[Prev][Next][Index][Thread]
Sesquipedalian #2, October 7, 1993
-
Subject: Sesquipedalian #2, October 7, 1993
-
Flags: 000000000000
The SESQUIPEDALIAN WEEKLY HERALD Volume IV, Number 2
\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-
October 7, 1993
THE RIME OF THE ANCIENT PHONOLOGIST
Simon Corston (With apologies to Coleridge)
--> --> -->
It is an ancient phonologist He halts him with a glottal stop,
and he stoppeth one of three 'There was a tongue,' quoth he
'By the lexicon and writing stick, 'Hold off, unhand me greybeard loon'
now wherefore stoppest thou me?' Eftstoons his tone drops he.
He holds him with an obstruent 'The vowels were cleared,
the undergrad sits in fear the phonemes neared
and listens like a three years' merrily we did go
child, to analyse the rules of sound
the phonologist hath his ear our theories so to show.
Writing, writing, everyday The prof has paced into the room
til on the slate at noon--' Red as a rose is she
The undergrad here beat his breast uttering clicks and allophones
for he heard the bell within the room come the language helpers three
The undergrad sat on a chair 'The sounds came upon the tongue
for he cannot choose but list'n out of the mouth so free
and thus spake on that ancient man they sounded bright,
the bright eyed linguist (-n). and we did write
in our inventory.'
(After some initial success in analysing the phonemic structure of the
language, the phonologist and his colleagues come up against serious
analytical problems.)
'God save thee, ancient phonologist, 'They said I had done a hellish
>From the fiends that plague us thus. thing,
What didst thou then?' and it would bring them woe,
'With my sharp pen, "You fool," they cried,
I writ the invent'ry.' "To write the sounds
that make our research grow."
'When suddenly, up went the pay.
"Ha ha, 'twas right," spake they
"Such sounds to scrawl,
that made the pay to fall."
(Judgement is passed on the phonologist's colleagues for approving of
this work. Their careers are ruined before his eye, and he is made to
wear an enormous microphone about his neck.)
'I looked upon the blotting page,
and there the dead did lie,
and a thousand phonologists lived on,
and so did I.'
(Lacking inspiration, the phonologist is cast adrift in a sea of
conflicting formalisms.)
'Ideas, ideas everywhere,
yet not one did I think.
Ideas, ideas everywhere,
and how my grants did sink.'
(In a vision of future funding for the humanities, the phonologist
sees redundancy and her mate rowing towards him. They are casting
dice. In this, he suddenly perceives the appropriate evaluation
metric for deciding between the conflicting theories.)
'In a moment, I could write
and from my neck so free
the microphone fell off and sank
like lead into the sea.'
(Having received inspiration, the phonologist is forever doomed to
wander the earth, telling his tale of woe to all who will listen. His
analysis has been completed, but he is forever doomed to justify it in
the face of harsh opposition, til he is rescued by a wandering
Typologist who, finding the phonologist to be in a state of stupor,
revives him.)
'O shrive me blessed Typologist,
>From the fiends that plague me thus'
and he did say
'He studies well, who examines well,
cross-linguistic contrast.'
(This pearl enables the phonologist to revise his work, for which he
receives wide acclaim.)
MORAL: The theories though they come and go
matter not one whit.
It matters rather that they work,
and are by all well thought.
(Reprinted from CLN 24:1)
-\-\-\ CALL FOR PAPERS /-/-/-
-- NACCL-VI: The department of East Asian Languages and Cultures and
the departmentof Linguistics of the University of Southern California
are pleased to annouce that the sixth North American Conference
on Chinese Linguistics will be held at the University of Southern
California, Los Angeles, California, May 13-15, 1994. Papers are
invited on all aspects of Chinese linguistics. Comparative studies,
including diachronic, cross-dialectal and cross-linguistic(Chinese
and Japanese/Korean in particular) are especially welcomed.
Abstracts should be camera-ready and not longer than one page. Send
6 copies, one with and the other five without the author's name
and affiliation centered under the title of the paper. Please also
include a 3x5 card specifying the title of the paper, the author's
full name, the affiliation, e-mail address, regular mail address,
telephone number and fax number, if applicable. DEADLINE FOR RECEIPT
OF ABSTRACTS: January 15, 1994. NOTIFICATION OF ACCEPTANCE: February
15, 1994. Please send all correspondence to
NACCL, EALC
USC
Los Angeles, CA, 90089-0357
e-mail: naccl@mizar.usc.edu
phone: (213)740-3707
fax: (23)740-9295
-- MORPHOSYNTAX WORKSHOP: Shortly before the 1994 LSA meeting in
Boston, on January 4th-5th 1994, the Department of Linguistics &
Philosophy at MIT will host a workshop entitled "The Morphology-Syntax
Connection". Abstracts are invited for talks relating to any aspect
of the connection between morphology and syntax. Suggested topics
include: Access of syntax to morphophonological information;
Derivational ordering of morphology and syntax; Derivational and
Inflectional Morphology; Does syntax "build" or "check" the structure
of words, or neither; The effect of morphological paradigm structure
on syntactic processes (eg. effects of "rich" morphology);
Underspecification in lexical entries of morphemes; Can syntactic
variation be reduced to morphological variation; Are there relations
relevant only in just one area (eg. linear relations/adjacency); Are
there distinct domains which need connection at all; Clitics in
morphology and syntax; Learning issues in morphosyntax; etc. There
will be 15 talks of 30 minutes each, with 10 minutes for questions and
discussion. Abstracts of no longer than 2 pages are invited. Font no
smaller than 11 point, please. Include Name, Paper Title,
Affiliation, Address, e-mail. Please send 5 copies to the address
below, to arrive no later than 10th November 1993. Submissions by fax
or e-mail are welcome, but please also send a camera-ready hard copy
of the abstract suitable for reproduction in the workshop program.
Submitters will be notified of decisions shortly after the deadline.
Limited funds will be available to assist presenters with travel
expenses; priority for these funds will be given to students. Please
address all snail-mail abstracts and inquiries to
Heidi Harley & Colin Phillips
(The Morphology-Syntax Connectives)
20D-219, MIT
Cambridge, Mass. 02139
USA
email: hharley@mit.edu OR cphill@mit.edu
fax: 617/253-5017
-- SLRF 1994 (Concordia University/McGill University, Montreal,
Canada, October 6-9 1994): CALL FOR SYMPOSIUM PROPOSALS. SPECIAL
THEME: Perspectives on Input in L2 Acquisition. Proposals for
symposia are invited on any area of second language research. Each
symposium will consist of four, thirty minute talks (plus a ten minute
question period), followed by a thirty minute general discussion
period. Send five copies of an anonymous 500 word abstract outlining
the theme and organization of the proposed symposium, as well as five
copies of an anonymous 500 word abstract for each of the four talks.
Also include a 3x5 card containing name, paper title, affiliation,
address, e-mail address, phone number and audio-visual needs for each
presenter. All materials should be sent to the following address;
please, no e-mail or fax submissions.
SLRF 1994 Symposia
Department of Linguistics
McGill University
1001 Sherbrooke St., W.
Montreal, Quebec H3A 1G5
CANADA
PROPOSALS FOR SYMPOSIA MUST BE RECEIVED BY JANUARY 15, 1994. A call
for papers will be issued January, 1994. For more information:
e-mail F3SL@musicb.mcgill.ca
phone: (514) 398-4222
fax: (514) 398-7088
If anyone would like to be added to the SLRF mailing list, please let us
know.
-- SPP 1994: The Society for Philosophy and Psychology is calling for
papers to be read at its 20th annual meeting, June 1-4, 1994, in
Memphis, Tennessee, hosted by Memphis State University. Contributed
papers are refereed and selected on the basis of quality and relevance
to both psychologists and philosophers. Psychologists,
neuroscientists, linguists, computer scientists and biologists are
encouraged to report experimental, clinical, and theoretical work that
they judge to have philosophical significance. Contributed papers are
for oral presentation and should not exceed a length of 30 minutes
(about 12 double-spaced pages). Papers must be accompanied by a
camera-ready 300 word abstract. The deadline for submission is
January 7, 1994. Send three copies to thje program Co-Chair
Professor Louise Antony
Department of Philosophy and Religion
North Carolina State University
Raleigh NC 27695-8103
Symposium proposals should also be sent to the same address as soon as
possible. For local arrangements contact
Professor Terry Horgan
Department of Philosophy
Memphis State University
Memphis TN 38152
email: horgan@memstvx1.bitnet
-- CHILD LANGUAGE SEMINAR 1994 (University of Wales, Bangor, 28th-30th
March): Papers are invited on all aspects of language acquisition such
as pre-linguistic development, linguistic theory, bilingualism, signed
languages, language disorders, exceptional language and literacy.
Papers will be 30 minutes each with 10 minutes for discussion.
Abstracts should be no longer than 300 words and are to be submitted
to the address below by 30th December 1993. They should be
double-spaced with a separate sheet giving the author's name and
address. Send enquiries to
Dr Michelle Aldridge
Linguistics Department
School of English and Linguistics
University of Wales
Bangor, Gwynedd LL57 2DG
phone: 44.248.382267
fax: 44.248.382928
email: ELS008@uk.ac.bangor
-- GERMAN STUDIES CONFERENCE AT BERKELEY: 'Displacements: Culture,
History, Politics, Language and Literature' (19-20 March 1994). The
graduate students in the German Department at the University of
California at Berkeley invite graduate students and faculty to submit
abstracts that explore, widen and challenge the notion of displacement
in any area of German studies. Topics might include but are not
restricted to: gender and sexuality, minority discourse,
post-colonialism, identity formation, language system and contact,
linguistic variation and change, theory and methodology, technology
and mass culture. Please submit anonymous abstracts of no more than
500 words (three copies) and a cover letter including your name and
the title of your paper by 30 November 1993 to
Karen Six
Department of German
University of California
Berkeley CA 94720
-\-\-\ LINGUISTICS COLLOQUIUM /-/-/-
Our first Linguistics Colloquium of the year will take place this
Friday, October 8th. The speaker on this occasion will be Peter
Austin from La Trobe University, Victoria, Australia. The talk will
be held in Cordura 100, at 3:30pm, and will be followed by a Happy
Hour.
CAUSATIVES AND APPLICATIVES IN AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINAL LANGUAGES
Peter Austin
La Trobe University
This paper is divided into two related parts. First I will survey
causative and applicative constructions in Aboriginal languages spoken
in Australia, developing a typology of construction types. This will
include paying attention to verb semantics. In the second part of the
paper I will give a theoretical account of the observed regularities
couched in terms of LFG lexical mapping theory, with some comments on
possible alternative proposals.
-/-/-/-
SPECIAL COLLOQUIUM: Susumo Kuno (Harvard University) will be
presenting 'Negation, Extraction, and Deletion in Japanese' at a
special time next week: THURSDAY, October 14, in the Galvez House
Seminar Room (320 Galvez Street), at 4:15 pm. This talk is sponsored
by the Center for East Asian Studies, the Department of Asian
Languages, the Department of Linguistics, and CSLI.
Negation, Extraction, and Deletion in Japanese
It is well known that deletion rules in English cannot apply in such a
way as to delete strings that contain negative elements as their major
constituents. For example, observe the following sentences:
(1)a. John likes pork, and Bill likes fish.
b. John likes pork, and Bill ___ fish.
(2)a. John doesn't like pork, and Bill doesn't like fish.
b. *John doesn't like pork, and Bill ___ fish.
c. John doesn't like pork, nor Bill ___ fish.
As shown by the ungrammaticality of (2b), Gapping cannot apply in such
a way as to delete [doesn't like]. Likewise, observe the following
sentences:
(3)a. John can speak French, and Bill can speak French, too.
b. John can speak French, and Bill can ___, too.
(4)a. John can speak only English, and Bill also can speak only English.
b. *John can speak only English, and Bill also can ___.
(4b) is unacceptable because the deleted string [speak only English]
contains a semantically negative element "only".
In Japanese, on the other hand, we have acceptable sentences in which
deleted strings contain negative elements. For example, observe the
following sentences:
(5) Taroo wa 100 doru sika motte i-na-i;
Taroo Topic 100 $ any-more-than having is-NEG-pres
"Taroo has only $100;"
a. Ziroo wa 1 doru mo motte i-na-i.
Ziroo Topic 1 $ even having is-NEG-pres
"Ziroo doesn't have even a dollar."
b. Ziroo wa 1 doru mo ___ da.
Ziroo Topic 1 $ even is
"Ziroo (doesn't have) even a dollar."
(5b) has [motte i-na-i] "not have" missing, but it is a perfectly
acceptable continuation of the leading sentence.
Starting with the above observation, the paper will present puzzles
about the behavior of negative elements in Japanese vis-a-vis deletion
and extraction, and attempt to solve them.
-\-\-\ FELLOWSHIPS/ASSISTANTSHIPS /-/-/-
-- UNDERGRAD INTERNS NEEDED in Oracle Corporation's Linguistic
Technology Group. Our linguistic software is breaking new ground in
sentence parsing, concept-based document retrieval, intelligent
proofreading, and many other areas. Oracle's parsing engine, ConText,
generates a structural and conceptual representation of sentences and
documents. This information can then be used to find particular
documents in large databases, to create indexes of themes, or simply
to make today's "information overload" more manageable. Our
proofreader, CoAuthor, is more than a powerful style and spelling
checker; it identifies writing errors springing from foreign language
interference, enforces industrial "controlled English" standards, and
tracks consistent use of terminology. JOIN OUR TEAM to evaluate and
improve our existing tools, and to build the linguistic foundation for
future projects. Opportunities are available immediately for
undergraduate interns. The work schedule, between 10 and 20 hours per
week, and the salary are negotiable. Some work may be done via modem.
Computer literacy is required, although programming expertise is not;
an interest in the English language and in detailed work is a must.
For more details, introductions, or a demo, please contact
Jodie Kalikow
Oracle Headquarters
phone: (415) 506-3125
email: JKalikow@oracle.com
-\-\-\ WORD OF THE WEEK /-/-/-
Seen on the net recently:
'...All his ridiculous kvetching on the strength of his birth is
selfserving rodomontade, cheap bluster, and empty borborgymy.'
We haven't yet been able to find a definition for 'borborgymy,' but
near as we can make out, it seems to be fairly synonymous with
'rodomontade.' Anyway, we encourage you to make use of either one of
those words in conversation over the next week. (Double bonus points
for anyone who uses both.)
(Contributed by Till Poser (no relation to Bill Poser))
-\-\-\ 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 UNIVERSITY OF LEEDS: Centre for Computer Analysis of Language
And Speech (CCALAS). Research Fellow in Computational Linguistics
post is available immediately for a fixed period of three years to
work on a project in natural language processing, involving mapping
between the syntactic annotation schemes of different ragged and
parsed corpora, including LOB, Brown, London-Lund, UPenn, SEC, ICE,
British National Corpus. A PhD or equivalent expertise in
Linguistics, Computer Science or Artificial Intelligence is required;
experience of corpus-based computational linguistics and the syntactic
models of one or more of these corpora is preferred. Salary will be
on the scale for Research Staff Grade IA (#12,828 - #20,442) according
to qualifications and relevant experience. Informal enquiries about
the post may be made to
Eric Atwell
phone: 44 0532 335761,
fax: 44 0532 335468
email: eric@scs.leeds.ac.uk
Application forms and further particulars may be obtained from the
Personnel Office (Academic Section), The University, Leeds LS2 9JT,
England, tel 0532 335771 quoting reference no 48/105. Closing date
for applications: November 1st 1993. SERC may also fund one or more
Visiting Fellowships to support leading researchers from other
Institutions who can contribute towards the project, visiting Leeds
University for between a month and a year. We would particularly
welcome researchers with in-depth experience of one or more of the
tagging and/or parsing schemes, to advise us in the creation of the
detailed mapping algorithms, and the Multi-Tagged Corpus and
MultiTreebank. If you are interested in visiting CCALAS as a project
advisor, please contact Eric Atwell (eric@scs.leeds.ac.uk) and/or
Clive Souter (cs@scs.leeds.ac.uk).
-- UNIVERSITY OF UMEA: The University of Umea invites applications for a
Position in Linguistics (Universitetslektorat i Lingvistik): Natural
Language and/or Speech Processing beginning January 1, 1994, or at a
time agreed on. The position is part of a research programme in the
area of logic, language and information (LLI) in the Faculty of
Humanities. The programme is carried out in collaboration between the
Department of Linguistics and the Department of Philosophy. An
appointment in logic has already been made. The current position
primarily (80 %) involves research and graduate education in
linguistics in one of the following areas of specialization: (1)
natural language processing, (2) speech processing, (3) research
integrating (1) and (2). To a lesser degree (20 %), the position also
involves teaching in the Department of Linguistics in areas related to
the LLI research programme, at introductory and advanced undergraduate
levels. The Department of Linguistics is a joint department of General
Linguistics and Phonetics. Depending on the specialization of the
successful applicant, the position will be attached either to General
Linguistics or Phonetics. The Department wishes to encourage work
that integrates approaches from general linguistics and phonetics.
Applicants with a good background in computer science are given
preference. The position requires a Ph.D. degree. For further
information regarding the position, the application procedure and the
Umea research programme in LLI, contact
Eva Ejerhed
Professor of General Linguistics
phone: +46-90-165677
fax: +46-90-133162
email: ejerhed@ling.umu.se
Applications for this position should refer to "Universitetslektor i
lingvistik, Dnr 322-1490-93", and should be accompanied by a
curriculum vitae, supporting documents, and a specification of salary
requested. The letter of application should be addressed to the Vice
Chancellor (Rektor), University of Umea, and it should be mailed, along
with accompanying documents, to the Registrar, University of Umea
S-90187 Umea, Sweden. The application dealine is December 1, 1993.
-- UC SAN DIEGO: Subject to availability of funds, the Department of
Linguistics at the University of San Diego has a tenure-track opening
at the Assistant Professor level beginning September 1994. We seek a
specialist in phonology. Desirable qualifications include a
background in morphology, a strong language background and familiarity
with multiple theoretical frameworks. A linguistics Ph.D. is
required. Salary is based on University of California pay scales. A
letter of application, CV, and the names and addresses of three
referees, and representative work should be sent to
University of California, San Diego
Search Committee D
Department of Linguistics, 0108
9500 Gilman Drive
La Jolla CA 92093-0108
Application materials must be received no later than December 1, 1993.
(EOE/AA)
-- HARVARD UNIVERSITY: Harvard University ESL Program invites
applications from ESL instructors to teach beginning, intermediate,
andvanced, and specialized courses in the 1994 8-week Summer School
Intensive Program from June 27-August 19, 1994. Requirements: 3-5
years college level ESL teaching; advanced degree in Applied
Linguistics or related field; knowledge of a foreign language; active
involvement in research/recent publications preferred. Send letter of
application and CV by October 22, 1993, to
Dr. Lilith M. Haynes
ESL Program Administrator
Division of Continuing Education
51 Brattle Street
Cambridge MA 02138
Salary is approximately $3000. [Note: Lilith Hanyes received her Ph.D.
>From Stanford. --ed.]
(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 /-/-/-
'The old woman remembered a swan she had bought in Shanghai many years
ago for a foolish sum.'
Identify this opening line to claim this week's insta-prize.
-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\
-\-\-\ 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 both 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. 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.
May impair your ability to drive a motor vehicle
\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-