My dissertation chair was David Fanshel, Labov’s co-author on a book that absolutely floored me, “Therapeutic Discourse.” This was after Labov had moved to Penn, so I never met him. I based my methodology on the one they developed, although, as experienced a researcher as Fanshel was, it was clear that Labov was the senior partner in the collaboration. it was also clear that Fanshel had very fond memories of their work together. I read several other things Labov wrote. They were always revelatory. He was a giant, and his memory is a blessing.
Wow. I was blown away by this! Labov is a legend! A name I heard so regularly in my undergrad Linguistics degree (in Australia) that it almost became a game to me, 'how long into the semester before they mention Labov' and for that reason he always seemed like some kind of mythological figure far beyond the reach of mortals. I had no idea he was still alive at the same time I was studying his earlier work! Thank you so much for this perspective on him as a man beyond his tremendous reputation as a linguist! It's a nice reminder that we can aspire to be so great and the trick is just to take steps in line with the values you want to be remembered for each day!
I had the joy and privilege of taking Bill Labov's narratology course at Penn some 15 years ago. This was the course where half of it was learning about stories and half of it was us going through the process of writing/illustrating children's books to teach reading to local kids (I'm guessing that fateful Taylor Jones book had been someone's class project?). I remember being awed at the level of insight he had in this field that seemed so very much apart from the work he was most famous for. The wisdom that stuck with me the most was that every single time we tell a story, we have to contend with two ways it could go wrong: "that's bull****" or "so what?" That is, we walk the line between unreportable or unbelievable. Maybe it seems like a simple observation but it changed the way I think about stories. Well, hopefully that little anecdote was both reportable and believable. Absolute titan. ז"ל.
He must have been an amazing man! And he probably helped you to be such awesome storyteller as you are! PS: Dr. Jones, please have mercy on your viewers who have English as a second language and are not nearly as fluent as you are, and add subtitles to your videos. Sometimes it doesn't help me to replay a passage I don't understand several times. Subtitles (not automatic ones) would really help. Your vlogs are some of the best, but also some of the most challenging I've come across on UA-cam. Thank you!
Thank you. I have a casual interest in linguistics which I feed with channels like yours, so I did not know about Bill Labov until now. It sounds like he was a wonderful man. Hard for me to paint a mental picture of a lamed vavnik with a James Bond suitcase, though. זיכרונו לברכה
As an academic historian, I deeply appreciate public humanities / public social science work like this video. The work that we academic humanists and social scientists do often makes a positive difference in the world. But we aren't always very good at speaking to the world beyond our departments and institutions about the differences we make. Thank you for this (outward-facing) celebration of a great scholar and mentor. So very sorry for your loss...and thank you for your contributions on this channel. I can't imagine a better tribute to a Doktorvater like Labov than continuing to put work out into the world that carries forward his values, as you do.
Thank you for sharing this with us. It actually reminded me of when Pierre Villard, my master's thesis supervisor passed in 2023 - unbeknownst to many of the students he had, he was the author of an impressive amounts of study, and even in his early education in the field, was already pioneering the decypherment of the Mari archives, in a rough attic in an old Paris building, using brand new typewriters that allowed the use of complex diacritics ; working with the likes of Durand, Garelli and Charpin, before actually spending years on the "field" in Syria. He was curious about everything, always willing to question and organize our knowledge of the past. His works on dogs, houses, daily life, just to mention some examples just proved to me that he wanted to make this past world as known and alive as possible in all its aspects. I guess he didn't save people using that knowledge, but he did guide many students into a passionating field.
Man! I'm sorry for your lost. I studied Labov in the university. Our sociolinguistic teacher describe his study about Marthas Vinyard and we made a quiz with his method. For me was a very good experience and it opened my mind about what can you do as scholar. Thank you for share with us.
Thank you for this wonderful video! And condolences for your loss. I believe that having someone speak about you with such love, reverence, and respect, is itself a great achievement in life.
Taylor, that is lovely. I first heard of Bill Labov when qualifying as a secondary school teacher in the mid-80s, before I made the move to university teaching. We met him as a critic of Bernstein's notion of restricted and elaborated codes. I became a fan instantly, and have been one ever since. I'm also a fan of the Jewish expression "May his memory be a blessing". One of the nicest things that can be said of someone who's died to someone who's mourning. (I speak as someone who lost his Dad, who was just six years Bill L's junior, in August of last year, and whose North London upbringing has meant I've heard it from many friends lately.) As I understand it, Judaism doesn't really have a party line on the Afterlife, and I love the phrase's focus on what may console us, the living, here and now, as we live our lives. Bill Labov meant a lot to many of us, but what he meant to you is incalculable. May his memory be a blessing to you in particular.
Condolences for your loss, but thank you for keeping his memory alive and sharing his accomplishments and achievements with us. He sounds like a great man.
Crazy, I ended up briefly (trying) to read some of Bill's work on narrative for an undergraduate political science class! I ended up realizing that his work was that exactly what I was looking for, but what a coincidence. What a beautiful eulogy this is, really appreciated it.
Thank you for making this video. I'm sorry for your loss. Prof. Labov did amazing work in his field, and I appreciate you highlighting his career. I hope to learn more about him and his work in the future! 14:00 As a PhD student (in physics) who is currently going through the never-ending review/revise/repeat process for a paper, congrats!
Wither thou goest, I shall follow ❤ I never want to read a great classic book in “modern” language. I am German and self-taught and this resonates with me, how beautiful ❤❤❤ Your mentor rest in peace. He left “footprints”.
That was such a sweet story Dr. Jones, it is unreal that you were part of that. I never doubted your abilities or goodwill or experience but I feel like after you dropped this bomb, there is very little reason anyone should. I don't know how someone like you can have haters and I wish the best for you, your family and all your futures. I hope maybe one day you can be that for someone, changing their life for the better and helping to create a person of change. Do you ever think you'll teach linguistics? Follow in his footsteps guiding the next generation of linguists? I hold out hope that you may one day, because you would help make decent linguists. I'm sorry for your loss and I hope your heart heals well. Also sorry for my terrible punctuation and grammar, I may be an American but English is my worst subject in college right now.
I was a linguistics undergrad (never had the chance to pursue higher ed after that, sadly), but I knew who Labov was. Still, I don't think I ever understood just how influential he was. I envy your time with him, and I'm sorry for your loss personally and our loss academically.
I've been watching a set of Intro to Linguistics lectures from UCI, and just yesterday I watched the lectures on sociolinguistics, which featured Prof. Labov's "fourth floor" study.
My wife was one of the last students of T. Barry Brazelton. Having the experience to learn directly from a legend is a wonderful experience. I have gotten to meet and talk to just about every living expert in my niche area of constitutional law, but none of them were my teachers. One was the dean of my law school just before I attended, but I didn't start studying that area until years later and I got to talk to him about it then. That was John Feerick, the last living person to write one of the amendments in the Constitution.
Since I started studying linguistics, I have always considered myself a philosophical disciple of Lavob. While I also admire Noam Chomsky, I would be in team Lavob in a heartbeat if they ask me whom I consider to be the greater influence. After reading his works, I have been inspired to volunteer myself to help speakers of lesser prestigious languages. May he rest in peace. The Linguistics world lost a great treasure. (I am crying by the middle of this video. I miss him even if I have not personally met him at all. Hope to meet the man in heaven.)
Please accept my condolences on the loss of your beloved mentor; he sounds like a wonderful person. I look forward to the book recommendations; my local librarian will be giving me odd smiles!
I'm sorry for your loss. I'll be crushed when my advisor eventually passes. I agree that "Are Emily and Greg More Employable Than Lakisha and Jamal? A Field Experiment on Labor Market Discrimination" has one of the best titles. I do audit studies like in that paper. I have very hot takes on the debate around to what extent Black names signal SES...
Wow, I somehow hadn't heard of his passing; his passing is such a loss. I've never even come close to meeting the man, but he was such a huge influence on the field of linguistics (like, creating a new sub-field with your BA and MA alone is a legendary story within linguistics) on par with Chomsky and De Saussure, at least. Personally, also an important scholar for my own BA (that I'm dragging to the finish line, but that I will finish some day soon). Sorry for your loss. I'll drink a whiskey to him tonight and may his memory be a blessing.
"All truly interesting stories really just boil down to three things: sex, death, and moral outrage." I'll take that into consideration when writing/plotting my next books. 😁 As far as I can tell, this guy was truly a genius! The one earth parents once in a century, perhaps. Thank you for shedding some light on him and the tremendous influence he has had on you and other linguists.
My dream in high school was to be a linguist. My guidance counselor convinced my parents that the only job I would be able to get was a translator at the UN. I tried to convince them otherwise but ended up studying political science though I eventually earned my degree in journalism. I didn't have the exact knowledge or (ironically) the language to convey what it is I wanted to do but I wish I had this video to show them what linguistics really is.
As a PhD Chemist with a fascination with linguistics, I can understand making the jump from Chemist to Linguist when going from Bachelors to grad school.
I don't know what to say. This video gives and elicits a lot of emotions, and I can only say stuff linearly. I know *this* is an oxymoron, but it is also correct English, so I hope you forgive: my emotives *in no particular order* -I only knew of him from my undergrad sociolinguistics class and didn't know he had passed, and even then I had a lump in my stomach when reading the thumbnail and delayed watching this. Call it premonition, or whatever, but my gut told me he was a good guy before watching. Now I know. -I didn't realise that he was your advisor. I'm sorry for your loss but happy you got to have him in your life. Utilitarianaly as well. -Ego frailty seems to be the rabies of the academic. It may only take one bite from a mad dog before you become one yourself and start fearing the cold sweat on your own brow because it reflects the face of the one who bit you. I have no idea how Professor Labov managed to remain fearless of the dogged depths throughout this and even helped others get out of their jaws. -I know epitaphs must run counter to what Labov seemed to value. -They use standardised phrases, which hurt less because they are formulaic, to lump the deceased into a predetermined narrative, rather than the truth. But, I feel like, "Here lies a giant. Watch your step and see his shoulders move beneath your soles." Wouldn't have been too bad if this were a comic book. -This is real life, though, and it's difficult for an expressionist to paint a picture of respect without being disrespectful. I hope what you gleaned from this flopping fish was not the desperation of the flops but the respect they were trying to convey towards both your mentor and yourself. I'm really happy I decided to watch the video anyway and grateful that you decided to share his memory with as many people as you could.
Thank you so much for sharing all of this. Your line about rabies was revelatory, and I’ll try to remember it when I’m at my next conference. It really only takes one mad dog. It’s a few weeks later and I’m still processing pretty raw feelings - which surprised me, honestly. I felt almost guilty because I had others saying they were closer or knew him longer or were his favorites, and I started to feel like my relationship with him wasn’t as real or valid. Then when I thought about the last 13 years, I realized there’s no comparing to others. Our relationship was what it was, and all of us who knew him were better off for it
2:00 In consideration of what must have been an incredible man (saving someone's life due to understanding regional language?), I can't help but ask.. Am I the only one who thinks that it isn't the width of the opening, but rather the existence of a handle that differentiates bowls and cups?
@@languagejonesThen I'll leave to you to tell my baseball league about some potentially uncomfortable updates to required uniform safety measures. (SVP - Continuez votre travail incroyable. Mon ami et moi, les deux philologues amateurs, nous sommes complètement fous de votre chaîne. Si vous choisissez de faire un cours à San Francisco... on y est!)
As someone who grew up speaking AAVE all my life as a Black Man its crazy to think academia can be so rigid and somewhat racist to think all Black people sound the same if you hang around black people long enough you will hear the differences in accents within the United States Narrow mindedness is one of the largest hurdles in Social Science Academic achievement I feel. I feel like people tend to forget alot of AAVE is grammatical but its also based on how we say things our rhythm the cadences of words and so on. Black dudes from NYC dont sound like Black dudes from the South
Possibly the only useful and intelligent thing Henry Kissinger (is reputed to have) ever said: "the battles in academia are so fierce because the stakes are so small".
I want Dr. Taytay Jones to single-handedly invent multiple scientific disciplines, and will go into battle at his side to make it happen! Errr... once I can afford to be a mega Patreon.🎉 Also studied Bill's work and almost monthly quote his work that dialects continue to diverge in spite of standardized mass media.
Yeah I've had to change my accent for interviews. Although I've never spoken ebonics heavily, I've always spoken like Carlton from Fresh Prince(old one) during interviews because I assumed that's what white people wanted to hear. And so it goes
I've heard of him but apparently have always imagined the pronunciation of his name wrong. I must never have heard it before and only seen it in writing.
I am familiar with his name, but I can't place where I know it from. I've only taken one basic introductory linguistics course, but I'm really into language and have been diving into topics like narrative identity and discourse analysis in my psychology PhD program.
The best video you've ever made in my opinion and considering your background and what you have exposed here it's even more puzzlingly to me why you seem to refuse to take into account the actual experiences of people who really became fluent in a second language, specially a very different one from their mother tongue, and analyze how that process actually happens through those people who were really successful doing so. Once I even compared you to mainstream economists that analyze Economy purely through econometrics, disregarding what's observed in the real world, but what you do is the exact opposite of it. I can only think it's maybe some kind of personal beef against Krashen and his supporters. In one video you've said that how they FEEL that the process was may be different from how it actually happened. And that's a fair thing to say. Except you didn't explain how. And THAT could be a theme for another video. Why people that DON'T KNOW about this debate seem to match what Krashen describes when detailing how they actually have learned. I've also said here in the comments that if you take the most famous Krashen's video (and no, I didn't just see the videos- I know you are prone to pick and chose things just to attack an opponent without really addressing his arguments) and the video where, for instance, Mark Abbott talks about how he learned Thai to fluency. Abbott clearly have NO IDEIA about this debate, but, at the same time, seem to describe what Krashen proposes to a teeth. BUT, I never saw a really successful learner of a very different language (that also DON'T KNOW about this niche debate of ours) differ from that. What's that all about?
![Lp. Сердце Вселенной #60 РОЖДЕНИЕ ЛОЛОЛОШКИ [Финал] • Майнкрафт](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/YoR0pAV9FVQ/mqdefault.jpg)
I am sorry for your loss. Thank you for sharing his stories with us. It is sad that there is one less man of integrity in this world.
My dissertation chair was David Fanshel, Labov’s co-author on a book that absolutely floored me, “Therapeutic Discourse.” This was after Labov had moved to Penn, so I never met him. I based my methodology on the one they developed, although, as experienced a researcher as Fanshel was, it was clear that Labov was the senior partner in the collaboration. it was also clear that Fanshel had very fond memories of their work together. I read several other things Labov wrote. They were always revelatory. He was a giant, and his memory is a blessing.
Wow. I was blown away by this! Labov is a legend! A name I heard so regularly in my undergrad Linguistics degree (in Australia) that it almost became a game to me, 'how long into the semester before they mention Labov' and for that reason he always seemed like some kind of mythological figure far beyond the reach of mortals. I had no idea he was still alive at the same time I was studying his earlier work! Thank you so much for this perspective on him as a man beyond his tremendous reputation as a linguist! It's a nice reminder that we can aspire to be so great and the trick is just to take steps in line with the values you want to be remembered for each day!
I had the joy and privilege of taking Bill Labov's narratology course at Penn some 15 years ago. This was the course where half of it was learning about stories and half of it was us going through the process of writing/illustrating children's books to teach reading to local kids (I'm guessing that fateful Taylor Jones book had been someone's class project?). I remember being awed at the level of insight he had in this field that seemed so very much apart from the work he was most famous for.
The wisdom that stuck with me the most was that every single time we tell a story, we have to contend with two ways it could go wrong: "that's bull****" or "so what?" That is, we walk the line between unreportable or unbelievable. Maybe it seems like a simple observation but it changed the way I think about stories.
Well, hopefully that little anecdote was both reportable and believable.
Absolute titan. ז"ל.
He must have been an amazing man! And he probably helped you to be such awesome storyteller as you are!
PS: Dr. Jones, please have mercy on your viewers who have English as a second language and are not nearly as fluent as you are, and add subtitles to your videos. Sometimes it doesn't help me to replay a passage I don't understand several times. Subtitles (not automatic ones) would really help. Your vlogs are some of the best, but also some of the most challenging I've come across on UA-cam. Thank you!
Thank you. I have a casual interest in linguistics which I feed with channels like yours, so I did not know about Bill Labov until now. It sounds like he was a wonderful man. Hard for me to paint a mental picture of a lamed vavnik with a James Bond suitcase, though. זיכרונו לברכה
As an academic historian, I deeply appreciate public humanities / public social science work like this video. The work that we academic humanists and social scientists do often makes a positive difference in the world. But we aren't always very good at speaking to the world beyond our departments and institutions about the differences we make. Thank you for this (outward-facing) celebration of a great scholar and mentor. So very sorry for your loss...and thank you for your contributions on this channel. I can't imagine a better tribute to a Doktorvater like Labov than continuing to put work out into the world that carries forward his values, as you do.
I'll get "Language of Life and Death" today. Warmest sympathies, Doc.
Thank you for sharing this with us. It actually reminded me of when Pierre Villard, my master's thesis supervisor passed in 2023 - unbeknownst to many of the students he had, he was the author of an impressive amounts of study, and even in his early education in the field, was already pioneering the decypherment of the Mari archives, in a rough attic in an old Paris building, using brand new typewriters that allowed the use of complex diacritics ; working with the likes of Durand, Garelli and Charpin, before actually spending years on the "field" in Syria. He was curious about everything, always willing to question and organize our knowledge of the past. His works on dogs, houses, daily life, just to mention some examples just proved to me that he wanted to make this past world as known and alive as possible in all its aspects.
I guess he didn't save people using that knowledge, but he did guide many students into a passionating field.
Man! I'm sorry for your lost. I studied Labov in the university. Our sociolinguistic teacher describe his study about Marthas Vinyard and we made a quiz with his method. For me was a very good experience and it opened my mind about what can you do as scholar. Thank you for share with us.
Thank you for this wonderful video! And condolences for your loss. I believe that having someone speak about you with such love, reverence, and respect, is itself a great achievement in life.
Taylor, that is lovely.
I first heard of Bill Labov when qualifying as a secondary school teacher in the mid-80s, before I made the move to university teaching. We met him as a critic of Bernstein's notion of restricted and elaborated codes. I became a fan instantly, and have been one ever since.
I'm also a fan of the Jewish expression "May his memory be a blessing". One of the nicest things that can be said of someone who's died to someone who's mourning. (I speak as someone who lost his Dad, who was just six years Bill L's junior, in August of last year, and whose North London upbringing has meant I've heard it from many friends lately.) As I understand it, Judaism doesn't really have a party line on the Afterlife, and I love the phrase's focus on what may console us, the living, here and now, as we live our lives. Bill Labov meant a lot to many of us, but what he meant to you is incalculable. May his memory be a blessing to you in particular.
Condolences for your loss, but thank you for keeping his memory alive and sharing his accomplishments and achievements with us. He sounds like a great man.
Crazy, I ended up briefly (trying) to read some of Bill's work on narrative for an undergraduate political science class! I ended up realizing that his work was that exactly what I was looking for, but what a coincidence. What a beautiful eulogy this is, really appreciated it.
Thank you for making this video. I'm sorry for your loss. Prof. Labov did amazing work in his field, and I appreciate you highlighting his career. I hope to learn more about him and his work in the future!
14:00 As a PhD student (in physics) who is currently going through the never-ending review/revise/repeat process for a paper, congrats!
what a wonderful set of stories about an astoundingly impactful man, thank you for sharing and sorry for your loss 🙏💕
Wither thou goest, I shall follow ❤
I never want to read a great classic book in “modern” language.
I am German and self-taught and this resonates with me, how beautiful ❤❤❤
Your mentor rest in peace.
He left “footprints”.
That was such a sweet story Dr. Jones, it is unreal that you were part of that. I never doubted your abilities or goodwill or experience but I feel like after you dropped this bomb, there is very little reason anyone should. I don't know how someone like you can have haters and I wish the best for you, your family and all your futures. I hope maybe one day you can be that for someone, changing their life for the better and helping to create a person of change. Do you ever think you'll teach linguistics? Follow in his footsteps guiding the next generation of linguists? I hold out hope that you may one day, because you would help make decent linguists. I'm sorry for your loss and I hope your heart heals well. Also sorry for my terrible punctuation and grammar, I may be an American but English is my worst subject in college right now.
I was a linguistics undergrad (never had the chance to pursue higher ed after that, sadly), but I knew who Labov was. Still, I don't think I ever understood just how influential he was. I envy your time with him, and I'm sorry for your loss personally and our loss academically.
If there's ever a Best of UA-cam award, this video should win. Bravo, Dr Jones. Powerful, uplifting, personal, and meaningful content! Thank you!
Stepping in the foot steps of giants Dr. Jones. Sorry for your loss. Your mentor sounds like great guy, rest in peace
This is so very inspiring and thought-provoking, not just for those working in academia but as an example of how to live with integrity. Thank you
This was a moving video. Thank you so much for covering this fascinating man.
We read a lot of Labov at Temple and I never met him, but the combination of his writings and stories about him always left a warm view of him.
I've been watching a set of Intro to Linguistics lectures from UCI, and just yesterday I watched the lectures on sociolinguistics, which featured Prof. Labov's "fourth floor" study.
A moving and beautiful eulogy of someone who sounds like my kind of person, truth-seeking and justice-oriented. Lovely.
i'd never heard of him but he sounds like a giant. great video.
My wife was one of the last students of T. Barry Brazelton. Having the experience to learn directly from a legend is a wonderful experience. I have gotten to meet and talk to just about every living expert in my niche area of constitutional law, but none of them were my teachers. One was the dean of my law school just before I attended, but I didn't start studying that area until years later and I got to talk to him about it then. That was John Feerick, the last living person to write one of the amendments in the Constitution.
So sorry for your loss on your mentor.
5:21 I am so sorry for your loss. At this point in the video, due to your impassioned recounting of his life, I am sobbing…
That was beautiful. Thank you! May his memory be forever a blessing.
Since I started studying linguistics, I have always considered myself a philosophical disciple of Lavob.
While I also admire Noam Chomsky, I would be in team Lavob in a heartbeat if they ask me whom I consider to be the greater influence.
After reading his works, I have been inspired to volunteer myself to help speakers of lesser prestigious languages.
May he rest in peace. The Linguistics world lost a great treasure.
(I am crying by the middle of this video. I miss him even if I have not personally met him at all. Hope to meet the man in heaven.)
Please accept my condolences on the loss of your beloved mentor; he sounds like a wonderful person. I look forward to the book recommendations; my local librarian will be giving me odd smiles!
May his memory live on through the words and deeds of those he left behind. I'm sorry for your loss.
So sorry for the loss of your mentor. Sounds like he’s a heck of a guy. Will be reading your suggestions of his work
One of my favorite videos I've seen of yours. Very informative, thank you.
What a lovely and fitting encomium to a singular thinker. Kudos to you!
I'm sorry for your loss. I'll be crushed when my advisor eventually passes. I agree that "Are Emily and Greg More Employable Than Lakisha and Jamal? A Field Experiment on Labor Market Discrimination" has one of the best titles. I do audit studies like in that paper. I have very hot takes on the debate around to what extent Black names signal SES...
Alice Goffman was mentioned, so I looked her up, and yes, her fathers were Bill Labov and Erving Goffman. Talk about picking your parents right.
Wow, I somehow hadn't heard of his passing; his passing is such a loss. I've never even come close to meeting the man, but he was such a huge influence on the field of linguistics (like, creating a new sub-field with your BA and MA alone is a legendary story within linguistics) on par with Chomsky and De Saussure, at least. Personally, also an important scholar for my own BA (that I'm dragging to the finish line, but that I will finish some day soon). Sorry for your loss. I'll drink a whiskey to him tonight and may his memory be a blessing.
Thank you for this. Deep condolences and his memory a blessing always.
"All truly interesting stories really just boil down to three things: sex, death, and moral outrage."
I'll take that into consideration when writing/plotting my next books. 😁
As far as I can tell, this guy was truly a genius! The one earth parents once in a century, perhaps.
Thank you for shedding some light on him and the tremendous influence he has had on you and other linguists.
My condolonces! We've studied Prof. Labov in a few linguistics classes and they sparked my interest for dialectology.
Dang, what a life!
I will join you in sharing these parts of Bill Labov's story.
What a wonderful tribute❤️
My dream in high school was to be a linguist. My guidance counselor convinced my parents that the only job I would be able to get was a translator at the UN. I tried to convince them otherwise but ended up studying political science though I eventually earned my degree in journalism. I didn't have the exact knowledge or (ironically) the language to convey what it is I wanted to do but I wish I had this video to show them what linguistics really is.
אני משתתף בצערך. May his memory be for a blessing.
As a PhD Chemist with a fascination with linguistics, I can understand making the jump from Chemist to Linguist when going from Bachelors to grad school.
Great tribute. May his memory be a blessing.
I don't know what to say. This video gives and elicits a lot of emotions, and I can only say stuff linearly.
I know *this* is an oxymoron, but it is also correct English, so I hope you forgive:
my emotives *in no particular order*
-I only knew of him from my undergrad sociolinguistics class and didn't know he had passed, and even then I had a lump in my stomach when reading the thumbnail and delayed watching this. Call it premonition, or whatever, but my gut told me he was a good guy before watching. Now I know.
-I didn't realise that he was your advisor. I'm sorry for your loss but happy you got to have him in your life. Utilitarianaly as well.
-Ego frailty seems to be the rabies of the academic. It may only take one bite from a mad dog before you become one yourself and start fearing the cold sweat on your own brow because it reflects the face of the one who bit you. I have no idea how Professor Labov managed to remain fearless of the dogged depths throughout this and even helped others get out of their jaws.
-I know epitaphs must run counter to what Labov seemed to value. -They use standardised phrases, which hurt less because they are formulaic, to lump the deceased into a predetermined narrative, rather than the truth. But, I feel like, "Here lies a giant. Watch your step and see his shoulders move beneath your soles." Wouldn't have been too bad if this were a comic book.
-This is real life, though, and it's difficult for an expressionist to paint a picture of respect without being disrespectful. I hope what you gleaned from this flopping fish was not the desperation of the flops but the respect they were trying to convey towards both your mentor and yourself. I'm really happy I decided to watch the video anyway and grateful that you decided to share his memory with as many people as you could.
Thank you so much for sharing all of this. Your line about rabies was revelatory, and I’ll try to remember it when I’m at my next conference. It really only takes one mad dog. It’s a few weeks later and I’m still processing pretty raw feelings - which surprised me, honestly. I felt almost guilty because I had others saying they were closer or knew him longer or were his favorites, and I started to feel like my relationship with him wasn’t as real or valid. Then when I thought about the last 13 years, I realized there’s no comparing to others. Our relationship was what it was, and all of us who knew him were better off for it
Sorry for your loss! Thanks for sharing your story with us
This was a super informative video, I’m sorry for your (and the greater linguistics community) loss.
Excellent work! My wife has a BS in Chemical Engineering and did a Masters in Applied Linguistics. No ink patents, though.
2:00 In consideration of what must have been an incredible man (saving someone's life due to understanding regional language?), I can't help but ask.. Am I the only one who thinks that it isn't the width of the opening, but rather the existence of a handle that differentiates bowls and cups?
I thought so too, but evidently if you slap a handle on a bowl it’s just a bowl with a handle 🤔
@@languagejonesThen I'll leave to you to tell my baseball league about some potentially uncomfortable updates to required uniform safety measures.
(SVP - Continuez votre travail incroyable. Mon ami et moi, les deux philologues amateurs, nous sommes complètement fous de votre chaîne. Si vous choisissez de faire un cours à San Francisco... on y est!)
Thank you, Bill Labov.
As someone who grew up speaking AAVE all my life as a Black Man its crazy to think academia can be so rigid and somewhat racist to think all Black people sound the same if you hang around black people long enough you will hear the differences in accents within the United States Narrow mindedness is one of the largest hurdles in Social Science Academic achievement I feel.
I feel like people tend to forget alot of AAVE is grammatical but its also based on how we say things our rhythm the cadences of words and so on. Black dudes from NYC dont sound like Black dudes from the South
Condolences for your loss, and thank you for sharing your memories of him with us
Possibly the only useful and intelligent thing Henry Kissinger (is reputed to have) ever said: "the battles in academia are so fierce because the stakes are so small".
Straight into my 'best of' folder.
"Linguistics is life-and-death work except some linguists don't know it yet" uh...even after having learned the etymology of "shibboleth"?
Exactly!
I want Dr. Taytay Jones to single-handedly invent multiple scientific disciplines, and will go into battle at his side to make it happen! Errr... once I can afford to be a mega Patreon.🎉 Also studied Bill's work and almost monthly quote his work that dialects continue to diverge in spite of standardized mass media.
Fascinating stuff, loved the video
Um privilégio escutar sobre o Bill, posso apenas imaginar o privilégio de poder ter sido um de seus estudantes
Amazing video. Thanks so much for that!
A love letter to a life lived well
Yeah I've had to change my accent for interviews. Although I've never spoken ebonics heavily, I've always spoken like Carlton from Fresh Prince(old one) during interviews because I assumed that's what white people wanted to hear. And so it goes
very touching story. totally unexpected
Very sweet! Kol ha-kavod!
I've heard of him but apparently have always imagined the pronunciation of his name wrong. I must never have heard it before and only seen it in writing.
Wonderful tribute. What's the book about how vitriolic linguistics is?
זכר צדיק לברכה
YT doesn't even allow me to call him a hero from being glad to have his ideas refuted by evidence? Wow.
Lovely tribute!
What's the book he talks about at 17:48?
I adored this. What an amazing man!
I was always told not to have heroes, but I think I can discard that advice in this case.
I am familiar with his name, but I can't place where I know it from. I've only taken one basic introductory linguistics course, but I'm really into language and have been diving into topics like narrative identity and discourse analysis in my psychology PhD program.
Totally ordering a copy of The Language of Life and Death. That sounds so cool!
What a great man he was!
What was the book about linguistics toxicity?
The Language Wars. It only really gets into Chomsky’s sphere of influence but it’s all applicable to everybody else too
wonderful stuff
Thank you
G is the seventh letter. Do they skip one?
Are metadata really impossible to tamper with, though?
12:27 Phonology geek mode activated:
You pronounce "thou" here with an *unvoiced* fricative? Not sure I'm familiar with any dialects that do that.
Lord have mercy on his soul
Day 22 of Challenging Language Jones to practice the Interlingua deck on Clozemaster
nice vid
21:12 paralipsis 😂
Baruch dayan emet
And I thought economics was the most toxic of the social sciences... Yikes
The best video you've ever made in my opinion and considering your background and what you have exposed here it's even more puzzlingly to me why you seem to refuse to take into account the actual experiences of people who really became fluent in a second language, specially a very different one from their mother tongue, and analyze how that process actually happens through those people who were really successful doing so. Once I even compared you to mainstream economists that analyze Economy purely through econometrics, disregarding what's observed in the real world, but what you do is the exact opposite of it. I can only think it's maybe some kind of personal beef against Krashen and his supporters. In one video you've said that how they FEEL that the process was may be different from how it actually happened. And that's a fair thing to say. Except you didn't explain how. And THAT could be a theme for another video. Why people that DON'T KNOW about this debate seem to match what Krashen describes when detailing how they actually have learned. I've also said here in the comments that if you take the most famous Krashen's video (and no, I didn't just see the videos- I know you are prone to pick and chose things just to attack an opponent without really addressing his arguments) and the video where, for instance, Mark Abbott talks about how he learned Thai to fluency. Abbott clearly have NO IDEIA about this debate, but, at the same time, seem to describe what Krashen proposes to a teeth. BUT, I never saw a really successful learner of a very different language (that also DON'T KNOW about this niche debate of ours) differ from that. What's that all about?
BDE 🤍 missing a friend's funeral today. Thank you for sharing him with us.