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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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Tomorrow: "Why study Elvish?" Dr. Marc Zender, CAS 326, 7pm, 4/1
by Paul Hagstrom 31 Mar '10

31 Mar '10

Just a quick reminder of tomorrow evening's talk by Dr. Marc Zender. You can RSVP at the Facebook event: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=113878285294454 "Why study Elvish?" Dr. Marc Zender (Lecturer on Anthropology, Harvard University) Thu Apr 1, 7pm CAS 326 Abstract: Beyond popular accolades and prestigious positions at powerful research institutions (which unfortunately are not at all involved), there are some practical benefits to a study of JRR Tolkien's invented languages and scripts. For one thing, they provide a challenge: poorly attested, highly restrictive in genre, and without comprehensive dictionaries and grammars. Like scholars of Gothic, Tocharian, and other fragmentary tongues known primarily (or solely) from disconnected manuscripts, students of Tolkien's languages employ the methods of comparative linguistics to decode these tongues, all of which are (carefully designed to appear to be) historically related. Further, although a philologist of distinction, it is frequently lamented that Tolkien did not publish nearly as many theoretical papers as some of his contemporaries; nonetheless, he worked for some sixty years perfecting the histories and relationships of his invented languages. In recent years, Tolkienian linguists have shown that these languages became the repositories of some of his most profound reflections on linguistics, philosophy, and the theory of translation: ample reward indeed for intrepid decipherers. You can keep up with other BULA happenings at the BULA web site http://bula.bu.edu Other upcoming events: Prof. Jim McCloskey (two talks: April 8, 7:30pm, KCB 101, "Sex and the Irish language: The cultural politics of language attrition" and April 9, 3:30pm, KCB 106, "Yes, no, and the construction of finite verbs in a VSO language") Please RSVP at the Facebook events: April 8: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=382245611264 April 9: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=383231800427 Movies (CAS 537C, 7pm) Apr 13: Cracking the Maya code Apr 20: The Linguists Apr 27: The Wild Child (L'enfant sauvage)

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Phonology Circle Reading for Thursday April 1
by Andrei Anghelescu 26 Mar '10

26 Mar '10

Hello everyone, I just wanted to remind anyone who was interested in attending that the Phonology Circle will be meeting at 5:00 in the basement of 621 Comm on Thursday the 1st. The paper we are reading will be presented by Jason Lucas, the topic is Jamaican vowels. You can find it attached to this email. Hope to see you there! best, Andrei ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: <jlucas(a)bu.edu> Date: Fri, Mar 26, 2010 at 5:12 AM Subject: Phonology Paper for April 1 To: aanghelescu(a)gmail.com Cc: sjmacken(a)bu.edu, Monica Quimby <mquimby(a)bu.edu>, Nick Danis < ndanis(a)gmail.com>, Katie Franich <kfranich(a)gmail.com>, "K. Clements" < katharine.l.clements(a)gmail.com>, bslewis(a)bu.edu, Whitney Rios <wnrios(a)bu.edu>, Anna Belew <themayor(a)bu.edu> Hello Everyone, Attached is the paper I'd like us to read for next week. I apologize for providing it so late; I had some difficulty accessing it (thanks Professor Mackenzie). See you next week, Jason. PS: Andre, last week we played with the thought of expanding the email list. If you're going to do that could you pass the paper along please? Thank you.

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Upcoming BULA events
by Paul Hagstrom 22 Mar '10

22 Mar '10

Hello BULA. I expect that many of you got paper flyers in classes announcing the many upcoming BULA and Linguistics events happening for the rest of the semester. There are lots! It's a good time to be a linguist! You can find listings for these events on the new BULA web site: http://bula.bu.edu/events/ The major upcoming events are: -Prof. Jim McCloskey (two talks: April 8, 7:30pm, KCB 101, "Sex and the Irish language: The cultural politics of language attrition" and April 9, 3:30pm, KCB 106, "Yes, no, and the construction of finite verbs in a VSO language") -Dr. Marc Zender (April 1, 7pm, CAS 326, "Why study Elvish?") On weeks when there are no talks, there will be Tuesday evening movie screenings at 7pm in CAS 537C. The next event up is on Tuesday, the first movie screening of the semester. "The mystery of the Rosetta Stone / Secrets of the hieroglyphs" These are part of a docu-drama series on Egypt produced by the BBC, which tells the story of the discovery and deciphering of the Rosetta Stone, and the competition between the English (Thomas Young) and French (Jean-François Champollion). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egypt_(TV_series)#Part_three:_Champollion Tuesday, March 23 7pm CAS 537C (Geddes Viewing Room) The movies scheduled for future Tuesdays are: Apr 13: Cracking the Maya code Apr 20: The Linguists Apr 27: The Wild Child (L'enfant sauvage) Hope to see you at these events! -Paul

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Thu Feb 18, 7pm, CAS 322, BULA meeting (and officer selection)
by Paul Hagstrom 18 Feb '10

18 Feb '10

Coming up on Thursday -- this Thursday -- Feb. 18: Thursday Feb 18 7-8pm CAS 322 Time for another BULA meeting! We're going to talk about our upcoming events, possible movie ideas, forming a BULA Dance Marathon team, and electing next year's officers. Come if you can! There is a Facebook event at which you can RSVP. Even if you don't want to RSVP, I encourage you to go to the event page and look at the picture. http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=319351226209 Also: if you are interested in being an officer but cannot make this meeting, please contact me (soon). -Paul

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Morphology talk reminder: Monday 1pm, Geddes CAS 533B
by Paul Hagstrom 24 Jan '10

24 Jan '10

Just a reminder: The second talk on morphology is coming up tomorrow (Monday). Monday 1pm Geddes/CAS 533B. The talk will be followed by an informal chat from 2-2:30pm. "Building the French Lexicon: From phonology to morphology." Short abstract: Morphology is the component of grammar assumed by many linguists to 1) describe how words are related to one another (synchronically); and 2) explain how speakers coin new words (derivation) or adapt known ones to syntactic contexts (inflection). In this talk, I illustrate how a theoretical approach to lexical connections helps us understand the patterns of word relatedness, derivation, inflection, and change that are observed in word forms. The speaker is also a candidate for a Linguistics position at BU (like the speaker last Wednesday), and we would value any thoughts or comments you have after attending the talk (these can be sent to Prof. Neidle, carol(a)bu.edu). Hope to see you there..! -Paul

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Lydia White speaking at BU, Fri Feb 5 3:00pm: The definiteness effect in second language acquisition
by Paul Hagstrom 22 Jan '10

22 Jan '10

Hello linguistics enthusiasts. Sorry for the relatively high traffic recently on the BULA mailing list, but on the positive side, there's lots going on these days to announce. Coming up in a couple of weeks, we'll be having a talk at BU by one of the leading experts in second language acquisition from a theoretical perspective (she's in fact the author of the textbook I'm using in my course this semester). The talk should be accessible to you even if you've only taken LX250, and it's a great opportunity to come hear one of the "big names" in the field speak. So, come if you can! -Paul -- The Program in Applied Linguistics at Boston University is hosting a talk by Prof. Lydia White (McGill University) on the afternoon of Friday, February 5. She will be talking about some of her current research in second language acquisition, with a focus on the "definiteness effect" in sentences like "There is a talk on Friday." A basic background in linguistics will be assumed, but will be accessible to non-specialists. If you are (or think you might be) interested in what's going on in theoretically-informed second language acquisition research, this is a great opportunity to hear about it from one of the most prominent researchers in the field today. Lydia White James McGill Professor of Linguistics McGill University, Department of Linguistics Title: The definiteness effect in second language acquisition Location: Kenmore Classroom Building, room 106 http://www.bu.edu/maps/index.php?id=751 Date: Friday, February 5 Time: 3:00-5:00pm Lydia White is James McGill Professor of Linguistics. She has a BA/MA in Moral Sciences and Psychology from Cambridge University (1969), and a PhD in Linguistics from McGill (1980). Lydia White is Co-Editor of the book series Language Acquisition and Language Disorders(published by John Benjamins) and she is on the Editorial/Advisory Boards of Applied Psycholinguistics, Language Acquisition, Second Language Research, Studies in Second Language Acquisition, and the Japanese Second Language Association. http://tinyurl.com/LydiaWhite http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lydia_White http://www.bu.edu/applied-linguistics/

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Phonology Circle
by Andrei Anghelescu 21 Jan '10

21 Jan '10

Hello, I am writing to inform any interested individuals about a new (returning!) reading group. We will be looking at a variety of phonology papers- from journal articles to dissertation excerpts. Every two weeks we will meet to discuss a reading 15-20 pages long. The topics have not been decided, so if you have a particular area you want to learn more about, don't hesitate to let me know. In general, I was thinking that Thursday nights from 4-6ish would be a good time to hold meetings (the 10th is an aberration in this respect). If you are interested but these times don't work, let me know about that as well. Tentative meeting dates: Thursday January 28th Organizational meeting -1st reading decided Wednesday February 10th 1st reading meeting -1st reading discussed best, Andrei

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Reminder: linguistics talk tomorrow Wed 1/20 1pm @CAS 533B
by Paul Hagstrom 19 Jan '10

19 Jan '10

Begin forwarded message: > From: "Carol Neidle" <carol(a)bu.edu> > Date: January 19, 2010 11:32:55 AM EST > Subject: FW: Upcoming visit by job candidate in Linguistics > > Subject: Upcoming visit by job candidate in Linguistics > > Hello again! > > Just a reminder that our first candidate for the Linguistics position > will be coming tomorrow. I hope you'll be able to join us for her > presentation and the discussion afterward. These events will take > place in the Geddes Video Studio (533B). > > Please see the attached announcement and share it with colleagues > and students who might like to attend. The attachment includes > an abstract of the talk. > > I hope to see you there, and the search committee will value your > comments afterwards. > > Thanks very much. > > Best wishes, > Carol > > > > > > Begin forwarded message: > >> Hello everyone: >> >> As you may know, we are seeking to hire an Assistant Professor >> of Linguistics with a specialization in morphology, to be based >> in the Department of Romance Studies. I am writing to report on >> the progress of the search. >> >> There will be two candidates coming to visit during the next two >> weeks. Because of scheduling constraints on the part of the >> candidates, we have been forced to move very quickly in >> arranging these visits. Although many details are still being >> worked out, I wanted to share with you without delay the >> information that is known at this point, so that you can, we hope, >> make arrangements to attend their presentations. >> >> >> Anne Pycha - http://www.sas.upenn.edu/~pycha/ >> >> Wednesday, January 20 >> >> 1 - 1:50 PM presentation (location TBA); tentative title: >> >> "Word structures that look the same >> but behave differently: Evidence from >> French adjectives" >> >> 2 - 2:30 informal conversation with the candidate >> >> >> Luc Baronian - http://www.uqac.ca/~baronian/index/home.html >> >> Monday, January 25 >> >> 1 - 1:50 PM presentation (location TBA); tentative title: >> >> "Building the French Lexicon: >> From phonology to morphology" >> >> 2 - 2:30 informal conversation with the candidate >> >> >> These talks will be intended for a relatively general audience, >> and all students and faculty who may be interested are very welcome >> to attend. Please share this information with your colleagues and >> students at BU. >> >> The search committee would appreciate any comments you may >> have -- as soon as possible after each candidate's visit. Please send >> your reactions to morph(a)louis-xiv.bu.edu or to me directly >> (carol(a)bu.edu), to be shared with the search committee. >> >> When there is more information available, I will send out >> an update. I apologize if the time of the presentation proves >> inconvenient for some of you. As you can imagine, the scheduling >> is very complicated and these were our best options, all things >> considered. We are trying to arrange for a videorecording of the >> presentation, so anyone who cannot attend but would be interested >> in viewing either of the talks should contact me, and we'll try to provide >> access for you. >> >> Thanks very much. >> >> best wishes, >> Carol >> > >

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