Distinguished Lectures in Humanities

In this talk I examine the role of humanities research where nearly every aspect of human experience is turned into data and analysed, in many cases to model, predict and modify behaviour. As a result and through advances in computing technology, artificial intelligence systems have colonised traditional areas of humanities research, including linguistics and language studies. Today, large multimodal models (LMM) can process text, images, videos and sound, potentially leading to the development of algorithmic approaches to modelling society and culture. In this talk, I explore how humanities researchers can leverage the benefits and mitigate the risks of these latest technological developments and prepare scholars for the challenges which lie ahead. I provide some examples from the Digital Media and Society Institute (DMSI) at the University of Liverpool where communication and media researchers are working with data scientists to investigate how multimodal information is re-contextualised across online media platforms. This includes new methods for studying information distortions (e.g. misinformation, disinformation and memes) and public reactions to key events.

Event date: 31/03/2025
Speaker: Professor Kay O’HALLORAN (University of Liverpool)
Hosted by: Faculty of Humanities

People are now regularly interacting with voice assistants (VAs), which are conversational agents that allow users to use spoken language to interface with a machine to complete tasks. The huge adoption and daily use of VAs by millions of people - and its increasing use for financial, healthcare, and educational applications - raises important questions about the linguistic and social factors that affect spoken language interactions with machines.

We are exploring issues of linguistic and social biases that impact speech communication in human-computer interaction - particularly during cross-language transfer, learning, or adaptation of some kind. In this talk, I will present two case studies illustrating some of our most recent work in this area. The first study looks at a case of cross-language ASR transfer. We find systematic linguistic and phonetic disparities in language transfer by machines trained on a source language to speech recognition of a novel target, low-resource language. The second study looks at a case of social bias in word learning by humans using voice-enabled apps. We find the word learning is inhibited when there are mismatching social cues presented by the voice and the linguistic information.

Together, along with highlights from other ongoing work in my lab, the aim of this talk is to underscore that human-computer linguistic communication is a rich testing ground for investigating issues in speech and language variation. Examining linguistic variation during HCI can enrich and elaborate linguistic theory, as well as present opportunities for linguists to provide insights for improving both the function and fairness of these technologies.

Event date: 25/03/2025
Speaker: Professor. Georgia ZELLOU (University of California, Davis)
Hosted by: Faculty of Humanities

In this talk, I will present the results of several studies examining qualitative and quantitative empirical research articles from applied linguistics. The studies use both corpus-based analyses and rhetorical genre analysis to describe similarities and differences across the two paradigms. Each of the studies draws on a corpus of published studies from journals that regularly publish both quantitative and qualitative articles on the topic of language learning and teaching.

I first describe the compilation of the corpus, which currently includes 863 studies from 2013 to 2023, and explain some of the challenges involved in using copyrighted materials in a time of calls for open science. Next, I explain the rationale for comparing qualitative and quantitative research in a subfield of applied linguistics. Specifically, I talk about the challenges of a field in which there appears to be a widening divide in the nature of research in the two paradigms along with unsubstantiated claims in research manuals characterizing the two paradigms.

The bulk of the talk will focus on my and my collaborators’ research agenda using our created corpus. Two of the studies focus on the role of theory in the empirical studies. The first study used a corpus-based analysis of the frequency and collocations of the lemma theor- while the second used rhetorical move analysis to show how theory was used in structuring literature reviews. Both studies revealed differences in the role of theory in the two paradigms that show how language choice and rhetorical moves reflect their epistemologies. The third study focused on citation use and revealed some differences, but more similarities. Finally, we have two studies in progress examining article structure and lexical bundles. Taken together, both studies show that quantitative research is more structured and predictable. I end by suggesting possible extensions of our research using qualitative methods.

The final part of this talk will explain the relevance of this research to both teaching academic writing and to the field of applied linguistics. With regard to teaching writing, I will give specific examples of how the various analyses used in the five studies can be transferred to heterogeneous writing classes to help students explore conventions in their own fields. Second, I explain how the studies suggest a widening gap between the two paradigms and how this gap presents problems for graduate programs, journals, and professional organizations, all of which, I argue, need to be more sensitive to acknowledging research in both paradigms.

Event date: 12/03/2025
Speaker: Professor Charlene POLIO (Michigan State University)
Hosted by: Faculty of Humanities

The rapid development of artificial intelligence and large language models have led to the language industry and translation and interpreting education programs re-imagining how to engage with these technologies. While some language industry stakeholders seek to leverage these tools to support the provision of language services and language access, others have sought to resist this technological incursion on ethical and professional grounds. The impact of these tools is undoubtedly far reaching, to the point that trainers and educators must now respond to these developments. This talk reviews some of the ways in which artificial intelligence, large language models, and translation and interpreting technologies can be leveraged in educational and training programs while offering possible means to resist uncritical adoption of these tools. The talk provides suggestions on how university programs can prepare future graduates to interface with these technologies and drive ethical and responsible technology use.

Event date: 13/02/2025
Speaker: Dr. Christopher D. MELLINGER (The University of North Carolina at Charlotte)
Hosted by: Faculty of Humanities

This presentation examines the urgent need to decolonize English Medium Instruction (EMI) in higher education by challenging the dominance of native English norms, addressing linguistic imperialism, and critically assessing the pervasive influence of imported Western curricula. Often, these resources reinforce colonial power dynamics by prioritizing Western perspectives and marginalizing local knowledge systems. Through Global Englishes frameworks, I will explore strategies for inclusive EMI practices that integrate diverse linguistic and cultural perspectives. Such strategies aim to foster curricula that respect local identities and empower students and educators in non-Anglophone contexts. Drawing on data from the Southeast Asian context, I will explore ways to foster an equitable, decolonized approach to internationalization in higher education that aligns with broader goals of internationalisation and linguistic justice.

Event date: 29/11/2024
Speaker: Dr. Nicola GALLOWAY (University of Glasgow)
Hosted by: Faculty of Humanities

The idea of translanguaging has disrupted much of the thinking about language, communication and learning and raised some fundamental questions about human language and human cognition. One of these questions concerns an assumption that seems to underlie a great deal of the work on intercultural communication, and that is, speakers of different named languages not only use language differently, but also think differently and have different worldviews. In this talk, I want to invite the participants to rethink about this issue, from the perspective of Translanguaging, which posits that bilinguals and multilinguals do not think unilingually and thinking goes beyond named languages and indeed beyond what has traditionally been conceived as linguistic versus non-linguistic processes. I offer my views on the existing work in intercultural communication and cross-linguistic studies of cognitive processing and Linguistic Relativity. Implications of this common-humanity-based conceptual stance for intercultural communication including business and workplace lingua franca communication, as well as for language learning and pedagogy, and research design are discussed.

Event date: 18/07/2024
Speaker: Prof. Wei LI (University College London)
Hosted by: Faculty of Humanities

Humans have long tried to make artificial versions of themselves. It is now well established that we attribute human-like states to artificial others. However, the effect of interacting with artificial minds and bodies on the human sense of self and self-identity is less understood. In this talk I will present theoretical and empirical work looking at embodied joint agency in human/ human versus human/ robotic and virtual agents. Specifically, I will outline the key role of the human embodiment and sense of self in establishing joint agency with artificial others. I will discuss key implications of these claims on recent efforts to design autonomous and interactive artificial others. I will introduce the notion of ‘hybrid agency’ to describe these new, technologically mediated ways to embody and control in tandem human and artificial minds and bodies in real and virtual environments.

Event date: 7/2/2024
Speaker: Prof. Anna CIAUNICA (University of Lisbon)

This talk will survey the intersection of artificial intelligence (AI), ethics, and the Humanities in the UK. It integrates insights from bibliometric analyses, interviews with various stakeholders, and reviews of existing research infrastructure and policies. The talk examines the current state of AI ethics research in the UK, identifying the contributions of the Arts and Humanities, the obstacles researchers face, and the potential impacts of their work. It also considers the international research environment and strategic investments made by other countries in AI and ethics, drawing comparisons with the UK's approach. Opportunities and threats are identified within the context of academia, public perception, and commerce, including the impacts of AI on diverse populations and industries. The talk will conclude by considering how the situation in the UK may compare with that in Hong Kong.

Event date: 30/04/2024
Speaker: Prof. Tony MCENERY (Lancaster University and Shanghai International Studies University)
Hosted by: Faculty of Humanities

In this lecture, Prof. Robin D.S. YATES will focus on a review of recent data concerning the military development of the Qin and early Han periods. This information is crucial as these empires were established through the use of armed force. The lecture aims to address several fundamental inquiries that have previously lacked sufficient evidence. For instance, it will explore the command structure of the Qin and early Han forces, the fate of soldiers in victorious Qin armies, the treatment of defeated enemy, the existence of resistance against the Qin conquerors, the deployment of weapons and other equipment, the different types of soldiers present, and the methods employed in treating their wounds.

Neuroemergentism, (NM) is a novel framework which has sought to consider language development as involving the organization and reorganization of cognition and its underlying neural substrate. Work to support this framework comes from studies of language and cognitive development. In this talk, I will focus on two separate levels, the sensorimotor plasticity needed to adjust to new input and the cognitive flexibility needed to select between these competing sources of information. This talk will discuss both these levels with regard to the neurocognitive adaptations seen in bilinguals. This will include structural brain differences in monolinguals and bilinguals that vary in the age of second language acquisition. In the second part, of the talk work that has focused on the cognitive flexibility will be presented. This will focus on the adaptations of the basal ganglia and frontostriatal tracts as a gating mechanism crucial for selecting the correct motor response. This includes newer work which links genes associated with dopamine to cognitive and language flexibility in bilinguals. The ways in which sensorimotor plasticity and cognitive flexibility represent accurate but incomplete conceptualizations of the competitive processes involved in language and cognitive processing will be discussed. The talk will conclude with potential future directions using an NM framework.