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WonderLabs with Chris Richardson


Sep 29, 2019

Professor Chris Davis is a linguist, semanticist, and pragmatician at the University of the Ryukyus who looks at how languages convey meaning and how people use them. He also looks at Yaeyaman, one of the “endangered” Ryukyuan languages spoken in Okinawa Prefecture.

In this episode we talk about his work in Okinawa, the scientific and cultural value in understanding languages, and some considerations for ethical fieldwork. We also discuss broader linguistics topics including political correctness, freedom of speech, implicit meanings, some dubious animal language acquisition studies, and a fun new field called Pokémonastics.

To see more from Professor Davis, including his recent papers and fieldwork videos, visit cmdavis.org. To find out more about Pokémonastics visit 1stpokemonastics.wordpress.com

Enjoy!