April 2010 - BULA - ling.bu.edu lists

Reminder: "The Wild Child" 7pm tonight CAS 537C
by Paul Hagstrom 27 Apr '10

27 Apr '10

Last week of the semester, last BULA event of the semester. Tonight we'll be showing "The Wild Child"* **. 7pm CAS 537C You can RSVP at the Facebook event http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=111372182218624 *It starts at 7. It's an hour and a half long. You should still be able to get back to your TV before "Lost". **I will bring "The Linguists" also and if the sense of the room is that this should be shown instead, we may do that. We didn't wind up screening it last week due to an attendance malfunction. "The Wild Child" (L'enfant sauvage) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wild_Child One summer day in 1798, a naked boy eleven or twelve years of age (Jean-Pierre Cargol) is found in a forest in the rural district of Aveyron in southern France. Living like a wild animal and unable to speak or understand language, the child has apparently grown up in solitude in the forest since an early age. He is brought to Paris and initially placed in a school for "deaf-mutes". Dr. Jean Marc Gaspard Itard (François Truffaut) observes the boy and believes that he is neither deaf nor, as some of his colleagues do, an "idiot". Itard thinks the boy's behavior is a result of his deprived environment, and that he can be educated. Itard takes custody of the boy, whom he eventually names Victor, and removes him to his house on the outskirts of Paris. There, under the patient tutelage of the doctor and his housekeeper (Françoise Seigner), Victor gradually becomes socialized and acquires the rudiments of language.

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Reminder: "The Linguists" tomorrow 7pm CAS 537C
by Paul Hagstrom 19 Apr '10

19 Apr '10

Greeting BULA -- and a happy Patriots'/Marathon Day to you. Just a quick reminder that tomorrow evening BULA is showing "The Linguists" at 7pm in CAS 537C (Geddes Viewing Room). "The Linguists" (2008) http://thelinguists.com/ David and Greg are "The Linguists," who document languages on the verge of extinction. In the rugged landscapes of Siberia, India, and Bolivia, their resolve is tested by institutionalized racism and violent economic unrest. You can RSVP at the Facebook event: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=115864008429597 And you can keep up with BULA events here: http://bula.bu.edu/events/

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Fwd: Reminder: April MALiBU Meeting/ Talk by Dr. Aniko Csirmaz
by Paul Hagstrom 14 Apr '10

14 Apr '10

Hi BULA -- There's a talk coming up on Thursday that might be of interest to some of you. Dr. Aniko Csirmaz will be coming to give a talk at the MA Students in Linguistics at Boston University (MALIBU) meeting. There's even a paper you can read ahead of time if you wish. There will be discussion of aspect in Hungarian, and there will be pizza. 5pm Thursday, 96 Cummington St (behind Warren Towers) Room 241. -Paul Begin forwarded message: > From: Applied Linguistics <linguist(a)bu.edu> > Date: April 13, 2010 2:40:16 PM EDT > To: Applied Linguistics <linguist(a)bu.edu> > Cc: Paul Hagstrom <hagstrom(a)bu.edu> > Subject: Reminder: April MALiBU Meeting/ Talk by Dr. Aniko Csirmaz > > Hello all, > > This is just a reminder about the April MALiBU meeting, to be held this Thursday, April 15th at 5 PM in room 241, right across from the Applied Linguistics office. The meeting will feature a talk by Dr. Aniko Csirmaz from University of Utah, who will speak about aspect in Hungarian. Attached is a paper to provide you with some background for her talk. There will be pizza! > > Best, > > Katie > Program Assistant > Program in Applied Linguistics > Boston University > >

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Reminder: Cracking the Maya Code movie tonight 7pm CAS 537C
by Paul Hagstrom 13 Apr '10

13 Apr '10

A last-minute reminder of the BULA movie showing tonight: "Cracking the Maya Code" (2008) http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/mayacode/ The ancient Maya civilization of Central America left behind an intricate and mysterious hieroglyphic script, carved on monuments, painted on pottery, and drawn in handmade bark-paper books. For centuries, scholars considered it too complex ever to understand–until recently, when an ingenious series of breakthroughs finally cracked the code and unleashed a torrent of new insights into the Mayas’ turbulent past. For the first time, NOVA presents the epic inside story of how the decoding was done–traveling to the remote jungles of southern Mexico and Central America to investigate how the code was broken and what Maya writings now reveal. Other upcoming Movies (CAS 537C, 7pm) Apr 20: The Linguists Apr 27: The Wild Child (L'enfant sauvage)

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Prof. James McCloskey talk tonight 7:30pm, tomorrow 3:30pm
by Paul Hagstrom 08 Apr '10

08 Apr '10

LAST REMINDER: Prof. James McCloskey speaks tonight (part of the Geddes lecture series) at 7:30pm in KCB 101. The abstract for this talk is below. Prof. McCloskey will also be giving a talk tomorrow (sponsored by BULA), the abstract for which is also below. TODAY (Thursday Apr 8) "Sex and the Irish Language: The Cultural Politics of Language Attrition" Lecture by James McCloskey, Professor and Chair of the Linguistics Department at the University of California, Santa Cruz. A belief frequently expressed about the Irish language is that 'there are no words for sex in Irish'. This talk considers the veracity of this strange belief, tries to uncover its origins, and uses that exploration as a probe to better understand the mechanisms of language destruction. A reception follows the presentation. The "Invited Lecture" is sponsored by the James Geddes, Jr. Lecture Series. Thursday, Apr 8, 2010 7:30pm KCB Auditorium, 565 Commonwealth Avenue (KCB 101) Open to General Public Admission is free RSVP at http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=382245611264 TOMORROW (Friday Apr 9) "Yes, No, and the Construction of Finite Verbs in a VSO Language" Lecture by James McCloskey, Professor and Chair of the Linguistics Department at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Irish is one of those languages often said to lack works for 'Yes' and 'No'. Where other languages use such words, Irish instead uses so-called 'responsive forms of the verb'--single word sentences consisting only of an inflected verb. This talk addresses the following two related questions: 1. How does the grammatical device of the 'responsive' relate to the polarity particles (words like 'Yes' and 'No') found in other languages? Put differently, why is it possible to render with these single word sentences what other languages render by means of words like 'Yes' and 'No'? 2. How does this effect relate to, and interact with, the single most famous fact about Irish, namely that it is a Verb-Subject-Object language? Sponsored by the BU Undergraduate Linguistics Association; event is partially funded by the undergraduate student fee. Admission is free and open to the University community. Friday, April 9th 2010 3:30pm KCB Auditorium, 565 Commonwealth Avenue (KCB 101)* RSVP at http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=383231800427 *This event will be in KCB 101 instead of the originally advertised KCB 106, but there will be a person or sign around KCB 106 pointing at KCB 101. So head for either one, you'll wind up in the right place. YOUR VERY OWN POSTER The poster advertising both of these events (as seen by the GSU entrance) is here: http://www.bu.edu/linguistics/UG/McCloskey-lectures.pdf KEEPING UP WITH FUTURE EVENTS http://bula.bu.edu/events/ http://bula.bu.edu/ http://ling.bu.edu/events/boston

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