Geneva Smitherman ended up in speech therapy in her freshman year at Wayne State University in the 1950s, when she failed a test to screen incoming teaching students for possible speech problems. The ...

As far back as 2016, work on AI-based chatbots revealed that they have a disturbing tendency to reflect some of the worst biases of the society that trained them. But as large language models have ...

Only 7% of LAist readers currently donate to fund our journalism. Help raise that number, so our nonprofit newsroom stays strong in the face of federal cuts. Donate now. Black people have long ...

For as long as she can remember, Sonja Lanehart has been fascinated by how people speak. In particular, she was interested in the differences she noticed between how white people spoke, when compared ...

Editor’s note: The following article is an op-ed, and the views expressed are the author’s own. Read more opinions on theGrio. The everyday brilliance, artistry, creativity and ingenuity of Black folk ...

Walter Edwards does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond ...

In a recent online presentation, editors and researchers working on a first-of-its-kind dictionary of African American English gave a status update on the project. As academics explained their various ...

Oxford University Press and Harvard University are collaborating to create the Oxford Dictionary of African American English (ODAAE). Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Director of Harvard University’s Hutchins ...

“Dr. Holt, I need you to come listen to one of my second graders. This is one of my best students, but I’m worried I might be overlooking a speech or language disorder—I’m just not sure,” the teacher ...

Black people have long contributed to the ways in which we use the English language. Linguistics professor Sonja Lanehart shares some examples. SONJA LANEHART: If we look at some present words, we can ...