Do you care about your heritage culture and language? Are you proud of your language and dialect? Do you know what “accent” really means? Do you love *Free* educational event? If so, and with all other good reasons, come join us at Hammer 4 Studio for The Meaning of Linguistic Diversity public event! The event features interviews, presentations, and panel discussions with SJSU students, faculty, and San Jose community members.

Overview of event:

The event starts with viewing a video of interviews conducted by students of Linguistics and TESOL programs with the members of three community groups. Student interviewers asked about each organization’s effort to promote equity, inclusion and social justice as well as personal stories on speaking a particular language, dialect, and accent. There will be a post-viewing panel discussion with the interviews and interviewees.

The next segment features a series of short presentations from the faculty members who utilized the linguistic interview and/or the survey as a part of the course work or a reseach project during fall 2022 semester. The presentations include the methods of curricular integration, key findings, and reflections.

The presentations are followed by a panel discussion with the current and former SJSU faculty members on the topics of language variation; equity, inclusion, and social justice in the context of socio-cultural and linguistic diversity; power of story-telling in pedagogy and research, and more.

Interviewers, interviewees, and the panelists:

Interviewers in the video: Michael Krumenacker, undergraduate student in Linguistics; Geena Trang, graduate student in Linguistics; and Rosa Lin, graduate student in TESOL.

Interviewees in the video: Dana Harris Seeger and Yori Seeger from the School of Visual Philosophy; Chris Hioki and LyndaGomi from the Japanese American Museum of San Jose; and Priya Das from the MOSAIC America.

Panel 1: Priya Das, Lynda Gomi, Michael Krumenacker, Rosa Lin, and Geena Trang

Presentors: Reiko Kataoka, Linguistics & Language Development (LLD), Julia Swan, LLD, and Christina Tzeng, Psychology

Panel 2: Julia Curry, Chicana and Chicano Studies, Rosemary Henze, LLD, Manjari Ohala, LLD, Julia Swan, LLD, and Christina Tzeng, Psychology.

Acknowledgement:

This event is funded by the College of Humanities and the Arts with its Artistic Excellence Program Grant. A special thanks to the Dean of the H&A, Shannon Miller; Director of Public Programming, Katherine D. Harris; and Staff members of the H&A.