Department field trip to Niagara: My Fair Lady at the Shaw Festival

Earlier this fall, the Department of Linguistics invited faculty members and graduate students to watch My Fair Lady at the Shaw Festival at Niagara-on-the-Lake. 

The musical is about a phonetics professor and language documenter, and discusses implicit bias in language. 

Thank you everyone for coming!

Grad Writing Day

Group smiles for a job well done (or well on the way)

On Friday, Dec 13, 2024, graduate students rallied in silence in the Lounge for a "Writing Day" retreat. Term papers, GPs, and data analyses received a long-due, disciplined treatment! 

Satisfied writers Rhoda and Claudia

With a lot of enthusiastic feedback on the experience, the Department hopes to host a more regular writing accountability group in the future.

Thanks, Claudia, for organizing!

Welcoming the Linguistics Dept.'s New Social Media Coordinator

    WHITL? has a new admin! 

Hi everyone, my name is Natasha Vujičić, and I’m the Linguistics Department’s Social Media Coordinator for this year. I’m beyond excited to start writing and bringing my vision for the blog to life! 

A bit about me:

I’m a third year undergraduate Linguistics specialist, with a huge passion for phonetics, phonology, Slavic languages, semantics, and heritage languages (although syntax is near and dear to my heart as well). I’ve been obsessed with language, speech, and sound since I was a child, and I treasure the fact that my passions have manifested so clearly in my studies at UofT. I love music, art, backpacking, and reading. My favourite book is The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, and my favourite bands/musicians are Pink Floyd, Yes, Fela Kuti, Nina Simone, and Kendrick Lamar. Feel free to send me music/book recommendations!

My goals for this year are as follows:

a. I want to involve student and faculty input as much as possible. I want to hear your ideas, feedback, and suggestions, because this is your blog! What’s the best way to get news communicated to you? What topics do you like getting covered on the blog? The best way to find out is to ask. I’ll be surveying students and faculty later this month for ideas, but please email me any and all of your thoughts (and fill out the survey below).

b. Visually re-work the blog and social media. I want to create a stronger identity for the department in regards to our digital presence, and I think creating a visually cohesive presence can facilitate that process!

c. More consistent posting on our Instagram and other social media. What’s the point of having a department social media if not to spread the word about department news? I want more people in the loop about events and opportunities, and posting consistently and punctually is critical. 

I’m stoked to get started on the blog and hear all of your wonderful ideas for it. That being said, I’ve set up a survey for WHITL? readers to respond to with feedback, ideas, suggestions, and anything else blog/social media-related. This form will be active throughout the year. There’s so much I want to do and only so much time, so contact me sooner rather than later! Should you want a blog post published on a noteworthy event, publication, or other news, please feel free to reach out. The same applies for our other social media – if you’d like a linguistics-related event notice posted, I’m the one to ask. Thanks for reading and I look forward to connecting with all of you!

utlinblog@gmail.com

natasha.vujicic@mail.utoronto.ca (I’ll respond quickest here)

@uoftlinguistics on Instagram, Twitter/X, and Facebook

Survey link: https://forms.office.com/r/9rJ5MQjRw3

Linguistics Coffeehouse Recap!

During March of 2024, Jack Mahlmann, Claudia Raihert, and Mechelle Wu, graduate students of our department, organized a coffeehouse fundraising event. 

Raising over $1400 for Onkwawenna Kentyohkwa, Mahlmann, Raihert, and Wu wanted to bring this event to the attention of the wider UofT Linguistics community to surpass that amount next year. 

A community organization on the territory of the Six Nations of the Grand River, Onkwawenna Kentyohkwa works as a school to support the vitality of Kanien'kéha, a Mohawk language. Earlier in May, this blog covered WSCLA, at which several speakers gave presentation concerning the revitalization of this language. 

For all those interested in supporting the goal of revitalizing the Mohawk language at Grand River, feel free to visit their Donate page, or look out for more events such as these next year. 

Congratulations to this trio and all those who donated!

2023-2024 Cowper and Dresher Prizes - Congratulations Calvin and Yanfei!

Named after two emeriti professors in Linguistics Department, Elizabeth Cowper and Elan Dresher, the Cowper and Dresher Prizes are distinguished awards for graduate students of Linguistics. 

The 2023-2024 winners were announced earlier in June 2024.

Calvin Quick, a PhD student interested in Mediaeval Welsh poetry, won the Cowper Prize for his papers “Tense and finiteness in embedded bod-clauses” and “Problematizing Linear Approaches to Modifier-Head Adjacency Restrictions.”

For her paper, “An OT Analysis of Stress Patterns of Oneida (Iroquoian)” Yanfei Lu was awarded the Dresher Prize, a recognition within the LIN department for outstanding graduate student work in Phonology.

Yanfei Lu, winner of the
Dresher Prize.

We are so proud of both the students, congratulations!

Tri-Agency Confirms Increased Funding for CIHR, NSERC, and SSHRC Awards!

Earlier in June, Tri-Agency confirmed that, effective September 1st, 2024, the Government of Canada will be increasing award values for students and postgraduate researchers, including new and current award holders.

Advocating for "fairness for every generation," and a commitment to researchers of the future, this increase in budget is funded by Canada’s federal granting agencies, including CIHR, (Canadian Institutes of Health Research) NSERC, (Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada) and SSHRC (Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada).

The value of master's scholarships will be increased to $27,000/year, while those for doctoral students will jump to $40,000/year. Current and new postdoctoral fellowships will increase to $70,000.

Students holding an SSHRC Doctoral Fellowship are also included in this increase, totaling $40,000/year. 

Programs not affected by this increase include Vanier and Banting, worth $50,000 and $70,000 respectively.

More goals expected to be met by this budget increase can be found on the Budget Canada website.

To apply for any of these incredibly exciting awards, see the list below:

CIHR Health Research Training Award Programs

NSERC Students and Fellows

Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council

At the Linguistics Department blog, we strongly encourage any and all interested and qualifying parties to apply for these awards, especially after these recent increases, and we look forward to writing many posts documenting your success.

Tahohtharátye Joe Brant Completes Dissertation at the University of Victoria

Congratulations Tahohtharátye Joe Brant!

He has earned a PhD from the University of Victoria, completing his dissertation, Tó: nya'teká:yen tsi Entewà:ronke', in Language Revitalization and Change, available at the University of Victoria website. 

Tahohtharátye is cross-appointed in the Centre for Indigenous Studies, and we are proud to have him on our faculty.

Learn more about him here, and read about his work at WSCLAon the WHITL blog.

Congratulations once more!

Professor Reynolds and the Controversy of More/Less: Paper Accepted at Journal of Linguistics

In May 2024, Adjunct Professor Brett Reynolds published his paper "Why more and less are never adverbs" in the Journal of Linguistics, arguing that the analysis of semantic information is useful for making categorical decisions about words and their meanings. 

This interesting work is somewhat of a discovery in the field of categorization. If we had all been agreed that timber wolves and grey wolves were distinct species, for example, Reynolds in his own words has come out with data which suggests that these are actually the same type of wolf living in different territories!

To read Reynolds' succinct twitter thread explaining the phenomenon, check out his Twitter: @brettrey3.

Figure 5of Reynolds' publication,
a k-means grouping between adjectives
and determinatives (pg. 26)

To summarize, words function differently according to context: the words "more" and "less" are categorized in most dictionaries as adverbs, as they can modify adjectives or adverbs, such as in the phrase "more/less quickly." However, they can also determine nouns, and in sentences such as "more/less food" are called determinatives.

Determinatives, (Ds) thus, don't just determine nouns, but they can also modify Advs. 

So why are "more" and "less" special? 

The Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language, (CGEL) refers to these two words as adverbs because they perform the same linguistic function as the comparative -er and superlative -est in ways that "much" and "little" don't. 

Reynolds disputes this distinction - you can't have "much massive," but you can have "much [and more] different." 

He suggests that you get overlaps that don't follow rigid rules because of semantic scales, and not because "much" and "more" are categorically different. 

Adjectives "prefer" different modifiers according to semantic rules such as size, similarity, and improvement.

Analyzing different adjectives and their modifiers in a corpus, Reynolds noticed an "almost perfect" split between more-adjectives (blue), much-adjectives (red), and adjectives that are more ambivalent (green).

Thus, Reynolds says that the "most thorough and consistent grammar of English," the CGEL, is only "mostly right" in their categorization of Adjs. and Ds. 

Determinatives shouldn't be listed twice, once with adverbs, and again with other Ds: rather, words like "more" and "less" are never adverbs. 

Stay tuned to see what changes come out of this publication, and weigh in with your own two cents!

Emilia Melara Successfully Defends their PhD Thesis! Congratulations, Doctor!

On May 27th, PhD Candidate Emilia Melara became the Linguistic Department's newest PhD! 

Completing their Final Oral Examination in linguistics, this moment followed years of an extensive research project on syntactic properties of Mauritian Creole. 

Their supervisor Elizabeth Cowper, along with the rest of the committee (Susana Bejar, Diane Massam, Keir Moulton), are so proud of Melara's work and excited to see what they do next. 

We didn't find a new picture, but check out the last time Emilia earned a linguistics degree!

Congratulations, Emilia!

The Linguistic Dept. Gets a New Social Media Coordinator!

The Linguistics Department at UofT has just acquired a new Social Media Coordinator for the summer, and if you're confused by the sharp increase in exclamation point usage among WHITL blog posts, it's my fault!

Hello everyone, my name is Marija Buzanin, and I am a first-year undergraduate student in the Linguistics Department. I'm looking forward to meeting everyone reading this and reporting on your wins.

Some fun facts about me: I speak 3 languages, love Python (for coding), and am learning Spanish. My favourite aspect of linguistics is semiotics, and I have just enrolled in the minor program offered by the department while I study something else as a major - I am open to recommendations. 

While holding this position, I aim to accomplish several goals, all of which I hope will contribute to an informative, accurate, aesthetically-pleasing, and up-to-date social media presence:

1. At least 4 spotlight interviews on faculty, students, staff and their research, 1 of which has already been conducted (keep an eye out!)

2. Effective and interesting reporting on events held within the department, and out-of-town events in which UofT linguists are participating. 

3. A 10% increase in social media following and successful collaboration with other UofT pages, important for increased awareness among undergraduate/incoming students

4. 1-2 guest writers’ posts on the blog/website: this would be great for interaction with our upper-year students

I am excited to celebrate your successes for the larger UofT community to celebrate with you. My (virtual) door is always open should you have a noteworthy event on which you would like me to report, a fun update on your personal successes, and/or if you’d be interested in having a spotlight on your research and work.

A short and friendly reminder that this is the only active email for the blog: utlinblog@gmail.com.

Please direct your communication here. If you are looking for a quicker reply, try my UofT email: marija.buzanin@mail.utoronto.ca. 

Thank you for your time, and I look forward to connecting with all of you in the future!

Chalkboard throwback #6: Wug Life (Spring 2014)

Isn't this what they call 'cyclical change'? Possibly by, or inspired by, Naomi Francis (faculty).

Chalkboard throwback #5: Superheroism (Spring 2011)

Presumably by Christopher Spahr (Ph.D. 2015), who later went as Max Mora for Halloween. 

Or perhaps it was more than a clever costume idea?

Chalkboard throwback #4: Alternative Indices (Spring 2014)

Indexicality and variation. We might need to call the sociolinguists. (Origins obscure.)

Chalkboard throwback #3: Compounding (Spring 2011)

Figure 1: Chameleon-dinosaur-kitten-rat-dragon-tank-CRANE! (Origins obscure.)

Chalkboard throwback #2: Everywug (Spring 2014)

Photo by Tomohiro Yokoyama (Ph.D. 2019). Collaborative art by, inter alia, Naomi Francis (faculty), Maida Percival (Ph.D.), Marisa Brook (faculty), and Radu Craioveanu (Ph.D.).

​Spot the cross-country skiing wug, programmer wug, hockey wug, farmer wug, Canadian wug, graduating wug, Easter egg wug, librarian wug, photographic negative wug, umbrella-hat wug, knitter wug, left-handed wug, golf wug, skateboarder wug, gardener wug, dragon wug without wings, leiderhosen wug, phonetician wug, winter wug, mutant wug, downhill skiing wug, Santa wug, underwater wug, Doctor Who wug, ballerina wug, guitar wug, alligator wug, medieval wug, tipsy wug, math-nerd wug, royal monarch wug, angel wug, arrow'd wug, Wuglo, jazz wug, Victorian-gentleman wug, dragon wug with wings, wug on fire, wug on a brick wall, chef wug, fairy wug, Harry Potter wug, bunny wug, hiker wug, jousting wug, business wug, prisoner wug, birthday wug, traveller wug, hula-hoop wug, and more - as well as a number of wugs whose features correspond to underspecified contrasts.

For bonus points: wugs aside, without peeking, whose birthday was it?

Chalkboard throwback #1: *OT (Spring 2011)

In which Optimality Theory is not the optimal candidate. (Origins obscure.)

2019 Undergrad Tea

We held our annual Undergrad Tea on Thursday, September 26, from 4 through 6 PM. Thanks to Deem Waham (staff) for her organizational efforts and for the photos!

Alexei Kochetov (faculty) and Nathan Sanders (faculty) with the new SLUGS executives!

Lunch for graduating seniors

On Wednesday, April 3, we held a catered lunch in the lounge to celebrate our undergraduate students completing either a specialist or a major in our department. This semester, we are about to proudly launch 114 new alumni out into the world: 15 specializing, 65 majoring, and 34 minoring in linguistics. (Photos by Naomi Nagy and Deem Waham.) Thanks to Deem, to the faculty who helped celebrate, and to everyone who joined us!

Undergraduate Coordinator Naomi Nagy (faculty) congratulates the attendees.

Cake(s)!

Faculty, very ready to celebrate the students!

 

Intense discussion with the Department Chair.

Linguistics is funny!

One of the cakes even came with a tiny diploma...just for you.

All our best to all our graduates!

Congratulations, Clarissa!

Clarissa Forbes successfully defended her doctoral dissertation, "Persistent ergativity: Agreement and splits in Tsimshianic", on Tuesday, September 4, 2018. On the committee were Susana Béjar (supervisor), Alana Johns, Diane Massam, Elizabeth Cowper, Arsalan Kahnemuyipour, and external examiner Jessica Coon (McGill University). Congratulations, Dr. Forbes!

Clarissa is moving on to the University of Arizona, having been awarded a SSHRC postdoctoral fellowship to be taken up under the supervision of faculty syntactician Heidi Harley. Best of luck, Dr. Forbes; we're so proud!

(Photos by Emily Clare.)

Alana, Diane, Clarissa, Susana, and Elizabeth.

Good times with cohortmates (Dan Milway, Emily Blamire, and Tomohiro Yokoyama).

Celebrating Dr. Forbes!

Prevailing sentiments.

Fall Convocation 2014

On November 21, eleven MA students and five PhD students were awarded their degrees at Fall Convocation. Congratulations to:

New MAs:
Kazuya Bamba
Naomi Francis
Richard Gananathan
Emilie LeBlanc
Ruth Maddeaux
Emilia Melara
Danielle Moed
Patrick Murphy
Avery Ozburn
Maida Percival
Michael Schwan

New Ph.D.s:
Suzanne Belanger
Catherine Macdonald
Milica Radisic
Eugenia Suh
Ulyana Savchenko

Faculty members Yves Roberge, Elizabeth Cowper and Diane Massam, with new Ph.D.s (L to R) Catherine Macdonald, Eugenia Suh and Ulyana Savchenko. (Photo courtesy of Diane Massam.)

Eugenia Suh and Ulyana Savchenko. (Photo courtesy of Diane Massam.)

Catherine Macdonald with her supervisor Diane Massam. (Photo courtesy of Diane Massam.)

New MA alumni wugs on parade! (Photo courtesy of Dan Milway.)