WHAT'S HAPPENING AT SANTA CRUZ

Prominently featured in the Fall 2007 issue of the UC Santa Cruz Review is Judith Aissen. The article “Saving Endangered Languages” is devoted to language endangerment, Judith’s linguistic research on Tzotzil, and her involvement in teaching speakers of Mayan languages in Mexico and Guatemala how to analyze and help preserve their languages. Also in the same issue is an article about Yi Zhang, an assistant professor of computer science whose research on information retrieval from massive data bases has involved several Linguistics grads. The current issue of the Review is not yet online; watch for it here.

Thorbjörg Hróarsdóttir joins the Linguistics Department as an LRC visitor for 2007-08. Thorbjörg’s B.A. and M.A. are from the University of Iceland, Reykjavik; her PhD is (1999) from the University of Tromsø in Norway. Since 2005, she has been a Researcher in the Department of Language and Linguistics at University of Tromsø, and affiliated with Tromsø’s Center for Advanced Study in Theoretical Linguistics (CASTL), where she leads a 6-year project on Syntactic Architecture funded by the Norwegian Research Council. The project aims to test current theories of syntax against empirical evidence from OV languages, Scandinavian syntactic systems, and syntactic change. She is the author of Word Order Change in Scandinavian: From OV to VO (John Benjamins, 2000) as well as articles on syntactic change and on the syntax of Scandinavian languages. Thorbjörg’s office is Stevenson 239. Please welcome her and her family.

Alum Eduardo Neal (B.A., 2007) climbed Mount Kilimanjaro this summer. He reports:

Uhuru Peak sits at the top of Mt Kilimanjaro at 725 million miles above sea level–or so it would seem from the descriptions I had heard from people who had never been there, but who knew someone who knew someone… The mountain is the tallest one that is not part of a range and it is the highest point in Africa. As many of you know, Uhuru Peak used to be invisible to the naked eye. Until relatively recently it was covered by the glacier that has now retreated and currently only covers part of the mountain. The climb is extended over a period of at least 5 days for acclimatization (I took the customary 6). The easiest route, Morangu (also known as the Coca Cola route) is surprisingly gradual, but I’m afraid it also means long hiking days. The route I took, Rongai, is the next one up in difficulty and rewards you with short days and nice long rests.

Regardless of the route taken, summit day starts at midnight. This is so that the scree under your boots is frozen and you can get to the rim of the crater (Gilman’s point) in a reasonable five hours (???!!!). From there, another 1.5 hours to the highest point at Uhuru, just in time to watch the sunrise.

At first, I set sight on the big dark, barely visible shape of a distant mountain above. The big prize. After a couple of hours I had to stop looking at it because it was clearly not getting any closer. At this point the top was no longer my goal. Gradually, the big prize had become placing my foot where Betuel, my guide, had just put his. It was awful. But at no point was there even a question that I would make it. Not submitting was not an option. And right on schedule, at about 6:30 am, there I was, looking at the sunrise from the top of Africa. I have never seen a more beautiful thing (nor worked so hard to get it).

Junko Ito has recently become an editor of Natural Language and Linguistic Theory (joining Michael Kenstowicz as one of the two p-side editors). But UCSC linguists on the s-side need not feel abandoned; one of Junko’s fellow editors is UCSD’s John Moore (UCSC Ph.D., 1991).

The aim of Natural Language and Linguistic Theory is to provide “a forum for the discussion of theoretical research that pays close attention to natural language data. The journal actively seeks to bridge the gap between descriptive work and work of a highly theoretical, less empirically oriented nature.”

The NLLT editors have recently announced that in addition to full-length articles and reviews, the journal will also open a platform for short squibs and discussion pieces.

Armin Mester is co-editor (with Ellen Woolford) of Advances in Optimality Theory, a new series produced by the London-based Equinox Publishing which aims to provide a central outlet for new work in OT. Contributions in phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, and other subfields of linguistics are all welcome. The series is open to a broad variety of research and pedagogical projects, including studies with a broad typological focus, studies dedicated to the detailed analysis of individual languages, and studies on the nature of Optimality Theory itself.

The first volume of the series Hidden Generalizations, by John McCarthy, appeared in April 2007. It develops a radically new conception (“Chain Theory”) of what an output candidate in OT consists of, and argues that the revised theory solves the problems raised by phonological opacity. Further planned volumes of the series include a monograph on “Elsewhere” in phonology by Eric Bakovic (UCSC B.A., 1993).

The Department of Linguistics & Philosophy at MIT invites applications for a tenure-track position at the assistant professor level, starting September 1, 2008. The appointment will be made in the area of syntax or semantics. A simultaneous research and teaching interest in the other area is a strong plus. Also desirable is work on morphology, fieldwork on underdescribed languages, or research using experimental methods. For the details, go here. The application deadline is December 1, 2007.

The Department of Linguistics at Stanford University announces a a full-time tenure-track position at the assistant professor level (starting date: September 1, 2008), as one in a series of anticipated appointments. Applications are invited in any area of linguistics. The department particularly values research which integrates insights from different subfields of linguistics and from other disciplines, bringing a variety of types of evidence to bear on the development of theories of language and language use. For further details, go here.