languagingHR

About languagingHR

A monthly podcast in which Jill Winkowski and Prue Salasky explore life and language in Hampton Roads, Virginia.

Publisher

LHR

Category

science

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

20 Jan 2024

Latest episode

9 Sept 2026

Latest episodes

26 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   9 Sept 2026

   Ep.24: How Hip Hop Language Shapes the Way we Speak

   Title: Languaging in Hampton Roads Episode 24: How Hip-Hop Language Shapes the Way We Speak Guest Host/Producer: Aidan Dozier Date: Sep. 9, 2026 Length: Approximately 26 minutes Publication Frequency: Fourth Friday (approx) of each month How does a word move from a neighborhood, to a song, to social media, and eventually into everyday conversation? In this episode of languagingHR, ODU Media Studies student and LanguagingHR intern Aidan Dozier explores the relationship between hip-hop, language, regional identity, and social media. The episode looks at how words and phrases associated with hip-hop move through communities, music, online spaces, and everyday speech—and how their meanings can change along the way. The episode follows that process from earlier generations of hip-hop to contemporary expressions such as motion, no cap, locked in, aura, mid, cooked, crash out, standing on business, rizz, slime, and twin. Aidan speaks with Janai Williams, a producer from Philadelphia who moved to Virginia. Williams discusses growing up around music, Philadelphia's distinctive hip-hop culture and language, and the culture shock she experienced after moving to Virginia. Her experiences highlight the connection between language and belonging, including the pressure people can feel to change the way they speak when entering a new community. The episode also features Meiyah Maxfield, a lifelong 757 resident and hip-hop listener. Meiyah discusses the influence hip-hop has had on her vocabulary, the way slang moves between generations, and the role social media plays in making new language recognizable almost instantly. The episode also looks specifically at Virginia and the 757, where influences from cities such as Philadelphia, New York, Washington, D.C., and Atlanta mix with Virginia's own significant hip-hop history. Artists including Missy Elliott, Timbaland, Pharrell, Pusha T, and Clipse have helped establish Virginia's place in hip-hop, even as the region's linguistic identity can be harder to define than that of  other major hip-hop centers. Ultimately, How Hip-Hop Language Shapes the Way We Speak asks listeners to think beyond slang as simply a collection of trendy words. Language can communicate identity, location, humor, history, community, and belonging. Hip-hop gives that language a powerful platform, but the people who use, repeat, reinterpret, and preserve those words ultimately determine where the language goes next. Send your questions and feedback to languagingHR@gmail.com; and for more information and to listen to previous episodes, check out our website, www.languaginghr.wordpress.com (http://www.languaginghr.wordpress.com/).

2. 

   23 Jul 2026

   Ep. 23 Bonus: Interview with hip hop scholar Dr. Travis Harris

   Title: Languaging in Hampton Roads Episode 23 Bonus: Interview with hip hop scholar Dr. Travis Harris, PhD. Hosts: Jill Winkowski and Prue Salasky Date: July 24, 2026 Length: 37 minutes Publication Frequency: Fourth Friday (approx) of each month In this bonus episode, languagingHR shares their interview with Dr. Travis Harris, PhD, assistant professor of English and African American literature at Norfolk State University in Norfolk, Va. We spoke to Harris,  a hip hop scholar specializing in the intersection of religion and hip hop, for languagingHR Episode 22 on African American English in the 757. In it he spoke about the importance of language to maintaining identity in the face of pressures to conform, Our interview spanned many topics and ran 90 minutes. Here, edited down to 37 minutes, Harris talks about his childhood and his journey to his academic specialty; his passion for hip hop, both local and international; his research into a displaced black community in Williamsburg; and his favorite African American authors. For those interested in hip-hop, the W&M Hip Hop Collection, started in the 1980s,  is part of Swem Library’s Special Collections and includes recordings, publications, and ephemera from Virginia-based hip hop artists. Local stars include Pharell and Clipse (the brothers Pusha T and No Malice). Send your questions and feedback to languagingHR@gmail.com (mailto:languagingHR@gmail.com); and for more information and to listen to previous episodes, check out our website, www.languaginghr.wordpress.com (http://www.languaginghr.wordpress.com).

3. 

   11 Apr 2026

   Ep. 22: African American English in the 757

   Hosts: Jill Winkowski and Prue Salasky Date: April 10, 2026 Length: 37 minutes Publication Frequency: Fourth Friday (approx) of each month In this episode we explore African American English, its history, features, and variations, including in Hampton Roads, aka the 757. We interview three black academics in the region to learn about AAE and what defines it. We talk to Dr. Iyabo Osiapem, teaching professor of Africana Studies and Linguistics at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg. Founded in 1693, It’s the only university in the state to offer an undergraduate major in linguistics. At Hampton University in Hampton, the city where the first African indentured servants and slaves arrived in North America in 1619, we speak to Dr. Darylyn Dance, a specialist in rhetoric and composition. We also talk to Dr. Travis Harris, a hip hop scholar who teaches at Norfolk State University in Norfolk. From them we learned about the distinctive syntactical and pronunciation features of the AAE dialect; various theories of its development, including from West African languages; some distinctive local vocabulary; the influence of hip hop in its evolution; and its controversial history related to education, including the 1979 Ann Arbor case and the 1997 Oakland decision. We learn about its labels over the years, including “non-standard Negro English” used by white linguist William Labov, “the father of sociolinguistics,” who pioneered research into AAE in the 1960s, We learn about the work of African American linguist John Baugh in exposing linguistic profiling and the development of the ebonics label by educational psychologist Robert Williams,     inventor of the BITCH test which highlighted cultural bias in standardized testing. Finally, we discuss attitudes to language variation. Here are some of the books and authors the three professors recommended for AAE: Olaudah Equiano (18th century)(enslaved, freed, went to UK) slave narratives, letters, poems; essayist and journalist Charles Chesnutt (turn of the 20th century) The Goophered Grapevine; Poetry by Frances Ellen Watkins (19th century); by Paul Laurence Dunbar (19th century); by Countee Cullen (early 20th century); by Langston Hughes (20th century); George Schuyler journalist, columnist, critic (20th century); Phyllis Wheatley, born in Africa, writing in second language; Imami All Mine by Connie Porter (This American Girl series); Zora Neale Hurston,  Their Eyes are Watching God; Alice Childress, Rainbow Jordan;  The Color Purple by Alice Walker;  Dutchman (1964 play) by Amiri Baraka; Sonia Sanchez (20th century) poet, playwright, professor; Maya Angelou; Toni Morrison;Gil Scott-Heron, “The Revolution will not be Televised” (“godfather of rap”); academic articles by Vershawn Ashanti Young (contemporary); Bernice McFadden, “Sugar” (2000) For those interested in hip-hop, the W&M Hip Hop Collection, started in the 1980s,  is part of Swem Library’s Special Collections and includes recordings, publications, and ephemera from Virginia based hip hop artists. Local stars include Pharell and Clipse (the brothers Pusha T and No Malice).Send your questions and feedback to languagingHR@gmail.com (mailto:languagingHR@gmail.com); and for more information and to listen to previous episodes, check out our website, www.languaginghr.wordpress.com (http://www.languaginghr.wordpress.com).

Who has been a guest on languagingHR

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• Molly Dye
• Jody Conibear Tangredi
• Sina Whitley

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

4.9 / 5

10 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

4 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 51 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

65

Social presence

0

YouTube

0

Engagement

92

Contact languagingHR

Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.