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Sesquipedalian #3

the SESQUIPEDALIAN 				       Volume VI, No. 3
\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/
Bedlam opens, 1247 AD				       October 12, 1995
(1st mental institution)


			     STUPID UNIX TRICKS

We've been playing around with our Unix shells here, and
have come up with a few gems. Note that the '%' prompt indicates
the C shell, while the '$' prompt indicates the Bourne shell.  Line
below indicate the machine's response.  Try these on your terminal!

% scan for <<"Arnold Schwarzenegger"^J^D
"Arnold Schwarzenegger": << terminator not found

% ar m God
ar: God does not exist

% "How would you rate Clinton's incompetence?
Unmatched".

% ^How did the sex change^operation go?
Modifier failed.

% If I had a ( for every $ the Congress spent, what would I have?
Too many ('s.

% got a light?
No match.

% man: why did you get a divorce?
man:: Too many arguments.

% look in cupboard
can't open cupboard.

% ^What is saccharine?
Bad substitute.

% cat 'the can of tuna'
cat: cannot open the can of tuna

$ mkdir matter; cat>matter
matter: cannot create

$ drink <bottle; opener
bottle: cannot open
opener: not found

		      -/-\-/ LOOK WHO'S TALKING /-\-/-

-- Renee Blake, Scott Schwenter, Brad Davidson, Dawn Hannah, John
Rickford, Penny Eckert, Norma Mendoza-Denton, Qing Zhang, and Julie
Solomon are all presenting at NWAV at UPenn this weekend.

-- Meanwhile, Maria-Eugenia Nino, Joan Bresnan, and Miriam Butt are
in France presenting at the Paris Syntax and Semantics Conference.

 	            -\-/-\ LINGUISTICS COLLOQUIUM \-/-\-

                     Linguistics Department Colloquium
                         Friday, Oct. 13, 3:30 pm
                  -=>   Margaret Jacks Hall 460-146  <=-

   Scope inversion under the rise-fall intonation pattern in German
                            Manfred Krifka
         Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences

This talk will propose an explanation for a well-known but
ill-explained fact about the interaction of syntax, semantics and
prosody in German and presumably other OV-type languages. To
illustrate, a sentence like (1)
(1)  Ein   Junge hat jeden Roman gelesen.
     a/one boy   has every novel read
has only the reading "there is a boy x such that for every novel y, x
has read y" under standard intonation. But with rising accent on "ein"
and falling accent on "jeden" it also has the reading "for every novel
y there is a boy x such that x read y".

I will show that accounts that try to explain this scope inversion as
a result of contrastive topicalization are misguided. Rather, I will
argue that the observed facts follow from an independently motivated
principle of the syntax/semantics interface in German that has been
proposed by Frey (1993) (namely, that an operator A has scope over an
operator B iff A c-commands B or a trace of B) under certain
additional assumptions, most importantly that focus is assigned to
preverbal constituents and that focus can be assigned prior to
movement. I will argue that these assumptions, though partly novel, in
turn are well motivated.
--------

Reception follow.
NB new location!

		  -/-\-/ FELLOWSHIPS/ASSISTANTSHIPS /-\-/-

-- Mabelle McLeod Lewis Memorial Fund for Grants in Aid of Scholarly
Work (Application Deadline: December 15, 1995).  Purpose of Award: The
purpose of this award is to allow the grantee to work on his/her
dissertation project full-time in order to bring about its completion
by the end of the award period.
Eligibility:
1.  at dissertation write-up stage.
2.  student of the humanities.
Restrictions:
1.  demonstrate financial need
2.  may not hold any other award simultaneously with MML grant (except in
form of direct grants from student's university for tuition and other
benefits which do not require performance of services.  Student may be
allowed to TA in his/her own department for one quarter, but may not work
any more than 8 hours per week.)
Applications for the MML Dissertation Award can be picked up from
Jackie Vargo (Bldg. One, Second Floor) or from
	The Mabelle McLeod Lewis Memorial Fund
	Box 3730
	Stanford, CA  94309-3730
	415/494-1409

-- FIVE COLLEGE FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM FOR MINORITY SCHOLARS (a consortium
comprised of Amherst, Hampshire, Mount Holyoke, Smith, and the University
of Massachusetts): 
Objectives of Program:
*enable fellows to complete their dissertations
*encourage interest in college-level teaching
*acquaint them with the five colleges participating in the program
Eligibility:
*must be in final phase of doctoral degree (dissertation write-up stage)
*must be a minority
Tenure:
*September 1, 1996-May 31, 1997 (non-renewable)
*$25,000 stipend
*office space
*housing assistance
*library privileges at the five colleges
Since the emphasis is on dissertation completion, fellows will only be
asked to do a limited amount of teaching ... no more that one one-semester
course at the hosting institution.
For applications, please write or call:
	Carol Angus
	Five College Fellowship Program Committee
	Five Colleges, Inc.
	97 Spring St.
	Amherst, MA  01002-2324
	413/256-8316
DEADLINE:  January 16, 1996  (Awards will be anounced May 1, 1996)

	               -\-/-\ CALL FOR PAPERS \-/-\-

-- BLS-XXII (February 17-19, 1996).  General session: all areas of
linguistic interest.  Parassesion: The Role of Learnability in
Grammatical Theory.  Special Session (February 16): Historical Topics
in Native American Languages.  Abstracts are invited for all three
sessions.  We encourage proposals from diverse theoretical frameworks
and welcome papers from related disciplines, among them anthropology,
cognitive science, literature, philosophy, and psychology.  Speakers
will be allotted 20 minutes with 10 minutes for questions.  We ask
that you make your abstract as specific as possible, including a
statement of your topic or problem, your approach, and your
conclusions.  To submit an abstract, submit ten copies of an anonymous
one-page abstract (8 1/2x11 unreduced).  A second page, or reverse
side of the single page may be used for data and references only.
Along with the abstract send a 3x5 card listing paper title, session
submitted to, subject matter area (general session only), author's
name, author's affiliation, address to which notification should be
mailed, authors office and home phone numbers, and e-mail address if
available.  In case of joint authorship, one address should be
designated for communication with BLS. Send abstracts to
	BLS 22 Committees
	2337 Dwinelle Hall 
	University of California, 
	Berkeley, California 94720
Abstracts for the general and parassesion must be received by 5:00 pm,
November 10, 1995.  Special session abstracts must be received by
November 17, 1995.  Inquiries of a general nature may be sent by
e-mail to bls@garnet.berkeley.edu but emailed abstracts cannot be
accepted.

-- Special Issue of Computational Linguistics: Empirical Studies in
Discourse Interpretation and Generation.  Call for Submissions
(Deadline Extended to December 1st).  Computational theories of
discourse interpretation and generation are an important basis for the
design and implementation of many natural language applications.
However, much work in computational theories of discourse to date has
focused on specifying the mechanisms underlying a particular discourse
phenomenon.  It is often difficult to tell how prevalent that
phenomenon is, whether it is related to other observed and studied
phenomena, and what percentage of the cases a particular theory
covers.  Developing robust, broad coverage, theories of discourse
requires an empirical basis, but there has been little effort to
develop shared methods, tools or resources for the discourse
community. However, recently there has been a groundswell of interest
in developing both manual and automatic methods for analyzing
discourse in order to inform computational models, e.g the AAAI Spring
Symposium in March 1995 on Empirical Methods in Discourse
Interpretation and Generation.  The goal of the special issue of
Computational Linguistics on Empirical Studies in Discourse
Interpretation and Generation is to bring together a collection of
papers representing recent work illustrating different techniques in
this area such as: discourse coding schemes and methods for assessing
their reliability; automatic analysis techniques, their accuracy, and
use for discourse processing; learning of discourse processing
strategies >From coded corpora; schemes for evaluation of discourse
processing systems; and use of simulated discourse agents for
discourse modeling.  We seek papers that go beyond purely
methodological issues; papers should exhibit different techniques with
major emphasis on the results obtained.  The deadline for submission
of manuscripts is December 1st, 1995.  For hard copy submission: Six
double-spaced hard copies should be submitted, clearly marked as
submissions to the Special Issue on Empirical Studies in Discourse
Interpretation and Generation, to arrive on or before the deadline, to
the following address:
	Julia Hirschberg, Editor
	Computational Linguistics
	2C-409
	AT&T Bell Laboratories
	600 Mountain Avenue
	Murray Hill NJ 07974
	email: acl@research.att.com
	tel: 908-582-7496
	fax: 908-582-7550
Manuscripts may be submitted electronically; instructions are currently
available by anonymous ftp from ftp.research.att.com:/dist/cl/elec.sub.

-- NINTH ANNUAL CUNY SENTENCE PROCESSING CONFERENCE: The Ninth Annual
CUNY Sentence Processing Conference will be held at the CUNY Graduate
Center in New York City from 12 noon, Thursday 21 March to 6 pm,
Saturday 23 March 1996.  Deadline for PAPER submissions: Monday 16
October 1995.  Deadline for POSTER submissions: Monday 22 January
1996.  Send a one page (300 word) abstract for anonymous review to
        Eva Fernandez, Program in Linguistics, CUNY Graduate Center
        33 West 42nd Street, New York, NY 10036
    or e-mail:
        LNGGC@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU (marked "Subject: CUNY Conference Abstract")
    Abstracts submitted for paper presentations but not accepted will
            be reviewed in January for poster presentation,
      unless "PAPER ONLY" is indicated at the top of the abstract.
NB: Submissions for POSTERS ONLY are not due until 22 JANUARY 1996

-- SPECIFIERS (King's Manor, York, UK, 21-23 March 1996): 'Specifier'
has had a range of meanings in generative syntax, with the recent
consensus that a specifier is a position structurally defined by X-bar
theory.  If current proposals by Chomsky are correct, then it is no
longer possible to define specifier in precisely this way and the
question of what a specifier is is thrown into sharp relief.  There
are at least four broad areas of concern: (1) What are Specifiers
structurally?  Are they always present in a derivation?  How do they
differ from adjuncts?  Differences between Specifiers of lexical and
functional heads; multiple specifier constructions, etc. (2) What is
the Specifier-head relationship?  How do the Wh-criterion and related
criteria for focus, voice, negation, etc. work?  How does the
spec-head relationship motivate movement?  The directionality of
checking theory; how does one capture cross-linguistic/diachronic
variation in this area?  (3) How are Specifiers relevant to fields of
enquiry adjacent to syntax?  Do specifiers have special status in
L1/L2 acquisition?  How are specifier positions mapped onto semantic
representations?  Do specifiers have a morphological status? etc. (4)
How are Specifier-specific phenomena captured in other frameworks?
HPSG; Optimality theoretic syntax; LFG; categorial frameworks, etc.
Contributors should send 5 anonymous copies of an abstract not
exceeding 1 page (a separate page containing references may be
included), plus one camera ready original containing author's name,
address, affiliation and e-mail address.  Abstracts may not be
submitted by e-mail or fax.  Presentations will be for 30 minutes + 10
minutes questions.  The deadline for abstract submission is November
10, 1995.  For further information contact the organizing committee:
David Adger, Susan Pintzuk, Bernadette Plunkett, Georges Tsoulas
	email: lang7@tower.york.ac.uk
	http://www.york.ac.uk/~lang7/
	phone: 44 (0)1904 432650
	fax: 44 (0)1904 432652

-- 2ND `SPEAK!' WORKSHOP: SPEECH GENERATION IN MULTIMODAL INFORMATION
SYSTEMS AND PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: 2nd-3rd November 1995, Darmstadt.  
The preliminary programme and details for registering for 
this workshop are now available across the web.
    http://www.darmstadt.gmd.de/programme1.html

		      -/-\-/ TRUE LINGUISTICS /-\-/-

MORE YOU JUST MIGHT BE A GRADUATE STUDENT:

You just might be a graduate student if...
...you can analyze the significance of appliances you cannot operate.
...your carrel is better decorated than your apartment.
...you have ever, as a project, attempted to track the progress of
	your own joke across the internet.
...you are startled to meet people who neither need nor want to read.
...you have ever brought a scholarly article to a bar.
...you rate coffee shops by the availability of outlets for your 
	laptop. [Not in Palo Alto! --Eds.]
...everything reminds you of something in your discipline.
...you have ever discussed academic matters at a sporting event.
...you have ever spent more than $50 on photocopying while researching
	a single paper.
...there is a microfilm reader in the library that you consider
	'yours.'
...you actually have a preference between microfilm and microfiche.
...you can tell the time of day by looking at the traffic flow in the
	library.
...you look forward to summer because you're more productive without
	the distraction of classes.
...you regard ibuprofen as a viamin.
...you consider all papers to be works in progress.
...professors don't really care when you turn in work anymore.
...you find the bibliographies more interesting than the actual text.
...you have given up trying to keep your books organized and are now
	just trying to keep them in the same general area.
...you have accepted guilt as an inherent feature of relaxation.
...you reflexively start analyzing those Greek letters before you
	realize it's a sorority sweatshirt, not an equasion.
...you find yourself explaining to children that you're in '20th
	grade.'
...you start referring to stories as 'Snow White et.al.'
...you frequently wonder how long you can live on pasta before getting
	scurvy
...you look forward to taking some time off to do laundry
...you have more photocopy cards than credit cards
...you wonder if APA style allows you to cite talking to yourself as
	'personal communication'

		     -\-/-\ JOB ANNOUNCEMENTS \-/-\-

(REDUNDANCY NOTICE: For fuller listings of these and other jobs, don't
forget to check the Jobs binder in the Greenberg Room, and the file
'jobslist.txt' on the CSLI directory /user/linguistics.)

-- STANFORD UNIVERSITY: The Department of Linguistics at Stanford
University solicits applications for a tenure-track appointment in
Phonology and Phonetics at the rank of Assistant Professor, beginning
September 1, 1996.  Responsibilities include teaching and advising
graduate and undergraduate students in both areas.  To apply, please
send vita, representative work, and a statement of research interests
to
	Stanford University
	Department of Linguistics
	Phonology/Phonetics Search Committee
	Stanford CA 94305-2150
and have three letters of recommendation sent to the same address.
All application materials must reach us by December 1, 1995.  Stanford
University is an equal opportunity, affirmative action employer.
Applications from minority and women candidates are especially
welcome.

-- Speech Technology Lab. is a leading group of SAMSUNG in
speech-related research area. We are seeking research engineers who
are willing to work for speech recognition projects. The offered
positions involve digital speech signal processing ( algorithms and
implementation), software developments ( user interface and database
management) , and linguistic & phonological knowledge construction.
The applicants should be experienced with C, C++ and UNIX or Windows.
Also, the applicants except for Korean natives should be well
communicated in English.  A master's degree in electrical engineering
or in computer science, bachelor's degree, or PhD is required for
these positions. Some experience in practical speech recognition will
be helpful.
Please send resume to one of the following:
	email:	nskim@blue.sait.samsung.co.kr
	fax:	331-280-9208
	mail:	Nam Soo Kim
		Speech Technology Lab.
		Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology
		P.O.Box 111, Suwon, Korea 440-600
		(phone: 331-280-9246)

-- CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY: The Department of Modern Languages at
Carnegie Mellon University invites applications for two (2) tenure
track positions at the assistant professor level to begin in the fall
of 1996.  These positions are for specialists in Second Language
Acquisition who have a foreign language specialization and who are
interested in helping to build an interdisciplinary program which
focuses on second language acquisition with emphases on cognitive and
social issues.  Preference will be given to candidates whose language
of specialization is French, German, or Spanish.  Responsibilities
will include teaching a balance of undergraduate and graduate courses
in an appropriate area of specialization, some taught in the foreign
language.  Ideal candidates will have a strong commitment to
undergraduate education, research interests at the graduate level,
interdisciplinary interests beyond their own field of expertise, and
enthusiasm for participating in a new doctoral program in second
language acquisition.  Requirements: Ph.D. in a foreign language,
second language acquisition, linguistics (with a specialization such
as psycholinguistics or sociolinguistics), psychology, or
anthropology; a strong publication and research record with potential
for outside funding; and evidence of effective undergraduate teaching.
Applicants should possess native or near-native proficiency in their
language of specialization.  Relevant computer and technological
skills an asset.  Applicants should send a letter of application
indicating whether they plan to attent ACTFL, MLA, or LSA, a CV,
copies of publications (not to be returned), and the names and
addresses of five prospective references to 
	Chair, SLA Search Committee
	Department of Modern Languages
	Baker Hall 160, Carnegie Mellon University
	Pittsburgh PA 15213-3890
Deadline is November 15, 1995. EEO/AA.

-- MI State Univ: Department of Linguistics and Germanic, Slavic, Asian and
 African Languages, tenure stream position at Assistant Professor level in
 Linguistics teaching graduatge and undergraduate courses. Specialization in
 syntax. Deadline 1 December. 
 
-- Univ. of SC: Columbia, Department of Anthropology, tenure-track Assistant
 Professor for linguistic anthropologist, teaching cultural anthropology,
 language and culture, and specialized undergrad and grad courses. No
 deadline given.

-- Georgetown Univ: Linguistics Department, tenure-track Assistant Professor
 for Ethnographic Discourse Analysis, teaching cross-cultural communication,
 interactional sociolinguistics, computer-mediated discourse, ethnography of
 communication, language and gender. Deadline 1 December.
 
-- Harvard Univ: Department of Slavic Languages and LIteratures, entry-level
 Assistant Professor of Slavic linguistics teaching undergraduate and
 graduate levels. Deadline 15 November.
 
-- Univ. of KY: Lexington, Department of English, tenure-track Assistant
 Professor for TESL/Linguist, teaching upper division and master's level
 TESL and undergraduate linguistic courses. Deadline 22 November.
 
-- Zhonghua Scholarship: An opportunity in a cross-cultural educational
 program in Chinese related programs. Deadline 15 November.
 
-- Univ. of Edinburgh: Department of Linguistics, and Centre for Speech
 Technology Research, two Ph.D. Studentships for research in speech
 synthesis and recognition.  Deadline not given.
 
-- Univ. of DE: Department of Linguistics, tenure-track Assistant Professor,
 specialization formal syntax, second specialization in cognitive science.
 Deadline 15 December.
 
-- N. AZ Univ.: Department of English, tenure-track Assistant Professor,
 specialization Second Language Acquisition. Deadline 15 November.
	Chair, SLA Search Committee
	English Department, Box 6032
	Northern Arizona University
	Flagstaff AZ 86011-6032
	phone: 602/523-4911
 
-- Univ. of MI: Program in Linguistics, tenure-track Associate Professor in
 syntax. Deadline 1 December.
 
-- Univ. of MI: Program in Linguistics, Visiting Assistant Professor in
 phonology and phonetics. Deadline 1 November.
 
-- Carnegie Mellon Univ: Philosophy Department, tenure-track
 Assistant/Associatate  Professor in computational linguistics. Deadline 1
 December.
 
-- UIUC: Division of Intercollegiate Athletes, Media Communications
 Specialist. Deadline 16 October.
 
-- Caterpillar Inc.: Several positions for developing a state-of-art computer
 translation system. Deadline 15 October.
 
-- Univ. of MD: Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics, tenure-track
 Assistant Professor of Spanish with specialization in second language
 acquisition. Deadline 1 December.

(REDUNDANCY NOTICE: For fuller listings of these and other jobs, don't
forget to check the Jobs binder in the Greenberg Room, and the file
'jobslist.txt' on the CSLI directory /user/linguistics.)

		        -/-\-/ INSTA-PRIZE /-\-/-

-- CASH & CARRY: A woman has a pile number of $1 bills in her
purse; she has no other money.
	She spends half the dollar bills on a hat, and gives another
dollar to a musician outside.
	She spends half the remaining dollars for lunch, and tips the
waiter two dollars.
	She spends half the remaining dollars on a book (must be a
graduate student), then before she goes home she visits a pub where
she buys a $3 pint.
	She now has one dollar left.  How many bills did she start
with?


/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\

                    -\-/-\ CONSERVE DISK SPACE \-/-\-

So you may delete your copy after you've read it (or better yet,
before you've read it), the Sesquipedalian Weekly Herald is stored
online at Stanford (in directory /user/linguistics/Sesquip/), and
at Berkeley (in the directory /usr/pub.)  The most current issue of
the Herald can be found by typing 'help quip'.

Neither Stanford University nor the Linguistics Department, nor any of
their employees, makes any warranty, whatsoever, implied, or assumes
any legal liability or responsibility regarding any information,
disclosed, in this publication, or represents that its use would not
infringe privately owned rights.  No specific reference constitutes or
implies endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by Stanford
University or the Linguistics Department, or their employees.  Any
similarity to actual linguists, living or dead, is purely
coincidental.  The views and opinions expressed herein do not
necessarily reflect those of Stanford University or the Linguistics
Department, or their employees, and shall not be used for advertising
or product endorsement purposes.

WARNING: Quantum mechanics indicates that while this issue of the
Sesquipedalian is not being directly observed, it may cease to exist,
or exist only in a vague, undefined state.

\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/