Syntax & Semantics at Santa Cruz, Volume 5 released

SynSem at UCSC Vol 5

The cover of Volume V of Syntax & Semantics at Santa Cruz

The fifth volume of Syntax & Semantics at Santa Cruz (SASC) — the Department’s working paper series on syntax and semantics — was just released. Edited by PhD students Lalitha Balachandran and Jack Duff, it features four articles by current and recently graduated students and faculty:

The volume is available both online and in print.

Summer research update: Zapotec Language Project

Members of Zapotec Lg. Project

Zapotec Language Project team members in Santiago Laxopa in July 2022: Myke Brinkerhoff, Maya Wax Cavallaro, Delaney Gomez-Jackson, Maziar Toosarvandani, and Jack Duff (from left to right).

This summer, linguists working on the Zapotec Language Project traveled to Santiago Laxopa in the Sierra Norte mountains of Oaxaca for the first time since 2019, to work with speakers of the Zapotec language spoken there (Dille’ xhunh).

The first team, comprised of fifth year PhD student Jack Duff, MA student Delaney Gomez-Jackson, and Professor Maziar Toosarvandani, carried out an eyetracking study on the interpretation of relative clauses, in collaboration with language expert Fe Silva-Robles. This project was supported by a National Science Foundation grant, directed by Toosarvandani with Professors Ivy Sichel and Matt Wagers, which is also supporting a range of other activities in the Department on resumption and animacy.

Members of the team also met one on one with speakers to investigate different aspects of Zapotec grammar and made recordings of narratives.

Jack and Delaney

Jack Duff (left) and Delaney Gomez-Jackson (right) painting a sign in Zapotec, which eventually will read De’nh tsekwelle’ nakenh lalldo’ yell tsedzu (Music is the soul of our town)

As service to the community, they taught math classes for the town’s children in Spanish and Zapotec and supported Silva Robles as she led reading and writing workshops for the language. As part of these workshops, the team presented the town with an alphabet poster featuring a preliminary orthography for their Zapotec language, as well as three illustrated books and (hand painted) signs using the orthography. These gifts contributed to the town’s ongoing conversations about how best to write its language.

A second team, comprised of fourth years PhD students Myke Brinkerhoff and Maya Wax Cavallaro, collected data for phonetic and phonological projects on tone and phonation. They also recorded narratives, vocabulary related to healing plants, recipes, and a description of how to make capisallos (multipurpose textiles made from palm leaves). Wax Cavallaro also had the opportunity to follow in the footsteps of previous UC Santa Cruz grad students, playing in the town’s banda during the annual fiesta.

Maya and Myke

Myke Brinkhoff (back center) and Maya Wax Cavallaro (right) recording (and learning) how to make yetgu’ (tamales) from Olivia Maldonado Maldonado

Summer Research Update: Bennett in Guatemala

Professor Ryan Bennett returned to Guatemala this summer, and he sent in this report:

“In mid-June, I returned to Guatemala, for the first time since 2019, to carry out fieldwork on Uspanteko, an endangered Mayan language with fewer than 6000 speakers. While there, my collaborators and I at the University of Arizona (Robert Henderson and Megan Harvey) presented the results of our recently-completed National Science Foundation grant on the sound structure of Uspanteko to the Uspanteko community in a one-day workshop.

I also just returned from MIT, where I presented a colloquium on vowel reduction in Uspanteko, drawing on data collected as part of the same NSF grant.”

Summer Research Update: Brodkin in Indonesia

Fourth year PhD student Dan Brodkin, who spent part of the summer in Indonesia, sent in this report from his fieldwork:

Dan Brodkin and Jupri Talib

Dan Brodkin (left) and collaborator Jupri Talib (right) at the Mandar Cultural Library in Pambusuang, West Sulawesi

“This summer I spent a month in Indonesia, setting up a new field site and building toward a new theory of engagement with foreign academia. This trip continued my pre-pandemic work in the country, and it provided me with the opportunity to engage with the local linguistics scene in new ways — by presenting research to departments, giving talks on the value of generative grammar, and putting on a Praat workshop for the Government Language Office of South Sulawesi. After three years of Zoom, this trip also allowed me to engage with a broader segment of the Mandar community, and to ask questions, listen and take new steps toward giving back. 

“As part of that process, I appeared on a local podcast to discuss language ideology and the challenge of language loss with a prominent author and cultural expert, Ridwan Alimuddin.” The episode, which can also be viewed on YouTube, is below.

John Rickford to give Stevenson College Distinguished Alumni Lecture

Professor John R. Rickford

Professor John R. Rickford

John R. Rickford, who is J. E. Wallace Sterling Professor of Linguistics and the Humanities at Stanford University, will give a Stevenson College Distinguished Alumni Lecture on Wednesday, October 19 at 3:00-4:30 pm in the Fireside Lounge. He will be speaking about his autobiography Speaking My Soul: Race, Life and Language. The lecture, which is co-sponsored by the Department of Linguistics, will be followed by a reception and book signing outside on the patio. 

Professor Rickford received his BA in sociolinguistics at UC Santa Cruz in 1971, with highest academic honors and honors from Stevenson College. He has been on the faculty at Stanford since 1980. Professor Rickford’s research has been recognized by an American Book Award, a Language and the Public Award from the Linguistic Association of America, and the Best Paper in Language Award, among other honors. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2017 and was President of the Linguistic Society of America in 2015.

The Department of Linguistics maintains the John Rickford Undergraduate Development Fund to recognize his “distinguished intellectual achievements and for his unstinting commitment to marginalized communities and the languages that they speak.” The Fund provides new academic opportunities for distinguished undergraduates by supporting research projects, travel to conferences, and undergraduate linguistics club activities.

Contributions to the Rickford Fund can be made directly online or by mail.

Welcome back!

2022 Fall Welcome Event

Linguistics graduate students and faculty reconnecting after a busy summer of research

The Department gathered for its annual fall welcome event this past Friday (September 23) at the Cowell Provost House. The warm, sunny weather and spectacular views of the Monterey Bay provided the perfect setting for returning faculty and graduate students to catch up — and for them to welcome the department’s newest members to campus. 

This fall, five new graduate students joined the Department: Ian Carpick, Yağmur Kiper, and Richard Wang started on the PhD track, and Duygu Demiray and Larry Lyu on the MA track. In addition, the Department officially welcomed Delaney Gomez-Jackson, Matthew Kogan, and David Tuffs to the MA program, after their completion of the graduate coursework as BA students.

The Department also welcomed two new faculty members: Mia Gong, who started as Assistant Professor this fall, and Haoze Li, who is serving as Visiting Assistant Professor this academic year.

Students and faculty had a lot to share with each other, after what sounded like some busy summers of research. In the coming weeks, we will be sharing updates about what they were up to with you. Stay tuned!

Departmental honors

Since the last WHASC post, the Department’s students have received a number of honors.

Morwenna and Stephenie get Jorge Hankamer Award

PhD students Stephanie Rich (left) and Morwenna Hoeks (center), receiving the Jorge Hankamer Outstanding Graduate Instructor Award in Linguistics from Professor Pranav Anand (right)

Fifth-year PhD students Morwenna Hoeks and Stephanie Rich received the inaugural Jorge Hankamer Outstanding Graduate Instructor Award in Linguistics at the Humanities Award Ceremony on June 6. The award recognized their outstanding records as Teaching Assistants and contributions to the Department’s pedagogical community.

Several seniors graduating in Spring or Summer 2022 received department honors in the linguistics major:

  • Melissa Gee
  • Delaney Gomez-Jackson
  • Matthew Kogan
  • Haley Okumura
  • Nathan Potter
  • Caitlin Tran
  • David Tuffs
  • Lily Wainwright

as well as in the language studies major:

  • Emma Forbes
  • Bella Hawkins
  • Jacques Parvex

Numerous graduating seniors in the Department’s two majors were also elected to Phi Beta Kappa for 2021-2022:

  • Christina Bittman
  • Emma Forbes
  • Sarah Gray
  • Carmen Grey
  • Bella Hawkins
  • Sabrina Madden
  • Haley Okumura
  • Isabel Pacheco
  • Jacques Parvex
  • Graehme Sandbloom
  • David Tuffs
  • Lily Wainwright
  • Jasmin Yang
  • Linda Yang

Congratulations to all on their academic achievements!

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