Post courtesy of Daphna Heller
The next meeting of the Psycholinguistics Group is this coming
Friday, April 26th @ 10:15am. Marina Sherkina-Lieber will present her work
entitled "Effects of the second language on the first in sequential
bilingual children: heritage Russian in Canada".
University of Toronto Department of Linguistics Blog
April 25, 2013
Research Groups: Syntax/Semantics (April 26/2013)
Post courtesy of Julie Doner
There will be a meeting of the syntax/semantics research group this Friday, April 26th, from 12-2 pm in SS560A. Clarissa Forbes will be presenting "Number and associativity in the Gitksan determiner system" and Elizabeth Cowper will be presenting some joint work with Daniel Currie Hall, "A neoparametric approach to variation and change in English modals."
There will be a meeting of the syntax/semantics research group this Friday, April 26th, from 12-2 pm in SS560A. Clarissa Forbes will be presenting "Number and associativity in the Gitksan determiner system" and Elizabeth Cowper will be presenting some joint work with Daniel Currie Hall, "A neoparametric approach to variation and change in English modals."
April 22, 2013
Photos of Outstanding Teaching Award Ceremony
Photo courtesy of Taylor Roberts
Here are some great pictures from the Outstanding Teaching Award ceremony held last week for Cristina Cuervo and the other award recipients. Thanks to Taylor Roberts for the photos. You can see more at the following link:
https://docs.google.com/folder/d/0B7WZwsrLkYrhd1ZTQVRkMXhxMXM/edit
Photo courtesy of Taylor Roberts
Photo courtesy of Taylor Roberts
April 19, 2013
New Phonology Professor
We are pleased to announce that Peter Jurgec will be joining our faculty as a tenure stream Assistant Professor!
Peter completed his PhD at the University of Tromsø in 2011 under the supervision of Curt Rice and Bruce Morén-Duolljá; his thesis is entitled “Feature Spreading 2.0: A Unified Theory of Assimilation”. He also completed an ScD in Linguistics at the University of Ljubljana in 2008.
Peter is currently a postdoctoral researcher at Leiden University, and he holds a Rubicon grant from The Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research for his project on the phonology of Slovenian. His research interests include feature theory, assimilation, loanwords, and tone.
Peter will be joining our department from January 1, 2014, and we look forward to having him here.
Welcome, Peter!
Peter completed his PhD at the University of Tromsø in 2011 under the supervision of Curt Rice and Bruce Morén-Duolljá; his thesis is entitled “Feature Spreading 2.0: A Unified Theory of Assimilation”. He also completed an ScD in Linguistics at the University of Ljubljana in 2008.
Peter is currently a postdoctoral researcher at Leiden University, and he holds a Rubicon grant from The Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research for his project on the phonology of Slovenian. His research interests include feature theory, assimilation, loanwords, and tone.
Peter will be joining our department from January 1, 2014, and we look forward to having him here.
Welcome, Peter!
April 12, 2013
Two new linguists at the Centre for French & Linguistics (UTSC)!
Posted courtesy of Karen McCrindle
We are delighted to announce the addition of two new faculty members to the Centre for French and Linguistics, both with a starting date of July 1, 2013.
Dr. Philip Monahan earned his Ph.D. in Linguistics from the University of Maryland in 2009. He also holds a Certificate in Neuroscience and Cognitive Science from the University of Maryland and both an M.A. and B.A. in Linguistics from the University of Florida. His work focuses on how the brain encodes phonetic information, how phonological structure is used to interpret the speech signal, and the time-course of access to morphological structure. He integrates approaches from linguistics, experimental psychology and cognitive neuroscience. Since 2010, Dr. Monahan has been a Post-doctoral Researcher at the Basque Center on Cognition, Brain and Language in Donostia-San Sebastian, Spain. Phil's appointment is in the tenure stream at the rank of Assistant Professor. He will teach linguistics and psycholinguistics courses in the CFL and will be a member of the graduate Department of Linguistics at the St. George campus.
Dr. Eri Takahashi also holds a Ph.D in Linguistics from the University of Maryland (2009). She has a Certificate of Completion from the Linguistic Society of America Summer Institute at Harvard University/Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a B.A. from the Division of Language at International Christian University in Tokyo, Japan. Dr. Takahashi's research focuses on the acquisition of syntax in children; she has worked on the acquisition of pronominal reference and has examined statistical learning mechanisms for syntax. She has Japanese language teaching certification and a broad range of teaching experiences in linguistics. Since 2010, Dr. Takahashi has worked as a Research Assistant, Lab Coordinator and Linguistics instructor at the Basque Center on Cognition, Brain and Language. Eri's appointment is in the teaching stream at the rank of Lecturer; she will teach linguistics and Japanese language courses in the CFL.
Please join us in welcoming Phil and Eri to the University of Toronto!
We are delighted to announce the addition of two new faculty members to the Centre for French and Linguistics, both with a starting date of July 1, 2013.
Dr. Philip Monahan earned his Ph.D. in Linguistics from the University of Maryland in 2009. He also holds a Certificate in Neuroscience and Cognitive Science from the University of Maryland and both an M.A. and B.A. in Linguistics from the University of Florida. His work focuses on how the brain encodes phonetic information, how phonological structure is used to interpret the speech signal, and the time-course of access to morphological structure. He integrates approaches from linguistics, experimental psychology and cognitive neuroscience. Since 2010, Dr. Monahan has been a Post-doctoral Researcher at the Basque Center on Cognition, Brain and Language in Donostia-San Sebastian, Spain. Phil's appointment is in the tenure stream at the rank of Assistant Professor. He will teach linguistics and psycholinguistics courses in the CFL and will be a member of the graduate Department of Linguistics at the St. George campus.
Dr. Eri Takahashi also holds a Ph.D in Linguistics from the University of Maryland (2009). She has a Certificate of Completion from the Linguistic Society of America Summer Institute at Harvard University/Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a B.A. from the Division of Language at International Christian University in Tokyo, Japan. Dr. Takahashi's research focuses on the acquisition of syntax in children; she has worked on the acquisition of pronominal reference and has examined statistical learning mechanisms for syntax. She has Japanese language teaching certification and a broad range of teaching experiences in linguistics. Since 2010, Dr. Takahashi has worked as a Research Assistant, Lab Coordinator and Linguistics instructor at the Basque Center on Cognition, Brain and Language. Eri's appointment is in the teaching stream at the rank of Lecturer; she will teach linguistics and Japanese language courses in the CFL.
Please join us in welcoming Phil and Eri to the University of Toronto!
Research Groups: Syntax/Semantics (April 12/2013)
Syntax project will be held this Friday, April 12th, from 12-2 in SS560A. Michela
Ippolito will be giving a talk entitled, "Counterfactuals and conditional questions
under discussion."
April 9, 2013
Interview with Sali in U of T News
This week's edition of U of T News features a more personal interview with Sali Tagliamonte, as one of U of T's recipients of this year's Killam Research Fellowships from the Canada Council for the Arts. In the interview, Sali discusses her journey into linguistics (and U of T), as well as the significance of her research and her advice for students interested in becoming sociolinguists. You can read the full article here.
April 4, 2013
Research Groups: Language Variation and Change (April 5/2013)
Posted courtesy of Marisa Brook
This week's speaker is Anastasia Riehl (Queen's University), giving us an overview of her data-collection on Wolfe Island near Kingston. We'll be in SS 560A as usual.
Our last meeting of the semester will be on the 19th, and then we of the U of T will be hosting Change and Variation in Canada 7 over the first weekend in May (http://linguistics.utoronto.
This week's speaker is Anastasia Riehl (Queen's University), giving us an overview of her data-collection on Wolfe Island near Kingston. We'll be in SS 560A as usual.
Our last meeting of the semester will be on the 19th, and then we of the U of T will be hosting Change and Variation in Canada 7 over the first weekend in May (http://linguistics.utoronto.
Research Groups: Phonetics/Phonology (April 5/2013)
Posted courtesy of Joanna Chociej
Phonetics/phonology group is scheduled to meet this Friday, April 5th at
10am in SS560A.
Yu-leng Lin will be presenting A production study on coronal sibilants of Taiwanese Mandarin.
Phil Howson is also scheduled to present.
Elaine's Language Museum in the Bulletin
| Posted courtesy of Jack Chambers The Bulletin has a very colourful spread on the new Inuit exhibit by the Canadian Language Museum. Elaine Gold's name is not prominently displayed but most of us know how much work and thought she has put into it. Her picture is there, along with lots of other people we know. http://www.languagemuseum.ca/exhibits/? |
April 1, 2013
Snapshots of Canadian Language Museum's Exhibit Opening
Please enjoy these pictures taken by Radu Craioveanu for the opening of the Canadian Language Museum's Speaking the Inuit Way exhibit!
The exhibit will be displayed in Wilson Lounge, New College until April 11, 2013. Its next stop is the Museum of Inuit Art in Toronto (April 14 - May 12, 2013). Please feel free to drop by and enjoy the exhibit while it is still here!
The exhibit will be displayed in Wilson Lounge, New College until April 11, 2013. Its next stop is the Museum of Inuit Art in Toronto (April 14 - May 12, 2013). Please feel free to drop by and enjoy the exhibit while it is still here!
March 30, 2013
Cristina Cuervo Wins Outstanding Teaching Award
We are happy to announce that Cristina Cuervo is one of the recipients of the Faculty of Arts & Science's Outstanding Teaching Awards for 2013!
This honour is awarded to faculty members who demonstrate excellence in teaching, both in their teaching methods and in their ability to engage students in analytical thinking, to create an overall positive and rewarding experience for students. Nominees for this award are nominated by students, staff, and other faculty members, and the winners are selected by the Dean's office.
Members of our department who have received this honour in previous years include alumnus Abdel-Khalig Ali (now with the Department of Near & Middle Eastern Civilization) (2012), Jack Chambers (1999), and Keren Rice (1998).
Cristina, and the other recipients of this year's award, will be honoured at a reception to be held on April 16.
Congratulations, Cristina!
GLOW 36
Several members of our department are travelling to Lund, Sweden to present at the 36th GLOW (Generative Linguistics in the Old World) colloquium, which takes place April 2-6 this year.
During the main colloquium, Christopher Spahr will be presenting "A contrastive hierarchical account of positional neutralization", and Bronwyn Bjorkman will be presenting "Accounting for the absence of coreferential subjects in TP coordination".
Will Oxford is giving a talk entitled "'Same', 'different', 'other', and the historical microsyntax of the Degree Phrase", and Elizabeth Cowper and Daniel Currie-Hall (Saint Mary's University) will be presenting "A neoparametric approach to variation and change in English modals" in the Syntactic Variation and Change workshop.
In the Diachronic Workings in Phonological Patterns workshop, Elan Dresher, Christopher Harvey, and Will Oxford will be presenting "Synchronic systems in diachronic change: The role of Contrast".
Regular members of our Syntax project will also be presenting at GLOW. Ivona Kucerova (McMaster) will be presenting her poster on "Long-Distance Agreement in Icelandic revisited: An interplay of locality and semantics", and Gabriela Alboiu (York) will be giving a talk on "Raising to Object from finite CPs: dual A/A-bar and MCC", a paper co-authored with Virginia Hill (New Brunswick–Saint John).
During the main colloquium, Christopher Spahr will be presenting "A contrastive hierarchical account of positional neutralization", and Bronwyn Bjorkman will be presenting "Accounting for the absence of coreferential subjects in TP coordination".
Will Oxford is giving a talk entitled "'Same', 'different', 'other', and the historical microsyntax of the Degree Phrase", and Elizabeth Cowper and Daniel Currie-Hall (Saint Mary's University) will be presenting "A neoparametric approach to variation and change in English modals" in the Syntactic Variation and Change workshop.
In the Diachronic Workings in Phonological Patterns workshop, Elan Dresher, Christopher Harvey, and Will Oxford will be presenting "Synchronic systems in diachronic change: The role of Contrast".
Regular members of our Syntax project will also be presenting at GLOW. Ivona Kucerova (McMaster) will be presenting her poster on "Long-Distance Agreement in Icelandic revisited: An interplay of locality and semantics", and Gabriela Alboiu (York) will be giving a talk on "Raising to Object from finite CPs: dual A/A-bar and MCC", a paper co-authored with Virginia Hill (New Brunswick–Saint John).
March 27, 2013
Practical BE-Keeping (BE-lated)
Photo credit: Nicholas Welch
Post courtesy of Bronwyn Bjorkman
A couple of weeks ago a bunch of us met for an informal mini-workshop: *Practical BE-Keeping*. The idea was to bring together members of the department who were all working on topics relating to copulas, the verb BE, and verbal inflection, and see what came out of the discussion!
Rather than having a series of talks, we organized the discussion
around a set of questions and themes. On the day of the workshop we
started by organizing these questions (we had quite a list!) around a
few basic themes, and establishing a common vocabulary
(what did we mean by "copula" anyway?).
Photo credit: Bronwyn Bjorkman
Then we divided into a few groups to discuss topics of particular
interest: the relationship between copular structures and case; how to
distinguish silence from absence; and the typology of factors that
determine copula choice (aktionsart, tense, complement
type) and its theoretical implications. Finally, we came back together
and tried to pool our separate insights.
Overall, the day was a great success! It was a wonderful
opportunity to sit down together and discuss a particular topic, beyond
what we can do informally in the hall or the lounge! We have great hopes
of organizing a follow-up event sometime in the summer,
when people's schedules are more open, and would highly recommend
similar events on other topics!
Pictures from TOM 6
Thank you to Michela Ippolito for sharing these photos from TOM 6!
The U of T contingent (L to R: Tomohiro Yokoyama, Michela Ippolito, Tyler Peterson, Iryna Osadcha, and Julie Goncharov)
Ana Arregui (UOttawa) talking to Junko Shimoyama (McGill)
Julie delivering her talk
Tyler presenting his poster
Michela with two of the workshop organizers from McGill, Luis Alonso-Ovalle and Junko Shimoyama
Workshop attendees chatting during a coffee break
The post-workshop dinner
March 21, 2013
Research Groups: Syntax/Semantics (March 22/2013)
Syntax project will be running this Friday, March 22nd, from 12-2 pm in SS560A.
Bryan Leferman, a visiting student from the University of Basque Country, will be presenting a talk entitled 'Evaluative Adjective Diathesis.'
Bryan Leferman, a visiting student from the University of Basque Country, will be presenting a talk entitled 'Evaluative Adjective Diathesis.'
Posted courtesy Julie Doner
March 20, 2013
Research Groups: Phonetics/Phonology (March 22/2013)
Phonetics/phonology group will be meeting at an unusual time this week.
Chris Spahr will be presenting a dry-run of his GLOW
presentation titled: "A contrastive hierarchical account of positional
neutralization".
Will Oxford will be presenting his recent work titled: "A description of Proto-Algonquian syllable structure".
Post courtesy of Joanna Chociej
Post courtesy of Joanna Chociej
Sali on Global
Sali was also interviewed on The Morning Show for Global TV yesterday morning!
You can watch the full 6 min. 40 sec. interview here.
You can watch the full 6 min. 40 sec. interview here.
Upcoming FLAUT Talk: Elan Dresher (March 21/2013)
On Thursday, March 21, Elan Dresher will present a FLAUT talk entitled “Changes in Syllable Quantity and Stress in Middle and Early Modern English.” This event will take place at 7pm, in the Department of Linguistics lounge.
Abstract:
This talk will consider some changes in syllable quantity and the rules for main stress that had considerable effects on the prosody of English. The causes of these changes have been much debated, and touch on fundamental issues in diachronic and synchronic linguistics. The first set of changes altered the quantity (vowel length) of stressed syllables in the Middle English period, and pose the question: Why aren’t there more singular~plural pairs like staff~staves in Present Day English? At a more general level, these changes have led some to ask: are languages viruses that colonize children? The second set of changes involve the rules of main stress: why did native speakers of English adopt the Latin stress rule? Were these changes in progress already at the time of Chaucer (c. 1400), or did they occur considerably later? All the changes discussed in this talk show the relevance of the synchronic grammar and the role of language learners in accounting for phonological change.
Abstract:
This talk will consider some changes in syllable quantity and the rules for main stress that had considerable effects on the prosody of English. The causes of these changes have been much debated, and touch on fundamental issues in diachronic and synchronic linguistics. The first set of changes altered the quantity (vowel length) of stressed syllables in the Middle English period, and pose the question: Why aren’t there more singular~plural pairs like staff~staves in Present Day English? At a more general level, these changes have led some to ask: are languages viruses that colonize children? The second set of changes involve the rules of main stress: why did native speakers of English adopt the Latin stress rule? Were these changes in progress already at the time of Chaucer (c. 1400), or did they occur considerably later? All the changes discussed in this talk show the relevance of the synchronic grammar and the role of language learners in accounting for phonological change.
March 18, 2013
Sali Interviewed by the newspaper
Sali's research continues to draw media attention; you can read her latest interview with the newspaper, on p.4 of the Mar. 14th edition.
Thanks to Keren for the tip!
Thanks to Keren for the tip!
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