[Prev][Next][Index][Thread]
Sesquipedalian #13
the SESQUIPEDALIAN Volume VI, No. 13
\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/
First UFO sighting in America (1644) January 18, 1995
National Clean Off Your Desk Day
THE JOYS OF TEACHING
And Jesus went up on a mountain, and when He was seated, His disciples
came to Him and He taught them saying:
"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they
shall be filled.
Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs
is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of
evil against you falsely for my sake. Rejioce and be exceedingly glad
for great is your reward in heaven..."
Then Simon Peter said, "Are we supposed to know this?"
And Andrew said, "Do we have to take notes on this?"
And James said, "Will we be tested on this?"
And Phillip said, "I don't have any paper."
And Bartholomew said, "Do we have to turn this in?"
And John said, "Do we have to know this? The other disciples didn't
have to know it."
And then Matthew said, "May I go to the bathroom?"
Then one of the Pharisees who was present asked to see Jesus' lesson
plan and inquired of Jesus, "Where is your rationale and outcome criteria?"
And a second Pharisee said, "Do you have the elements of critical
thinking clearly outlined for these criteria?" And a third Pharisee said,
"Do your objectives flow from your theoretical framework?"
And Jesus wept...
[author unknown]
-\-/-\ LOOK WHO'S TALKING \-/-\-
-- Elizabeth Traugott gave the linguistics colloquium at UC Berkeley
on January 17th. Title: 'Grammaticalization.'
-\-/-\ LINGUISTICS COLLOQUIUM \-/-\-
Friday, Jan. 19, 3:30 pm.
Margaret Jacks Hall (Building 460), Room 146
Edward Flemming
Stanford University
Transparency and Locality in Assimilation
Restrictions on consonant harmony are usually accounted for in
terms of transparency of intervening vowels to the consonant feature
being spread: If the vowel is specified for the feature, spreading is
blocked; if it is not specified, spreading is possible. This approach
has been employed in attempts to explain the typological
generalization that almost all cases of consonant harmony involve
distinctions among coronals, as in Navaho, Chumash and Sanskrit. E.g.
Shaw 1991 argues that consonant harmony in labial and dorsal features
is impossible because vowels are generally specified for these
features.
This analysis predicts a number of unattested harmony
patterns: (1) Since vowels are not specified for [coronal], this
articulator shoul be able to spread across vowels onto a following
consonant yielding unattested assimilations such as /tap/ -> [tat].
(2) Given the standard assumption that unrounded vowels are not
specified with a labial articulator, [labial] should be able to spread
from consonant to consonant across unrounded vowels resulting in
unattested assimilations such as /pak/ -> [pap].
A more satisfactory account of restrictions on consonant
harmony can be derived from the hypothesis that assimilation is
strictly local, so intervening vowels are not transparent to consonant
harmony, they undergo it. The possibility of consonant harmony in a
given feature then depends on compatibility of the feature with
intervening vowels, not on transparency. The only consonantal gestures
which can be extended through a vowel without significantly affecting
its quality are the differences in tongue-tip posture (apical vs.
laminal) that can distinguish coronals. Other features such as
nasality and pharyngealization are compatible with a vocalic degree of
constriction, but have clearly perceptible effects on vowels. So nasal
harmony (as in Tucanoan (Piggott 1992)) and pharyngeal harmony (as in
Arabic) have been characterised as applying to consonants and vowels.
Extending a labial, dorsal or coronal constriction gesture would mask
intervening vowels, so consonant harmonies of these types are not
possible (cf. Ni Chiosain and Padgett 1994).
Strict locality in assimilation implies that there is no
transparency to assimilation, but there are a number of prima facie
cases of consonant harmony for which this claim seems implausible,
e.g. Ponapean labialization harmony and identity between glottalized
consonants in K'ekchi and Hausa. It will be argued that these are not
in fact cases of assimilation but result from a dispreference for
similar but non-identical consonants within the morpheme or word.
Finally I will outline an approach to the analysis of transparency in
vowel harmony which does not employ non-local feature spreading.
--------------
Reception follows.
For directions and a complete list of colloquia, see
http://www-linguistics.stanford.edu/~kessler/colloq/
-\-/-\ CALL FOR PAPERS \-/-\-
-- FSLM-VII: The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, May 17-19,
1996.
CALL FOR PAPERS: Abstracts are invited for 25-minute talks (with 10
minutes for questions) in all areas of Formal Linguistics. Papers
from all disciplines and theoretical perspectives are encouraged.
INVITED SPEAKERS: Donca Steriade (UCLA), Angelika Kratzer (UMass, Amherst),
and Brian Joseph (Ohio State).
REQUIREMENTS: Those interested in presenting a paper at the meeting
should submit ten copies of a Long Abstract, a Short Abstract, and an
Affiliation Card by February 21, 1996.
LONG ABSTRACT: The long abstract is anonymous. Please send 10 copies
of a one 8 1/2" X 11" page abstract with 1 inch margins. A second
page containing only references and examples may follow.
SHORT ABSTRACT: The short abstract should contain no more than 100
words and (if accepted) will be included in the conference program.
AFFILIATION CARD: All submissions must be accompanied by a 3X5 card which
should include title of the paper, author's name, author's affiliation,
address to which notification of acceptance/rejection should be
mailed, author's home and office phone, and author's e-mail address.
Submission of abstracts by e-mail (in plain ASCII or self-contained
LaTex) is permitted. Please do not submit abstracts by fax. All
submissions must be received on or before February 21, 1996.
Abstracts should be sent to:
FLSM Committee
Department of Linguistics
222 Oxley Hall
1712 Neil Avenue
Columbus, Ohio 43210
flsm96@ling.ohio-state.edu
For further information please contact the FLSM committee at the above
address, or consult the FLSM homepage
http://ling.ohio-state.edu/
-\-/-\ FELLOWSHIPS/ASSISTANTSHIPS \-/-\-
-- CENTER FOR RESEARCH IN LANGUAGE (UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN
DIEGO): Applications are invited for postdoctoral fellowships in
Language, Communication & Brain at the Center for Research in Language
at the University of California, San Diego. The fellowships are
supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIDCD), and provide an
annual stipend ranging from $19,608 to $32,300 depending upon years of
postdoctoral experience. In addition, some funding is provided for
medical insurance and travel.
The program provides interdisciplinary training in:
(1) psycholinguistics, including language processing in adults
and language development in children;
(2) communication disorders, including childhood language
disorders and adult aphasia;
(3) electrophysiological studies of language, and
(4) neural network models of language learning and processing.
Candidates are expected to work in at least one of these four areas, and
preference will be given to candidates with background and interests involving
more than one area.
Grant conditions require that candidates be citizens or permanent residents of
the U.S. In addition, trainees will incur a payback obligation during their
first year of postdoctoral NRSA support and are required to complete a Payback
Agreement.
Deadline for submission of applications is May 3, 1996. Applicants should send
a statement of interest, three letters of recommendation, a curriculum vitae
and copies of relevant publications to:
Elizabeth Bates, PhD
Center for Research in Language 0526
University of California, San Diego
9500 Gilman Drive
La Jolla, California 92093-0526
(619) 534-3007
Women and minority candidates are specifically invited to apply.
-\-/-\ TRUE LINGUISTICS \-/-\-
With Prayer and a Dictionary, Congress Moves Past the Tumult
(Jerry Gray, New York Times, November 20, 1995. p. 1)
Moments before Senator Bob Dole of Kansas, the Republican majority
leader, announced the deal on the Senate floor and called for the
voice votes, he huddled with Senator Tom Daschle of South Dakota, the
Democratic leader, to work out a final point on the deal: should the
bill read "will" or "shall."
Holding a dictionary between them, they pored through its pages. After
a minute, Mr Daschle waved his hand as if to say, have it your way,
and Mr Dole's chief-of-staff crossed out "will" and wrote in "shall."
-\-/-\ INSTA-PRIZE \-/-\-
-- WHERE IN THE WORLD: What country, according to the United Nations,
has harbored more refugees than any other over the last twelve years?
Solution to DISCIPLINE: Thirteen steps, or six two-way crossings and a
final one-way crossing.
/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\
-\-/-\ 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.), or on the Linguistics
Department home page (http://www-linguistics.stanford.edu/). 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.
Void where prohibited
\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/