News

We are saddened to learn of the recent deaths of Haruo Aoki (PhD Berkeley 1965), Professor Emeritus of East Asian Languages and Cultures at UC Berkeley; and Terrence Kaufman (PhD Berkeley 1963), Professor Emeritus of Linguistics and Anthropology at the University of Pittsburgh. Aoki was an authority on Nez Perce, the author of a grammar and dictionary of the language and the editor of two Nez Perce text volumes. Kaufman was one of the foremost specialists in Mesoamerican Indigenous languages and a significant historical linguist. For more information about their lives and accomplishments see this Facebook post.

Congratulations to Mairi McLaughlin who just guest edited a special issue of L2 Journal on the Future of Translation in Higher Education.

In and around the linguistics department in the next week:

• Fieldwork Forum - Wednesday Mar 9 - Dwinelle 1303 and Zoom (p/w fforum) - 3:10-4pm
  Joshua Birchall (University of New Mexico): Producing community-oriented language materials with Markdown.
• Phorum - Friday Mar 4 - Zoom only - 1-2pm
  Andrew Cheng (Simon Fraser University; PhD 2020): Measuring creak in novel words in Infant- and Adult-Directed Speech.
• Phorum - Friday Mar 11 - Dwinelle 1303 and Zoom - 12-1pm (note the time)
  Ryan Bennett (UC Santa Cruz): Prosodic smothering is idiosyncratic and lexical.
• Sociolinguistics Lab at Berkeley - Wednesday Mar 9 - Dwinelle 5125 and Zoom - 3-4pm
  Discussion of Davidson 2022.
  Please contact Ben Papadopoulos for more information or to be added to the SLaB mailing list.
• Syntax and Semantics Circle - Friday Mar 4 - 1303 Dwinelle and Zoom - 3-4:30pm
  Wesley dos Santos (UC Berkeley): Reassessing Tupí-Guaraní "nominalizers" through Kawahíva.
• Syntax and Semantics Circle - Friday Mar 11 - 1303 Dwinelle and Zoom - 3-4:30pm
  Selikem Gotah (NYU): On the Syntax of Tongugbe (Ewe) Nyá-constructions.
• Zoom Phonology - Friday Mar 4 - Zoom - 9am
  Karee Garvin (University of Delaware; PhD 2021): Constraining place of articulation effects in phonotactic distribution.
  For the Zoom link or to be added to the Zoom Phonology mailing list, contact Karee Garvin.

Congratulations to Martha Schwarz, who successfully applied for a departmental Graduate Diversity Pilot summer grant to become certified in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL)!

Annie Helms, Gabriella Licata, and Rachel Weiher's article "Influence of orthography in production and perception of /b/ in US Spanish" has just been published in Estudios de Fonética Experimental. Congrats, all!

In and around the linguistics department in the next week:

• Fieldwork Forum - Wednesday Mar 2 - Dwinelle 1303 and Zoom (p/w fforum) - 3:10-4pm
  Peter Jenks (UC Berkeley): Interrogating the "field" -- a discussion on the term "fieldwork," critique, and its future.
• Phorum - Friday Feb 25 - Zoom only - 1-2pm
  John Starr (Cornell): A first look at mind rhymes.
• Phorum - Friday Mar 4 - Zoom only - 1-2pm
  Andrew Cheng (Simon Fraser University; PhD 2020): Measuring creak in novel words in Infant- and Adult-Directed Speech.
• Syntax and Semantics Circle - Friday Feb 25 - 1303 Dwinelle and Zoom - 3-4:30pm
  Márta Abrusán (Institut Jean Nicod): Varieties of Perspective Shift: Protagonist Projection vs. Free Indirect Discourse.
• Syntax and Semantics Circle - Friday Mar 4 - 1303 Dwinelle and Zoom - 3-4:30pm
  Wesley dos Santos (UC Berkeley): Reassessing Tupí-Guaraní "nominalizers" through Kawahíva.
• Zoom Phonology - Friday Mar 4 - Zoom - 9am
  Karee Garvin (University of Delaware; PhD 2021): Constraining place of articulation effects in phonotactic distribution.
  For the Zoom link or to be added to the Zoom Phonology mailing list, contact Karee Garvin.

Congrats to Ben Papadopoulos, who has just published an article titled "A Brief History of Gender-Inclusive Spanish" in the Italian feminist journal Deportate, esuli, profughe 'Deported, exiled, refugee (women).' Ben wrote the article in both English and gender-inclusive Spanish (in the x gender), and the journal has published both versions.

The Department of Linguistics at UC Berkeley is seeking a lecturer in Phonetics. The job ad and link to apply are available here: https://aprecruit.berkeley.edu/JPF03347

Congratulations to Maksymilian Dąbkowski, whose article "Dominance is non-representational: Evidence from A'ingae verbal stress" has just been published in Phonology!

In and around the linguistics department in the next week:

• Fieldwork Forum - Wednesday Feb 23 - Dwinelle 1303 and Zoom (p/w fforum) - 3:10-4pm
  Gabriel Gallinate (UT Austin): Venting and shielding as represented in writing systems: The case of three languages of the Bolivian Amazon.
• Language, Computation, and Cognition Reading Group - Friday Feb 25 - Zoom - 10-11am
  Discussion of Trott & Bergen 2020. Contact Noah Hermalin for more information.
• Phorum - Friday Feb 18 - Dwinelle 1303 and Zoom - 1-2pm
  Maksymilian Dąbkowski (UC Berkeley): A Q-Theoretic solution to A'ingae postlabial raising.
• Phorum - Friday Feb 25 - Zoom only - 1-2pm
  John Starr (Cornell): A first look at mind rhymes.
• Sociolinguistics Lab at Berkeley - Wednesday Feb 23 - Dwinelle 5125 and Zoom - 3-4pm
  Discussion of Burnett & Pozniak 2021
  Please contact Ben Papadopoulos for more information or to be added to the SLaB mailing list.
• Syntax and Semantics Circle - Friday Feb 18 - 1303 Dwinelle and Zoom - 3-4:30pm
  Yurika Aonuki (UBC): Relative pronominal tense in Gitksan and Japanese.
• Syntax and Semantics Circle - Friday Feb 25 - 1303 Dwinelle and Zoom - 3-4:30pm
  Márta Abrusán (Institut Jean Nicod): Varieties of Perspective Shift: Protagonist Projection vs. Free Indirect Discourse.
• Zoom Phonology - Friday Feb 18 - Zoom - 9am
  Larry M. Hyman (UC Berkeley) and Mwambi G. Mbûûi (Graduate Theological Union): Dahl's Law in two Bantu Languages. Part I: Tiania.
  For the Zoom link or to be added to the Zoom Phonology mailing list, contact Karee Garvin.

In and around the linguistics department in the next week:

• Fieldwork Forum - Wednesday Feb 16 - Dwinelle 1303 and Zoom (p/w fforum) - 3:10-4pm
  Lise Dobrin (UVA): Is the aim accuracy or insight? Transcribers as cultural and linguistic filters.
• Phorum - Friday Feb 11 - Dwinelle 1303 and Zoom - 1-2pm
  Josefina Bittar (UC Santa Cruz): Borrowing of Mental Event Verbs from Spanish to Guaraní.
• Phorum - Friday Feb 18 - Dwinelle 1303 and Zoom - 1-2pm
  Maksymilian Dąbkowski (UC Berkeley): A Q-Theoretic solution to A'ingae postlabial raising.
• ProD* - Friday Feb 11 - Zoom - 2-3pm
  A conversation with Alice Shen (PhD 2020), an analytical linguist at Grammarly, about her career path, how she uses her PhD training in her work now, among other topics.
  *Professional development seminar for grad students, postdocs, and faculty. If you would like to opt in to the ProD mailing list, please let Susanne Gahl know.
• Syntax and Semantics Circle - Friday Feb 11 - 1303 Dwinelle and Zoom - 3-4:30pm
  Andrew Garrett and Erik H. Maier (UC Berkeley): How to do things with birds: The pragmatics of lexical and syntactic choice in early Karuk narrative texts.
• Syntax and Semantics Circle - Friday Feb 18 - 1303 Dwinelle and Zoom - 3-4:30pm
  Yurika Aonuki (UBC): Relative pronominal tense in Gitksan and Japanese.
• Zoom Phonology - Friday Feb 18 - Zoom - 9am
  Larry M. Hyman (UC Berkeley) and Mwambi G. Mbûûi (Graduate Theological Union): Dahl's Law in two Bantu Languages. Part I: Tiania.
  For the Zoom link or to be added to the Zoom Phonology mailing list, contact Karee Garvin.

In and around the linguistics department in the next week:

• Linguistics Department Colloquium - Monday Feb 7 - Zoom - 3:10-4:30pm
  Anna Belew (Endangered Languages Project & University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa): Ten Years Beyond the Ancestral Code: Growing Into a Model for Sociolinguistic Documentation.
• Fieldwork Forum - Wednesday Feb 9 - Dwinelle 1303 and Zoom (p/w fforum) - 3:10-4pm
  Elizabeth Wood (UT Austin): Describing complexity in naturalistic speech data: Status suffixes in Chichicastenango K’iche’.
• Language Revitalization Working Group - Wednesday Feb 9 - Dwinelle 1303 and Zoom - 4-5pm
  Janet Chávez Santiago (Teotitlán del Valle Zapotec): Enjoying the Zapotec language and culture: experiences in creating sources and teaching Dixza.
• Phorum - Friday Feb 4 - Dwinelle 1303 and Zoom - 1-2pm
  Richard Bibbs (UC Santa Cruz): Perceptually-grounded contrast licensing by laryngeals in Chamorro.
• Phorum - Friday Feb 11 - Dwinelle 1303 and Zoom - 1-2pm
  Josefina Bittar (UC Santa Cruz): Borrowing of Mental Event Verbs from Spanish to Guaraní.
• Sociolinguistics Lab at Berkeley - Wednesday Feb 9 - Dwinelle 5125 and Zoom - 3-4pm
  Discussion of Rodríguez Louro & Collard 2021
  Please contact Ben Papadopoulos for more information or to be added to the SLaB mailing list.
• Syntax and Semantics Circle - Friday Feb 4 - 1303 Dwinelle and Zoom - 3-4:30pm
  Round Robin
• Syntax and Semantics Circle - Friday Feb 11 - 1303 Dwinelle and Zoom - 3-4:30pm
  Andrew Garrett and Erik H. Maier (UC Berkeley): How to do things with birds: The pragmatics of lexical and syntactic choice in early Karuk narrative texts.
• Zoom Phonology - Friday Feb 4 - Zoom - 9am
  Round Robin
  For the Zoom link or to be added to the Zoom Phonology mailing list, contact Karee Garvin.

The 2021-2022 colloquium series continues on Monday, February 7, with a talk by Anna Belew (Endangered Languages Project & University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa), held via Zoom (passcode: 956577) at 3:10pm. The talk is entitled "Ten Years Beyond the Ancestral Code: Growing Into a Model for Sociolinguistic Documentation," and the abstract is as follows:

Reflecting on the ten years since the 2012 Workshop on Sociolinguistic Documentation in Sub-Saharan Africa, this talk will explore work and ideas at the intersection of language documentation, revitalization, and sociolinguistics. Documentary linguistics has traditionally focused on describing and recording the structure of a single lexico-grammatical code (or bounded "language"). However, as argued by Childs, Good, and Mitchell (2014), in their report on the aforementioned 2012 workshop, the documentation of sociolinguistic contexts is equally crucial - especially since these contexts are generally more fragile, and more endangered, than languages themselves. This talk will share findings from the author's sociolinguistic documentation work in Iyasa-speaking communities in Cameroon; explore the challenges of forging viable, useful, and ethical paths in this relatively new field of study; reflect on how sociolinguistic documentation can lead to better language revitalization planning; and share lessons learned and suggestions for others interested in this type of work. Finally, this talk will touch on how the skills and knowledge of documentary and/or sociolinguists can be applied to career paths outside of academia.

In and around the linguistics department in the next week:

• Phorum - Friday Jan 28 - Zoom - 1-2pm
  Anna Björklund (UC Berkeley): Nomlaki Vowel Quality and Duration: An Archival Examination.
  Note: Due to scheduling conflicts in the department, the organizers have decided to move Phorum to Fridays at 1pm for the rest of the semester.
• Phorum - Friday Feb 4 - Dwinelle 1303 and Zoom - 1-2pm
  Richard Bibbs (UC Santa Cruz): Perceptually-grounded contrast licensing by laryngeals in Chamorro.
• Sociolinguistics Lab at Berkeley - Wednesday Feb 2 - Dwinelle 5125 and Zoom - 3-4pm
  Spring organizational meeting
  Please contact Ben Papadopoulos for more information or to be added to the SLaB mailing list.
• Syntax and Semantics Circle - Friday Jan 28 - Zoom - 3-4:30pm
  Tatiana Bondarenko (MIT): Two paths to clausal embedding.
• Syntax and Semantics Circle - Friday Feb 4 - 1303 Dwinelle and Zoom - 3-4:30pm
  Round Robin

Congratulations to the new principal of Bowles Hall, Gašper Beguš!

Wesley dos Santos presented at the Society for the Study of the Indigenous Languages of the Americas (SSILA) last Sunday, January 23. The slides for his talk, "For a Realis and Irrealis Account of Ko and Po in Kawahíva," are available here.

A chapter by Christine Beier and Lev Michael entitled "Managing Lexicography Data" appears in the new Open Handbook of Linguistic Data Management (MIT Press). All 56 chapters of the handbook, which span a tremendous range of topics, are available free online. Check it out!

In and around the linguistics department in the next week:

• Linguistics Department Colloquium - Monday Jan 24 - Zoom - 3:10-5pm
  Melissa Baese-Berk (Oregon): Factors influencing non-native perception and learning.
• Phorum - Friday Jan 21 - Zoom - 12-1pm
  Kie Zuraw (UCLA) and Paolo Roca: OPM Rhythms.
• Syntax and Semantics Circle - Friday Jan 21 - Zoom - 3-4:30pm
  Deniz Satik (Harvard): The infinitive size generalization.
• Syntax and Semantics Circle - Friday Jan 28 - Zoom - 3-4:30pm
  Tatiana Bondarenko (MIT): TBA.