During our annual Fund Drive, we like to feature undergraduate and MA students who have gone above and beyond the classroom to participate in the wider field of linguistics. Selected nominees exemplify a commitment to not only academic performance, but also to the field of linguistics and principles of scientific inquiry. Since this year’s Fund Drive theme is Future tense, we are especially thankful to be able to highlight undergraduate and MA students who are emerging as the future leaders in our field.

Today’s Rising Star is Ariela Herček, an MA student at the University of Ljubljana. Ariela was nominated by her adviser, Monika Kavalir.

Ariela Herček is currently finishing her Master's Degree in English and General Linguistics at the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. Her love of language and the written word is infectious and multifaceted, and Ariela's ongoing research into the influence of English and Dutch on Modern and Early Sranan vocabulary is a testament to her fascination with these particular languages, as well as with the broader issues in historical sociolinguistics. She has a unique ability to do painstakingly detailed reading and analysis without losing sight of the big picture and the major linguistic topics involved. In addition, she is a published poet and translator who also organizes slam poetry evenings.

Ariela writes:

The recent decades have been marked by unique and unprecedented challenges arising from the changing socio-economic circumstances and advances in technology. Both have left a lasting mark on our use of language and our perception of language learning. Additionally, they have affected, perhaps the most profoundly, the way we communicate. I am inclined to divide the main trends in the changing linguistic landscape into two rough categories: those trends that are closely connected with the social status of language (and communication), and those which play a significant role in technological developments. In truth, they are tightly intertwined, but separating these two categories helps establish a rough framework for any further detailed examinations.

The social aspect of language covers those social changes such as political and economic trends. These are, for example, related to power relations, culturally different communication strategies, the ruling political parties, and other similar factors. The topics of gender, hate speech, and other aspects of identity (including the linguistic identity of speakers) also fit under this category. I find these views on language change especially relevant and would argue that they set the basis of where the field of linguistics will have to turn to in the future in order to explain and evaluate the newly-emerging trends.

The second category, perhaps the one we have been most preoccupied with in the recent years, and especially in the months since ChatGPT was made publicly available, is that of language and technology. This can mean either how language affects our decisions to develop our technology, but also how technology affects the already-existing language norms. Neural networks and natural language processing (NLP) stand out among the topics in this category, as well as their role in AI systems. For AI, the sociolinguistic aspect should not be forgotten: where the data for the AI model is sourced from, how it is sourced, and especially what kind of information the AI model puts out based on the input (e.g. if it is biased or offensive) – and how that information is perceived by the users.

It comes full circle then – because the speakers of language are social creatures, and because we operate within a world that requires and encourages communication, the social factors will always be relevant to the discussion around any language change, even the one seemingly very technical in nature.

This is the main reason for my interest in sociolinguistics, and – in some way – for my interest in language contact, too. What historical periods where language contact happened all have in common is the human factor. Language has always been and, all things being equal, will always remain dependent upon the way humans use it, shape it, and change it. This is why I am also intrigued by semantics, a field which also – to some extent – submits to the changing socio-historical circumstances.

My research has primarily dealt with putting all these aspects together – the sociolinguistic insight, teachings from contact linguistics, and the theoretical framework provided by semantics. Combining these allows the researcher to establish a broader contextual overview and therefore more easily work from the inside out to define the more specific characteristics or inner workings of language. I have always been in favor of interdisciplinary research, and I strongly believe that an interdisciplinary approach is vital in our never-ending endeavour to understand language and all its components.

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The LINGUIST List looks forward to continuing to serve the linguistics community, including its up-and-coming stars, for years to come. You can contribute to our Fund Drive here: https://funddrive.linguistlist.org/donate