Episode 71: Student & professor talk about language

Rebecca Shapiro describes the circumstances – starting with voracious and mischievous reading as a young girl – that led to where she is today, an Associate Professor of English and Linguistics in the English Department at New York City College of Technology. She challenges her students and has a great time with them, a fact to which her former student Estephanie Montero can attest. Estephanie – now a student in the B.A. Program in Speech Pathology and Audiology at Lehman College – and Rebecca reunite via Zoom and discuss some of the more memorable assignments from Professor Shapiro’s Language, Culture, and Society class.

During the conversation, Rebecca and Estephanie mention Genie a few times. In case you’re not familiar with her case, you can read about it here. And if you don’t know what a shoe tree is, Rebecca held one up to her computer screen, but you can’t see it. It looks like this.

Rebecca Shapiro is the author of Fixing Babel: An Historical Anthology of Applied English Lexicography. She is also co-founder of Starfish House Editorial Services. She is on Twitter, which is how I “met” her!

Here’s another recent interview with Rebecca that delves even more deeply into linguistics. She joins in around the 29 minute mark and, among other things, talks about how dictionaries can be tools of justice.

Listen to Episode 71 here & now (or via Apple Podcasts)

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