Peter Alrenga Colloquium
Peter Alrenga
UC Santa Cruz
Different, Same, Like, and the semantics of qualitative comparison
Friday, February 16, 3:30 pm, Machmer E-37
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Other Ling Newsletters
05:03 (2007-02-15)
February 15, 2007
Peter Alrenga Special Lecture Friday
On Friday, February 16, at 1:00 pm, in the South College Lounge, Peter Alrenga will give a special seminar. It will be aimed at specialists, but all are of course welcome.
Center for the Study of African American Language
CSAAL, the Center for Study of African American Language at UMass Amherst, has launched its website. Lisa Green is the Center's director. The Center is presently gearing up for its Summer Dialect Research Project, June 3-17, 2007, here at UMass Amherst. The SDRP will bring toegther a variety of researchers from Linguistics, Communication Disorders, and Smith Psychology. Visit the announcement page for more information and the application.
Phonology Group
PhG met on February 13. Kathryn Flack presented her ongoing computation modeling work.
PhG meets next on February 20. Shigeto Kawahara will give a practice talk.
[Thanks Kathryn P!]
What does GLSA have on Amazon?
It's listmania time!Computation in phonology UMOP: call for papers
Work about computational aspects of phonology has been accumulating, and the public is clamoring for a UMOP. Clamor no more, Michael is here to edit a UMOP for you. Already, the very stirring and motivational number 36 has been assigned to this UMOP project!The DEADLINE for submitting the FINAL version of your paper is JUNE 15, 2007. Expressions of interest are to Michael as soon as possible. Everybody in, at, or of South College is invited to contribute, including visitors and alumni. As for possible topics, the editor would like to keep it reasonably broad, including stuff like:
- Papers about computational models of phonology/phonetics. These may or may not be accompanied by an actual computational implementation.
- Papers about the use of programming (e.g. Praat, Perl, etc.) to advance work in phonology/phonetics. Think of this as an opportunity to write a user manual for your script/program, explaining how it works and how others can use it.
- Papers about the formal properties of your favorite phonological/phonetic theory, with or without an actual computational implementation.
- Other papers that can be loosely described as related to computation and phonetics/phonology.
- Papers that celebrate the number 36 in a computationally phonological way.
Not sure if your paper fits in? Ask Michael.
If there is interest, the UMOP will be accompanied by a website that hosts/links to relevant stuff.
If you are interested in contributing to this UMOP, please (again) inform Michael as soon as possible (within the week), and tell him in a few sentences what you think your paper will be about. Remember, this is your single chance to contribute to the only 36th UMOP ever to be published.
New monsters
GLSA held its spring meeting last Friday. The following fine individuals were called forth to new (levels of) monstership:
| Student rep | Aynat Rubinstein (joins current rep Karen) |
| Dinner monster | Keir Moulton (joins current monster Ilaria) |
| Colloq monster | Florian Schwarz (joins current monster Andrew) |
| Beer monster | Jan Anderssen (joins current monster Matt) |
| Candy monster | Kathryn Pruitt |
Other monsters are as previously announced here.
Inside the Dragon Kingdom with Jay Keyser
Samuel Jay Keyser, former UMass Amherst Linguistics Head and Emeritus Professor of Linguistics and Philosophy at MIT, is leading a trip to Bhutan this May.
[Thanks Barbara!]
Chris Davis and Luis Alonso-Ovalle Presenting at GURT
Chris Davis and Luis Alonso-Ovalle (2005 UMass Amherst Linguistics PhD, now Assistant Professor at UMass Boston) are presenting at GURT 2007, March 8-11, at Georgetown University. The schedule.
Dispatch from the Candy Monster
PORCELAIN PORCINE PORTS PORTENT
by outgoing candy monster Andrew McKenzie
Amherst, MA (Candy Monster) — The Candy-Pig issued a strong statement yesterday, calling all linguists to donate money.
The statement was issued at an emotional press conference yesterday in the Linguistics main office. The candy-pig cited a "need for extra fundage," and cited a link to (St.) Valentine's Day, a pseudo-holiday where lovers quantify their affection in form of US dollars.
The candy-pig was quoted as saying, "I got a hot date for Valentine's, and, you know how it is. You gotta go somewhere nice, you gotta dress to impress." When asked what clothing a porcelain pig might need to wear, it replied "This is not a negotiation. I need money in my belly."
Recent uproar has challenged the candy-pig's alleged selfishness and lack of sensitivity. Susan Chen, from the Chocotastic Institute, a think tank in Pocatello, Idaho, attacks the entire candy-pig system, calling it "Extortion. Pure and simple."
Other experts disagree. "The candy-pig provides a vital public service, and expects a just compensation for it," says C.H.J. Lethbridge, a fellow at the Lethbridge Institute on Chocolate and Kitchen Studies in New York. He added, "There is no such thing as a free cocoa-rific delight."
The debate has even lit up the blogosphere. Chefcoco34, hostess of the infamous Underground Chocolatier blog, claims that it's all a misunderstanding. "It's just a little quid pro quo and vice versa. No need to get all 'sine qua non' on each other ad nauseam. Res ipsa loquitur, yo."
Loyal Readers who decide to contribute to the candy-pig are requested to make donations to the candy-pig jar in the Linguistics main office, sometime this week. Suggestions are always welcome.