AAAS MEETS IN SAN JOSE

AAAS (The American Associated for the Advancement of Science) is one of the largest and most respected organizations in the world seeking to advance scientific understanding and the communication of scientific results for the benefit of all. One of the 24 sections of the association is Section Z, which is devoted to Linguistics and the Language Sciences. The current chair of Section Z is Sandy Chung, who was elected a Fellow of the AAAS in December 2012.

The association will hold its annual meeting between February 12th and February 16th in San Jose. There will be a number of events of interest to linguists, including an invited topical lecture by Geoff Nunberg, along with the following symposia:

  • Imaging the Past: Using New Information Technologies To Nurture Historical Analysis (Fri 2/13, 10:00-11:30 a.m.)
  • Watching the Brain Think: Naturalistic Approaches To Studying Human Brain Function (Sat 2/14, 8:00-9:30 a.m.)
  • Social, Emotional, and Cognitive Bases of Communication: New Analytic Approaches (Sat 2/14, 1:30-4:30 p.m.)
  • Visualizing Verbal Culture: Seeing Language Diversity (Sun 2/15, 1:00-2:30 p.m.)
  • The Linguistics of Status, Influence, and Innovation: A Computational Perspective (Sun 2/15, 3:00-4:30 p.m.)

AAAS is probably one of the most valuable vehicles available for informing the broader public about recent advances in understanding of how language works. The on-line program can be accessed here.

 

RESEARCH POSITIONS IN SYNTAX AND PROSODY AT LEIDEN

Anikó Lipták and Lisa Cheng of Universiteit Leiden in the Netherlands have written to us asking for help in getting the word out about two research positions that are available in Leiden, one for a PhD student, one for a postdoc, both in the area of syntax and prosody. Both positions are funded under a grant from the NWO (Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research) for a 4-year research project on Ellipsis licensing beyond syntax, which will start later this year in Leiden, and on which Anikó and Lisa are the principal investigators. Information about the postdoctoral position is available here. For details of the PhD position, go here.

S-CIRCLE AMPS IT UP

S-Circle got off to something of a slow start this quarter due to the LSA meeting in Portland and back-to-back colloquia, but the group is now swinging into high hear. Below is a list of what is scheduled so far this quarter. This quarter’s meetings will take place on Fridays at 2 p.m. in the Linguistics Common Room.

  • February 13th: Nick Kalivoda on clause structure and agreement in Teotitlán del Valle Zapotec
  • February 20th: Melissa Fusco from the Berkeley philosophy department on the semantics of disjunction and sluicing
  • February 27th: Three presentations on island experiments from the students of Experimental Methods (Fall 2014)
  • March 6th: Amy Rose Deal on phase theory and relative clauses

NATIVE AMERICAN STUDIES GRADUATE STUDENT SYMPOSIUM

We’ve also been asked to get word out about the 4th Annual Native American Studies Graduate Student Symposium, which will be held at UC Davis on April 23-24. This year’s theme is Remaking the Indigenous Universe: Vision, Praxis, and Tradition, a topic that emerged from many of the conversations during the 3rd annual UC Davis Native American Studies Graduate Student symposium. This year’s symposium will reach beyond UC to include presentations from graduate student researchers from around the world who are engaged with the field of Native American/Indigenous Studies. This event is at present the only Native American/Indigenous Studies graduate student symposium in the country and it has developed an enviable reputation for providing a venue for high-quality research and for the fostering of collaborative work. The call for papers is available here.

ALUMNA INTERVIEW: ROBYN PERRY

Robyn Perry graduated with the BA in Linguistics in Spring 2008, earning Honors in the major and highest honors in Italian Studies. Having worked initially for Powerset, she embarked on a path of further training and education. We recently caught up with her and asked about her current projects and plans.

WHASC : What has been your career-path so far, Robyn, or where are you professionally at this point?

I’m in the second year of the Master of Information Management and Systems at UC Berkeley’s School of Information. Interestingly, the program ties together my linguistics background and my foray into nonprofit technology work quite nicely. Before this, I worked at the Progressive Technology Project, a small organization that supports grassroots organizing groups and their needs, through technology and communications. While at the School of Information, I’ve focused on getting better at data analysis in many domains. I’m particularly interested in developing tools that enable more informed civic participation, especially in urban settings.Continue Reading ALUMNA INTERVIEW: ROBYN PERRY

PHLUNCH

PHLUNCH is one of the longest-running and best established of the research and reading groups in the department. Meetings take place on Fridays between 12:30 and 1:30 and they provide a forum for informal discussion and reading around topical issues in phonology, phonetics, and their interaction. In the current quarter, aside from the regular meetings, PHLUNCH will host research presentations by Martin Krämer from Tromsø (January 23rd), alumna Rachel Walker from USC (on February 6th), Dan Silverman from San Jose State University on February 13th, and Arto Anttila of Stanford (on March 13th).

TORRES TALK

Julio Torres from UC Irvine will be giving a talk on Individual Differences in Prior Language Experience on Wednesday January 28th at 5pm in Humanities One, Room 202. Torres’ research focuses on cognitive approaches to the study of adult heritage and second language learning and bilingualism. The talk is sponsored by the Department of Languages and Applied Linguistics and more details (including the abstract) are available here.

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