“Doing interdisciplinary theoretical and translational research: from phonetics to the community” Lecture by Dr Spyros Armostis, 30 Jan 2024

INVITATION

Dr Spyros Armostis
Lecturer in the Department of English Studies,
will give a lecture as part of his evaluation procedure
for promotion to Assistant Professor
on Tuesday, 30 January 2024, at 14:00,
in Room 202, Department of English Studies, Klimentos 9, 2nd Floor, 1061 Nicosia

The title of the lecture is:

Doing interdisciplinary theoretical and translational research: from phonetics to the community

Abstract
As a phonetician, I have worked on understudied, minority, and/or endangered language varieties, something that, for a theoretical linguist, can prove a fascinating endeavour, as it allows enriching our knowledge of linguistic typology, testing theories, and expanding our understanding of the language phenomenon. Early on, though, my expertise in phonetics offered new avenues for exciting research through intra- and inter-disciplinary collaborations, which resulted in expanding my research interests to other areas. Especially through interdisciplinarity, I saw my research translate into practical benefits for communities under study, such as speakers of endangered languages, but also for professional communities, such as speech-language pathologists (SLPs) and even artists working with language.
In this talk, through presenting aspects of my recent work, I aim to showcase how interdisciplinarity can prove a catalyst for both advancing our scientific knowledge and for conducting translational science, i.e., research that benefits the wider community. A focal case study of the talk will be the creation of the first test in Cyprus for assessing phonetic and phonological development in Cypriot-Greek–speaking paediatric populations ―a dire need of clinicians made possible exactly by combining the SLPs’ expertise with mine. Another important case study will be the documentation and revitalisation efforts for Cypriot Arabic (CyAr): as part of an interdisciplinary team consisting of both linguists and CyAr speakers, I assisted the creation of teaching materials by analysing the language’s phonetic and phonological system and by proposing a writing system for its speakers. Through these case studies, I wish to argue that our scientific knowledge and the translationality of linguistic research increase with the evolution of ethical frameworks from research merely on language communities (“Linguist-Focused Research”), to research for (“Advocacy Research”), with (“Empowering Research”), and by the language communities (“Community-Based Language Research”).

The lecture is open to the public