SALT 18 Program Posted
The program for SALT 18 (UMass Amherst, March 21-23) is now posted. There will be a total of 46 presentations (4 invited talks, 17 submitted talks, 25 poster talks) from linguists all over the world. Get ready!
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- SALT 18 Program Posted
- Evidentials Grant Group
- SpRinG is here! (Semantics Reading Group)
- Julia Hanley's Peace Corps Work
- Topics in Ellipsis Hits the Shelves
- Forthcoming UMOP on Ellipsis
- Seeking ECO5 Submissions
- Harvard Workshop: MUMSA
- Tom Roeper Op-Ed on Human Nature and Foreign Policy
- A Maximum Deliciousness Model of Beer and Cookie Consumption
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Other Ling Newsletters
06:03 (2008-02-07)
February 7, 2008
Evidentials Grant Group
The Evidentials Grant group will meet Monday, February 11, at 12:15 pm, in the Partee Room. Chris Davis will be presenting on 'Tense, situations, and evidentials'.
[Thanks Emily!]
SpRinG is here! (Semantics Reading Group)
SRG meets today (February 7), 8:00 pm, at Jan and Aynat's place in Northampton. The plan is to read
Carlson, Greg. 1987. Same and different: Some consequences for syntax and semantics. Linguistics and Philosophy 10(4): 531-565.
This semester's SRG will feature better refreshments, more people with their own copies of the paper, and fewer designated presenters!
[Thanks Aynat!]
Julia Hanley's Peace Corps Work
An update from John McCarthy:
Julia Hanley, who got her linguistics BA in 2004, entered the Peace Corps in May 2005 and was assigned to Kenya. She worked with local people on public health education, including HIV prevention, maternal and child health, and contraception. She also raised funds to outfit an orphanage. As she began her third year of service, she was promoted to managing a regional office with responsibility for other volunteers and their programs. Her final duty was to oversee the evacuation of 38 volunteers from regions of civil unrest in Kenya. The deteriorating situation there cut short her last year of service, and she returned to the US in January.
Topics in Ellipsis Hits the Shelves
He did.
Forthcoming UMOP on Ellipsis
And you can too! The submission date for the UMOP on ellipsis is fast approaching! March 7! The editors will accept papers on any facet of ellipsis: syntax, semantics, prosody, processing, and so forth. If you plan to submit, please contact Jesse Harris or Meg Grant soon.
[Thanks Jesse!]
Seeking ECO5 Submissions
Know of any interesting syntax work that should be presented at the ECO 5 student workshop in syntax coming up at UConn in March? Then send Amy Rose a note about it! The workshop takes place March 8. Talks will be 20 minutes each. MIT, Maryland, Harvard, UConn, and, of course, UMass Amherst.
[Thanks Amy Rose!]
Harvard Workshop: MUMSA
The Workshop on Markedness and Underspecification in the Morphology and Semantics of Agreement will take place at Harvard, February 29 - March 2. Registration is free. Check out the website for additional information, including the full program.
[Thanks Kathy!]
Tom Roeper Op-Ed on Human Nature and Foreign Policy
Tom Roeper contributed an op-ed piece to the MIT PressLog: Human Nature and Foreign Policy. Feel free to add comments!
A Maximum Deliciousness Model of Beer and Cookie Consumption
From Wendell:
Parallel consumption of beer and cookies has long been assumed in the field of post-colloq receptions. However, the current model for such phenomena evaluates the beer and the cookies independently, and fails to capture a generalization already familiar to the field of department wine tastings: two elements artfully paired are more delicious than equally tasty elements unpaired or poorly paired.
In this semester, we propose an interactional model of beer and cookie consumption. We introduce a correspondence relationship between beer and cookies, and propose that the well-formedness of the overall gustatory experience can be influenced by the relative harmony of the pairing.
For the purposes of this exercise, cookies will be from the Chocolate+X family (where X = some flavor > Chocolate on the Excitement Scale). This is not an essential feature of the model, but rather serves to highlight the effect of beer-cookie correspondence and to provide a secondary exploration of variation within the Chocolate+X paradigm.
Finally, we are not suggesting that this interactional model of beer and cookie consumption should replace the previously assumed independent model — that model is able to capture the crucial generalization that each element is still extremely delicious regardless of the presence or absence of the other. Rather, we argue for implementing a theory of Maximum Deliciousness, with both interactional and independent models operating simultaneously.
From the Candy Monsters
Denizens of South College,
First off, let me congratulate everyone on an enjoyable, candy-filled fall term. Candy appeared in the candy jars at a steady rate throughout the term, and it is only now, so close to Valentine's Day, that the candy is running low. This happy circumstance is due to YOU, the wonderful people who contributed the money and candy to make this happen. Your support has not gone unnoticed.
That said, Valentine's Day approaches, and therefore that most important of holidays, the Day After Valentine's Day. With 10 days to go, the candy stash is running low and unfortunately our funds are in no better shape. At this rate, we are looking at a bleak and candyless February and March.
One good term deserves another! Support your local candy jars by donating. We take donations in the form of money or candy. A large donation goes a long way to getting us through the winter!
Love,
Your Candy Monsters
End-of-Semester Graduation Cake
[Thanks Sarah!]