Stanford Linguistics
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Department News

  • Middy wins NSF! Middy Pineda is one of just 9 Linguistics students among the 950 individuals nationwide who were awarded a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship (GRF) for the next three years. Way to go, Middy!
  • Flemming tenured at MIT We've just been informed that former Stanford faculty member Edward Flemming was awarded tenure in the Department of Linguistics and Philosophy at MIT. Congratulations to you, Edward, from all of us!


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    Meghan's Mystery Name Game

    Middy winds MMNG Well, it looks like Middy won again, by correctly identifying the name "Olga". Come on all you phonetics campers--someone else try to be the first to correctly identify the following name and win this week's prize (Be sure to contact Meghan; not us):



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    Linguistic Levity

  • Our English cousins have always had a way with words. If you think last week's church signs were funny, check these out.
  • Don't you miss him? Just for the sake of posteriority, let's revisit some choice quotes from our former president:
    • It's amazing I won - I was running against peace, prosperity and incumbency.

      I know the human being and fish can co-exist peacefully.

      Our enemies are innovative and resourceful - and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people - and neither do we.

      Reading is the basics for all learning.

      Families is where our nation finds hope, where wings take dream.

      Rarely is the question asked: Is our children learning?

      I know how hard it is for you to put food on your family.

      One of the great things about books is sometimes there are some fantastic pictures.

      There's an old saying in Tennessee - I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee - that says, fool me once, shame on... shame on you. Fool me, you can't get fooled again.

      I have a different vision of leadership. A leadership is someone who brings people together.

      I understand small business growth. I was one.

      If this were a dictatorship, it'd be a heck of a lot easier... just so long as I'm the dictator.

      Border relations between Canada and Mexico have never been better.

      It was just inebriating what Midland was all about then.

      It is time to set aside the old partisan bickering and finger-pointing and name-calling that comes from freeing parents to make different choices for their children.

      Never again in Washington DC do I want to have to make explanations I can't explain.

      I think we agree, the past is over.

      It's clearly a budget. It's got a lot of numbers in it.
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    Goings-On

    For events farther in the future consult the Upcoming Events Page.

  • FRIDAY, 22 MAY
    • Special Voice Quality Workshop

      Penny Eckert, Kyuwon Moon, and Kate Geenberg
      Bring articles, sound samples, problems, solutions, or just curiosity -- anything that has to do with voice quality.
      12:00, ExL Lab
    • Department Professional Development Lecture
      for grad students

      Ivan Sag
      "Different Kinds of Abstracts and How to Write 'Em"
      Free Beer and pretzels
      3:30pm, MJH 126
    • CSLI Presents:

      Steve Young (University of Cambridge)
      "Partially Observable Markov Decision Processes for Spoken Dialogue Systems"
      4:15pm, Cordura 100
    • Department Social

      More free beer and other goodies!
      5:00pm, lounge
  • SATURDAY, 23 MAY
    • CCRMA Recital

      Luciano Chessa (San Francisco Conservatory of Music)
      The premiere of Tomboy (2009), Luciano Chessa's brand new collaboration with artist Terry Berlier, and the Vietnamese dan bau Nodas (2008), on traditional Sardinian musical forms. Also the solo guitar piece Amadou, featuring Travis Andrews, and some works by Giuseppe Chiari.
      8:00pm, CCRMA Stage
  • MONDAY, 25 MAY
    • Memorial Day

      Official Holiday
      No classes... Hit the beach!
  • WEDNESDAY, 27 MAY
    • Psychology Developmental Brownbag

      Nola Stephens
      "Constructions in context: effects of discourse on early word order"
      12-1:00pm, 420-102
  • THURSDAY, 28 MAY
    • CCRMA Spring Concert

      Electronic music, intermedia performances and interactive installations by Michael Berger, Christine Keiko Funahashi, Visda Goudarzi, David Jaffe, Jaroslaw Kapuscinski, Bruno Ruviaro, Javier Sanchez, Diana Siwiak, Hiroko Terasawa and Cobi van Tonder.
      8:00pm, CCRMA Stage
  • FRIDAY, 29 MAY
  • SATURDAY-SUNDAY, 30-31 MAY



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  • UPCOMING EVENTS (always under construction)
  • LINGUISTIC DEPARTMENT EVENTS PAGE
  • Got broader interests? The New Sesquipedalian recommends reading, or even subscribing, to the CSLI Calendar, available HERE.
  • WHAT'S HAPPENING AT UC SANTA CRUZ?
  • WHAT'S GOING ON AT UC BERKELEY?


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    Blood needed!

    The Stanford Blood Center is reporting a shortage of type O-. For an appointment, visit http://bloodcenter.stanford.edu/ or call 650-723-7831. It only takes an hour of your time and you get free cookies.

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    Want to contribute information? Want to be a reporter? Want to see something appear here regularly? Want to be a regular columnist? Want to take over running the entire operation? Write directly to sesquip@gmail.com.


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    22 May 2009
    Vol. 5, Issue 26



    IN THIS ISSUE
    Sesquipedalian Staff

    Editor in Chief:
    Ivan A. Sag

    Assistant Editor:
    Richard Futrell

    Reporters:
    Beth Levin
    Tom Wasow
    Penny Eckert
    Paul Kiparsky

    Photographer:
    Alyssa Ferree

    Humor Consultant:
    Susan D. Fischer

    Inspiration:
    Melanie Levin
    Kyle Wohlmut