languagingHR

Title: Languaging in Hampton RoadsEpisode 17: Third Culture KidsHosts: Jill Winkowski and Prue SalaskyDate: June 13, 2025Length: 26:10In this episode of Languaging in Hampton Roads, co-hosts Jill Winkowski and Prue Salasky talk with Molly Dye (Williamsburg/Richmond), Jody Conibear Tangredi (Virginia Beach), and Sina Whitley (Newport News) about their experiences growing up globally as Third Culture Kids. The term third culture kid (TCK) was coined by sociologist Ruth Useem in the 1950s, while she was studying the lives of Americans living and working in post-colonial India. While Useem was studying the cultural intersection of the professional lives of Indians and Americans, she noticed the unique situations of the children accompanying parents abroad. Third culture kid experiences vary but, commonly, they grow up outside of their parents' passport countries. Molly's father worked for the U.S. State Department and her family lived in Switzerland and Spain; Sina's parents taught for U.S. Department of Defense schools and her family lived in Cuba, Spain, England, and Japan; Jody's father worked for the oil industry, and she lived in Iran, Indonesia, Australia, and Singapore. Living in multiple countries as a child offers adventure and excitement. It also provides a way to experience different cultures and viewpoints during important formative years. Third culture kids can become very adaptable and commonly learn to understand many points of view. Jody, who not only is a third culture kid, but has also studied them, describes how TCK adaptability and ability to understand others' viewpoints makes them highly suitable for international careers. While growing up as a TCK has its up sides, the loss that TCKs experience over the years often goes unacknowledged. Moving from place to place, repeatedly saying goodbye to friends and having to make new ones and having to readjust to new languages, cultures, and systems can add up. TCKs don't always have permission or time to grieve their losses. Here in Hampton Roads, with one of the largest military communities in the United States and with multiple international organizations and industries, including an international port, the third culture kid childhood likely hits home. Third culture experiences aren't exclusive to moving from country to country. Children who move state to state with their parents' jobs also have to adjust to new cultural systems and to different ways of interacting and speaking. In this episode, we refer to a book: Third Culture Kids: Growing Up Among Worlds, by Ruth D van Reken, David C. Pollock, and Michael V. Pollock, Published: Nicholas Brealey America, 2009.  Send feedback, questions, ideas for topics to languaginghr@gmail.comWe are grateful to Carlene Klein-Bennett, who researched the topic and developed a questionnaire for and reachedout to local TCKs. Welcome to our summer interns: Sarah Phillips from ODU andKaitlyn Asato from CNU. Original music is by Skye Zentz; Our Languaging logo is byPatty McDonald. Languaging in Hampton Roads is written and produced by Prue Salasky and Jill Winkowski.

Languaging Episode 16: NotesTitle: Languaging in Hampton RoadsEpisode 16 : How do you say Norfolk?Hosts: Jill Winkowski and Prue SalaskyDate: May 1, 2024Length: 34 minutesPublication Frequency: Fourth Friday of each monthIn this episode we finally get to the question that our listeners have been asking since Day 1: How do you say Norfolk? Anecdotally, we discovered that everyone accepted “NAHfuk” as the old-time pronunciation with some retaining it as a way to connect with their city of residence. Increasingly, though, perhaps as part of the so-called cot/caught merger and Southern vowel shift, today's speakers tend to use the “NORfuk” pronunciation. Both of those stress the first syllable with a reduction in the second syllable. There are others who stress the second syllable for a “NorFOLK” or “NorFORK” iteration.We talked about vowels and reference the IPA vowel chart, https://www.ipachart.com/. We also mention linguist Penelope Eckert's 1989 study, “Jocks and Burnouts: Social Categories and Identity in The High School.” It's readily available from various sources online. We had hoped to get a resolution on the matter of who says the city's name in what way by consulting Tidewater Voices, an online archive of interviews of locals conducted (and ongoing) by linguistics students at Old Dominion University in Norfolk over more than two decades. That simply muddied the waters as we found old-timers using the more contemporary sounding "NORfuk" and Gen Zs using "NAHfuk." To listen for yourself, go to https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/tidewatervoices/We travelled the streets of Norfolk and invited those at signature locations – Norfolk Botanical Gardens, The Perry Glass Studio at the Chrysler Museum of Art, Nauticus, Visit Norfolk, The Mermaid Factory, Doumar's Cones and Barbecue, and Norfolk Naval Station – to share their pronunciation of Norfolk along with information about their institution.We consulted Dr. Janet Bing, PhD, a retired linguist from Old Dominion University in Norfolk, and a specialist in phonology, to share her expertise on the topic. She broke the name down phonetically but attributed its varying pronunciations to social forces. Everyone agrees, though, that pronouncing the city's name as "NAHfuk" places you in the local category. International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) for the Norfolk pronunciation variations: “NAHfuk” [‘na.fək], “NORfuk” [‘nɔr.fək], “NorFOLK” [nɔr'foʊk], “NorFORK” [nɔr'fɔrk].Send your questions and feedback to languagingHR@gmail.com.

Title: Languaging in Hampton RoadsEpisode 14 - Bonus : Coastal Birds with Marlee FullerHosts: Jill Winkowski and Prue SalaskyDate: April 13, 2025Length: 41Publication Frequency: Occasional (bonus)In this bonus content, we feature our interview with Marlee Fuller, a former nature guide at False Cape State Park in Virginia Beach. Not only has our guest worked at False Cape, but she has also worked on bird research on the Gulf Coast and with prairie chickens in Oklahoma. Fuller describes the habits and sounds of our Hampton Roads resident bird the heron, as well as other shorebirds and songbirds that frequent the coastal habitats in our area. She describes the origins of some of the bird names. Did you know that the name of the whimbrel is named after the word whimper, which is similar to the bird's song?Also in this interview is a recommendation for a bird name book called, interestingly, The Bird Name Book, published by Princeton University Press, as well as tips for introducing your children to birding. Please add your comments to the podcast or send feedback to languaginghr@gmail.com.

Title:  Languaging in Hampton RoadsEpisode 15: A Day on the MarshHosts: Jill Winkowski and Prue SalaskyDate: March 31, 2025Length: 30 min.Publication Frequency: MonthlyIn this episode of languagingHR, we look out on to one of the most iconic views in the Hampton Roads area, where the marsh meets the open water, while we explore the history of common words such as marsh and mud and heron and horizon that are used every day to describe our coastal surroundings. To help us on our word journey, we asked three local experts to join us: Dr. Steve Kuehl, Marlee Fuller, and Laura Lohse. Mud: As a marine geologist at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS), Steve Kuehl has spent his whole career studying sediment, or mud, primarily in deltaic systems, that is where rivers meet the sea. In this episode, he describes the why and how of studying mud. First and foremost, geochronology, studying the layers of sediment, allows us to learn about the history of our planet. By taking cores of mud and earth, we unearth, as it were, a record that spans millions of years. Marine scientists also study mud to learn more about our aquatic ecosystems. They measure benthic activity in, say, the York River to gauge the vitality of certain fish populations; they take cores in coastal areas to measure the patterns of buried carbon; and they study the resilience of the sedimentary activity in local marshes. Birds: With a background in evolutionary biology, Marlee Fuller has worked in bird research on clapper rails in Mississippi and prairie chickens in Oklahoma. She travels with her Coast Guard family and during her time in Hampton Roads, she was emersed, as a nature guide, in the local coastal and especially avian experience at False Cape State Park in Virginia Beach. If you haven't had a chance to visit False Cape and Back Bay Wildlife Refuge, it's a gem. In this episode, Fuller describes the varieties and habits of our native heron population as well as the name origins of the whimbrel and our ubiquitous killdeer. Be sure to check out this episode's bonus content for Fuller's vivid descriptions of local and migrating bird behaviors.The Horizon: Laura Lohse has decades of experience teaching and sailing using celestial navigation, that is using the stars, the sun, and the horizon to stay on course. For our word journey, Lohse connects the nautical terms that we use in our day-to-day language—to get a fix, to find your bearings, to give leeway, with their historical use in sailing. To shoot stars is to get lines of position from stars at dusk or dawn using the horizon as a reference. Dead reckoning is using speed estimated with a taffrail log, and in the old days a knot log, to figure out position when there is no horizon in view. And be sure to check out our bonus content (publishing weekly in April) where: Steve Kuehl describes the rock cycle, from sediment to sedimentary rock and back again(!); Marlee Fuller describes the lively behaviors of the sanderling and how a tricolored heron stealthily creates shade to attract its prey; and Laura Lohse recounts her experiences in the open ocean, from watching mola molas, that is gigantic sun fish that swim on the surface of the ocean, to experiencing the doldrums, long periods with no winds.  To learn more about the organizations in this podcast, visit:Virginia Institute of Marine Science, Gloucesterhttps://www.vims.edu/False Cape State Park, Virginia Beachhttps://www.dcr.virginia.gov/state-parks/false-capeBack Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Virginia Beachhttps://www.fws.gov/refuge/back-baySchooner Alliance II, Yorktownhttps://sailyorktown.com/Sloop Luna and the Colonial Seaport Foundation, Deltavillehttps://colonialseaport.org/luna-operating-plans/To connect with us, please send your feedback and questions to languagingHR@gmail.com. We would love to hear from you! Be sure to like, follow, subscribe, review  – it's free and it helps other listeners find us.

Title: Languaging in Hampton RoadsEpisode 14 - Bonus : A Vietnamese Voice of Faith Hosts: Jill Winkowski and Prue SalaskyDate: March 25, 2025Length: 18:13Publication Frequency: Occasional (bonus)In this Bonus episode, we talk to Trung Phan, a pastor at Vietnamese Hope Baptist Church in Annandale, Va. Phan is the youngest of a trio of Vietnamese brothers who lead churches affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention in northern Virginia; all offer services in their native Vietnamese. Like Phan, most of his congregants come from Buddhist backgrounds.This interview is an addendum to Episode 14: Voices of Faith in Hampton Roads, which featured Vietnamese, Korean and Chinese pastors talking about the use of their respective native language in worship services. Phan falls outside our geographic area of Hampton Roads in SE Virginia, but his sentiments echo theirs. He also emphasizes the importance of language in identity and stability for young people. His experience ties in to languagingHR Episode 9: What it Takes to Raise Bilingual Children; in that episode we spoke to multiple immigrants in Hampton Roads about their commitment to having their children learn their native language, its rewards and challenges. Phan, who was exposed to both Buddhist and Christian traditions in childhood, came with his family to the U.S. from the Saigon region in S. Vietnam in 1991 when he was 17. He completed high school and went to night school for IT, a career he has pursued for 20 years. He was called to the ministry in 2005 and attended seminary in Kentucky. His congregation numbers about 80 people, which swells to 150 on special occasions, such as the New Year. He describes himself as a “bridge” between the first generation of older non-English speakers and his American-born children's generation of English-only speakers.Send your feedback and questions to languagingHR@gmail.com. Don't forget to ‘like', ‘follow', ‘review,' or ‘subscribe' to languagingHR so that you never miss an episode (or a bonus episode). It's FREE to do so and it helps others find us. THANK YOU!

Title: Languaging in Hampton RoadsEpisode 14: Voices of Faith in Hampton RoadsHosts: Jill Winkowski and Prue SalaskyDate: March 5, 2025Length: 48:50Publication Frequency: Fourth Friday (approx) of each monthIn this episode we interview several pastors, all first-generation immigrants, who minister to their flocks in the native language of their country of origin.The interviews are with Pastor Echo Lin from the Shanghai region of mainland China, who leads services in Mandarin at the more than 100-year-old independent First Chinese Baptist Church in Virginia Beach; Father Joseph Nguyen who ministers to two Catholic Vietnamese congregations, Our Lady of LaVang Catholic Church in Norfolk, and Our Lady of Vietnam Catholic Church in Hampton ; and with Luke Do, Senior Pastor of Peninsula Korean Baptist Church in Newport News.(We also talked to Pastor Trung Phan, leader of Hope Vietnamese Church in Annandale, Va. Time and geographical constraints meant we weren't able to include his interview; we will run it as bonus material at a future date.)From our interviews, we learned about the changing role of the church in each community, the importance of language for identity, the generational rifts as assimilation occurs -- and what the future of ethnic-centered churches might be as globalization and technology reduce differences.We did not address the use of traditional liturgical languages, such as Latin, Arabic, Hebrew, and Koine Greek, all of which are represented in Hampton Roads. Nor did we cover the multiple Spanish-speaking churches, by far the largest segment of non-English services in the region. Instead, we focused primarily on Asian-led churches that minister to their communities through the use of the vernacular. In talking to ministers at Korean, Vietnamese and Chinese churches we learned not only about immigration patterns in the region, but also the ealier history of colonization and missionary activity. We learned in many cases that faith was secondary to a sense of community and cultural belonging.Our interest in the topic was sparked by a sign for the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, Mehane Hiwot Abune Gebre Menfes Kidus, in the Park Place neighborhood of Norfolk . We learned that the Norfolk church, started in 2013, is part of one of the most ancient branches of Christianity, part of the Coptic tradition dating back to 300 AD. Priest Teshome Yohannes Feleke presides over a congregation of 200 drawn from throughout Hampton Roads. Services are in a combination of Ge'ez, the ancient liturgical language, and Amharic, Ethiopia's everyday language that evolved from it. (Plug in the church's name to find beautiful chanting on YouTube.) The church is celebrating its renovation with a grand re-opening on March 14/15.We also discovered Our Savior's Lutheran Church in Norge, which once held services in Norwegian. Today the language is no longer used, but the church is the proud possessor of a Norwegian Bible donated by Norway's royal family in 1939. We also learned that Norge is actually the name for Norway in Norwegian, a tribute to its original Scandinavian settlers at the turn of the 20th century!As you can gather, it's a very rich topic and we only scratched the surface of the Babel of languages used in worship in our Hampton Roads region.Please send your questions and feedback to languagingHR@gmail.com

Title: Languaging in Hampton Roads Episode 13: Guinea Talk: Gloucester County's Unique Dialect Hosts: Jill Winkowski and Prue Salasky Date: Feb 2, 2025 Length: 39:44 Publication Frequency: Fourth Friday (approx) of each month Take a ride with us--to Guinea Neck! Nestled in the marshland of Gloucester County, Virginia, is Guinea Neck, where the local community has made their living off the water for centuries. Traditionally, the lifestyle of Guinea has been comprised of long hours on the water and a tight knit community, the ideal situation for the development of a unique language variation. Although receding, the Guinea dialect is well known in the Gloucester area. We tapped into oral histories to try to understand the unique features of their dialect. In this episode, we introduce you to four Guinea watermen, born and raised in the early to mid-twentieth century. We take account of their stories of living and working on the water, while walking through the stages of their lives and experiences. Along the way we talk with linguist, Dr. Bridget Anderson at Old Dominion University. Dr. Anderson is the founder of the Tidewater Voices oral history project (see info below).  Dr. Anderson talks with us about how to listen for differences in the vowels and other features of the Tidewater and Guinea variations and emphasizes the importance of deeper, broader study to understand the distinct variations. We also talk with Carlene Klein who, with two other students of Dr. Anderson, through a yearlong ethnographic process, interviewed a number of the Guinea watermen. The Guinea watermen featured in this episode share stories of growing up in the remote marshes of Guines, of living with their close family connections, of learning the ropes and starting work on the water at young ages, and of the joy of being on the water. Tidewater Voices is housed at ODU Digital Commons and is available to the public for research. There are 22 Guinea oral histories in the collection. You can find them here: https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/tidewatervoices_gloucester/  Look for the Guinea subheading.  If you like languagingHR episodes and want to hear more about how we created the episodes for 2024, get a behind this scenes tour by listening to our presentation to the National Museum of Language: https://languagemuseum.org/past-events/ languagingHR was also featured in The Virginia Pilot in December. Check it out: https://www.pilotonline.com/2024/12/24/says-who-linguists-look-at-tidewater-dialect-and-culture-in-podcast/ Send questions and feedback to languagingHR@gmail.com

Title: Languaging in Hampton Roads Episode 12 : You Can't Play Scrabble in Urdu: Endangered Alphabets and Minority Scripts Hosts: Jill Winkowski and Prue Salasky Date: Dec. 31, 2024 Length: 48:20 Publication Frequency: Fourth Friday (approx)  of each month Co-hosts Jill Winkowski and Prue Salasky invite listeners to join them at https://languagemuseum.org as they present on ‘languaging in Hampton Roads' to The National Museum of Language, part of its monthly online speaker series. The event runs from 2 to 4 p.m EST  on Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025; registration is free at https://languagemuseum.org/speaker-series/#lghr The talk will be recorded and available on the NML site going forward. This month we interview Tim Brookes, a teacher, writer, and wood carver.  Fifteen years ago Brookes launched the Endangered Alphabets Project to raise awareness about — and to preserve — the estimated 275 minority scripts threatened with extinction. While there are 7,000 spoken languages still extant, there are only 300 scripts worldwide. Brookes memorializes the scripts by carving them in wood, a unique blend of art and literacy. He will host his 2nd Annual World Endangered Writing Day on Jan. 23, 2025 at https://www.endangeredwriting.world/  following the success of the inaugural event last year. Live-streamed speakers include script inventors, digitization experts, font creators, community activists and in-the-field researchers. Find an archive of last year's event at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHR3fRN60tw&list=PLYG37Sb2buKjaMtjztHjDc5pSS1a1jorr).  According to Brookes, his website https://www.endangeredalphabets.com/ will feature a gallery that “celebrates a remarkable phenomenon that is springing up worldwide: people who are reviving their traditional scripts by teaching them through calligraphy workshops.” There will be give-aways and a quiz.  Brookes' two most recent books are “An Atlas of Endangered Alphabets” and “Writing Beyond Writing,” available through his website or Amazon.  In our wide-ranging interview with Brookes, edited for length, we discuss minority scripts around the world, cursive writing in the U.S.,the effects of printing and mechanization, and address the question, “What is writing?” We even find some connections to Hampton Roads, our local region.

Title: Languaging in Hampton Roads Episode 11: From Dogwoods to Diospyros: The Origins of Plant Names in Hampton Roads  Hosts: Jill Winkowski and Prue Salasky Date: Nov. 30, 2024 Length: 36 min Publication Frequency: Fourth Friday (approx)  of each month In this episode of Languaging Hampton Roads, we talk with three botanical experts about the origins of common and scientific names of plants and fungi that grow in the Hampton Roads area: Nicole Knudson is a botanist and owner of the Norfolk-based business Lady Fern's Native Plants, 4900 Colley Ave, Norfolk;  ladyfernsnativeplants@cox.net; Vickie Shufer is a naturalist and herbalist and owner of Wild Woods Farm, Virginia Beach, https://wildwoodsfarm.us; and Sarah Winkowski, a Hampton Roads native who is a graduate student at the School of Environmental and Forest Sciences at the University of Washington.  Our experts take us on a journey from high among the trees to low on the woodland floor and finally under leaves and logs, as they explain the names of some of our iconic plants, such as the dogwood tree, the persimmon tree, Spanish moss, the Yaupon holly, and mushrooms such as chicken of the woods and the chanterelle.  Our discussions also span history with commentary on how the common names of plants have evolved over the years, including the Native American origins of the English common name of the Yaupon holly; the medieval idea that plant shapes signified their medicinal use; and the prolific period of botany work in colonial Virginia and its connections to Carl Linnaeus. Listening to this episode is like exploring our native environment, a foray into the natural areas of Hampton Roads. In this episode, we promised to provide a list of volunteer opportunities for those who want to get more involved in the area's native plants: Places to volunteer with native plants include the Norfolk Botanical Garden https://norfolkbotanicalgarden.org; the Elizabeth River Trail, https://elizabethrivertrail.org; the Elizabeth River Project, https://elizabethriver.org.   Also, check out Virginia's Master Gardener organization to find your city's chapter: https://mastergardener.ext.vt..edu. Another Virginia Extension program is the Virginia Master Naturalist program; the Tidewater chapter, Tidewater Master Naturalists, https://tidewatermn.org is taking applications now through January for the 2025 volunteer training class. Virginia Native Plant Society, https://vnps.org to find your local chapter.

Title: Languaging in Hampton Roads Episode 10: The Ebb and Flow of Coastal Carolina Languages Hosts: Prue Salasky and Jill Winkowski Date: Oct. 31, 2024 Length: 34.15 min Publication Frequency: Fourth Friday (approx) of each month Co-hosts Prue Salasky and Jill Winkowski delve into the history and language of Hatteras and Ocracoke Islands, part of the Outer Banks, OBX, of North Carolina, our neighbors to the south and part of our geographical culture in Hampton Roads. They interview two experts on the region. Scott Dawson, whose family traces its roots back to the 1600s on Hatteras, has devoted countless hours to researching the language and culture of the Croatoan people and their early encounters with English settlers. An amateur archaeologist and historian, he has identified artifacts and produced word lists of the Carolina Algonquian spoken on Hatteras Island when the first English settlers arrived in the 16th century. (https://www.coastalcarolinaindians.com/category/research-databases/blair-a-rudes-indigenous-language-collection/). He credits the efforts of English scientist and polymath Thomas Harriot (Hariot) working with Croatoans Manteo and Wanchese for much of what's known today about the indigenous residents, their culture and language. We also learn more about Thomas Harriot and his scientific accomplishments, among the greatest of his generation. Dawson is a founder of the Croatoan Archaeological Society (http://www.cashatteras.com) and also opened a museum on Hatteras to tell a different version of the “lost colony” of Roanoke Island (https://www.lostcolonymuseum.com). . Linguistically, sociolinguist Prof. Walt Wolfram, William C. Friday Distinguished University Professor at N.C. State, places the dialects spoken on the Outer Banks islands as part of the Tidewater diaspora. For example, the brogue spoken on Ocracoke, he says, is closer to that of Tangier Island in the Chesapeake Bay than to that of nearby mainland communities. A scholar of language variation, Wolfram contrasts the vibrancy of the distinctive English dialect of the Lumbee in Robeson County with the rapidly declining use of Ocracoke's traditional dialect. He is also the director of the North Carolina Language and Life Project which documents dialects and speech variations. Listeners can find speech samples for the Lumbee, Ocracoke Islanders and many more by searching for The North Carolina Language and Life Project on YouTube. The changes in language use and dialect over 400 years in these coastal communities first tells the story of English settlement and its impact on indigenous communities. Then ongoing changes reveal shifting demographics and how geography intersects with language and identity.

Title: Languaging in Hampton Roads Episode 9 : What It Takes to Raise Bilingual Children Hosts: Jill Winkowski and Prue Salasky Date: Oct. 2, 2024 Length: 38.08 min Publication Frequency: Fourth Friday (approx)  of each month   Co-hosts Jill Winkowski and Prue Salasky explore the topic of how best to raise bilingual children. It's an endlessly complex topic with multiple angles. First, they share some of the changes in research that show the benefits of bilingualism and the study of languages on the physical structure of the brain. They also touch on the changes in attitude toward English variations fueled by demographics and a global economy and the subsequent status accorded to those proficient in more than one language.   To determine what it takes to raise children bilingual – and what fuels the drive on the part of parents – they talk to several foreign-born residents of Hampton Roads. These include university professor of language and art history, Rosa Motta, a native bilingual speaker of Italian and Sicilian; Silvina Bocca, a Spanish speaker from Argentina, an MD/PhD, an expert in infertility and in-vitro fertilization; Brenda Musto, a Spanish speaker from Argentina whose parents were native Italian speakers. She now runs a medical residency program at Eastern Virginia Medical School. They also talk to her daughter Bernie, a high school senior and dual bilingual in Spanish and English; to Yuliya Dobrednova and her husband Boris Dobrednov from Moscow, a microbiologist/biotechnologist and physicist respectively; and to Russian speakers Elena Chambers from Belarus and Natalya Peretyatko of Kazakhstan, founders of the Russian school in Newport News.   We learned how years of English study in their home countries prepared these parents to become bilingual but it wasn't until they came to the U.S. and were immersed in an English-speaking environment that they reached fluency. They talk about their backgrounds and the intense efforts they put into raising their children as heritage speakers – and how success isn't guaranteed. There's ‘no recipe' for success. The parents talk about the challenges and rewards of passing on their culture through language.   We end the show with reference to the huge growth of formal bilingual/foreign language education in Hampton Roads in the past decade: These include a Russian daycare in Virginia Beach; multiple preschools with  Spanish language options; dual immersion Spanish/English programs in the public schools in Virginia Beach and Newport News (the latter serves 600 students and has a waiting list);  weekend language enrichment programs in multiple languages; and the featured Russian school in Newport News. We also learned about the Seal of Biliteracy that high school students in Virginia can now earn as part of their high school diplomas for proficiency in a foreign language.   Send your questions and feedback to languaginghr@gmail com.

Title: Languaging in Hampton Roads Episode 8 : Road Trip in Hampton Roads: Uncovering the Origins of Geographical Names Hosts: Jill Winkowski and Prue Salasky Date: Sept. 5, 2024 Length: 31:45 min Publication Frequency: Fourth Friday (approx)  of each month Co-hosts Jill Winkowski and Prue Salasky take a road trip to the far corners of Hampton Roads in S.E. Va. They're in search of the provenance of the names, Elephant's Fork in Suffolk, Cuffeytown in Chesapeake, and Chic's Beach in Virginia Beach, and what those names tell us about the history and culture of the region.  The duo talk about toponymy, or the study of place names, and semiotics, the study of signs, and how those disciplines apply to their discoveries.  They share the rules and regulations involved in the official naming process. At the state level there's the Virginia Board on Geographic Names: Senior Map Archivist, Library of Virginia, 800 East Broad St. Richmond, Va. 23219; 804-692-3617; vabgn@lva.virginia.gov. Nationally, the U.S. Board on Geographic Names, BGN, was fully established in 1947; its naming conventions include allowing only 5 places nationwide to have names that include an apostrophe (Martha's Vineyard is one of them). The BGN works closely with state, tribal and local governments, as well as the general public. At Elephant's Fork the duo uncover a community recognition of the name but no understanding of how it came to be; subsequent research, including the use of the free digitized archive of Virginia newspapers, virginiachronicle.com, unearthed its origin in a giant tin elephant used to advertise the emporium of one H.J. Bowen in 1903.  Stories attached to the name included that of Mary Chapman, as recorded in Tidewater Voices,  https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/tidewatervoices, an ongoing digital archive project of Old Dominion University in Norfolk; and that of Angelo Scott, a current Suffolk resident, who recounted his perceived experience of abrupt integration as a 2nd-grader in 1971. At Cuffeytown, a historic community in Chesapeake founded by free blacks in the 1700 they recount their difficulties in finding the historic Cuffeytown cemetery, the final resting place for the Cuffeytown 13. These were Civil War veterans who fought for the Union. Crops at peak growth prevented their access. They did visit the AME Zion Church, founded in 1866, and learned there the identities of the 13 veterans, almost half of them Cuffeys. (See the below list)  5th USCT  Pvt. Walter Smith, Co. I 10th USCT Sgt. William Coffey, Co. G Pvt. Bluet Cuffey, Co. H Corp. Emerson Cuffey, Co. G Pvt. Lemuel Cuffey, Co. F Sgt. Wilson Cuffey, Co. H Sgt. William Cuffey, Co. F Corp. William Sevils, Co. H Pvtd. Cornelius Smith, Co. F Pvt. James W. Smith, Co. F Pvt. Samuel Smith, Co. H Pvt. John Whitehurst, Co. H 36th USCT Sgt. Thomas Van, Co. C From there the intrepid pair took the back roads to Chic's Beach in Virginia Beach, whose recorded history dates back to Native Americans and then the earliest European settlers, but whose current nickname harks back to the mid-20th century. The bayfront neighborhood, officially called Chesapeake Beach, saw a flurry of real estate dealings in the early part of the 20th century and was built out by the 1960s. Local lore attributes the nickname that stuck, Chic's Beach, to one Luther ‘Chic' Ledington who operated a hot dog stand in a beachfront building until 1967.  There's so much to learn from the names we see around us daily! Send feedback and questions to languaginghr@gmail.com. 

Languaging Episode #7 Notes: July doldrums https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/languaginghr Title: Languaging in Hampton Roads Episode 7 : July doldrums Hosts: Jill Winkowski and Prue Salasky Date: August 9, 2024 Length: 18:40 Publication Frequency: Fourth Friday of each month In this off-the-cuff mini-episode, hosts Jill Winkowski and Prue Salasky give listeners information on the name and whereabouts of Hampton Roads, Virginia, and its “rival” Tidewater. They also reveal that the podcast's title, languaging, “is a word” and divulge its meaning - to solve complex problems through the use of language. In laid back summer mode, the duo reflect on their six prior episodes that started with a spotlight on Tidewater Voices in January 2024. The online archive, available at Tidewater Voices: Conversations in Southeastern Virginia | Old Dominion University Research is an ongoing 20-year ethnographic project by Old Dominion University linguistics students, under the supervision of Dr. Bridget Anderson. That first episode focused on identifying a Tidewater accent and the history of the region.  Jill and Prue go on to recount the scope of their episodes to date: an exploration of the roots of the word ‘menhaden'; learning about the work of a coalition of local tribes to revive the Algonquian language; raising awareness of research on patient/health provider interactions; a discussion of the development of sign language dialects; and, most recently, interviews with performers in the spoken word poetry scene in Hampton Roads.  Finally, Jill answers her question about the role of the present perfect, while Prue poses a new question for listeners – is it true that the labio-dental fricative [v] is the only letter in the English alphabet that is never ‘silent,' as in ‘g[h]ost, thum[b], etc.? Send your answer and any feedback via email to languaginghr@gmail.com. Listeners can also visit their new website, www.languaginghr.wordpress.com, with access to all episodes of languaginghr as well as full interviews with those featured on the podcast.  

Title: Languaging in Hampton Roads Episode 6: Creative Community: Spoken Word in Hampton Roads Hosts: Jill Winkowski and Prue Salasky Date: June 30, 2024 Length: 35:59 minutes In this sixth episode of our podcast, languagingHR, we explore the world of spoken word poetry in Hampton Roads. To understand when spoken word poetry is and its nuances, we interviewed three local poets, Tanya Cunningham, George Mendez, and Lacroy Nixon. We asked them questions such as: What is spoken word poetry?, How do you connect with your audience?, What do you love about the art form?, and What is SLAM poetry? Each of the poets perform one of their pieces during this episode. Tanya performs “Bread,” George performs, “The Nature of Things,” and Lacroy performs “Play by Play.” Spoken word poetry is the performance of original poetry in a spoken word community and sometime for competition. Poems are usually personal in nature and the performance of them is essential to the art form. The poets that we interviewed come to poetry with their unique perspectives and backgrounds. George, who had his own hip-hop label in his teens, came to spoken word poetry through writing at a young age and journeying through music to the spoken word format. He had been the host of the open mic at The Venue on 35th Street for many years and is now artist-in-residence there. Lacroy was encouraged to write by a high school teacher after she asked if she could read his work to the class. He had been focusing on mechanical engineering at that time and went on to compete in a national NAACP competition in the categories of poetry and, yes, mechanical engineering. Lacroy started and runs the nonprofit SLAM Connection in Williamsburg, which combines spoken word poetry events and workshops with service to the community. He is also a competing member of the SLAM team Verbbenders. Tanya Cunningham was a writer early on and later took a creative writing class with Dr. Hollis Pruitt at Tidewater Community College. For the final project, the students read their work aloud. Dr. Pruitt invited guests to that reading and one of those guests was poet Ann Shalaski. Tanya kept reading at open mics to continue the connection with community that was fostered during that class. Tanya is co-editor with J. Scott Wilson of 757 Perspectives, an anthology of local poetry. Although this podcast focused on more general language themes such as audience and language community, we did learn some new terms. We highlighted three of those during the episode: scheming, or the use of an underlying theme to foreground story; deep pockets, which is a term for a spoken word poet that has a number of poems (at least eight!) ready to perform at any time; and finally, the term calibration poet, which describes the poet that goes first in a SLAM competition. Note: We referred to Joshua Bennett's book Spoken Word: A Cultural History. Knopf, 2023. 757 Perspectives, Volumes I and II, eds, J Scott Wilson and Tanya Cunningham are available online at Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Information about the non-profit, SLAM Connection, is available online at https://slamconnection.my.canva.site/ and their email is Slamconnectionwbg@gmail.com A few local open mics (correct as of June 28, 2024): Where: The Venue at 35th St. (@thevenueon35th), 631 W. 35th St., Norfolk When: Regular free events throughout the week   Where: Column 15 Cafe and Roastery, 701-R Merrimac Trail, Williamsburg When: First Fridays Open Mic Nights; doors open at 6:30 p.m. Free Hosted by Slam Connection (@slamconnection), slamconnectionwbg@gmail.com   Where: Cure Coffeehouse, 503 Botetourt St., Norfolk When: First Thursdays, 6-7:30 p.m. Free   Where: Downing Gross Cultural Arts Center (www.downinggross.org), Newport News When: Second Tuesdays, 7 p.m. Free   Where: The Muse Writers Center, 2200 Colonial Ave, #3, Norfolk; 757-818-9880 (the-muse.org) When: Frequent events and performances

https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/languaginghr Title: Languaging in Hampton Roads Episode 5: The Sound of Virginia: Awakening the Powhatan language Hosts: Jill Winkowski and Prue Salasky Date: May 28, 2024 Length: 28 minutes Publication Frequency: Fourth Friday of each month Worldwide, languages are becoming extinct at an alarming rate. While some are working to record endangered languages, here in Hampton Roads the Powhatan Algonquian Intertribal Roundtable, or PAIR, a consortium of eight sovereign nations, is working to bring the Powhatan language (also known as Virginia Algonquian) back to life after three centuries of dormancy.  PAIR consists of representatives from the Chickahominy, Eastern Chickahominy, Mattaponi, Upper Mattaponi, Nansemond, Rappahannock, Pamunkey and Patawomeck tribes from the area between the James River and the Potomac River in Virginia, historically called Tsenocomoco and home to the Powhatan chiefdom. PAIR has secured a 3-year language preservation grant through 2026 from the Administration for Native Americans.  This episode includes interviews with Lenora Adkins and Kayla Locklear of the Chickahominy (www.chickahominytribe.org), leaders of the language project Omisun ( waking oneself up); along with language specialists Dr. Stephanie Hasselbacher, PhD.(https://kenahconsulting.com) and Ian Custalow, both of whom are working with PAIR. Custalow, a gifted language speaker, is a member of the Mattaponi, and has been researching the Powhatan language for more than 20 years. We also tap into the expertise of Scott Dawson, a Hatteras Islander who has spent decades exploring the linguistic and archaeological heritage of Algonquian speakers. We speak with Kole Matheson, an at-large member of the Cherokee Western Band, a Tidewater resident, and instructor at Old Dominion University, ODU. As one of four panelists at a symposium on Indigenous Language Preservation at ODU, organized by Applied Linguistics graduate student Sara Rose Hotaling, Matheson attested to the importance of preserving language in connecting to culture.   The goals of PAIR are to create a 24-lesson curriculum for learning Powhatan, to make a dictionary of the language, and to complete a map with native place names. As Adkins says, “We want to learn it first!” And, “Check back in with us in 3 years!” Send your comments, feedback and questions to languagingHR@gmail.com

Title: Languaging in Hampton Roads Episode 4 : ‘How're you doing?': Diagnosing Health Talk Hosts: Jill Winkowski and Prue Salasky Date: April 26, 2024 Length: 24:22 Publication Frequency: Fourth Friday of each month Conversations between medical providers and patients have their own special style and context-driven meaning. In this episode, co-hosts Jill Winkowski and Prue Salasky explore the ways providers in Hampton Roads  implement patient-centered care through their choice of questions, framing, and expression of empathy. They interview Dr. Staci Defibaugh, associate professor of linguistics at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, whose research specialty is analyzing conversations between advanced practice providers – nurse practitioners, NPs, and physician's assistants, PAs – and patients. They also talk to Temple West and Alison Schoew, educators in the simulation and standardized patient program at Eastern Virginia Medical School (EVMS) in Norfolk, who give medical students the opportunity to practice their communication and diagnostic skills through role play. (According to West, who administers the program, they're always looking for community members to participate in the standardized patient program. To learn more and to apply,  https://www.evms.edu/community/community_training/sentara_center_for_simulation_immersive_learning_a/capabilities/standardized_patients/)  Additionally, LanguagingHR talked to Barb Morrison, a physician's assistant at a Sentara Health internal medicine practice, who participated in Defibaugh's most recent research project. And Dr. LaTonya Russell, MD, a pediatrician and medical director for Sentara's community-based clinics statewide in Virginia, talked about the importance of listening to patients' stories. 

Languaging Episode 3: Notes Title: Languaging in Hampton Roads Episode 3: What's in a Name? Hosts: Jill Winkowski and Prue Salasky Date: March 22, 2024 Length: 21:19 minutes Publication Frequency: Fourth Friday of each month In this third episode of Languaging in Hampton Roads, co-hosts Jill Winkowski and Prue Salasky explore how words get added to the English language and their discussion focuses primarily on the addition of words from the Algonquian family of languages. Word origins can be murky business. Some of the earliest additions of Native American words into English came from the accounts of early settlers. Captain John Smith, the English soldier and explorer who became a colonial governor in Virginia, and Roger Williams, the founder of Rhode Island, among many others, kept ethnographic accounts of the Native American language and culture. The Native American language most local to us in Tidewater is Powhatan, an Eastern Algonquian language, and we learn from John Smith's accounts that words such as raccoon, possum, and persimmon entered English from that language. To really get to the bottom of word origins, Prue and Jill go to sea to explore one word in particular, that is, the name of "the most important fish in the sea," the Atlantic menhaden. While combing sources and knocking on the doors of experts to find out the origins of the name, they came across, as frequently happens when researching words, stories. Many stories. From the story of Roger Williams who wrote down the Narragansett name of a silver fish as munnawhatteaug to the accounts of the 19th century fish researcher G. Brown Goode, who, in addition to his scientific research, scoured the east coast for the myriad nicknames for the filter feeder. Other stories that emerged were those of the generations of the menhaden fishermen themselves and the current controversy around industrial menhaden fishing. Nailing down the origins of the word menhaden, it turns out, is as slippery as the fish itself. They even sought out the advice of Smithsonian emeritus linguist Ives Goddard who consoled them that tracking down the origins of fish names are notoriously difficult. While Jill and Prue had to settle for a probable origin of the word, the real lesson was in the journey. Language is constantly changing. That is part of its beauty, that it morphs with shifting demographics, cross cultural contact, and sometimes, just plain necessity. Prue and Jill end the episode with an account of an emerging use of Native American language in archeaology, where Scott Dawson from Hatteras describes using Croatoan words for the artifacts they are excavating at their sites on the island. Send feedback, questions, topic suggestions, etc. to languaginghr@gmail.com CREDITS: Original music by Skye Zentz; Languaging logo by Patty McDonald; technical help by Michael Lusby at the Sound Studio at Slover Library in Norfolk, Va. Languaging in Hampton Roads is written and produced by Jill Winkowski and Prue Salasky

In this episode of Languaging in Hampton Roads, co-hosts Jill Winkowski and Prue Salasky look into communication in the deaf community. They explore sign language, its history and variations. In particular they focus on the development of BASL, Black American Sign Language and American Sign Language in the southern U.S.  Through an interview with a nationally certified interpreter for the deaf, his interview of a deaf woman in Virginia Beach, and conversations with local and national experts, including NC State Prof. Walt Wolfram, on signing, they reveal the complexities of the language and pressures within the deaf community.  --Jubal Metzger-Smith's full interview,  its audio recording and transcript is available at  https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/tidewatervoices/  or find it by searching Tidewater Voices in your browser --The Chesapeake campus of Tidewater Community College offers a 2-year associate's degree in ASL and interpretation for the deaf. 757-822-1111 --The Hearing Loss Association of America, Virginia Beach chapter, includes all the cities in Hampton Roads. It conducts monthly hybrid meetings on the second Saturday of the month at Fortis College, 6300 Center Drive, Norfolk, Va. Find it at www.hearingloss.org --The Virginia Hearing Loss Support Network meets in Virginia Beach on the fourth Saturday of each month. On Facebook or vahlsn.info@gmail.com. --The Wells Theatre, 108 E. Tazewell St, Norfolk, Va. 23510 includes a signing interpreter for at least one show per production. (757) 627-1234. --Find the videos and vignettes for the Language and Life Project at North Carolina State University on YouTube.  Send feedback, questions, topic suggestions, etc. to languaginghr@gmail.com CREDITS: Original music by Skye Zentz; Languaging logo by Patty McDonald; technical help by Michael Lusby at the Sound Studio at Slover Library in Norfolk, Va. Languaging Hampton Roads is written and produced by Jill Winkowski and Prue Salasky

In this first episode of Languaging Hampton Roads, co-hosts Jill Winkowski, a Tidewater native, and Prue Salasky, a UK native, introduce themselves, describe their background in linguistic studies, and explain their interest in the region's life and language.  Note: For the most part they use the terms Hampton Roads (a political designation) and Tidewater (a geographical designation) interchangeably to denote this corner of Southeastern Virginia that extends around the Chesapeake Bay and is bounded by the Atlantic Ocean. This episode focuses on the identifying characteristics of a Tidewater dialect and Tidewater Voices, an online archival collection of 300-plus stories collected from residents throughout the region. Students in the sociolinguistics classes of professor Dr. Bridget Anderson at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Va., have been collecting these stories since 2005. Thanks to a years-long effort by Languaging co-host Jill Winkowski and a team at the ODU library, the audio recordings and their transcripts became available to the public in late 2023 at  https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/tidewatervoices/  or find it by searching Tidewater Voices in your browser. Soon, members of the community will be able to submit their own stories for review and publication. In this episode Prue and Jill interview two ODU linguistics students who conducted interviews with their families for the Tidewater Voices project. One, Jennifer Williams, interviewed her grandmother who grew up during segregation; the other, Pettie Perkins, talked to her three children to illustrate contemporary and future issues, such as the role of social media and technology in their lives. Both paint a vivid picture of the area in their personal stories and both indicate how the study of linguistics expanded their understanding of their family history and identity.  Finally, Jill poses a challenge to listeners: Explain the English present perfect and give an example to illustrate its use. Send it in an email to languaginghr@gmail.com and the winning entry will be featured in an upcoming episode of Languaging. Send feedback, questions, topic suggestions, etc. to languaginghr@gmail.com CREDITS: Original music by Skye Zentz; Languaging logo by Patty McDonald; technical help by Michael Lusby at the Sound Studio at Slover Library in Norfolk, Va. Languaging Hampton Roads is written and produced by Jill Winkowski and Prue Salasky