Event Details 

HEARD AROUND TOWN: Michigan Speak
Wednesday, June 16
3:30 – 5:00 pm, $5 online

“Do you say ‘pop’ or ‘soda’ or ‘soft drink’? Do you know what a ‘Michigan left’ is? Did you know ‘Yooper’ is now in some standard
dictionaries? Come hear about what is happening to English in Michigan and share the changes you’re hearing in the language.”

Anne Curzan, dean of LSA at University of Michigan is a trained linguist, studies the history of the English language. She describes herself as a fount of
random linguistic information about how English got to be the way it is—information she
shares every Sunday on the show “That’s What They Say” on Michigan Public Radio. She has also dedicated one major strand of her career to helping
students and the broader public understand linguistic diversity as part of cultural diversity,
and language change as a natural part of living languages. 

Curzan has received university awards for outstanding research and undergraduate
teaching, including the Henry Russel Award and the John Dewey Award. She is an Arthur F. Thurnau Professor and the Geneva Smitherman Collegiate Professor
of English Language and Literature, Linguistics, and Education.