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Humanities are needed to make sense of social issues. Watch or listen to the stories of our experts who tell about their research and the impact on society. Get to know the world at Humanities!

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The world of Linguistics

Through the eyes of alumni and academics, we invite you to explore Linguistics! Meike de Boer, PhD candidate, researches forensic phonetics and linguistics. Can we recognise people by the way they say the word ‘uh’ when they hesitate? ‘I’ve done extensive research to better understand how people pronounce “uh” and how it differs from person to person. And how consistent the pronunciation stays in different situations. For example, when people speak in their mother tongue or in a different language. Does their “uh” sound different, or does it stay the same? The tone may change, but the length and pitch stay the same. With this information I can assist the police with finding suspects.’

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