Around the first of the year, I saw that several academics I follow on Twitter made a goal to read 365 papers during 2018. They tweet about their papers and use the hashtag #365papers. I don’t stand a chance at reaching that goal of 365 papers, but I decided to join in.
What’s the point?
First off, why bother doing this over Twitter? I can think of several reasons.
Twitter is an interesting place for academics and this just sort of fits in with what goes on there.
If I read papers written by people I know on Twitter, I’ll @ them. It not only lets them know I’m reading their work, it’s a quick way to incorporate them into the conversation.
In general, keeping track of the papers I read is healthy because it’s easier to go back and find something I read when I have a spreadsheet.
Keeping track in a way for others to see is even more motivating because I don’t want to quit halfway through.
Essentially, I find it useful to keep track of things. I always feel like I need to read more academic work, so this is a nice way to motivate myself to do so.
Twitter feed
The rest of this post will be updated periodically to include my tweets. For brevity, I’ll only post parent tweets here, but sometimes I do a tweetstorm and include some commentary, which sometimes includes comments from others.
All right, all you #365papers have convinced me. I'm behind, but I'll mention what I remember reading so far this year:
— Joey Stanley (@joey_stan) March 9, 2018
#1–6: @americandialect's PADS vol 2 (https://t.co/Yoy5YoIfaX) with @aliciabwassink, @dialect, @cotterw, @sociolx, etc. etc.
@aliciabwassink. 2015. Sociolinguistic patterns in Seattle English. Language Variation and Change 27(01). 31–58. https://t.co/4e4xSylA2B
— Joey Stanley (@joey_stan) March 9, 2018
It somehow slipped through the cracks in my research on Pacific Northwest English. #365papers #7
Trudgill, Peter & Tina Foxcroft. 1978. On the sociolinguistics of vocalic mergers: Transfer and approximation in East Anglia.
— Joey Stanley (@joey_stan) March 9, 2018
Labov (1994) cites this as where mergers by approximation and transfer came from. Thought I'd go to the source. #365papers #8
@dialect 2013. ’Flip-flop’and mergers-in-progress. English Language and Linguistics 17(02). 359–390.
— Joey Stanley (@joey_stan) March 9, 2018
It's been on my to-read list for a while. Was not disappointed. #365papers #9
Zeller, Christine. 1997. The investigation of a sound change in progress : /æ/ to /e/ in Midwestern American English. Journal of English Linguistics 25(2). 142–155.
— Joey Stanley (@joey_stan) March 9, 2018
I'm researching BAG-raising. This was one of the first. #365papers #10
Bauer, Matt & Frank Parker. 2008. /æ/-raising in Wisconsin English. American Speech 83(4). 403–431.
— Joey Stanley (@joey_stan) March 9, 2018
More research on BAG-raising. Also, ultrasound is sweet. Also, add Ohala (2003) to my to-read list. #365papers #11
Faber & Di Paolo. 1990. Phonation differences and the phonetic content of the tense-lax contrast in Utah English. LVC 2(02). 155–204. doi:10.1017/S0954394500000326.
— Joey Stanley (@joey_stan) March 20, 2018
Their last statement says it all: "There is more to vowels than their formant frequencies." #365papers #12
Dinkin. 2016. Phonological Transfer as a Forerunner of Merger in Upstate New York. Journal of English Linguistics 44(2). 162–188. doi:10.1177/0075424216634795.
— Joey Stanley (@joey_stan) March 21, 2018
Introduces a new type of merger, distinct from Approximation, Transfer, and Expansion. #365papers #13
Lisker, Leigh. 1986. “Voicing” in English: A Catalogue of Acoustic Features Signaling /b/ versus /p/ in Trochees. Language and Speech 29(1). 3–11.
— Joey Stanley (@joey_stan) March 23, 2018
There are no fewer than 16 acoustic cues to differentiate /p/ and /b/ in "rapid" vs. "rabid." #365papers #14 1/6
Milroy, James & Lesley Milroy. 1978. Belfast: Change and variation in an urban vernacular. In Peter Trudgill (ed.), Sociolinguistic Patterns in British English, 19–36. London: Edward Arnold. #365papers #15 1/2
— Joey Stanley (@joey_stan) April 11, 2018
Olive, Joseph P., Alice Greenwood & John Coleman. 1993. Acoustics of American English Speech: A Dynamic Approach. Chapter 1: Introduction. I need to learn more about phonetics, so this will be a great book. #365papers #16 (I'm counting book chapters as papers.)
— Joey Stanley (@joey_stan) April 15, 2018
Olive, Joseph P., Alice Greenwood & John Coleman. 1993. Acoustics of American English Speech: A Dynamic Approach. Chapter 2: American English Phonemes. #365papers #17
— Joey Stanley (@joey_stan) April 15, 2018
Olive, Joseph P., Alice Greenwood & John Coleman. 1993. Acoustics of American English Speech: A Dynamic Approach. Chapter 3: Speech and Sound. #365papers #18
— Joey Stanley (@joey_stan) April 17, 2018
A nice overview of the acoustics of sound is always good every once in a while.
Gerry O. Knowles. 1978. The Nature of Phonological Variables in Scouse. In Peter Trudgill (ed.), Sociolinguistic Patterns in British English, 19–36. London: Edward Arnold. #365papers #19
— Joey Stanley (@joey_stan) April 18, 2018
Olive, Joseph P., Alice Greenwood & John Coleman. 1993. Acoustics of American English Speech: A Dynamic Approach. Chapter 4: Static Properties of Speech Sounds #365papers #20
— Joey Stanley (@joey_stan) April 19, 2018
James Milroy. 1981. Regional accents of English: Belfast. Chapter 5: Belfast Vowels in Detail #365papers #21.
— Joey Stanley (@joey_stan) April 19, 2018
Thanks, @EstherAsprey, for the recommendation!
Olive, Joseph P., Alice Greenwood, & John Coleman. 1993. Acoustics of American English Speech: A Dynamic Approach. Chapter 5: Vowel Transitions. #365papers #22
— Joey Stanley (@joey_stan) April 20, 2018
Olive, Joseph P., Alice Greenwood, & John Coleman. 1993. Acoustics of American English Speech: A Dynamic Approach. Chapter 6: Obstruent and Vowel Transitions. #365papers #23
— Joey Stanley (@joey_stan) April 30, 2018
Olive, Joseph P., Alice Greenwood, & John Coleman. 1993. Acoustics of American English Speech: A Dynamic Approach. Chapter 6: Consonantal Sonorants and Vowels. #365papers #24
— Joey Stanley (@joey_stan) April 30, 2018
Olive, Joseph P., Alice Greenwood, & John Coleman. 1993. Acoustics of American English Speech: A Dynamic Approach. Chapter 8: Consonant Interactions. #365papers #25
— Joey Stanley (@joey_stan) May 7, 2018
@karmaglow. 2018. A remedial path to merger: Merger by phonological transfer in British Columbia English. Toronto Working Papers in Linguistics 40(1). https://t.co/bonUfob51K #365papers #26
— Joey Stanley (@joey_stan) May 10, 2018
Working on pre-velar raising myself right now so this was perfect for me!
Olive, Joseph P., Alice Greenwood, & John Coleman. 1993. Acoustics of American English Speech: A Dynamic Approach. Chapter 9: Acoustic Variability. #365papers #27
— Joey Stanley (@joey_stan) May 11, 2018
Basically, this whole book can be summed up in their last two sentences:
Labov, William. 1994. Principles of Linguistic Change (Volume 1). Chapter 14: The Suspension of Phonemic Contrast. #365papers #28
— Joey Stanley (@joey_stan) May 17, 2018
@JoFrhwld 2017. Generations, lifespans, and the zeitgeist. Language Variation and Change 29(1). 1–27. doi:10.1017/S0954394517000060.
— Joey Stanley (@joey_stan) May 22, 2018
Added to my todo list: 1) Acquire big corpora 2) Be able to use and explain advanced statistical models like a boss. #365papers #29
Labov, William. 1994. Principles of Linguistic Change (Volume 1). Chapter 5: General Principles of Vowel Shifting. #365papers #30
— Joey Stanley (@joey_stan) May 22, 2018
Hey, it's only taken me almost 6 months to get to 30, but that's a start!
At this point, I decided to stop Tweeting. It was more of a commitment than I was willing to get myself into. Plus, I was reading some foundational things that I felt embarrassed to admit I hadn’t read yet. 😅 But I did finish, and you can read my post about when I read my 365th paper here.