From L to R: Henry Biggs, Marija Tabain, Patricia Keating
With a generous donation from Dr. Henry Biggs (UCLA PhD, 1996) and Theresa Biggs (UCLA MA, 1993), the UCLA Linguistics Department has established the Patricia Keating Distinguished Lecture Series. The series honors Distinguished Research Professor Emeritus Patricia Keating, who served as a UCLA Linguistics faculty member from 1981-2022, director of the UCLA Phonetics Lab from 1991-2022, and department chair from 2018-2022.
On October 27, 2025, at Hershey Hall Salon, the Department held a successful inaugural event, featuring Dr. Marija Tabain, who completed her PhD in phonetics at Macquarie University and is currently the Editor of the Journal of the International Phonetic Association. Her talk, Some (phonetic) reflections on working with Australian language, focused on a brief history of her work with Australian Aboriginal languages and her experience working with some of the languages of Central Australia.
The event included opening remarks from Chair and Professor Megha Sundara and a catered reception.
We are thankful to Dr. Henry Biggs and Theresa Biggs for their generous support in recognition of Professor Keating’s fundamental contributions to phonetic science.
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For more information on the talk, please visit the Keating Lecture webpage.
Following are remarks from Dr. Henry Biggs:
“My thanks to so many of you for bringing us all together this afternoon, to Megha for doing the difficult logistical work of coordinating schedules – across hemispheres no less.
To Dean Stern and the alumni and development team for providing the infrastructure and humoring me in the early stages.
To Marija for your outstanding work in phonetics – we could not have a more outstanding inaugural candidate to set the bar and the stage for the future,
And, above all, this is a time to be grateful for the outstanding career and legacy of Pat Keating.
The UCLA Linguistics Department has such an outstanding reputation and story, built on the earlier work of people like Peter Ladefoged, and Ian Maddiesen to name only a few from my time at UCLA – making the Linguistics Department a beacon not only driving enrollments in the humanities at UCLA but as a center of research excellence in the world.
The naming of this lecture developed for me from a belief that we need to honor those intellectual heroes who gave their blood sweat toil and tears – and careers – to their institutions and also taught us so much.
You may find it surprising to know that for all of my familiarity with Pat and her illustrious career, I never took a course with Pat – no, I was subjected instead to the torment of Bruce Hayes in several classes and as my dissertation advisor.
Years of therapy have not resolved the trauma.
In all seriousness, I feel deeply indebted to Bruce, and feel fortunate to have had him as my mentor and to have been able to honor him as well.
But today is Pat’s day – how lucky we are for her work and to be able to host Marija Tabain and celebrate her excellence.
My heartfelt thanks to you all.”
UCLA Linguistics’ success is attributed to many of our donors and friends. We’re so thankful for the partnerships and relationships we have established throughout the years. If you would like to contribute to the UCLA Linguistics program, please feel free to visit our Giving Page. Every donation matters!
