.social · 05/02/2025

Not to put too fine a point on it, but a week ago, the CSU closed 6 departments (among them, philosophy, women's and gender studies, and economics) and fired 46 tenure-line faculty at Sonoma State. One of those faculty studies AI ethics. They fired the AI ethics professor. Then, this.

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Aaron Dinkin @ajdinkin.bsky.social · 31/01/2025

For you (TD)-deletion fans, Meredith Tamminga and I have published our paper asking whether deletion is disfavored when it would turn a word into a homophone of a different word, as in bald —> ball. (It isn’t.) doi.org/10.1017/S095...

doi.org

Searching for homophony avoidance in English coronal stop deletion | Phonology | Cambridge Core

Searching for homophony avoidance in English coronal stop deletion - Volume 42

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Michael Lugo @miclugo.bsky.social · 18/01/2025

German was employed by the Baker Chocolate Company, named for one of its founders, James Baker. Baker’s Chocolate is one of the ingredients in this cake.

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Quixley the Zebra @wildrepublicsd.bsky.social · 17/01/2025

I’m back baby! Mystery Hunt here I come! —Barry!

Barry (a plush elephant) in front of a sign for South Station in Boston

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Suzanne Evans Wagner @suzanneevanswagner.bsky.social · 11/01/2025

TODAY, 1/11: It would mean a lot to me if Gillian has a large crowd at this event! Please attend if you're at the LSA and can possibly go. The focus recently has appropriately been on Bill, but Gillian is a world-class linguist in her own right who absolutely deserves this honor.

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Betsy Sneller @betsysneller.bsky.social · 11/01/2025

Also please share widely! I know it will mean a lot to her to see all of us there.

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Aaron Dinkin @ajdinkin.bsky.social · 11/01/2025

A former student of mine just texted me that a paper by me and @drkatcarm.bsky.social won an award at #ADS2025?! Can anyone provide more information?

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Gretchen McCulloch @gretchenmcculloch.com · 10/01/2025

John Baugh: "if you want to honor Bill Labov, refer to him in the present tense, and Bill Labov says three things: 1. No two utterances are identical 2. Some sentences mean the same thing 3. Some linguistic differences don't matter" #lsa2025

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Prof. Nicole Holliday @mixedlinguist.bsky.social · 10/01/2025

Walt Wolfram honors Labov by talking about how sociolinguists are kind people, throwing a little shade at the syntacticians of the 60s who would maybe not have given his children pinball machine money when they interrupted him mid-talk 😆

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Prof. Nicole Holliday @mixedlinguist.bsky.social · 10/01/2025

Meredith Tamminga talks about her experience as Labov’s student, his rigor, his kindness, and his brilliance, reminding us of a banger quote from him “some facts, the ones that affect people’s life chances, are more important than others”.

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Prof. Nicole Holliday @mixedlinguist.bsky.social · 10/01/2025

In memorial, Sherry Ash talks about the time that Bill Labov and a colleague carefully designed an experiment to analyze drunk speech…so they drank a shot of whiskey, read a passage, & recorded it, repeatedly. Unsurprisingly, the paper was never published, but it was methodologically sound! #LSA2025

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Quixley the Zebra @wildrepublicsd.bsky.social · 09/01/2025

Practicing my acceptance speech

Quixley (a plush zebra) posing with an Emmy Award

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