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Lycoming College will welcome Hiram Smith, Ph.D., the Ruth Everett Sierzega Chair in Linguistics and associate professor of Spanish and linguistics at Bucknell University, for a public lecture titled “What We Need to Know About Our Own—and Each Other's—Language.” The talk will take place on Nov. 17 at 7 p.m. in Trogner Presentation Room in the Krapf Gateway Center, followed by a book signing and reception at 8 p.m.
Smith's research examines language variation and change within marginalized speech communities across the Americas, including African American English, Palenquero, and Pennsylvania Dutch. His work is grounded in a commitment to collaboration, involving community members in every stage of the research process, from data collection to co-authorship.
"Dr. Smith's research asks us to listen more closely to how words carry history, power, and possibility. That's exactly the kind of thinking our students and community need more of.”
The lecture draws on Smith's research into Creole languages and the stigmatization they face. His work on Palenquero, an Afro-Hispanic creole language spoken in northern Colombia, examines how languages can be dismissed, devalued, and yet survive. That same thread runs through his study of African American English and his book, “Wassup, My Nigga: The Hidden History of a Controversial Word” (Georgetown University Press 2026), which traces how stigma shapes the way we hear — and misread — the words of marginalized communities. Smith has served as an expert witness in legal cases involving language and has shared his research with national audiences on NPR and C-SPAN.
Phoebe Wagner, Ph.D., assistant professor of English at Lycoming College, helped bring Smith's talk to campus. “Language does not just describe the world we live in, it shapes the one we're building next,” she said. “Dr. Smith's research asks us to listen more closely to how words carry history, power, and possibility. That's exactly the kind of thinking our students and community need more of.”
The event, hosted by Lycoming College’s Humanities Research Center, is free and open to the public.
The Humanities Research Center enhances educational opportunities for students majoring or minoring in any of the humanities by supporting collaborative student-faculty research, internships, guided scholarship, study abroad opportunities, education certification, digital humanities, graduate school placement, and fellowships.