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Sesquipedalian #7, November 12, 1993

The SESQUIPEDALIAN WEEKLY HERALD		       Volume IV, Number 7
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                                                       November 12, 1993


 			   DATELINE USA

Monday, 10 AM -- Chicago, Illinois -- Start-up software developer
Cuisine International announced CUISINENET, the first internetworking
program to seamlessly integrate word and food processing. Called a
breakthrough for small restaurants and snack bars, Cuisine Chairman
Mark Meigs confidently predicted sales of thousands of copies with
shipments soon to begin.

Monday, 4 PM -- New York -- Cuisine International shares closed
sharply higher on announcement of new CUISINENET product.

Tuesday, 9 AM -- Redmond, Washington -- Microsoft Chairman William H.
Gates, III announced that Microsoft Food for Windows would soon enter
beta testing.  Gates described the product as the first of a projected
family of products to include Food for Windows, designed for small
commercial dining establishments; Personal Food for Windows, designed
for home kitchens; Portable Food for Windows, designed for lunchboxes;
and, of course, at the high end, Food for Windows NC (Nouvelle
Cuisine) designed for large institutional dining rooms. Asked by a
reporter about CUISINENET, Gates said that he had never heard of the
product, but was not surprised by it, because the software business is
highly competitive, and Microsoft has to compete on its merits with
many strong competitors, as the FTC had recently concluded.

Tuesday, 3 PM -- Chicago, Illinois -- An angry Mark Meigs showed
reporters a copy of the nondisclosure agreement signed by Bill Gates,
under which Cuisine International had informed Microsoft a year
earlier about plans for CUISINENET. Meigs said that in hindsight, he
should never have signed the agreement, as the only thing he learned
>From Microsoft was that Gates was considering making changes to
Windows.

Wednesday, 9 AM -- Redmond, Washington -- Microsoft Chairman Bill
Gates announced that Microsoft would soon publish specifications for
the Windows Open Kitchen Architecture (WOKA), a series of design
specifications to permit manufacturers of toasters, ranges, and other
kitchen appliances to integrate their products into the forthcoming
Microsoft Food for Windows line. Asked about reports of a
nondisclosure agreement with Cuisine International for a similar
product, Gates said that the other product was really at most a niche
product, and would probably have less functionality than the
food-related features that Microsoft would be building into the new
Unsaturated FAT File System which would be part of DOS 7.0. Gates said
that he doubted there would be much interest in a dead-end solution
that would not be able to keep up to date with advances in WOKA. Gates
added that over 11,000 manufacturers of kitchen appliances were
already having serious discussions with Microsoft about WOKA, and that
he expected almost all important eaters of food to standardize on the
WOKA environment.

Wednesday, 10 AM -- Redmond, Washington -- Microsoft Chairman Bill
Gates announced that he would be giving the keynote speech at the
American Bakers annual convention on "Nutrition at Your Fingertips."
Gates played down speculation that he would use the Bakers convention
to introduce Microsoft Food for Windows, saying only that alpha
testing was proceeding ahead of schedule, and the product would be
shipped when it was ready.

Wednesday, 11 AM -- Redmond, Washington -- Microsoft Corporation
announced that its Chairman, William H. Gates, III, had made a
donation of over $250 of personal funds to the Cordon Bleu to begin an
endowment fund for the Bill Gates Professorship of Advanced Cookery.
The famous French cooking school confirmed that it had agreed to be a
beta site for the much discussed Food for Windows application sweet.

Thursday, 9 AM -- New York -- PCWeek Magazine reported in a
copyrighted story that it had obtained a copy of correspondence from
Microsoft to Cuisine International, demanding that the small developer
of kitchen software cease using the Cuisine name, as it infringes on
the trademark for Microsoft Food for Windows NC. Microsoft added that
Chairman Mark Meigs would also have to change his own name as Mark
infringed a copyright on the Windows Edit menu, Meigs infringed the
trademark on Meigs Field in Microsoft Flight Simulator, and Chairman
infringed the trademark on Bill Gates's title which he had acquired
with personal funds from Mao's estate. Also, Microsoft advised that
while the company did not actually have to move out of Chicago, use of
the name on press releases infringed a trademark on Windows 4.0.

Thursday, 4 PM -- New York -- Cuisine International stock closed at
0-bid, 1/16-asked.

Friday, 9 AM -- ? -- An anonymous spokesman for an unnamed Midwestern
software developer announced the discontinuation of operations.
Undescribed legal problems were cited as the reason. Others speculated
that a failure to appreciate the competitive nature of the software
business may have led to the company's sudden collapse.

Monday, 9 AM -- Microsoft Internal Mail

>From:  billg
  To:  mikem
  Re:  Food Program

Please see if you can reassign one of the 3,000 engineers from the OS/2
virus development project to do a feasibility study on a food-related
program. Not sure what it would do. Low priority.

----- End Included Message -----

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

We had our first of a regular series of meetings for undergraduates in
Kimball Hall last night; students got to know each other a bit and
John Rickford and Peter Sells answered questions about the field and
the nature of linguistic study.  Please watch for announcements of
future events, at which we plan to have faculty introducing themselves
and their research, discussion of hot topics in linguistics, and just
some plain old social time.

There will also be a barbecue lunch this quarter, on Thu. Dec. 2nd.

We need input on what will be most interesting and useful for our
undergraduate majors, for potential majors, and for anyone just
wanting to know more about linguistics.  Please send suggestions to
Peter Sells (sells@csli) or to the student reps., Nat Pearson
(raindrop@leland), Chelsea Powell (chelss@leland), or Juli Espinoza
(teddy@leland).

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

Our speaker for the Linguistics Colloquium on Friday November 12th
will be Marta Lujan, from the University of Texas at Austin.  The
talk will take place in cordura 100, at 3:30, and will be followed
by the usual Happy Hour. 

    ABSTRACT CASE, V-MOVEMENT, AND THE NULL SUBJECT PARAMETER 
	                  Marta Lujan
		 University of Texas at Austin

	The contrasts between English and Spanish clausal complements
can be traced to a Case-marking difference resulting from the
V-movement related to Null Subjects in V-initial languages.
Specifically, we claim that Abstract Case(AC)-marking differs
according to whether a complement is governed by V or V-trace.  The
hypothesis is that only a strictly adjacent Case-assigner, namely, one
not undergoing movement, can AC-mark a complement's Specifier, as in
English, whose notorious Exceptional Case-Marking (ECM) is but an
overt manifestation of the general AC-marking mode.  ECM is here seen
as the result of raising the Spec of a tenseless IP to an AC-marked
[Spec, CP] position.  In Spanish, however, AC goes on a C-head, as CP
is governed by a V-trace.  Thus, since `que' generally bears AC,
unlike its English counterpart `that', it seldom deletes in the
context of V.  Non-ECM verbs differ in that they embed a `that'-headed
clause by means of an abstract operator requiring an intervening CP
layer.
	Contrary to general assumption, we hold that CPs are
universally Case-marked (cf. Tsai 1993, for evidence in Chinese).  As
Spanish amply attests, there `de'-insertion before finite and
nonfinite CPs, as in: `el deseo de que vaya' (the wish that he goes);
`deseoso de ir' (desirous (of) go(ing)), where `de' respectively
Case-marks `que', and the nonfinite `ir' (go), the latter V moving
through I to C, to make Case-marking visible.  In English, where there
is `of'-insertion only before gerundive clauses, AC-marking of the
finite complement clauses is instead realized by moving `that' to its
Specifier position, as economy of derivation favors moving an already
available functional head over inserting a new one.
	Our account is consistent with (i) the obviation in subject
pronouns of subjunctive CPs, as defined by Binding Principle B once
they LF-adjoin `que'; (ii) ECM in Spanish small clauses, deriving from
head-movement of pronouns (e.g. `lo creo listo' (I believe him (to be)
smart); (iii) preposition stranding differences; (iv) word order
contrasts in wh-clauses; and (v) the that-trace effect, resulting from
the conflict of a NOM wh-trace occurring in an OBJ-marked [Spec, CP]
in English, but not Spanish.  The account, moreover, resolves the
structural ambiguities initially motivating Minimality.

NEXT WEEK: Herb Clark.

		  -\-\-\ PHONOLOGY WORKSHOP /-/-/-

The first phonolgy workshop of the year wll take place on TUESDAY Nov.
16th.  It will be held in the second floor lounge of Cordura. The
speaker is Kathleen Hubbard.

                 IS THE MORA PHONETICALLY REAL?
                      Kathleen A. Hubbard
               University of California, Berkeley

	There has been little discussion in the phonological
literature of how (or even whether) syllabic and moraic
representations are related to phonetic realization.The purpose of
this paper is to offer substantive phonetic evidence for or against
phonological claims about moras and syllables. An obvious place to
look for such evidence is in Bantu languages, which are rich in
prosodic phenomena such as tone assignment, length distinctions,
compensatory lengthening, and quantity-sensitive phonological and
morphological rules. I give three types of acoustic evidence for a
regular mapping between prosodic structure and surface timing, and
then examine the nature of that mapping. In the first experiment, I
show that there is phonetic maintenance of phonological mora count at
the level of the word in Runyambo and Luganda (cf. Port, Dalby, and
O'Dell 1987 for Japanese). In Experiment 2, I examine the well- known
process of compensatory lengthening of vowels before a nasal-consonant
sequence (Clements 1986), and show how phonological consequences of
this rule are reflected in phonetic output. Experiment 3 shows that an
observed phonetic difference between languages in VNC behavior can
point to a phonological difference in the structural representation of
long vowels that is not immediately apparent.
	Having shown that there are reliable correspondences between
moraic structure and phonetic timing in various Bantu languages, I
move on to the question of how the mapping between these two stages is
achieved. In Experiment 4 I look at the details of segmental
compensation for the purpose of mora-maintenance in Runyambo and
Luganda: the results show that adjustment takes place both in vowels
and consonants, and that the domain of compensation is larger than a
single syllable. These data suggest an outline for a theory of
phonological and phonetic timing, one that incorporates a greater
understanding of the relationship between rule-governed and mechanical
aspects of speech.

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

DISSERTATION RESEARCH FELLOWSHIPS IN LINGUISTICS: Fellowships are
offered to graduate students in linguistics, who have completed all
requirements for the Ph.D. except their dissertation, to spend from
one semester to one full academic year engaged in dissertation
research requiring fieldwork in the Middle East.  Support is available
for single country or comparative projects requiring research in more
than one country and for research using Middle Eastern cases to
address methodological and theoretical issues of importance to the
discipline. Previous Middle East fieldwork is not required. Language
training may be required as one component of the fellowship when
appropriate. In most cases, fellowship recipients will be expected to
affiliate with an American overseas research center.  This program
will be administered with the support of the Council of American
Overseas Research Centers. Up to 8 dissertation research fellowships
for under-represented disciplines may be awarded for the 1994-95
academic year.  Full time students who meet the above criteria, who
are U.S. citizens or permanent legal residents, who are currently
enrolled in a Ph.D. degree program, and who will have completed all
Ph.D. requirements except their dissertation by June 30, 1994, are
eligible to apply by December 1st.  Requests for program information
and applications should be directed to
	Joint Committee on the Near and Middle East
	Social Science Research Council
	605 Third Avenue
	New York, NY 10158

-- POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWSHIPS IN LINGUISTICS: Fellowships are offered to
scholars in linguistics for periods from two months to one academic
year engaged in advanced research requiring fieldwork in the Middle
East.  The purpose of the fellowship is to promote the integration of
area knowledge into research on the Middle East in disciplines
currently under-represented in Middle East Studies. Scholars may
propose single country or comparative research projects; request
support for language training; develop collaborative research with
local colleagues in government, academia, and research centers; and/or
propose to acquire familiarity with the problems of their disciplines
as they apply to the Middle East. In most cases, fellowship recipients
will be expected to affiliate with American overseas research centers.
Previous Middle East fieldwork is not required. This program will be
administered with the support of the Council of Amencan Overseas
Research Centers. Up to 10 advanced research fellowships may be
awarded for the 1994-95 academic year.  Scholars who are U.S. Citizens
or permanent legal residents and who hold the Ph.D. in a social
science or humanities discipline are eligible to apply. Scholars who
are less than 10 years past the Ph.D.  are particularly encouraged to
apply.  Requests for program information and applications should be
directed to:
	Joint Committee on the Near and Middle East
	Social Science Rcsearch Council
	605 Third Avenue
	New York,NY 10158
APPLICATION DEADLINE: DECEMBER 1, 1993

		     -\-\-\ TRUE LINGUISTS /-/-/-

>From the Building 100 Almanac:

-- 111: Number of photos in the Bldg. 100 Lobby

-- 317: Number of meters the throw-rug in front of Kyle's office
mysteriously migrates each year

-- 500,000: Estimated page life of a Xerox copier

-- 12,266,490: Cumulative number of pages of reading Joan Bresnan has
assigned, over the course of her teaching career

-- 8: Number of users logged in at CSLI, 11 November 1993 8:00 am

-- 48: Number of users logged in at CSLI, 11 November 1993 3:00 am

-- 1.2: Weeks late the average graduate student completes the first QP
	
-- 193.9: Weeks it takes the average student to complete the
linguistics graduate program

		   -\-\-\ 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.)

-- UCI: The Department of Linguistics at the University of California,
Irvine has a tenure-track position open at the Assistant Professor
level, beginning with the 1994-95 academic year.  This position is for
a theoretical linguist with a specialization in syntax and/or
semantics.  Linguists with research interests in both areas are
particularly encouraged to apply.  Candidates should submit a letter
of application, curriculum vitae, representative publications, and the
names and addresses for at least three references to:
              Linguistics Search Committee
              Department of Linguistics
              School of Social Sciences
              University of California, Irvine
              Irvine, CA  92717
The deadline for receipt of application materials is January 10, 1994.
The University of California is an affirmative action, equal
opportunity employer committed to excellence through diversity.

-- Candidates are sought at all levels for a joint tenure-track
appointment between the Rutgers Center for Cognitive Science and one
of the participating academic departments (Psych., Linguisitcs, CS).
Preference will be given to those who specialize in experimental
psycholinguistics and/or computational models of sentence processing
and who have demonstrated an ability to work across disciplinary
boundaries.  Assignment of teaching responsibilities will take into
account the candidate's activities in the Center.  Send letter of
application, curriculum vitae and names of three referencee whom you
should ask to provide letters directly to
	Chair, Cognitive Science Search Committee
	RuCCS
	P.O. Box 1179
	Piscataway, New Jersey 08855-1179
	e-mail: admin@ruccs.rutgers.edu
Rutgers University is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity
Employer.

(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 /-/-/-

BATHOSCOPE: Michelle is giving Andy a bath.  She turns the hot water
tap on which would fill the tub in 54 seconds, and the cold water tap
on, which would fill the tub in 48 seconds, but Andy (of course) pulls
the plug out, which would drain a full tub in 30 seconds.  Assuming
Michelle doesn't notice, does the tub ever get full, and if so, how
long does it take?

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  		   -\-\-\ 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
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endorsement purposes.

If you can't read this line, please contact Emma Pease (emma@csli)

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