Naomi and Maya guest talk for U of T Student Life

Naomi Nagy (faculty) and collaborator Maya Abtahian (University of Rochester) are presenting a talk and question-and-answer session online on Wednesday, August 26, from 1-2 PM Eastern time, for the Stories Through Research series being held by the U of T Student Life's Innovation Hub: "Our Languages, Our Lives, and the Global Pandemic."

We all have experienced some disruption in our daily lives as a result of the pandemic, and although we can make predictions, only time will tell which disruptions will lead to long-term change. Linguists who study language change already pay attention to the relationship between short-term variation and long-term change. We already know that relatively minor disruptions in communication patterns and networks can lead to major shifts in language ecologies (the languages we speak and the people with whom and places where we speak them). As COVID-19 spread around the world, the question that occurred to us was this: How do disruptions related to the COVID lockdown affect multilingual students' language ecologies? Does it change how often we use the languages we know? And/or the contexts in which we use certain languages? 

Note that registration is required; those interested can either follow the 'Register Here' link at the bottom of this page or go directly to Eventbrite.

Department of Linguistics statement regarding current events

On behalf of the faculty of the Department of Linguistics at the University of Toronto, Nathan Sanders (faculty) offers this message to the members of our linguistics community:

We are outraged and saddened by the continuing racist violence and abuses of power against racialized groups in the United States, Canada, and throughout the world, especially the long history of police brutality against Black people and Black communities that has once again gained worldwide attention. The faculty of the Department of Linguistics at the University of Toronto declare our explicit support for the Black Lives Matter movement and other networks that are working to end unjust power structures and the racism that drives them.

We believe it is also important to recognize our department's shortcomings on these issues and the need to redress them. The small number of Black scholars and students in the field of linguistics is a pervasive problem, and we acknowledge that we can do better with Black representation in our department and with fighting anti-Black racism more broadly. We have taken small steps, such as ongoing changes to our curriculum and applying for institutional opportunities such as the Provost Postdoctoral Fellowship for Black and Indigenous scholars, but there is much more uncomfortable work we need to do. As we make plans to put that work into action, we welcome voices from our community and beyond about how we as a department can best enact positive change.

Please consider joining some of the upcoming events sponsored by the Anti-Racism and Cultural Diversity Office to help further much needed discussion and action: https://antiracism.utoronto.ca/reflect-restore-action/

For more information and resources on the important role of linguistics in racial justice, see the following statement from the Linguistic Society of America: https://www.linguisticsociety.org/news/2020/06/03/lsa-issues-statement-racial-justice

Research Groups: Friday, March 20

Each of the research group meetings this week has been cancelled. The few that will be going ahead in subsequent weeks are those that are required for graduate students' progression through the Generals Paper stages. These will be held digitally. Watch for more details to follow.

Departmental scheduling rearrangements

Undergraduate and graduate classes in the Department of Linguistics are cancelled from now until the end of the semester; teaching material will be disseminated online. We will no longer be holding our Undergraduate Graduation Lunch (March 16) or End-of-Term Party (March 27).

These workshops/conferences are postponed until further notice: the Toronto-Ottawa-Montreal Semantics Workshop (TOM 13) (March 21), the 3rd Buffalo-Toronto Workshop (April 4), and the Workshop on Agreement in Copular Clauses (April 8-9).

The visit of one of our remaining planned guest speakers, Pollet Samvelian (Université Paris III - Sorbonne Nouvelle), has been cancelled. That of another, Heejeong Ko (Seoul National University) has been postponed. The other guest speakers will be presenting their work from a distance via digital platform.

Thank you for your patience and efforts in a challenging time.

Construction zone

Renovations are currently occurring in our library area outside the main office. For the short term, please excuse the disruption. For the long term, please watch out for brand-new walls and doors.

Report from NACIL 2

The Second North American Conference on Iranian Languages took place at the University of Arizona from April 19 to 21. Unfortunately, the American border is currently closed to those who have only an Iranian passport, so some of those taking part (including two members of our department) had to join in via Skype. Given the situation, Noam Chomsky (University of Arizona/Massachusetts Institute of Technology) addressed the attendees twice: once on syntax and once on current U.S.-Iranian relations.

Arsalan Kahnemuyipour (faculty) presented a keynote speech: "The CP-vP parallelism: Evidence from (some) Iranian languages." Note that a recording of Arsalan's talk can be found here. Thanks to the NACIL2 photographers for taking and sharing this image!

Also notably, Breanna Pratley (BA) presented "The importance of methodological choices in the typology of uncommon phenomena: A Gilaki case study."

Well done to the organisers and to everyone who participated – whether on-site or from a distance.

Department office now open again

A routine replacement of a lightbulb in the office yesterday unexpectedly brought down part of the ceiling. This necessitated an immediate and thorough check from Environmental Health & Safety, on top of the usual repair and cleanup. We have now been given the all-clear and the office has reopened. If anyone has any concerns or questions, please direct them to Jennifer. Also, please be gentle about any local claims that the sky is falling.

Department of Linguistics statement regarding the CUPE 3902 strike

This statement was adapted from the statement written by the Department of Geography and Program in Planning.

In light of the strike by members of CUPE 3902 Unit 1, members of the Department of Linguistics came together this week to discuss how the possible labor action would affect our department as a whole. We are committed in Linguistics to creating a supportive and democratic culture. We want to make a collective statement for department members to sign that acknowledges the different roles we all occupy in the university as well as the challenges we face. Our statement is a commitment to supporting each other, improving the lives of people in our department, and keeping dialogue open in what has become a contentious and divisive labor action.

We write as scholars who value the space of scholarly inquiry, pedagogical engagement, and collaboration that we have cultivated in our department. We are employed in different positions and take on different roles in the university but we share a common commitment to supporting and enhancing academic integrity and scientific inquiry. We are teachers, students and staff who strive to foster a collaborative working and learning environment. We recognize that the mission of the university cannot be met without the work that all of us do on a daily basis.

Because of this, we maintain that the working conditions of Teaching Assistants, Course Instructors, and Sessional Instructors are vital to the scholarly integrity of the university. We recognize that Teaching Assistants and many Course Instructors are also graduate students whose work and working conditions are crucial to the university and for the future of intellectual work. Many are also international students who pay higher tuition; many are responsible for dependents; and those who are outside the funded cohort rely on paid teaching work to complete their degrees.

During the strike, we continue to sustain the open and inclusive departmental space (both material and virtual) and culture we have built. We are committed to maintaining open communication and working together to address the complex issues facing the university community.

Signed,
Susana Béjar, faculty
Marisa Brook
Jack Chambers, faculty
Joanna Chociej
Emily Clare
Ailís Cournane
Radu Craioveanu
María Cristina Cuervo, faculty
Derek Denis
Aaron Dinkin, faculty
Julianne Doner
Terence Dunn
Clarissa Forbes
Shayna Gardiner
Matt Hunt Gardner
Keffyalew Gebregziabher, post-doc
Ross Godfrey
Elaine Gold, faculty
Julie Goncharov
Meg Grant, faculty
Erin Hall
Michela Ippolito, faculty
Peter Jurgec, faculty
Arsalan Kahnemuyipour, faculty
Yoonjung Kang, faculty
Alexei Kochetov, faculty
Yu-Leng Lin
Paulina Lyskawa
Ruth Maddeaux
Diane Massam, faculty
Jessica Mathie
Emilia Melara
Dan Milway
Mercedeh Mohaghegh
Philip Monahan, faculty
Alexandra Motut
Naomi Nagy, faculty
Yining Nie
Iryna Osadcha
Ana Perez-Leroux, faculty
Keren Rice, faculty
James Smith
Christopher Spahr
Sali Tagliamonte, faculty
Rebecca Tollan
Nicholas Welch, post-doc

Basement reopened!

Following the University's clean-up efforts over the weekend, the ground floor of Sidney Smith Hall is open again. Thanks, everyone, for your patience.

Basement deluge!

The ground floor and subground level of Sidney Smith Hall are in the process of drying off after a water-main break early on Thursday morning; these floors will be closed until Monday at the earliest. Classes and meetings normally held on one of these floors have been relocated, and our lab managers are investigating the extent of the water damage. Watch for announcements and signage about areas of the building that are still closed. If anyone has been left with an irrepressible desire to go swimming, the Athletic Centre across the street is recommended.