Researching language to make society better: A chat with Dr Howie Manns

In this episode, we’re chatting with Dr Howard (Howie) Manns, Senior Lecturer in Linguistics and Applied Linguistics at Monash University.

We were so excited to have the chance to speak with Howie, because we are fascinated by his language story and his academic work - from growing up in a monolingual environment and then (unexpectedly) becoming a linguist through joining the US Navy, to working as a researcher who now studies Australian English, Indonesian, tactile (deafblind) Auslan and intercultural communication.

We hope you enjoy this great Language Chat - we could have spoken with Howie for hours (but have made sure that we didn’t take up more than an hour of his precious time)!

Have any questions for Howie or for us? Get in touch or join our Facebook group, Language Lovers AU Community, to connect with us and other like-minded language lovers in Australia and abroad.

Episode Links

Howie has kindly provided us with an excellent set of notes and additional links for those interested in finding out more! We have included these below in addition to any relevant links/work referenced in the episode.

• US Defense Language Institute, Monterey, Ca

• Howie’s plane in the US Navy (ES-3A Shadow)

• Howie discusses language and idioms and how they impact our view of the world on Episode 1 of the SBS Audio podcast The Idiom, hosted by Rune Pedersen

• Our interview with Rune Pedersen: Language Chats Ep #098 - Hit the nail on the head: A chat with Rune Pedersen, host of The Idiom podcast

• An open-access book Howie co-wrote about language in post-Suharto Indonesia: Style and Intersubjectivity in Youth Interaction by Dwi Noverini Djenar , Michael C. Ewing and Howard Manns

• Some downloadable papers Howie has written on language in Indonesia: https://monash.academia.edu/HowieManns

• Howie and colleagues reviews the decline of Indonesian, what Australia gets wrong about language and what we can do about it: https://theconversation.com/the-number-of-australian-students-learning-indonesian-keeps-dropping-how-do-we-fix-this-worrying-decline-216348

• Howie and colleagues report on discussions with Victorian Indonesian educators and argues for more collaboration in the second language space. He also points to successful second language efforts in other parts of the world and how these might hold some answers for Australia: https://www.melbourneasiareview.edu.au/invigorating-indonesian-studies-in-australia-through-collaborative-online-education-practices/

• Howie promotes multilingualism and community language-learning on ABC Radio National with Hoang Tran Nguyen, project manager, community advocate, co-founder, ViệtSpeak: https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/lifematters/languages-of-our-community/103163890

• ViệtSpeak - a community-based, non-profit advocacy organisation situated in Melbourne's west

• An Auslan-interpreted introduction to Howie’s Deafblind communication project (led by Louisa Willoughby): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIu7ltZ51R4

• Here’s a written introduction to Australian Deafblind communication (behind a paywall but get in touch with Howie for a pre-print version): https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-981-15-6430-7_15

• This is a 30-minute lifestyle documentary about the amazing Heather Lawson, who Howie mentions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjFOtIqjmxg

• These are a pair Auslan signs Howie referenced, which sometimes cause confusion for Heather:

  • “pub” https://auslan.org.au/dictionary/words/pub-1.html

  • “know” https://auslan.org.au/dictionary/words/know-1.html
    *Errata: in the podcast, Howie said it was “pub” and “think”. This is incorrect. It is “pub” and “know” that cause confusion. “Pub” and “know” are clearly differentiated in visual Auslan, but this distinction is not always clear in tactile Auslan.

• Howie presenting on the hidden power of language and misconceptions about English “errors”:

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjC39sfgbrY&t=376s

• Howie reviews the history of Standard English and how the collective grammar of World Englishes may be challenging the standard: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUry0z_BVU4

• Howie, Kate Burridge and Simon Musgrave present on “Truth, truthiness and public science discourse”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktsFxREFZU8

• Howie’s articles on Australian language and society for The Conversation (many co-written with Kate Burridge):

  https://theconversation.com/profiles/howard-manns-111255/articles

• Howie and colleagues introduce their project on Australian slang: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPhb-_52XGc

• Howie and colleagues write about their project on Australian slang: https://auslanguage.net/slanguage/

• Howie appears on the ABC Kids podcast “Imagine This” to answer the question, “Where do words come from?”: https://www.abc.net.au/kidslisten/programs/imagine-this/how-people-make-words/13929010

• A few Indonesian language articles from Howie:

  • Howie menulis tentang menurun Bahasa Indonesia di Australia dan bagaimana bisa diatasinya: https://theconversation.com/jumlah-pelajar-australia-yang-belajar-bahasa-indonesia-terus-menurun-bagaimana-mengatasinya-217444

  • Howie menjelaskan mengapa orang-orang di negara lain berbicara dalam bahasa yang beda: https://theconversation.com/curious-kids-mengapa-orang-orang-di-negara-lain-berbicara-bahasa-yang-berbeda-133940

• Find Howie at Monash University | The Conversation