WHISC Weekly Again
WHISC returns to its regular weekly schedule starting next week, after a summer of monthly issues. The present issue is a full of travel reports. A fitting close to a summer of working on the road.
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Other Ling Newsletters
04:19 (2006-08-31)
August 31, 2006
Town Meeting September 8
The annual Town Meeting of the Linguistics Department will be held on Friday, September 8, 3:30 pm in the Freeman Lounge (South College, third floor). The organizers promise
- Important announcements
- Information about the department picnic
- Introductions all around
- Individual and group photos
- Complete linguistic descriptions by 2088
Bob Rothstein Appointed to Endowed Professorship
The (informative and very snazzy) In the Loop magazine reports that Bob Rothstein, UMass Amherst Professor of Comparative Literature, Adjunct Professor in Linguistics, and Resident Expert in Polish, Yiddish, Folklore, and Much Else Besides, has been appointed to the Walter Raleigh Amesbury Jr. and Cecile Dudley Amesbury Professorship for Teaching and Research of the Polish Language, Literature, and Culture.
[Thanks Barbara and In the Loop!]
Report from the Navajo Language Academy
Peggy Speas recently returned from three weeks of teaching at the Navajo Language Academy in Flagstaff. She and a group of about twenty students develped an analysis of Navajo spatial deictic terms. Peggy reports that it is a significant improvement over the existing description, which simply says there are six terms that mean "here", six that mean "there", and four that mean "over there".
Above: Peggy engaging in a lesson prepared by Cecilia Silentman Carr (in green) on how to make a peanut butter sandwich. Peggy writes: "Neither here nor there, but we got to eat the sandwiches in the end".
Geoff Nunberg to Give Freeman Lecture
Geoff Nunberg has agreed to give the 2006-7 Freeman Lecture. Geoff is famous! He's the linguistic commentator for NPR's Fresh Air, he writes for the New York Times Magazine and Week in Review, and he was recently on The Colbert Report.
Junko Ito Accepts Math Prize on Behalf of her Father
Junko Ito, 1986 UMass Amherst Linguistics PhD, now Professor of Linguistics at UC Santa Cruz, accepted the Carl Friedrich Gauss Prize on behalf of her father, Kiyoshi Ito, at the International Congress of Mathematicians, Madrid, August 22, 2006.
[Thanks J.J. McCarthy!]
Ilea Percus on the Scene
We're delighted to report that Ilea Percus, daughter of Orin and Isabelle, was born on August 24. Orin wrote (from Ilea's email address, actually!):
Ilea saw the outside world for the first time yesterday, 24 August 2006. What she saw was a little room just past the hospital emergency entrance in Nantes, France. Some notable facts about her are: that her birth occurred at lightning speed; that she weighed exactly 3 kilos at birth; that she has beautiful dark silken hair. Like many people in this country, she actually has three names: Ilea, Sylvie, Alina. Each has a reason behind it. (Her family name is her father’s.)
Mother and daughter are both fine, though a bit sleepless. Ilea’s parents will now probably be worse correspondents than ever, but all three of us send our best.
[Thanks Orin!]
Report from GALANA 2
GALANA 2 (McGill University, August 17-19, 2006) was dominated by UMass Amherst linguists.
Helen Stickney and Liane Jeschull compiled a photo album.
[Thanks Liane and Helen!]
Report from Osaka
The 4th Formal Approaches to Japanese Linguistics Conference was held in Osaka, August 17-19. Many UMass Amherst linguists presented their work:
- Lisa Shiozaki (UMass Amherst Linguistics undergraduate)
- Shigeto Kawahara and Ben Gelbart (UMass Amherst graduate student, alumnus)
- Junko Ito and Armin Mester (UMass alumni)
- Mana Kobuchi-Philip (UMass Amherst Linguistics BA)
- Yurie Hara (UMass Amherst Linguistics visiting scholar, JSPS Research Fellow at Kyoto University)
Thanks Shigeto
Report from Hungary
Volodja and I are just back from LoLa 9, August 23-26, where we gave one of the invited talks, saw old friends and met new ones, enjoyed stimulating talks and discussions, and had lots of birdwatching, thanks to one of the organizers, Beáta Gyuris, an old friend who visited UMass Amherst twice, the second time for a whole year. The birdwatching photo, taken by Volodja, shows me, Beata, and our ornithologist guide Peter on the 23rd, before the conference started. On the last birdwatching excursion (no photo), Peter took me, Manfred Krifka, Marcus Kracht, and Gerhard Jäger out early Saturday morning, and added a fitting new bird to my life list -- a Montagu's harrier! (For good photos of it, see these two sites.) There will be conference photos on the LoLa 9 site soon, but in the meantime here are a couple.
Evidentials Grant Meetings
The Evidentials Grant Group met throughout August.
Language in the Real World
From somewhere in Slovenia ...
[Thanks Rajesh!]