Steve Winters
@swinters.bsky.social
I'm a professor of linguistics at the University of Calgary, specializing in phonetics and speech perception. I'm just here to add some more linguistics to my life.
We had a speaker yesterday from NZ who was talking about how he has to change the way he pronounces Auckland for speech recognition engines, and it made me realize that running through the pronunciations of Oakland-Auckland(NZ)-Auckland(Am) might be a good way to demonstrate the [o]-[ɔ]-[ɒ] triad.
November 8, 2025 at 8:30 PM
We had a speaker yesterday from NZ who was talking about how he has to change the way he pronounces Auckland for speech recognition engines, and it made me realize that running through the pronunciations of Oakland-Auckland(NZ)-Auckland(Am) might be a good way to demonstrate the [o]-[ɔ]-[ɒ] triad.
Reposted by Steve Winters
I present, the lenition hypercube
October 29, 2025 at 4:51 PM
I present, the lenition hypercube
To wit.
The phonetics lab had a great time at Methods and Techniques in Phonetic Sciences this weekend! There’s some really neat research out there. We loved checking in on what techniques other labs are utilizing, and sharing how we’re using free classification at the UofC.
October 19, 2025 at 1:31 PM
To wit.
My lab group will be participating in this interesting little conference up in Edmonton this weekend:
matips.org/matips2025/d...
matips.org/matips2025/d...
start [Methods and Techniques in Phonetic Sciences]
matips.org
October 17, 2025 at 6:31 PM
My lab group will be participating in this interesting little conference up in Edmonton this weekend:
matips.org/matips2025/d...
matips.org/matips2025/d...
Reposted by Steve Winters
Fan wearing a "Dump Here" jersey with 61 caught Cal's HR 🔥
Immediately changes into an identical 62 jersey
Immediately changes into an identical 62 jersey
October 8, 2025 at 1:55 AM
Fan wearing a "Dump Here" jersey with 61 caught Cal's HR 🔥
Immediately changes into an identical 62 jersey
Immediately changes into an identical 62 jersey
I've recently gotten to know someone who universally uses "there is" for both singular and plural nouns. So, rather than saying "there are books in the library" or perhaps "there's books in the library", they say "there is books in the library". Is this the start of a trend?
September 21, 2025 at 4:30 PM
I've recently gotten to know someone who universally uses "there is" for both singular and plural nouns. So, rather than saying "there are books in the library" or perhaps "there's books in the library", they say "there is books in the library". Is this the start of a trend?
Overheard in my lab today: "I think L*+H is my favorite pitch accent."
September 19, 2025 at 6:27 PM
Overheard in my lab today: "I think L*+H is my favorite pitch accent."
Apple's new AirPods now do live translation of a foreign language. Hmm.
www.apple.com/newsroom/202...
www.apple.com/newsroom/202...
New Apple Intelligence features are available today
Apple today released new Apple Intelligence features that elevate the user experience across iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and Apple Vision Pro.
www.apple.com
September 17, 2025 at 2:36 PM
Apple's new AirPods now do live translation of a foreign language. Hmm.
www.apple.com/newsroom/202...
www.apple.com/newsroom/202...
Fun fact: the road signs on U.S. 93 between Missoula and Kalispell are written in {Salish or Kootenai} and English.
August 1, 2025 at 4:53 AM
Fun fact: the road signs on U.S. 93 between Missoula and Kalispell are written in {Salish or Kootenai} and English.
Some nice examples of Canadians pronouncing the stressed vowel in "Nirvana" as [æ] here:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9u5...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9u5...
Bootleg of Nirvana Calgary show surfaces
YouTube video by CTV News
www.youtube.com
May 15, 2025 at 2:56 AM
Some nice examples of Canadians pronouncing the stressed vowel in "Nirvana" as [æ] here:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9u5...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9u5...
We are hiring! If anybody you know does experimental syntax, feel free to send them our way!
careers.ucalgary.ca/jobs/1609537...
careers.ucalgary.ca/jobs/1609537...
Three-year Limited Term Assistant Professor position in the Division of Linguistics in
Calgary,
...
Three-year Limited Term Assistant Professor position in the Division of Linguistics in
Calgary,
...
careers.ucalgary.ca
May 8, 2025 at 5:42 PM
We are hiring! If anybody you know does experimental syntax, feel free to send them our way!
careers.ucalgary.ca/jobs/1609537...
careers.ucalgary.ca/jobs/1609537...
I have students record production exercises for my intro phonetics class, and one of them came to me today with a novel problem: for forms that were [ejective]-[vowel] or [click]-[vowel], her PC was simply not recording the ejective or click, apparently filtering it like it was background noise.
March 6, 2025 at 9:08 PM
I have students record production exercises for my intro phonetics class, and one of them came to me today with a novel problem: for forms that were [ejective]-[vowel] or [click]-[vowel], her PC was simply not recording the ejective or click, apparently filtering it like it was background noise.
Hey, look, it's the Midlands dialect region.
January 5, 2025 at 2:02 AM
Hey, look, it's the Midlands dialect region.
When you drive through eastern Montana, the landscape eventually empties out to the point where the road signs start directing you to specific people's homes, rather than to cities or towns. What I didn't realize until this past week is that Google maps effectively does the same thing.
December 26, 2024 at 5:38 PM
When you drive through eastern Montana, the landscape eventually empties out to the point where the road signs start directing you to specific people's homes, rather than to cities or towns. What I didn't realize until this past week is that Google maps effectively does the same thing.
Can you accurately pronounce these Minnesota place names?
Wayzata
Shakopee
Vadnais Heights
Mahtomedi
Montevideo
Bemidji
Le Sueur
Waseca
Ely
Beltrami
Wayzata
Shakopee
Vadnais Heights
Mahtomedi
Montevideo
Bemidji
Le Sueur
Waseca
Ely
Beltrami
December 23, 2024 at 1:16 AM
Can you accurately pronounce these Minnesota place names?
Wayzata
Shakopee
Vadnais Heights
Mahtomedi
Montevideo
Bemidji
Le Sueur
Waseca
Ely
Beltrami
Wayzata
Shakopee
Vadnais Heights
Mahtomedi
Montevideo
Bemidji
Le Sueur
Waseca
Ely
Beltrami
Oof.
December 13, 2024 at 3:52 AM
Oof.
I am currently laying over in the Regina airport and wondering whether this is the worst blend ever.
November 18, 2024 at 1:37 AM
I am currently laying over in the Regina airport and wondering whether this is the worst blend ever.