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Sesquipedalian, Volume III, Number 28
The SESQUIPEDALIAN WEEKLY HERALD Volume III, Number 28
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April 29, 1993
HOW TO DO IT
This week: How to hunt elephants
MATHEMATICIANS hunt elephants by going to Africa, throwing out
everything that is not an elephant, and catching one of whatever is
left. Experienced mathematicians will attempt to prove the existence
of at least one unique elephant before proceeding to step 1 as a
subordinate excercise. Professors of mathematics will prove the
existence of at least one unique elephant and then leave the detection
and capture of an actual elephant as an excercise for their graduate
students.
COMPUTER SCIENTISTS hunt elephants by excercising Algorithm A:
1. Go to Africa.
2. Start at the Cape of Good Hope.
3. Work northward in an orderly manner, traversing the
continent alternately East and West.
4. During each traverse pass:
a. Catch each animal seen;
b. Compare each animal caught to known elephant;
c. Stop when a match is detected.
Experienced computer programmers modify Algorithm A by placing a known
elephant in Cairo to ensure that the algorithm will terminate.
Assembly language programmers prefer to execute Algorithm A on their
hands and knees.
ENGINEERS hunt elephants by going to Africa, catching gray animals at
random, and stopping when any one of them weighs within plus or minus
15% of any previously observed elephant.
STATISTICIANS hunt the first animal they see N times and call it an
elephant.
ECONOMISTS don't hunt elephants, but they believe that if elephants
are paid enough, they will hunt themselves.
SALESPEOPLE don't hunt elephants but sell elephants they haven't
caught, for delivery two days before season opens. Software
salespeople ship the first thing they catch and write up an invoice
for an elephant. Hardware salespeople catch rabbits, paint them grey,
and sell them as Desktop Elephants.
-/-/-/ LOOK WHO'S TALKING /-/-/-
-- John Rickford presented a paper, 'Concord and Conflict in the
Speech Community,' at the 1993 Dean's Symposium, Division of Social
Sciences, University of Chicago, April 16, 1993. This year's theme
was 'Cooperation and Competition in the Social Sciences,' and John was
one of four featured speakers. The paper was discussed by Salikoko
Mufwene (Linguistics, University of Chicago).
-- Friday, April 30, Katalin E. Kiss (Hungarian Academy of
Sciences/CASBS, Stanford) presents 'Genericity, predication, and
focus' at the UC Santa Cruz Linguistics Colloquium (Crown Senior
Common Room). The talk will discuss the syntax and the
syntax-semantics interface of genericity in Hungarian against the
background of Diesing's theory. The talk will challenge Diesing's
claim that the capability of a predicate to make inclusive or
non-inclusive reference to kinds is determined by the individual-level
or stage-level character of the predicate.
-- LOOK WHO'S LEAVING: John McWhorter has received the Berkeley
Chancellor's Postdoctoral Fellowship, and will be spending next year
at Berkeley writing, reading, and thinking, before he transmigrates to
the Cornell University faculty in the fall of 1994.
-/-/-/ CALL FOR PAPERS /-/-/-
-- GALA: GENERATIVE APPROACHES TO LANGUAGE ACQUISITION (17-19
September 1993, UNIVERSITY OF DURHAM, ENGLAND). The conference aims
to bring together research within a generative framework on first
language development, second language development, signed language
development, and impaired language development. Abstracts are invited
on all aspects of language acquisition concerned with the relation
between development and linguistic theory, including but not limited
to syntax, phonology, morphology, the lexicon and semantics--as well
as the interfaces. Papers will be 30 minutes followed by a 10-minute
discussion session.
Guest Speakers: Prof. Juergen Meisel, University of Hamburg
Prof. Ken Wexler, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Prof. Lydia White, McGill University
Those interested in presenting a paper should send 4 copies of a one-page
abstract (3 anonymous; 1 camera-ready, with name(s) and affiliation(s)) to:
GALA 1993 Coordinators
School of English and Linguistics
University of Durham
Elvet Riverside
New Elvet
Durham DH1 3JT
ENGLAND
Please also include a 3" x 5" card containing the following information:
a. author(s) d. address g. fax j. summer e-mail
b. affiliation(s) e. phone h. summer address k. summer fax
c. title of paper f. e-mail i. summer phone l. audiovisual needs
GALA will provide bed and breakfast for all speakers during the conference.
Several awards towards travel and expenses will be granted to selected 1994
applicants to the Ph.D. programs in Linguistics at the University of Durham.
For information and Ph.D. application forms, write to the address above.
* GALA is the follow-up to the 1991 "Crossing Boundaries" conference *
* on language development held in Tuebingen, sister-city of Durham, *
* and is sponsored by the University of Durham. Organizing Committee: *
* Joseph Emonds (Durham), Bonnie D. Schwartz (Durham), Rosemarie Tracy *
* (Tuebingen) and Martha Young-Scholten (Durham). Queries should be *
* sent to the above mailing address or: *
* e-mail: Durham.Linguistics@durham.ac.uk *
* phone: (44-91) 374-2315; (44-91) 374-2643 *
* fax: (44-91) 374-7471 *
DEADLINE FOR RECEIPT OF ABSTRACTS: *POSTMARKED* BY 15 JUNE 1993.
Notification of acceptance to be sent by 15 July. Durham is a
picturesque, historic town on the River Wear, served by direct
rail links with London (3 hrs), Edinburgh (2 hrs) and Newcastle (15 mins).
-- CONFERENCE ON LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT: The 18th Annual Boston
University Conference on Language Development (January 7 and 8, 1994),
to be held jointly with the LSA meeting in Boston. Topic: FIRST AND
SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION. All topics in the field of language
acquisition will be fully considered, including:
Bilingualism Literacy
Cognition & Language Narrative
Creoles & Pidgins Neurolinguistics
Discourse Pragmatics
Exceptional Language Pre-linguistic Development
Input & Interaction Signed Languages
Language Disorders Sociolinguistics
Lexicon Speech Perception & Production
Linguistic Theory (Syntax, Semantics, Phonology, Morphology)
REQUIREMENTS 1) Original Research that has never been presented or published
2) 450-word summary for anonymous review
3) Short abstract (to appear in the LSA handbook)
SUBMIT 1) One 3 x 5 card stating:
i) Title, ii) Topic area, iii) audiovisual requests, and
iv) for EACH author:
a) Full Name c) Address e) E-mail address
b) Affiliation d) Phone number f) Fax number
2) Six copies of the anonymous summary, clearly titled
3) Two copies of the short abstract, which MUST BE SUBMITTED
ON THE OFFICIAL LSA ABSTRACT FORM, although the form may
be duplicated. If you need a copy of this form
(with the rectangle in which the camera-ready abstract
is to be placed), we will be happy to send you one.
Presentations will be 20 minutes long, plus 10 minutes for questions.
IMPORTANT*: We will be unable to accept more than one submission per author.
(This includes abstracts with multiple authors.)
Overhead projectors will be available for all sessions. Carousel slide,
cassette tape records, or reel-to-reel recorder can also be provided,
if your request accompanies your submission. If you require a VCR or
other equipment and are willing to cover the costs that the LSA will
incur for rental of equipment, please specify this on your index card.
DEADLINE: All submissions must be RECEIVED by July 31, 1993*.
Send submissions to:
Boston University Telephone: (617) 353-3085
Conference on Language Development Fax: (617) 353-6218
138 Mountfort Street E-mail: langconf@louis-xiv.bu.edu
Boston, MA 02215 U.S.A. (WE ARE NOT ABLE TO ACCEPT ABSTRACT
SUBMISSIONS BY FAX OR E-MAIL.)
Please include self-addressed, stamped postcard for acknowledgment of
receipt. Notification of acceptance or rejection will be sent by
September 30. A schedule will be available as of September 30 by e-mail;
please send e-mail requests after that date to info@louis-xiv.bu.edu.
The LSA will distribute further information about the conference.
Note: All conference papers will be selected on the basis of abstracts
submitted. Unfortunately, we are unable to accommodate symposium proposals.
* Please note special dates, deadlines, and conditions for this year only.
-/-/-/ LINGUISTICS COLLOQUIUM /-/-/-
This Friday, 4/30, Whitney Tabor presents his dissertation proposal in
Cordura 100, 3:30. Happy hour to follow.
Toward a Constrained Analogical Theory of Language Change
In one type of language change, a word or phrase alters its
category membership. For example, the expression "sort of" in English
used to be analyzable only as a Noun-Preposition sequence (e.g., this
sort of brick). But in Modern English, it can also be used as a
Degree Modifier (e.g., it's sort of red-colored; we sort of scrubbed
it off).
The standard generative account of such changes holds that
they happen in two stages: first, the grammar changes underlyingly,
giving rise to the new classification of the form ("reanalysis");
then, the form spreads to new environments licensed by its new
analysis ("rule generalization" or "analogical spread"; e.g.,
Timberlake 1977, Hopper and Traugott 1993). But the notion of
reanalysis is problematic: many potential reanlayses do not occur (eg.
* we type of scrubbed it off); and there is disagreement in the field
as to when during a series of related changes, the reanalysis occurs
(Timberlake 1977 versus Lightfoot 1979 (see also 1991)). Moreover,
the characterizations of the categories themselves have not yet shed
much light on which kinds of changes are possible. (Why is the
sequence Noun+Preposition particularly suitable for reanalysis as a
Degree Modifier?) There is an additional fact worth noting: often,
prior to time of the first clear evidence that a reanalysis has
occurred, shifts in the frequencies with which the form occurs in
various environments make it "more like" the forms it eventually
assimilates to. For example, in the case of "sort of", there was a
rise in the incidence of now-ambiguous constructions like "it's a sort
of large bird". Suppose that we make category-nature depend on these
frequentistic properties of corpora (instead of on information about
which sentences are grammatical and which are not). If we do this in
such a way that the representation of the relevant form gradually
metamorphoses into something very similar to the type it eventually
assimilates to, then we can avoid the unmotivated reanalysis step.
Instead, every event in the process is analogical---that is, motivated
by similarity to an existing form. This constitutes a simplification
of the historical theory since we need only one kind of change event
instead of two. I present a Connectionist implementation of this idea
based on work by Elman (1990, 1991) and contrast it with "variable
rule" and "competing subsystems" models (e.g., Kroch 1989, Pintzuk
1991, Taylor 1992) which let frequency-information constrain grammar
but still require events of reanalysis.
-/-/-/ PREPROFESSIONAL WORKSHOP /-/-/-
The second preprofessional workshop of the quarter will be held on
Tuesday, May 4, 12-1 pm in 200-303. Dovie Wylie (Ph.D. Linguistics,
Stanford, 1989), director of On-Site English, Training and Consulting
for Business and Industry, will talk about having a career in English
for Special Purposes in industry and business.
-/-/-/ SOCIORAP /-/-/-
Following her talks at the Unity and Diversity conference this weekend
(see last week's 'Quip for details), RUTH WODAK (University of Vienna)
will be presenting this week's sociolinguistics rap session:
'Sociolinguistics in the "Old World": Some perspectives on the
development of sociolinguistics and discourse analysis in Europe.'
When: Monday, May 3, 7.30 pm
Where: Greenberg Room (Bldg. 100, Stanford University)
-/-/-/-
Upcoming sociorap sessions:
5/11: John Rickford, Tom Wasow, Norma Mendoza-Denton, and Julie
Espinoza (Stanford): 'As far as Variation and Change in "as far as"
Constructions (is concerned)' (Joint Sociorap/Syntax Workshop)
5/18: Sigrid Mueller (Johann-Wolfgang-Goethe University of Frankfurt):
'Language, Gender, and Bureaucracy'
5/27: Whitney Tabor (Stanford).
-/-/-/ FELLOWSHIPS/ASSISTANTSHIPS /-/-/-
-- $1000 PRIZE: The Ricard S. Goldsmith Award will be awarded for the
best paper written by a Stanford student on a topic related to dispute
resolution. Student papers that relate in any way to the resolution
of conflict are eligible, because for these purposes 'dispute
resolution' will be broadly construed. Papers written for any purpose
are eligible, including seminar and course papers. Student papers may
concern disputes of any sort: between individuals, organizations, or
nations. Relevant procedures of dispute resolution may concern
judicial or adjudicatory procedures, and also alternatives such as
mediation, arbitration, and negotiation. All Stanford students,
graduate and undergraduate, may enter. Papers may be submitted by
students or by faculty members on behalf of a student, to
Richard Birke, Associate Director
Stanford Center on Conflict and Negotiation
Stanford Law School
Stanford CA 94305-8610
phone: 415/723-2574 or 723-2696
All papers must be received by Wednesday, May 12, 1993. The award
will be announced in June. The award is being coordinated by the
Stanford Center on Conflict and Negotiation.
-/-/-/ JOB ANNOUNCEMENTS /-/-/-
(NOTE ON REDUNDANCY: For fuller listings of these and other jobs,
don't forget to check the Jobs binder in the Greenberg Room, and the
file 'jobslist.txt' on the CSLI directory /user/linguistics.)
-- SOAS Lectureship in Linguistics: Applications are invited for a
lectureship in Linguistics in the Department of Linguistics. The
appointment will be effective from October 1st 1993. The department
has a requirement for a specialist in formal syntax and/or semantics
who will combine research with tuition across the spectrum of
undergraduate and graduate teaching and supervision. Ideally,
candidates should have a PhD as well as teaching experience. The
Lecturer salary scale is 13,400-24,736 pounds plus 2,134 pounds London
allowance. Application forms and further particulars may be obtained from the
Personnel Office
School of Oriental and African Studies
Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square
London WC1H 0XG
phone: 071-637-2388 ext 2234
Please telephone between 2 pm and 5 pm. Further information may also
be obtained from the Secretary of the Linguistics Department
(071-323-6332). Overseas candidates may apply directly by letter
supported by a full curriculum vitae, at least two representative
publications, and the names and addresses of three referees. Closing
date: 1 May 1993. SOAS is an equal opportunities employer.
-- COGNITIVE SCIENCE, EDINBURGH: The Centre for Cognitive Science and
the Human Communication Research Centre expect to employ two or three
additional staff on a combination of fixed-term teaching and research
contracts from September 1993. We would be very grateful to hear from
you of anyone at your institution who is likely to be available around
that time who you would recommend to us. The posts cover a range of
responsibilities including teaching of undergraduate and postgraduate
computational linguistics courses, supervising MSc projects and
contributing to research contracts in areas including robust parsing,
corpus design and collection, semantic interpretation, data-intensive
(statistically oriented) language processing and evaluation. Formal
job advertisements for these position may appear at a later date, but
interested applicants need not wait until then and may send a copy of
their CV, an outline of their teaching and/or research experience and
the names of 2 referees to
Rosemarie Bland
HCRC
2 Buccleuch Place
Edinburgh EH8 9LW
SCOTLAND
email: rosemari@cogsci.ed.ac.uk
phone: +44 31 650-4629
fax: +44 31 650-4587
-- UC DAVIS: The English as a Second Language program has possible
openings for part-time lecturer positions in Fall, Winter, and Spring
terms, 1993-94. MA in TESL, TEFL, Linguistics or English and
experience teaching composition at the post-secondary level preferred.
Fall Quarter (Sept. 27-Dec. 18), Winter Quarter (Jan. 3-March 24),
Spring Quarter (March 31-June 17). Review of applications will begin
on May 15, 1993 and the positions will remain open until filled. Send
letter of application, CV, and list of reference to
ESL Search Committee
English as a Second Language
Linguistics Program
University of California
Davis CA 95616-8685
-- NORTHWEST MISSOURI STATE UNIVERSITY (Maryville): The Department of
Speech Communication announces a faculty position vacancy to teach
basic speech classes and courses selected from public relations,
public communication, and debate according to individual's
qualifications and department needs; also to assist with the forensics
program or with PRSSA according to qualifications and department
needs. MA/MS/ABD status in speech communication, successful
collegiate teaching experience required. Ph.D.: Successful full-time
collegiate teaching, evidence of scholarly productivity desired.
Position is at the rank of Instructor or Assistant Professor according
to qualifications; doctorate required for tenure-track position;
salary determined by qualifications and institution's market- and
discipline-based salary matrix. Starting date: 15 August 1993.
Application deadline 3 May 1993. Send letter of application, CV,
transcripts from all institutions at which credit has been earned, and
3 current letters of recommendation which address applicant's
qualifications for this position, to
Dr. Kathie Leeper, Chair
Department of Speech, Wells Hall 148
RE: Speech position #51803
Northwest Missouri State University
Marysville MO 64468
-- YORK UNIVERSITY: The Department of Languages, Literatures and
Linguistics invites applications for a contractually limited
(sessional) appointment at the rank of Assistant Professor or Lecturer
in Linguistics (rank dependent on qualifications), commencing July 1st
1993. The position is subject to budgetary approval by the
University. Qualifications: Ph.D. or ABD with an early projected
thesis completion date; strong research record; publications; and
demonstrable teaching ability. We are seeking a versatile candidate
with teaching expertise in most of the following areas: discourse
analysis, language disorders, phonology, second language acquisition,
syntax. The successful candidate will be sympathetic toward a broad
range of theoretical interests and approaches to linguistics.
Applicants should send CV and the names and addresses of three
referees to
Robert Drummond, Acting Chair
Department of Languages, Literature & Linguistics
York University
4700 Keele Street
North York, Ontario
M3J 1P3 CANADA
If requested to do so, candidates should be prepared to submit copies
of peer and student teaching evaluations. In accordance with Canadian
immigration requirements, this advertisement is directed to Canadian
citizens and permanent residents. Deadline for application: May 28
(NOTE ON REDUNDANCY: For fuller listings of these and other jobs,
don't forget to check the Jobs binder in the Greenberg Room, and the
file 'jobslist.txt' on the CSLI directory /user/linguistics.)
-/-/-/ NATURAL LANGUAGE SOFTWARE REGISTRY /-/-/-
There are now many natural language software projects, both commercial
and noncommercial. In order to facilitate the exchange and evaluation
of software, the Natural Language Software Registry is cataloging
projects for the community. The current version includes
+ speech signal processors, such as the Computerized Speech Lab
(Kay Electronics)
+ morphological analyzers, such as PC-KIMMO
(Summer Institute for Linguistics)
+ parsers, such as Alveytools (University of Edinburgh)
+ knowledge representation systems, such as Rhet
(University of Rochester)
+ multicomponent systems, such as ELU (ISSCO), PENMAN (ISI),
Pundit (UNISYS), SNePS (SUNY Buffalo),
+ applications programs (misc.)
If you have developed a piece of software for natural language
processing that other researchers might find useful, you can include
it by contacting the address below. If you are willing to have your
software reviewed, please send us a version. We are also interested
in reports and documentation, even for software not reviewed.
Both the document and the questionnaire can be obtained through
ftp: ftp.dfki.uni-sb.de (directory:registry, password:anonymous),
e-mail: registry@dfki.uni-sb.de
post: Natural Language Software Registry
Deutsches Forschungsinstitut fuer Kuenstliche Intelligenz (DFKI)
Stuhlsatzenhausweg 3
D-W-6600 Saarbruecken
Germany
If you have questions, please do not hesitate to drop us an email
message: Christoph Jung, Markus Vonerden
Elizabeth Hinkelman, Director
-/-/-/ INSTA-ELEPHANT /-/-/-
-- CONTEST TIME: To win this week's elephant, simply write up a brief
paragraph on 'How Linguists Hunt Elephants.' All submissions received
by this time next week will be evaluated by three impartial judges.
Select answers will appear (anonymously) next week, and best answer
wins the elephant. (Note: Jane can write on 'How Philosophers Hunt
Elephants.')
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-/-/-/ CONSERVE DISK SPACE /-/-/-
So you may delete your copy after you've read it (or better yet,
before you've read it), the Sesquipedalian Weekly Herald is stored
online both at Stanford (in directory /user/linguistics/Sesquip), and
at Berkeley (in the directory /usr/pub.) The most current issue of
the Herald can be found by typing 'help quip'.
Neither Stanford University nor the Linguistics Department, nor any of
their employees, makes any warranty, whatsoever, implied, or assumes
any legal liability or responsibility regarding any information,
disclosed, in this publication, or represents that its use would not
infringe privately owned rights. No specific reference constitutes or
implies endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by Stanford
University or the Linguistics Department, or their employees. The
views and opinions expressed herein do not necessarily reflect those
of Stanford University or the Linguistics Department, or their
employees, and shall not be used for advertising or product
endorsement purposes.
This journal printed on 100% recycled electrons
Void where prohibited
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