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Sesquipedalian #10
the SESQUIPEDALIAN Volume VII, No. 10
\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/
St Nikolas Day December 5, 1996
excerpts from
I'M NOT BLUE, I'M MONDEGREEN
Jon Carroll
Back in 1954, a writer named Sylvia Wright wrote an article
for the Atlantic. In it, she told about a song she had heard as a
little girl in England. It was a Scottish ballad called "The Bonnie
Earl of Murray," and one stanza went like this:
"Ye highlands and ye lowlands/Oh where hae you been/ They hae
slay the Earl of Murray/And Lady Mondegreen." Sylvia Wright
identified with Lady Mondegreen, the faithful friend of the Earl of
Murray. She died for her liege in the approved manner of courtly
heartbreak. How romantic! How exquisite! How tragic!
It was some years later that she learned that the last two
lines of the stanza were really, "They hae slay the Earl of Murray/
And laid him on the green."
Thereafter, Wright used the word "mondegreen" to denote any
mishearing of a popular song, chant, phrase, aphorism, carol, pledge,
epigram or lyric. This space ran its first column about mondegreens 10
years ago; in the intervening decade, it's become something of a
cottage industry for me and mine, with little elves fashioning
mondegreens in the back room ceaselessly.
There are patriotic mondegreens, like the song sung by the
little girl who lives near Esther Torrefiel: "Oh, beautiful, for
spaceship guys." That reminds me of one I've used before, from later
in the song: "America, America, God is Chef Boyardee."
Then there was the friend of Chandler Williams, who wondered
about the identity of Aaron, "the guy they named the Aaron Space
Museum after." (The latter item inevitably suggests the issue of
forgery-- how does one know if a mondegreen is a true mistake or
merely a quip created by a rogue wit angling for ink? Sometimes one
can tell, but sometimes one is not sure, so one uses it anyway. You
can ruin a good joke by too much thinking-- you can ruin a good
anything by too much thinking.)
Children are always a source of mondegreens: Douglas Greenberg
and his son were watching the beginning of "Star Trek," as they do
most evenings, hearing the familiar words, "Captain's log, star date
4003.5. We find ourselves . . ." when the lad turned to his dad and
asked, "Why is the captain always lost?"
A friend of Alfred Wong's once informed him: A that "elephants
have a gyration period of more than nine months." Esther Torrefiel
(again!) once read a document that alleged, "The accident report had a
Type O on every page."
Amy Boggs writes: "Did you hear about the French Art War
descending on Illinois and surrounding states? I heard it on the
news the other night: 'Art de Guerre is settling on the Midwest,
bringing temperatures to record lows.'"
Another reader, name temporarily misplaced although not by
her, was driving home to Santa Rosa when she heard the subtle feminist
slogan "Granddaughters Apply." Repeated listenings yielded the far
more disappointing message: "Grand Auto Supply."
Similarly, Naomi Pearce, who works in computers, inevitably
hears the new Sears jingle as "come see the software side of Sears."
And Don't Print My Name of Point Richmond said that at one
time he was seriously interested in hearing more about that great
archaeo-biology discovery, the Dead Sea Squirrels.
Nina Vlanin was once visiting her husband's parents at
Christmas, nodding off on the sofa, when she heard the entire family,
its voices raised in song, advise the Virgin Mary to "sleep in Beverly
Hills."
But it is popular music that provides us with the bulk of
our most cherished mondegreens, and that's next week's column.
[Jon Carroll in the San Francisco Chronicle]
-\-/-\ LOOK WHO'S TALKING \-/-\-
-- You heard it here first, but there's a large article in this week's
Campus Report about Professor Rickford's CTL lecture of November 21 in
the 'Award-Winning Teachers on Teaching' series. In case you missed
it, it's posted (along with a congratulatory letter from the CTL) in
the department office.
-\-/-\ LINGUISTICS COLLOQUIUM \-/-\-
No colloquium this Friday, December 6th (or any other day this week
for that matter).
------------------
For directions and a complete list of colloquia, see
http://www-linguistics.stanford.edu/Linguistics/colloq/colloq.html
-/-\-/ SYMBOLIC SYSTEMS FORUM /-\-/-
Today, December 5, Hadar Shem-Tov presents the Symbolic Systems Forum,
4:15-6 pm in 460-146. This talk is Hadar's dissertation proposal.
How not to Solve Ambiguity Problems in Translation
==================================================
We, as users of language have little trouble coping with ambiguous
expressions, mainly because of the vast non-linguistic knowledge that we
bring to bear. As a matter of fact, most of the time, we do not even notice
ambiguous sentences. A computer program is a completely different
matter. It also uses a grammar to parse sentences but it cannot rule out
all semantically implausible possibilities. A parser finds ambiguity in
almost every sentence. In fact, sentences with dozens or even hundreds of
interpretations are not uncommon. As a result, the problem of selecting the
correct interpretation is one of the most difficult challenges in natural
language processing, and particularly in machine translation.
In this dissertation proposal I will present a new approach to managing
ambiguity in translation. It is based on the observation that sentences in
the target language are often also ambiguous and, in fact, that the
ambiguities in the source and target languages often coincide. This means
that the possibility of preserving rather than resolving them is
theoretically open. The attraction of this possibility has long been
acknowledged though it has generally been regarded as computationally
infeasible. I will show that practical algorithms can be devised that make
it possible to preserve the ambiguity in many cases rather than choosing
among the alternatives.
-/-\-/ CALL FOR PAPERS/-\-/-
-- NINTH ANNUAL UCLA INDO-EUROPEAN CONFERENCE: The Ninth annual UCLA
Indo-European Conference will be held on 23-24 May 1997 at the UCLA
campus. As in the past, we invite papers on any aspect of IndoEuropean
studies: linguistics, archaeology, comparative mythology and
culture. Papers on both interdisciplinary and specific topics (e.g.,
typology, methodology, reconstruction, the relation of Indo-European
to other language groups, the interpretation of material culture,
etc.) are welcome. Abstracts should be approximately two typewritten
pages and must be received by 15 March 1997. A period of twenty
minutes will be allotted for each paper, followed by a ten-minute
discussion period. Address all abstracts and inquiries to
IE Conference Committee
100 Dodd Hall, UCLA
405 Hilgard Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90076
e-mail: iesa@ucla.edu
fax: (310) 206-2471
For further information call (310) 825-4171 (weekdays), (310) 473-4223
(evenings and weekends). Through the generosity of its donors, the
Friends and Alumni of IndoEuropean Studies (FAIES) will offer a prize
for the best paper by a current student or recent Ph.D. (received 1992
or later). Please indicate your current status and year of Ph.D. with
your abstract if you qualify.
-- SEALS-VII: The Southeast Asian Linguistics Society. May 9-11,
1997, UIUC. The Society encourages and welcomes suggestions for
invited speakers. The conference will feature papers on any of the
languages of Southeast Asia. Topics will include:
--descriptive, theoreticalorhistorical linguistics
--literacy
--linguistic anthropology
--language atitudes and ideology
--language and gender
--language planning
--bilingual education
--ethnolinguistics
--discourse and conversational analysis
--language and politics
Abstracts are invited for the conference. By February 5, 1997 please
submit five copies of an anonymous abstract with a separate 3"x 5"
card identifying: 1. the the author, his/her affiliation; 2. address
where notification or rejection should be mailed in mid February;
3. daytime telephone number; and 4. e-mail address, if available. The
abstract should not exceed one page; however, an additional page of
data and references may be submitted. Inquiries should be submitted
to F. K. Lehman at the University of Illinois. Telephone (217) 333 -
8423 or f-lehman@uiuc.edu. Papers presented at SEALS VII will be
published in the Society's Proceedings. To ensure inclusion in the
volume, authors are asked to submit a camera-ready copy of their paper
by August 15,1997. Presentations will be 20 minutes in length, with 10
minutes for questions. The University of Illinois is an equal
opportunity, affirmative action institution committed to cultural
diversity and complicance with the Americans with Disabilities
Act. Accomodations for persons with disbilities will be provided is
requested in advance.
-/-\-/ FELLOWSHIPS/ASSISTANTSHIPS /-\-/-
-- NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY: Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship. The
Department of Linguistics at Northwestern University invites
applications for a postdoctoral fellowship funded through a grant to
the University from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The fellowship is
for two academic years, beginning September 1, 1997. Candidates MUST
HOLD a Ph.D. in linguistics or a related field by this date. We are
seeking candidates in any subfield of linguistics who have
demonstrated success in analyzing primarv data (e.g., experimental
data. field data. natural language corpora) and bringing such data to
bear on current theoretical issues. Preference will be given to
candidates whose research interests are interdisciplinary and mesh
with those of the current faculty. Salary is competitive and
commensurate with qualifications. The position provides funds for
computer facilities and professional travel. The successful candidate
will be expected to participate fully in Northwestern's vibrant
interdisciplinary research environment, as well as to teach two
quarter-length courses per year. Applications are due at Northwestern
by February 14, 1997. The application should include the candidate's
CV (with e-mail address), a statement of research and teaching
interests, reprints or other written work, teaching evaluations (if
available), and the names of three references. Candidates should have
the letters of reference sent directly to the search committee. Send
materials to
Mellon Search Committee
Department of Linguistics
Northwestern University
2016 Sheridan Road
Evanston, IL 60208-4090
(Tel: 847-491-7020, Fax: 847-491-3770)
E-mail inquiries should be directed to the search committee chair,
Gregory Ward, at gw@nwu.edu. The web page for the Department is:
http://www.ling.nwu.edu. Northwestern University is an Equal
Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer, and applications from
minority and women candidates are especially welcome.
-/-\-/ SPECIAL OT WORKSHOP /-\-/-
CSLI Workshop
Optimality Theory and its implications for cognitive theory
December 6-8, 1996
Cordura Hall
NOTE: The schedule of the CSLI Workshop on OT and its implications for
Cognitive Theory has been slightly revised: the Saturday a.m. session
will start at 10.30 with the presentation by Wilson; the presentation
by Bresnan and Choi will not be given, due to an unavoidable conflict.
The rest of the schedule is the same.
Each speaker session includes approx. 50 minutes presentation and
approx. 25 minutes discussion.
FRIDAY DECEMBER 6
8.30 Coffee and Breakfast
Session I: 8.45--12.00
Issues in Computation and Learnability
8.45--10.00 Paul Smolensky
Generalizing Optimization in OT, with Implications for Learning
10.10--11.25 Bruce Tesar
Robust Interpretive Parsing and Its Role in Language Learning
(tentative)
11.30--12.00 Discussion of session I: Stanley Peters
12.00--1.15 Lunch
Session II: 1.15--3.55
Issues in Phonology and Phonetics I
1.15--2.30 Arto Anttila, Young-Mee Yu Cho
Partial Constraint Ranking in Optimality Theory
2.40--3.55 Edward Flemming
Optimization in phonetics and phonology (tentative)
3.55--4.30 Break
Session III: 4.30--6.30
Issues in Phonology and Phonetics II
4.30--5.45 Alan Prince
Some aspects of mapping under OT
5.45--6.30 General discussion of sessions II and III
7.30 Dinner Location tba
SATURDAY DECEMBER 7
8.45 Coffee and breakfast
Session IV: 10:30--11.55
Issues in Syntax
10.30--11.55 Colin Wilson
Alignment and Anaphora
11.55--1.15 Lunch
Session V: 1.15--3.55
Issues in Morphology and Syntax
1.15--2.30 Joan Bresnan
Morphology Competes with Syntax: Beyond the Inflectional
Paradigm (tentative)
2.40--3.55 Geraldine Legendre
On Balkan Clitics
3.55--4.20 Break
Session VI: 4.20--6.30
Issues in Morpho-Syntax I
4.20--5.35 Judith Aissen
Voice and Alignment
5.35--6.30 General discussion of sessions IV--VI
7.30 Dinner/Party at Joan Bresnan's house
SUNDAY DECEMBER 8
8.15 Coffee and breakfast
Session VII: 8.30--11.10
Issues in Morpho-Syntax II
8.30--9.45 Paul Kiparsky
Morphosyntactic Hierarchies (tentative)
9.55--11.10 Peter Sells
Japanese Verb Morphology in OT
Session VIII: 11.25--1.10
11.25--12.40 Jane Grimshaw
The best clitic and the best place to put it
12.40--1.10 Discussion of sessions VII--VIII: Geoff Pullum
-\-/-\ TRUE LINGUISTICS \-/-\-
NOW YOU CAN CALL THE DEAD-- COLLECT
Thousands of people actually possess the ability to telephone the
dead. And, incredibly, in many cases they are able to call collect.
"The whole trick," says Dr. Hyman Cudlippe, an instructor of
Psychic Electronics at the University of Northern Idaho, "is knowing
the right number. Usually, the dead are unlisted."
Added Dr. Steve Surplitz of the Dead Studies Institute, "You
better not stay on too long if you're paying. The rates are
unbelievable."
In the case of one caller, Martha G. of Canker Creek, Utah,
the dead man made first contact. "This dead guy was trying to phone a
deli and he reached me by mistake," she said. "I guess his fingers
don't work so hot. Well, at first I thought it was a crank call, but
then we got to talking and I could tell he's really a stiff. We
exchanged phone numbers and now we yak it up all the time."
And Roberto H., an Albequerque, NM taxedermist, often calls
his late wife, Ymelda, late at night when he is unable to sleep.
Once she told him to buy $40,000 worth of stock in an
electronics firm. He invested his life savings and the next day, the
bottom dropped out. Today he is penniless. "The dead can be very
nasty," he says of his tragic experience. "They are bitter people.
They're not having any fun and they don't like to see us have any,
either."
Agnes K. of San Francisco has placed calls to many dead
celebrities. "I've spoken to Zeppo Marx, Aimee Semple MacPherson, and
Grover Cleveland," she said. "And once I reached Hedy Lamarr's phone
machine."
As word of the new trend has spread, so many people have been
calling that often the lines are jammed during the peak evening
hours. And not all the dead are happy about it. Says one deceased
man from Seacucus, NJ, "It's getting out of hand. Used to be that the
one thing a dead man could count on was peace and quiet. But not
anymore."
[Speedy Logan in the Weekly World News]
-\-/-\ 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.)
-- The Indiana University East Asian Summer Language Institute (EASLI)
is looking for experienced Korean language instructors for its June 20
through August 22, 1997 program.
(1) Two principal instructors
(2) Three teaching Assistants
(3) One Program coordinator
Fluency in the language and experience in language instruction
are required. Teachers will also be expected to assist with
extracurricular activies: e.g. give lectures and/or demonstrations
about one or more aspects of Korean culture.
The application deadline is January 13, 1997. For further
information and an application, please contact either to me or David:
David Keenan, Director
East Asian Summer Language Institute
Indiana University, Memorial Hall West 212
Bloomington, IN 47405
812-855-5246, Toll-free: 1-888-788-1828
easli@indiana.edu
-- Central Missouri State University: Assistant Professor of TESL and
Applied Linguistics. Tenure track. Ph.D and public school ESL teaching
experience strongly preferred; ABD and ability to teach introductory
linguistics, academic ESL, SLA theory, TESL methodology, applied
linguistics and freshman composition required. 12 hour load. Send cv,
official transcripts, and three reference letters to
David Smith, Chair
English and Philosophy Dept
Central Missouri State University
Warrensburg, MO 64093
Review of applications begins Jan. 17, 1997 and continues until
filled. Women and minorities encouraged to apply. AA/ EEO/ADA
-- UC BERKELEY: The Department of East Asian Languages of the
University of California at Berkeley, invites applications for a
tenure track position in Chinese poetry, thought, religion, or related
aspects of Chinese culture. Although applications will be accepted
from those whose research specialty is in any period from the late Han
to early Ming, preference will be given to those who specialize in the
Six Dynasties and Tang periods. The ideal candidate will demonstrate
an excellent command of classical Chinese, a deep knowledge of the
history, thought, and literature of his or her period of
specialization, and should have a strong commitment to teaching both
undergraduate and graduate students, The department is especially
interested in scholars whose work shows the ability and the
willingness to integrate literary studies with intellectual,
religious, or cultural history. An appointment can be made at either
junior or senior level, and scholars at all levels are encouraged to
apply. Applications with CV, a letter of interest, the names of three
references, and other relevant materials should be sent to Chinese
Search Committee, Department of East Asian Languages, 104 Durant Hall,
University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-2230 by December 15,
1996. The University of California is an Affirmative Action, equal
opportunity employer. Position (ID#116)
-- UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA: Assistant Professor (one year
temporal appointment, academic year 1997-98). The Linguistics Program
at the University of South Carolina seeks a specialist in second
language acquisition theory and TEFL methodology. Candidate must have
at least one additional specialization, such as first language
acquisition, sociolinguistics, discourse analysis/pragmatics, syntax
or morphology, and a strong background in general
linguistics. Ph.D. by date of appointment required. Experience in
training TEFL teachers valuable. The appointment will be made in the
English Department and will involve teaching primarily graduate
linguistic courses, plus thesis and dissertation supervision in
SLA/TEFL. The interdisciplinary Linguistics Program is composed of 12
core faculty members with appointments in 6 different departments and
17 consulting faculty. The program offers the Ph.D. and M.A. in
Linguistics and a TEFL Certificate. Approximately half of our 65
graduate students choose SLA/TEFL as their special field. Screening of
applicants will begin December 1, to continue until position is
filed. Interviews will be conducted at the LSA meeting in January
1997. Send vitae, transcripts, one representative publication the
names of three referees, a cover letter describing qualifications and
teaching and research interests to Carol Myers-Scotton, Director,
Linguistics Program, University of South Carolina, Columbia SC
29208. AA/EEO. Minorities and women are encouraged to apply.
-- NEW YORK UNIVERSITY: The Department of Linguistics at New York
University invites applications for one and possibly two positions,
pending final administrative and budgetary approval, beginning in
September, 1997. One of the positions is a senior position (tenured
full professor) in formal syntax and/or formal semantics. The other
position is open in rank; linguists whose work is a part of cognitive
science or whose work interfaces with it are encouraged to apply,
e.g. those who work in formal theories of language. For these
positions the Department invites applications from scholars of
international renown with a distinguished record of publication and
teaching. Responsibilities include the teaching of graduate and
undergraduate courses. Moreover, the scholars will participate in the
continuing development of a program in cognitive science in
conjunction with psychologists, philosophers, and other linguists.
Interested applicants should send a letter of application, curriculum
vitae, the names of three references for NYU to contact, and a sample
of work to
Search Committee
Department of Linguistics
719 Broadway, 5th Floor
New York University
New York, NY 10003-6860
Deadline for submission is January 6, 1997. Queries via e-mail may be
addressed to John Singler, the department chair, at
singler@is2.nyu.edu. New York University encourages applications from
women and members of minority groups.
-- CUNY: The Department of Classical, Middle Eastern It Asian
Languages & Cultures at Queens College, and the PhD Program in
Linguistics at the CUNY Graduate School & University Center anticipate
authorization to search for a candidate to fill a tenure-track
position at a Junior or Senior level. This will be a joint appointment
between the undergraduate Program in Japanese at Queens College and
the Doctoral Program in Linguistics at the Graduate Center.
Responsibilities at Queens College include teaching in and
coordinating the undergraduate Japanese Program; responsibilities at
the Graduate Center include teaching and dissertation supervision in
linguistics, including Japanese linguistics. Qualifications include
native or near-native fluency in Japanese and prior experience in
running a language program. The candidate will be expected to
contribute to the undergraduate liberal arts curriculum at Queens
College, particularly in Asian Studies, and to participate in the
Doctoral Program in Linguistics' efforts to develop its specialization
in Japanese linguistics. Our criteria include a broad knowledge and
background in one or more of the following areas: Asian civilization,
culture and literature; current syntactic theory; semantics;
psycholinguistics; and second language acquisition. Candidates must
have a PhD at the time of appointment; preference may be given to
candidates with a strong publication record. The search committee
will begin considering applications on November 15, 1996. The search
will remain open until March 1, 1997; please send letters of inquiry
and applications With a complete curriculum vitae, references and/or
placement dossier to
Prof. Charles Cairns
PhD Program in Linguistics
Graduate School and University Center
33 West 42nd Street
New York City, New York 10036-8099
CUNY is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer
-- UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA: The Department of Linguistics, Faculty of
Arts, University of Alberta, invites applications for a tenure-track
position at the junior Assistant Professor level, effective 1 July
1997. The candidate should hold the PhD and have a specialization in
phonology, an active research program in experimental linguistics, and
demonstrated teaching ability. The salary range for Assistant
Professors is $39,320 - $55,526. The Faculty of Arts at the
University of Alberta is engaged in an extensive process of renewal,
and is committed to ensuring that the substantial number of hirings
projected over the next several years will ensure for the future the
lively and productive intellectual environment on which the Faculty
prides itself. The Department of Linguistics has a strong commitment
to empirical and experimental approaches to linguistic
research. Department members are engaged On ongoing research projects,
many grantfunded, in experimental phonetics, discourse processing, and
the study of the phonological, morphological, and semantic aspects of
the mental lexicon. The Department offers both graduate (PhD and MSc)
and undergraduate degrees, and values its reputation for excellence in
teaching and graduate training. We seek a colleague who wishes to
engage in leading-edge research in a collegian and supportive research
environment, to recruit and train promising graduate students, and to
participate in innovative teaching/learning at both the undergraduate
and graduate levels. In accordance with Canadian Immigration
requirements, priority will be given to Canadian citizens and
permanent residents of Canada. If suitable Canadian citizens and
permanent residents cannot be found, other individuals will be
considered. The University of Alberta is committed to the principle
of equity in employment. As an employer we welcome diversity in the
workplace and encourage applications from all qualified women and men,
including Aboriginal peoples, persons with disabilities, and members
of visible minorities. A letter of application, curriculum vitae, and
the names and addresses of three referees should be received by 31
January 1997 by
Lois M Stanford, Chair
Department of Linguistics
University of Alberta
Edmonton T6H OG7
phone: (403) 492 3459
fax: (403) 492 0806
e-mail: lois.stanford@ualberta.ca
(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 \-/-\-
-- Four Holstein cows and three Highland cows give as much milk in
five days as three Holstein cows and five Highland cows in four days.
Which kind of cow gives more milk, Holsteins or Highlands?
/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\
-\-/-\ 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
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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
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Department, or their employees, and shall not be used for advertising
or product endorsement purposes. It is a violation of federal law to
use this product in a manner inconsistent with its labelling.
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\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/