• Skip to main content

Life & Letters Magazine

  • Features
  • Books
  • Commentary
  • Blog
  • Archive
  • About
  • Give
  • Contact
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin
Show Menu

Department of Linguistics

A young woman speaking to an elderly woman. The older woman speaks into a microphone recorder.

Chatting in Chatino

October 29, 2015 by Rachel White

Graduate Students Revive Early Languages In Rural Oaxaca In a rural village between two rivers outside of Oaxaca, Mexico, Ryan Sullivant walked door to door like a salesman, asking neighbors to conjugate verbs. The village, Tataltepec, is one of few within a small mountainous area between Oaxaca and the Pacific coast where a dwindling population […]

Illustration of a magnifying glass looking over a sheet of paper. The letter, "A" is enlarged in the magnifying glass.

Little Words Can Mean A Lot

April 30, 2015 by Michelle Bryant

The smallest, most forgettable words in admissions essays — such as the, a, to, I and they — can tell us in advance how students will perform in college, according to a new study at UT Austin that included computerized text analysis of 50,000 admissions essays written by prospective college students. How a student uses small words, the study revealed, is related […]

Photos of Adrian Audain (anthro sr), Macarena Jaraiz (American studies & IRG soph), Manjari Subramanian (psych jr); BOTTOM ROW: Michael Villanueva (IRG soph), Angelica Cruz (history soph) and James Barrington (gov & Air Force ROTC sr).

Millennial Nation

April 24, 2014 by Emily Nielsen

A Generational Look at Education, Money and Work Empathetic. Impatient. Innovative. Unfocused. Rational. Naive. Excited. These are the words millennials in the College of Liberal Arts use when they’re asked to describe themselves. However, it’s a question they’re not often asked. Plenty of people, from journalists to researchers to employers, are looking to define who […]

Image of sky bridge connecting the new building to the Student Activity Center makes an ideal study spot.

A Space to Call Home

April 1, 2013 by Molly Wahlberg Leave a Comment

Take a walk through the new College of Liberal Arts Building, and the building feels as fresh and modern as it feels warm and lived-in—an impressive feat for a place that just opened in January. “This is our shot at greatness,” says Randy Diehl, dean of the College of Liberal Arts. “This building ensures that […]

Lars Hinrichs

Do You Speak Texan?

December 1, 2012 by Jessica Sinn Leave a Comment

Despite drastic changes to the iconic accent, most Texans will continue to use their twang in the right situation Since this story was featured in Life & Letters last spring, English Professor Lars Hinrichs’ research on the evolution of the iconic Texas twang has been featured in several national media outlets, including TIME, NPR and […]

Cherry blossom with book in background.

Books: Winter, Spring and Summer 2012

May 1, 2012 by Molly Wahlberg Leave a Comment

Winter, Spring and Summer 2012 titles from our college community.

"retirement"

Retired Faculty: Spring 2011

May 27, 2011 by Jessica Sinn Leave a Comment

More than 30 College of Liberal Arts professors from more than a dozen departments have retired over the past year, after spending decades serving their students and the university community. Retirees include Linguistics Professor Robert King, who was the founding dean of the College of Liberal Arts and served in that post from 1979–1989 and […]

Nora England

Two MacArthur Fellows, One Maya Signature Class

May 25, 2011 by Michelle Bryant Leave a Comment

Professors draw from experiences to teach To put things in perspective, a college student has a higher probability of being struck by lightning than of being taught by one MacArthur Fellow, much less two. So when MacArthur Fellows Nora England, a linguistics and anthropology professor in the College of Liberal Arts; and David Stuart, an […]

cover of Segregating Sound

Books: Spring 2010

May 10, 2010 by Michelle Bryant Leave a Comment

Oscar Casares’ “Amigoland” Is 2010 Mayor’s Book Club Selection The book “Amigoland” (2009, Little, Brown) is set in a small Mexican border town. It tells the story of two estranged and aging brothers, Don Fidencio Rosales and Don Celestino, who are brought back together by a young cleaning woman and a mystery. The improbable trio takes […]

The College of Liberal Arts at The University of Texas at Austin
  • About
  • Give
  • Contact
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin

© 2021, The University of Texas at Austin. All rights reserved. Web Policies Web Accessibility Policy. 110 Inner Campus Drive Austin, TX 78705