Department of Linguistics and Languages will host a talk by Dr. Doug Whalen from Haskins Laboratories on October 18, 2017. This is the first of the Cognitive Science of Language lecture series of the current academic year. In this talk, Dr. Whalen will outline aspects of the consistency of variability within speakers; re-examine the possible differences in variability in acoustics vs. articulation; and explore the possibility that variability has usefulness in establishing and maintaining flexibility both in production and in understanding the speech of others.