Bonus 66: Using a rabbit to get kids chatting for science

If you’re looking to try to figure out how kids talk, you might start by asking them some questions, or showing them a picture and trying to get them to talk about it. The problem is, sometimes kids are shy or not accustomed to answering direct questions from strangers, so these methods can underestimate them. A linguist named Bill Labov had a different idea: what if he brought a live rabbit into a school, told the kids that the rabbit was nervous but would calm down if they talked to it, turned the recorder on, and then left the room? Maybe kids who weren’t comfortable talking to a teacher or researcher would feel more relaxed and chatty with a furry friend. (Spoiler: it worked!)

In this bonus episode, Lauren and Gretchen get enthusiastic about a forgotten gem of a linguistics paper about a rabbit! We talk about how Linguistics Twitter got excited about tracking down this paper based on a vague rumour, Labov’s history of coming up with unique ways to record language in more natural environments (Anyone want to write a linguistics mystery novel called From Death to Department Stores?), and useful takeaways about how to talk with children (Tired: questions you already know the answer to. Inspired: respecting kids as peers). Plus: the name of the rabbit (Vincent) and the broader educational context that this paper was written in.

Listen to the episode about kids, rabbits and language acquisition research and get access to many more bonus episodes by supporting Lingthusiasm on Patreon.