FoF3: Humans and Machines - TRN Digital Voice: A theory of spoken language for the 21st century

The Thematic Research Network (TRN) is an initiative of the Field of Focus 3 Research Council at Heidelberg University that launched in March 2025 as part of the university’s Excellence Strategy. It aims to foster interdisciplinary exchange and collaboration around key research priorities such as Embodiment, Knowledge Research, Cultural Heritage and more. Our research project, Digital Voice: A theory of spoken language for the 21st century is part of this initiative and contributes to its network by shaping one of its thematic focus areas: The evolving interplay between Human and Machine.

Spoken language today is rarely just spoken. It is nowadays often intensely mediated, digitally curated or synthesized, technologically manipulated or altered. From Zoom Meetings, TikTok videos, podcasts, one-on-one voice messages and machine-generated speech by digital assistants, digital voice has become a central mode of communication. Rather than treating the notion of voice as either spoken or written, digital voice approaches it as a spectrum of human- and machine-made voice practices that we predict will have major implications on notions of intellectual property, authorship and authenticity.
The Digital Voice research project aims to break new scientific ground by developing a novel model of digital voice that is explicitly distinct from existing paradigms of spoken and written language that have informed philologies for the past 40 years. The model integrates technological developments, social practices and language change, providing a multifaceted approach to digital voice. We aim to develop a novel theory of voice which is able to capture the complexity, linguistic variability and societal implications of mediatized, machine-made and mobile voice phenomena.
The initiative is rooted in discourse- and language-oriented fields such as linguistics, literary and cultural studies, computational linguistics, and translation studies. We aim to build strong interdisciplinary connections with the social sciences, theology, musicology, political science, as well as technical and human sciences—particularly computer science, medicine, and psychology. We also see strong networking potential within the Faculty of Modern Languages and the Faculty of Philosophy and the Heidelberg Center for Digital Humanities (HCDH).

Prof. Dr. Theresa Heyd (English Department) theresa.heyd@as.uni-heidelberg.de
Prof. Dr. Daniela Landert (English Department) daniela.landert@as.uni-heidelberg.de
Salma Mourad (student assistant: English Department) salma.mourad@stud.uni-heidelberg.de

The Digital Voice research network welcomes scholars from all disciplines whose work engages with questions of voice, modality, and digital communication. If you are interested in becoming part of the network, sharing your research, or staying informed about upcoming activities, please feel free to contact us. [theresa.heyd@as.uni-heidelberg.de; daniela.landert@as.uni-heidelberg.de; salma.mourad@stud.uni-heidelberg.de]

Networking Meeting on July 16, 2025 (5–7 PM) 
Location: Anglistisches Seminar (Kettengasse 12); Room 122 
A gathering to discuss ideas, collaborations, and future directions of the Digital Voice project.

Samsung’s fridges now recognize family members by voice

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SZ-Magazin 22/2025: Total verquasselt. Die Menschen schreiben immer weniger, dafür hören und reden sie mehr. Klingt harmlos – ist aber eine Gefahr für die freie Gesellschaft. 

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Heyd, T. (2010). How you guys doin'? Staged orality and emerging plural address in the television series Friends. American Speech, 85(1), 33–66.
Heyd, T. (2021). Tertiary orality? New approaches to spoken CMC. Anglistik, 32(2), 131–147.
Heyd, T., & Pithan, J. (2025). Voices in the linguistic landscape: Anthropomorphization of artifacts and the pronominal construction of speakerhood. Linguistic Landscape.
Jucker, A. H., & Landert, D. (2015). Historical pragmatics and early speech recordings: Diachronic developments in turn-taking and narrative structure in radio talk shows. Journal of Pragmatics, 79, 22–39. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2015.01.010
Landert, D., & Jucker, A. H. (2011). Private and public in mass media communication: From letters to the editor to online commentaries. Journal of Pragmatics, 43(5), 1422–1434. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2010.10.016