Welcome to Books of the Month, where once a month, L&S staff select works from our Bookshelf of authors within the College of Letters and Science at UC Davis. This month, we’re focusing on the study of language; its structure, function, usage, history and changes.
A new study by UC Davis and Stanford SPARQ applied AI tools and techniques to New York Police Department body-worn camera footage to learn whether officers followed legal rules for stops and searches.
This book draws on over fifty cases involving disputed meanings in the American legal system where the author served as an expert witness or consultant, to explore the interaction between language and law. Stepping back from the legal specifics and their outcomes, it analyzes the disputes from the perspective of the language sciences, especially semantics and pragmatics, and language comprehension.
Jessie Murray, L&S Orange Cluster chief administrative officer, is finding new ways to both support students and take the sting out of budget uncertainty and cuts. For her work, Murray received the 2025 Chancellor’s Outstanding Staff Award for Exceptional University Management.
Mass shootings in white-majority neighborhoods received roughly twice the news coverage of mass shootings in neighborhoods where a majority of residents were people of color, while coverage of police-involved shootings was disproportionately high in majority-minority communities, according to new research in linguistics.
Out of all the words you know, which ones don’t have vowels? To document these rare “vowelless” words and show how they might develop in real time, Mohamed Afkir and Georgia Zellou studied Tarifit, a Moroccan Amazigh language.
Josie Peinemann remembers what it was like to take that first step to make connections and build community. All her efforts since then have been worthwhile.
In its 116th year, Picnic Day is one of UC Davis’ most revered — and most fun! — traditions. From the amazing exhibits and yummy food, to the artistic and scientific demonstrations and everything in-between, here at the College of Letters and Science, we love this annual celebration.
When Bayleigh Baldwin, a linguistics major and Letters and Science student ambassador, first arrived at UC Davis, she didn’t really know what it meant to be at a research university. Now a senior, she is interviewing with graduate programs across the country where she might launch her research career.
Four College of Letters and Science students who received the U.S. Department of State’s Critical Language Scholarship to study languages outside of the U.S. discuss their time in the programs abroad.
