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Lauren Hall-Lew (she/her)

@lhlew.bsky.social
3.5K followers 2.1K following 458 posts

Professor of Sociolinguistics at the University of Edinburgh. Anti-racist, pro-trans, pro-housing, adoption-critical. Gàidhlig learner, BSL learner, musician, Trekkie. Always in recovery from something.

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Lauren Hall-Lew (she/her) @lhlew.bsky.social · 14/10/2026
omg I am definitely down for a bagel crawl that sunday!
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Dave Vetter @davidrvetter.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
Just imagine if the UK had some sort of national broadcaster that had a duty to act in the public interest.
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jazzz75.bsky.social @jazzz75.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Banksy wanted to help rescue migrants in one of the deadliest migration routes in the world in the Central Mediterranean. He bought a boat -repaired & painted. Have rescued 3,800 so far. Buy Banksy designed merch to support project here. shop.mvlouisemichel.org 👈🏻 www.instagram.com/reel/DdosJNe...
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Billy Hanlon @bhanlon15.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Science Alert: 'Brain Scans of 24 People With Long COVID Reveal Signs of Injury to Dopamine Neurons' "Our findings provide compelling evidence that long COVID involves the loss of dopamine-releasing neurons" www.sciencealert.com/brain-scans-...
sciencealert.com
Brain Scans of 24 People With Long COVID Reveal Signs of Injury to Dopamine Neurons
Scientists have discovered a distinct change in the brains of people with long COVID that might explain some of the illness's most debilitating symptoms.
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Kit Whitfield - fantasy writer @kitwhitfield.bsky.social · 08/07/2025
Disabled people know this. For a lot of us it's a fighting word because the people who use it about us are predatory. They're rarely the ones who help or respect us. And generally they're the ones who turn on us if our reality is harder than they want to believe. 7/ www.youtube.com/watch?v=8K9G...
youtube.com
I'm not your inspiration, thank you very much | Stella Young
YouTube video by TED
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Lauren Hall-Lew (she/her) @lhlew.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Day 2 of (UK) Black History Month! This weekend's #recommended viewing is <Finding Spaces to Belong>, "an hour-long ethnographic documentary film that delves into the lives of four deaf migrants navigating their way in London." mobiledeaf.org.uk/film/belong/ (Turn on CC for subtitles.)
mobiledeaf.org.uk
Finding Spaces to Belong – MobileDeaf
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Lauren Hall-Lew (she/her) @lhlew.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
New website from the UCU (University and College Union) educationitsours.org.uk #academia #highereducation #UK #unionstrong #strikes
educationitsours.org.uk
Education. It's ours - Education. It's ours
Education. It's ours — UCU's campaign to defend jobs, courses and campuses across further and higher education. Choose your pathway and take action.
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veery @veery.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
yes you could say i’m a centrist
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Lauren Hall-Lew (she/her) @lhlew.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
October is Black History Month in the UK 🥳 As a Gaelic learner and mother of two Black GME (Gaelic Medium Education) pupils, I love this post by Tawana Maramba about Afro-Gàidheal history and being an Afro-Gàidheal: blackballad.co.uk/views-voices...
blackballad.co.uk
Black Gaelic Speakers Are Confronting Scotland's Hidden History
The fact that there isn't a word to for Black people in the Gaelic language is just one of the things Gaelic speakers of African descent are confronting.
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Carceral Abolition @carceralabolition.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Clara Belle Drisdale [1885-1993], the first African-American graduate of New Mexico State University. Many of her professors would not allow her inside the classroom, she had to take notes from the hallway www.reddit.com/r/Minority_S...
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Mark Hamill @markhamillofficial.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Isn't it nice when there's something we can ALL agree on? #ReleaseTheUnredactedEPSTEIN-Files
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Lauren Hall-Lew (she/her) @lhlew.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Happy Moon Festival! 🌕 I'm looking forward to having mooncake today but Lidl is already selling stollen und lebkuchen so the relationship between food and holidays is dissolving! But the result is access to tasty things for longer periods of time so 🤷🏻‍♀️ #Chinese #German #food
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moyragrant.bsky.social @moyragrant.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Good cartoon from Michael deAdder of Canada.
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papaesoco.bsky.social @papaesoco.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Trump Administration Aims to “Asphyxiate” Cuba Into Submission, Diplomat Says truthout.org/video/trump-...
truthout.org
Trump Administration Aims to “Asphyxiate” Cuba Into Submission, Diplomat Says
Meanwhile, the CIA recently formed a new secret task force as part of a widening US effort to destabilize Cuba.
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🪷MsGrumpyBunny🪷 @msgrumpybunny.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
The Trump admin just used AI to kick 760k people off the ACA, JD Vance said it’ll save them approx $2 billion. I wonder where that money will go and how many will be harmed by their reckless decisions. That’s roughly the same amount Trump spends on his needless war on Iran in one month.
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Resist 🕎🍉 @antizionistjew.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
🧵 Thread of Israelis Admitting War Crimes on Twitter (X) 1. "We felt danger, so we shot the seven-month-old baby."
"We felt danger, so we shot the seven-month-old baby."
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Lauren Hall-Lew (she/her) @lhlew.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
www.kqed.org/news/1209976... Great conversation with @abbyjwalker.bsky.social on why we will always need human translators and why humans will always learn langauges 🥰 #linguistics #sociolinguistics #podcast #translation #AI #technology #recommended #recommendation
kqed.org
Will We Still Learn Languages When Machines Can Translate? (with Abby Walker) | KQED
Live AI translation tools are making it easier to converse across languages without a human translator, a phrasebook, or years of study. So will we all just stop taking Spanish or Mandarin classes? So...
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Lauren Hall-Lew (she/her) @lhlew.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
It's Welcome Week again, i.e., the time every year when I shock all the new Chinese students by revealing that I, too, am Chinese. Sigh. #MixedRaceProblems
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Alice Ross @alice-ross.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Talking with my hands on tour: here's what it looked like when I presented 'Sexualised synthetic personas encode & amplify gendered power asymmetries through voice' at Lavender Languages 32! Thanks to @lhlew.bsky.social 📸 What a wonderful opportunity to share our work, which you can check out here!
Alice, a tattooed human wearing a black silky shirt and rainbow lanyard, stands at a desk gesturing towards a projection (not shown)
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Mani Isna La 🇨🇺 🇵🇸 🇬🇱🕊️ 🪶 #IndigenousLivesMatter @maniisnala.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Tech billionaires are getting richer while we pay the price for the real-world harm their platforms cause. The "neutral host" loophole lets them off the hook for pushing dangerous content. MPs are demanding emergency laws to make them pay. Add your name: you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/st...
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Lauren Hall-Lew (she/her) @lhlew.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Lavender Languages & Linguistics 32, aka #LavLang32, starts tomorrow!!! Check out our 5 awesome keynotes: lavlang32.ppls.ed.ac.uk?page_id=2 and 4 parallel sessions of talks: lavlang32.ppls.ed.ac.uk?page_id=389 #linguistics #sociolinguistics #queer #queerstudies #academia #conferences #Edinburgh
lavlang32.ppls.ed.ac.uk
LavLang32 - Lavender Languages & Linguistics 32
2-4 September 2026: Queer (dis)belonging
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Christian Ilbury @christianilbury.bsky.social · 18/05/2026
In other news, we sent out #LavLang32 acceptance emails today 🎉🎉🎉 We were able to accept 105 papers (!!!) which, I believe, could make this the largest LavLang conference since the series started. Very excited to welcome everyone to Edinburgh in September 2026 🏳️‍🌈🌈 Info: lavlang32.ppls.ed.ac.uk
lavlang32.ppls.ed.ac.uk
LavLang32 - Lavender Languages & Linguistics 32
2-4 September 2026: Queer (dis)belonging
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Gillian Brockell @gillianbrockell.com · 29/08/2026
If this were happening somewhere else, we would call them what they are: Internally Displaced People.
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Rima I Anabtawi @rimaanabtawi.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Dolly Parton becomes the only artist in history to occupy the entire Top 10 of US iTunes with different songs.
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Lauren Hall-Lew (she/her) @lhlew.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Haha!! This week's new episode of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds has a joke based on this old nugget www.tiktok.com/@roryg168/vi...
tiktok.com
#foryoupage #fyp #viral #scotland #scottishmemes #funnyscottishvideos #11thfloorelevator #scottishelavetor #scottishtiktok
TikTok video by RoryG.16
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Lauren Hall-Lew (she/her) @lhlew.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
I know that sign! (I'm from Arizona)
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Lauren Hall-Lew (she/her) @lhlew.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
Minimum one hour. There is a lot of text -- either it's overwhelming, or you'll want to book two hours.
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Lauren Hall-Lew (she/her) @lhlew.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
People in Edinburgh you MUST go see "The Legacy of Slavery" www.eif.co.uk/events/the-l... It's FREE!!! But ticketed. No matter how much you think you know about slavery in the US, you will learn something! Book now, last day is August 30th! #Edinburgh #Festival not the #Fringe but still #MustSee
eif.co.uk
The Legacy of Slavery | Edinburgh International Festival
Discover a comprehensive history of the legacy of slavery and racial injustice – from Scotland to America – in the first international exhibition from the
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Because Language (becauselangpod) @becauselanguage.com · 23/08/2026
ICYMI: We want to end linguistic prejudice, not teach people to dodge it. But in the meantime, what's the best strategy? A sociophonetic deep dive w Jennifer Nycz @jennycz.bsky.social and Lauren Hall-Lew @lhlew.bsky.social. With ✨Kelly Wright✨ becauselanguage.com/144-sociopho... @academic.oup.com
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Lauren Hall-Lew (she/her) @lhlew.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
Thanks Nicole! I should track down the original source for that one...
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Prof. Nicole Holliday @mixedlinguist.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
In all my years, somehow I’ve never heard of the “social McGurk Effect”! Thanks @lhlew.bsky.social, @jennycz.bsky.social, and Kelly Wright for a great discussion on the @becauselanguage.com pod! podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/b...
podcasts.apple.com
144: Sociophonetics Deep Dive (with Jennifer Nycz, Lauren Hall-Lew, and Kelly Wright)
Podcast Episode · Because Language - a podcast about linguistics, the science of language. · August 22 · 1h 8m
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Lauren Hall-Lew (she/her) @lhlew.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
I said what I said 😅
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Lauren Hall-Lew (she/her) @lhlew.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
and becoming a family together, but goes even deeper than marriage because it's a bond that is often the only one of its type that the child knows. But one never sees sponsorship schemes called "Marry an animal." Please use the word "sponsor" instead. Thanks. /fin
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Lauren Hall-Lew (she/her) @lhlew.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
is to try to explain that, when people say "adopt" sometimes they don't actually mean adoption. The experience of adopting a child is one of a lifetime of love and deep familial connection. It is akin to marriage in the sense of people from different biological families finding one another /4
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Lauren Hall-Lew (she/her) @lhlew.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
harder for an adopted child to understand what it means to be adopted. A friend of mine who is also an adoptive mother said that her son asked her, "if adopting is coming home forever and being safe then why aren't we taking the animal home?" The only possible answer to a question like this /3
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Lauren Hall-Lew (she/her) @lhlew.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
for adopted children. At worst, they can imply that the bonds between adopted children and their parents are superficial. They can even imply that adopted children are not quite fully human, but rather akin to animals (or whatever the "Adopt an X" programme is set up to sponsor). It may make it /2
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Lauren Hall-Lew (she/her) @lhlew.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
A reminder that "adopt" or "foster" are hurtful words when the meaning is "sponsor" (e.g., send some money every month and receive a photo and newsletter in response). <thread> Programmes that use the term "adopt" are unfortunately common in many places but, at best, they may be confusing /1
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Charles Keener @charleskeener.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
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Lauren Hall-Lew (she/her) @lhlew.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
People in Scotland, at the Fringe, and the University of Edinburgh, please join us in this email campaign: Invest in Staff; Divest from Genocide jobsnotgenocide.netlify.app
jobsnotgenocide.netlify.app
Jobs Not Genocide
Tell MSPs to enforce the boycott, press the University of Edinburgh to divest, and protect university jobs and education.
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LordWoolamaloo @lordwoolamaloo.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
Mythbuster Adam Savage talks with Matt Cushman about his fabulously detailed cutaway artwork of the original Starship Enterprise www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nTZ... #Art #StarTrek
youtube.com
Does Star Trek's USS Enterprise Design Make Sense?
YouTube video by Adam Savage’s Tested
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Journal of Sociolinguistics @jslx.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Our latest podcast ep is up! Hear John Joseph interview Sinfree Makoni about his co-authored book with Ana Deumert, "From Southern Theory to Decolonizing Sociolinguistics" open.spotify.com/episode/7lG8... The transcript is now Online First, available here: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
open.spotify.com
[Episode 11] John Joseph meets Sinfree Makoni. A conversation about Southern Theory and Decolonizing Sociolinguistics.
JSLX Conversations · Episode
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Lauren Hall-Lew (she/her) @lhlew.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
Today's #Edinburgh #Fringe rec is "Charlene Kaye: Diversity Shredder" www.edfringe.com/tickets/what... I laughed so much my face hurt, and she's a phenomenally talented musician, too! Definitely not enough Asians in the audience. Tell your Asian friends. But maybe not your Christian ones...
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Elizabeth Spiers @espiers.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
As anyone in publishing will tell you, women do not resist reading books by men, but men will often dismiss books by women. This is not a publishing problem or a failure to target men. It's a misogyny problem.
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Lauren Hall-Lew (she/her) @lhlew.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
If we could please all just agree that "langauge" is an acceptable alternate spelling, it would frankly save me a lot of time hitting the backspace key.
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Kate Nevens (she/her) @katenevens.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
The Young Women's Movement is looking for young women, trans women and non-binary people aged 16 to 30 to take part in their latest research on tackling digital violence. Have your say: buff.ly/ZeJgKH7
youngwomenscot.org
Status of Young Women in Scotland research
Status of Young Women in Scotland is our flagship research project. In the past, Status of Young Women in Scotland has explored young women's human rights; access to healthcare; employment…
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Marlene Green @marlenegreen.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
Oh Joy! Check out Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, Michigan Senate Candidate doing another great interview, in the gym. Hope Michigan listens to his messages and send him to the Senate despite the millions being spent to take him out. Share this with Michigan voters & get out the vote everywhere for him!
youtu.be
Abdul El-Sayed On Fetterman: "He's Also Just An Asshole"
YouTube video by The Lever
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Resist 🕎🍉 @antizionistjew.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
Yair Golan, Leader of the Israeli Democrats Party, meets with Palestinian & Bedouin communities ahead of Israeli elections
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Dr. Sarah Parcak @indyfromspace.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
I hope every day you all are trying to cultivate joy. A kindness to a neighbor. A long walk. Poetry. Birdwatching. Meditation. Being silly and playing peekaboo in a checkout line with a cute baby. These are dark times, and joy is something the bastards cannot take from us. Fight for it.
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Adam Serwer @adamserwer.bsky.social · 25/07/2026
It is genuinely bizarre that we’ve become acclimatized to right wingers throwing a tantrum every time a black person (particularly a black woman) is cast in something, but are also supposed to pretend that this is not racism but related to some other substantive concern.
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The Tennessee Holler @thetnholler.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
NBC: “3yo shot dead in Gaza… Al-Ajeen tried to call for an ambulance, Israeli soldiers took his phone and dragged him beyond the yellow line, still carrying Rayan, who was bleeding from his chest… No medical assistance was provided to his dying son…” www.nbcnews.com/world/gaza/s...
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