tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25260530286104049112024-03-21T05:24:57.198-07:00LGSA Fledgelingsof San Francisco State UniversityFledgelingshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01032102128851770989noreply@blogger.comBlogger92125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2526053028610404911.post-39798537185330779222012-12-28T21:14:00.004-08:002012-12-28T21:19:00.009-08:00The "perfect" language?Hello all!<br />
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Here is a little New Years present for ya:<br />
<a href="http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/12/24/121224fa_fact_foer">http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/12/24/121224fa_fact_foer</a><br />
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Long but FASCINATING article in <i>The New Yorker</i> about a man who worked at the DMV and in his spare time, over the last three decades, invented a language he calls "Ithkuil". <br />
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From the article:<br />
"'Natural languages are adequate, but that doesn’t mean they’re optimal,'
John Quijada, [...] told me. In 2004, he published a
monograph on the Internet that was titled 'Ithkuil: A Philosophical Design for a Hypothetical Language.'" <br />
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And:</div>
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"In his preface, Quijada wrote that his 'greater goal' was 'to attempt
the creation of what human beings, left to their own devices, would
never create naturally, but rather only by conscious intellectual
effort: an idealized language whose aim is the highest possible degree
of logic, efficiency, detail, and accuracy in cognitive expression via
spoken human language, while minimizing the ambiguity, vagueness,
illogic, redundancy, polysemy (multiple meanings) and overall
arbitrariness that is seemingly ubiquitous in natural human language.'"</div>
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"Ithkuil
has two seemingly incompatible ambitions: to be maximally precise but
also maximally concise, capable of capturing nearly every thought that a
human being could have while doing so in as few sounds as possible."</div>
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Here's the website with the actual language (pages on phonology, morphology, syntax etc.):</div>
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<a href="http://www.ithkuil.net/index.htm">http://www.ithkuil.net/index.htm</a></div>
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What do you guys think about this enterprise? I think it's a wonderfully cool philosophical and cognitive experiment. It's crazy to think about a society whose language would force people to make explicit, through their language, all the thoughts and feelings that we are currently able to intentionally hide (if aware of them), or unintentionally omit (if we are semi-conscious or unconscious of them). How would "politeness" change? How would humor? Politics? Dating/relationships/love lives? </div>
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What elements of the language do you think would be the first to morph or disappear if Ithkuil was adopted as a real means of communication?</div>
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Mind-boggling stuff. </div>
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- Hannah </div>
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Fledgelingshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01032102128851770989noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2526053028610404911.post-39810171882569926252012-10-18T01:14:00.001-07:002012-10-18T01:15:11.690-07:00"The odd accent of Tangier, VA"For anyone interested in phonetics/phonology and historical linguistics/language change:<br />
<br />
We came across this cool video clip featuring the unique accent of Tangier, VA:<br />
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=AIZgw09CG9E">http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=AIZgw09CG9E</a><br />
<br />
Here is what Wikipedia has to say:<br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tidewater_accent">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tidewater_accent</a><br />
<br />
"The dialect of the small isolated island of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tangier,_Virginia" title="Tangier, Virginia">Tangier</a> in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chesapeake_Bay" title="Chesapeake Bay">Chesapeake Bay</a>
is significantly unique in that it seems relatively untouched by
linguistic evolution. It has been hypothesized that this dialect is the
closest resemblance there is to the dialect of the original colonists"<br />
<br />
- Hannah and Jesse Fledgelingshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01032102128851770989noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2526053028610404911.post-83143651004404648492012-02-13T18:51:00.000-08:002012-02-13T19:00:16.473-08:00The Phrontistery<span style="font-size:100%;">For all of you word lovers --<br /><br />I recently came across a really cool compendium of old and/or obscure English words that I wanted to share:<br /><a href="http://phrontistery.info/clw1.html">http://phrontistery.info/clw1.html</a><br /><br />A sampling from the site:<br /></span><table class="list"><tbody><tr class="top"><th>alabandical </th><td> <i>adj</i> </td><td> 1656 -1775 </td></tr><tr><td colspan="3"> barbarous; stupefied from drink </td></tr><tr><td colspan="3">His behaviour after the party was positively alabandical. </td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table class="list"><tbody><tr class="top"><th>alogotrophy </th><td> <i>n</i> </td><td> 1753 -1853 </td></tr><tr><td colspan="3"> excessive nutrition of part of body resulting in deformity </td></tr><tr><td colspan="3">Was he born with that huge head, or is it the result of alogotrophy?</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table class="list"><tbody><tr class="top"><th>brochity </th><td> <i>n</i> </td><td> 1623 -1678 </td></tr><tr><td colspan="3"> projecting or crooked quality of teeth </td></tr><tr><td colspan="3">His parents later regretted that they did not correct his brochity in his youth. </td></tr></tbody></table><br />Unfortunately neither IPA/pronunciations nor etymology is included for the words, but if you're curious and able to access the Oxford English Dictionary Online, perhaps it also contains some of these wonderful terms.<br />Enjoy!<br /><br />- HannahFledgelingshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01032102128851770989noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2526053028610404911.post-34860712407376304282011-11-21T10:15:00.000-08:002011-11-21T10:39:00.629-08:00Why some languages sound so fastInteresting study on the speed of speech across different languages:<br /><a href="www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,2091477,00.html">http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,2091477,00.html</a><br /><br />I haven't tried to find the actual paper in <span style="font-style: italic;">Language</span>. And although the conclusion of the article is thought-provoking, I think there are some questions that can be raised as to the methodology. First, as one of the commentors noted, they only tested 8 languages, then seemed to make the generalization that the results from testing those 8 languages applied to all of the world's languages. This may be a misrepresentation by the Time Science writer, and may not be present in the actual paper.<br /><br />A second question I had regarding methodology was the specifics on how they categorized syllables as more or less information-dense. Again, the actual paper in <span style="font-style: italic;">Language </span>might explain this, but the Time Science article didn't touch on it at all. Since "information density" must be a somewhat subjective semantic classification, and the study's conclusion hinges on such a classification, I'd be quite curious to learn what exactly the parameters were.<br /><br />What do you guys think? Any other questions/doubts?<br />If anyone can find a freely accessible version of the actual paper, let me know and I will post it!<br /><br />Happy Thanksgiving!<br /><br />HannahFledgelingshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01032102128851770989noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2526053028610404911.post-76067619235330803012011-09-18T23:58:00.000-07:002011-09-19T00:06:42.359-07:00LGSA Pub Nite!Yes, it is happening!<br /><br />When: Thursday, September 29th, 8p.m.<br />Where: Hog & Rocks, in the Mission<br />(<span class="street-address">3431 19th St</span>, between San Carlos St & Mission St)<br /><br />Hog & Rocks is newish and great... decent beer, wine and cocktails selection, as well as very yummy food for those of you (us) who may be hungry coming straight from class:<br /><a href="http://www.hogandrocks.com/">http://www.hogandrocks.com/</a><br /><br />Open to all SFSU Linguistics & related MAs and faculty. Come drink and get to know your fellow students!<br /><br />- HannahFledgelingshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01032102128851770989noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2526053028610404911.post-76449217090109065922011-09-12T17:34:00.000-07:002011-09-12T18:15:08.559-07:00Linguistic Links: two unrelated but intriguing phenomenaSo. I'm sure most if not all of you are already deeply buried in readings for your classes, but I wanted to post a couple links to some interesting goings-on in the linguistics world. Well worth checking out, even if the checking-out has to be postponed until Thanksgiving or winter break.<br /><br />(I will be posting more links to articles etc. throughout the year...good for bookmarking...for that rainy/foggy/cold San Francisco day when the only thing you want to do is cradle a coffee and imbibe a fascinating snippet of linguistics research...)<br /><br />The first one is called "Meet The Computer That Tells The 'That's What She Said' Joke Better Than You":<a href="http://www.blogger.com/The%20first%20one%20is%20titled%20%22Meet%20The%20Computer%20That%20Tells%20The%20%27That%27s%20What%20She%20Said%27%20Joke%20Better%20Than%20You%22:%20http://www.businessinsider.com/thats-what-she-said-computer-technology-2011-4"></a><br /><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/thats-what-she-said-computer-technology-2011-4">http://www.businessinsider.com/thats-what-she-said-computer-technology-2011-4</a><br />Read about robots and double entendre/humor identification!<br />(Scroll to just below the article to access the actual paper.)<br /><br />The second is entitled "Recursion and Human Thought: Why the Piraha don't have numbers":<strong><span style="font-family:Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:85%;"></span></strong><br /><a href="http://edge.org/3rd_culture/everett07/everett07_index.html">http://edge.org/3rd_culture/everett07/everett07_index.html</a><br />It's a talk with Daniel L. Everett (and accompanying full text) about recursion, and how the language of a tribe in the Brazilian Amazon challenges the Chomskian claim that recursion is the essential property of human language.<br /><br />Enjoy!<br /><br />-HannahFledgelingshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01032102128851770989noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2526053028610404911.post-51180297407807596852010-04-16T11:36:00.000-07:002010-04-16T11:38:59.823-07:00Paper Presentation: Positional Verbs of Teotitlán del Valle Zapotec<span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >A message from Dr. Troi Carleton:</span><br />Keiko Beers, a former MA student in our program, will be presenting a paper on positional verbs of Teotitlán del Valle Zapotec at the upcoming WAIL conference in Santa Barbara. She will be giving us a preview on Tuesday in HUM (room, TBA) at 3:30. Anyone one going to Oaxaca this summer should make a special effort to be there. I encourage all of you to come. Thanks!Fledgelingshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01032102128851770989noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2526053028610404911.post-54020433529318896392009-12-22T09:10:00.000-08:002009-12-28T18:03:55.988-08:00New Feature: List of Corpus Databases & Related LinksWe've added a new feature to the LGSA blog sidebar. If you look to the <strike>left</strike> right, you'll see a list of links to various corpus databases and related corpus searching tools and links. Please feel free to email us with any additions! Below is a list of what is currently there. Happy searching!<br /><ul><li><a href="http://corpus.amiproject.org/">AMI Meeting Corpus</a></li><li><a href="http://corpus.byu.edu/bnc/">British National Corpus</a></li><li><a href="http://gandalf.aksis.uib.no/corpora/">Corpora List</a></li><li><a href="http://hlt.fbk.eu/corps">CORPS: tagged political speeches</a></li><li><a href="http://www.corpusdelespanol.org/">Corpus Del Español</a></li><li><a href="http://www.corpusdoportugues.org/">Corpus do Português</a></li><li><a href="http://www.americancorpus.org/">Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA)</a></li><li><a href="http://view.byu.edu/">Corpus of Historical American English</a></li><li><a href="http://personal.cityu.edu.hk/%7Edavidlee/devotedtocorpora/CBLLinks.htm">David Lee's Bookmarks for Corpus-based Linguistics</a></li><li><a href="http://www.thetext.co.uk/cgi-bin/view_texts.pl">Forensic Linguistics Institute Corpus of Texts</a></li><li><a href="http://www.lexchecker.org/">LexChecker</a></li><li><a href="http://www.ldc.upenn.edu/">Linguistic Data Consortium</a></li><li><a href="http://micase.elicorpora.info/">Michigan Corpus of Academic Spoken English (MICASE)</a></li><li><a href="http://corpus.byu.edu/oed/">OED Corpus</a></li><li><a href="http://www.linguistics.ucla.edu/people/hayes/QueryGoogle/qgapplet.html">Query Google</a></li><li><a href="http://www.visca.com/regexdict/">Regex Dictionary</a></li><li><a href="http://www.ims.uni-stuttgart.de/projekte/TIGER/TIGERSearch/">TiGer Search</a></li><li><a href="http://corpus.byu.edu/time/">TIME Corpus</a></li><li><a href="http://umiacs.umd.edu/%7Eresnik/dp/">U of MD Death Penalty Corpus</a></li><li><a href="http://corp.hum.sdu.dk/">VISL CorpusEye</a></li><li><a href="http://www.webcorp.org.uk/">WebCorp</a></li></ul><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">UPDATE:</span> </span>Check out the sidebar! I've added some new sites that I won't be adding to this list. (Hat tip to Dr. Keck for the good links!)Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2526053028610404911.post-31751477880782918742009-12-09T16:04:00.000-08:002009-12-09T16:08:51.234-08:00Two great holiday/end-of-semester events, happening tomorrow!Just wanted to share some info about two events, happening tomorrow (Thursday, Dec. 10th):<br /><ul><li>At 6:30 pm, <a href="http://asl.meetup.com/294/">The San Francisco ASL Group</a> will be gathering at <a href="http://www.frjtzfries.com/">Frjtz</a> in The Mission (590 Valencia Street), for some holiday cheer, gourmet fries and belgian beer! This is a sign language only event, but all levels of signing ability (including none at all) are welcome and encouraged to participate.<br /><br /></li><li>At 8:00 pm, the <a href="http://userwww.sfsu.edu/%7Egla/">Graduate Literature Association (GLA)</a> is hosting an end-of-semester celebration at <a href="http://www.yelp.com/biz/shannon-arms-san-francisco">Shannon Arms</a> (915 Taraval Street). Enjoy a beer, martini, glass of wine, or pepsi with professors and students! </li></ul>Also, mark your calendars for the LGSA pub night! It's happening Friday, December 19th, 8:00 pm at <a href="http://www.yelp.com/biz/mission-bar-san-francisco">Mission Bar</a>. More details to come.<br /><br />Hope to see you there!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2526053028610404911.post-80268609587623537322009-10-05T10:07:00.001-07:002009-10-05T10:21:55.102-07:00More Constraint Confusion at Your Disposal...<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4_yNEm6P219hmChK4dYUdFcH6yf6a7VivB8T1efM9i4p2ak8Y-dbWvrfHJz1OOzGbuMMy4V6hiotOpb5ic3X6lp_gTVQGMUaPPle7pJGDGeB_Kwaaohla49hQ4M7IGZooRzNFE0ZeAmzJ/s1600-h/IMG_0008.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4_yNEm6P219hmChK4dYUdFcH6yf6a7VivB8T1efM9i4p2ak8Y-dbWvrfHJz1OOzGbuMMy4V6hiotOpb5ic3X6lp_gTVQGMUaPPle7pJGDGeB_Kwaaohla49hQ4M7IGZooRzNFE0ZeAmzJ/s320/IMG_0008.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5389165057893393666" border="0" /></a>Following up on <a href="http://fledgelings.blogspot.com/2009/09/constraint-ranking-at-your-disposal.html">this recent post</a> about mixed messaging in recycling vs. garbage bins, I have found yet another example of confusion on campus. To the left, we see a very clearly labeled example of What To Do With Your Disposables. Two bins, equal size, both open-topped, but one blue, one black, one lined, one unlined, and one clearly labeled recycling, while the other not. The messages are aligned with our expectations and all is well. Except that the bins are located in a seldom-used room where no food and drink are allowed. And if we are to take this example as a model exemplar, then all other bins must be re-examined. The saga continues.<br /><br />Oh, it should also be noted that these bins are HUGE. ~3' tall to be (not-so) exact. I imagine that the blue one is for paper recycling only (which is odd, considering that they are both located in the auditorium of the ceramics/fine-arts building).<br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Note: It has come to my attention, by someone dear to me who works in the food service industry, that it is highly possible that SFSU does not indeed recycle/sort all the garbage on campus, as evidenced by the ridiculous amount of extra work created from the necessary sorting that must occur as a result of mis-appropriated bins. Or it is possible that only certain bins/areas of refuse are actually being tended to for recycling/sorting purposes. This would be sad, and feared to be true. We'll get to the bottom of this, one way or another! Ba-dump-bump.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2526053028610404911.post-81644699993337676882009-09-24T15:54:00.000-07:002009-09-24T17:10:20.204-07:00IMPROMPTU PUB/WINE NIGHT<span style="color: rgb(102, 51, 51); font-style: italic;font-size:130%;" >There is no reason not to celebrate is a reason to celebrate!!!!!!!</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(102, 51, 51);font-size:130%;" > COME FRIDAY (September 25th) to an impromptu <span style="font-weight: bold;">PUB/WINE</span> night at </span><span style="font-size:130%;"><a style="color: rgb(102, 51, 51); font-weight: bold;" href="http://barnorcini.com/">BAR NORCINI</a></span><span style="color: rgb(102, 51, 51);font-size:130%;" > for a night of fine wines, fine beers and fine people </span><span style="color: rgb(102, 51, 51);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >7:30pm to last call at 10:45pm</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(102, 0, 204); font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" ><span style="font-size:130%;">SPECIAL OFFER</span> from our very own linguist/oenophile</span><span style="color: rgb(102, 0, 204); font-weight: bold;">: </span><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(102, 0, 204); font-weight: bold;">HAPPY HOUR ALL NIGHT FOR LINGUISTS!!</span><span style="color: rgb(102, 0, 204); font-weight: bold;"> </span><br /><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 153);">That's $5 drinks, $5 red and white wines, and $3 beer.</span></span> <span style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(102, 51, 51);"><br /><br /><br /></span><a style="color: rgb(102, 51, 51); font-weight: bold;" href="http://barnorcini.com/">BAR NORCINI</a><span style="color: rgb(102, 51, 51);"><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span>is located On Powell between O'Farrell and Geary, so 2 1/2 blocks from BART and MUNI lines...6, 7, 71, 21. </span><a style="color: rgb(102, 51, 51);" href="http://%3ciframe%20width=%22425%22%20height=%22350%22%20frameborder=%220%22%20scrolling=%22no%22%20marginheight=%220%22%20marginwidth=%220%22%20src=%22http//maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=225+Powell+Street,+San+Francisco&sll=37.769515,-122.443465&sspn=0.007684,0.013797&ie=UTF8&t=h&ll=37.797034,-122.403917&spn=0.023738,0.036478&z=14&iwloc=A&output=embed%22%3E%3C/iframe%3E%3Cbr%20/%3E%3Csmall%3E%3Ca%20href=%22http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=embed&hl=en&geocode=&q=225+Powell+Street,+San+Francisco&sll=37.769515,-122.443465&sspn=0.007684,0.013797&ie=UTF8&t=h&ll=37.797034,-122.403917&spn=0.023738,0.036478&z=14&iwloc=A%22%20style=%22color:#0000FF;text-align:left%22%3EView%20Larger%20Map%3C/a%3E%3C/small%3E"> </a> <a style="color: rgb(102, 51, 51);" href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=225+Powell+Street,+San+Francisco&sll=37.769515,-122.443465&sspn=0.007684,0.013797&ie=UTF8&ll=37.788166,-122.408166&spn=0.007682,0.013797&t=h&z=16&iwloc=A"> map</a>humanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14939549260654512434noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2526053028610404911.post-89836642612638216862009-09-22T11:39:00.000-07:002009-09-22T20:36:43.603-07:00Constraint Ranking at Your Disposal...<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1VakKXsk8MRcDuUVyfB3o6ndKP2j6_H4vkL8PtnTasZmjRSJ6lsOmzsuaCSkKtQFdvU9dnUZpWFwBRB4KFjRFk_9ZL1qPcGiu89VhMLiP9lH_H39CAGYgwOuW1UEakvKLcmpfRJBo0ka9/s1600-h/SFSU_cans.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1VakKXsk8MRcDuUVyfB3o6ndKP2j6_H4vkL8PtnTasZmjRSJ6lsOmzsuaCSkKtQFdvU9dnUZpWFwBRB4KFjRFk_9ZL1qPcGiu89VhMLiP9lH_H39CAGYgwOuW1UEakvKLcmpfRJBo0ka9/s400/SFSU_cans.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5384365183201336514" border="0" /></a>Over the last three semesters I've spent at SF State, one thing has perpetually confused me: How to throw out my garbage properly.<br /><br />I try to be a conscious consumer, and I try to follow the social rules of the road and otherwise. However, I sometimes take the <a href="http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=753">nerdview</a>* of things, and this can cause problems in the day to day. Case in point. (see picture)<br /><br />Do you see what I see? Where would you put your food waste? Where would you put your recyclable bottle?<br /><br />Here are some of the problems I've identified with what are, to me, conflicting messages:<br /><br />• The color of the bins.<br />• The size of the bins.<br />• The messaging on the bins.<br />• The placement of the bins.<br />• The accessibility (open-topped-ness) of the bins.<br />• The current contents of the open-topped bin.<br />• The presence of a liner in the bin.<br /><br />For me, each of these criteria are weighted, based on my past experiences with garbage and recycling. For instance, a blue bin means recycling. But so does a closed-top bin. A large bin near a doorway means garbage, but so does an open topped bin with trash in it. Especially one with a liner. A bin labeled with "recycling" means that recyclable goods belong there. Especially when the bin also labeled with a qualifier, such as "CLEAN AND DRY ONLY."<br /><br />If I were to rank these constraints, in order of importance to my categorical assessment, they'd probably look like this:<br /><ol><li>Recycling bins are BLUE or GREEN, labeled, smaller than garbage bins, closed-topped, placed less prominently, and don't usually have liners.<br /></li><li>Garbage bins are not BLUE or GREEN, have liners, unmarked, larger than recycling bins, open topped, and placed prominently.</li></ol><br />So what is to make of 2 equal sized bins, both having liners, both marked with recycling stickers, one blue and open-topped containing garbage and recyclables, one black and closed-topped with contents unknown, both placed prominently by a door?<br /><br />I've taken some informal polls and the consensus is that the black, closed-topped bin, doubly marked is the recycling bin. I get this. But then why does the garbage bin have a recycling sticker on it. And why is it blue?<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvJ0CCyC9Y6SocBn9kegjcdxAE_7SzKvQ1tjEDaHTZ4LTIImeslN6jMUl5jY7GIAmiRbASQtLnrRsVNMw6VX-6o26gVgORnr7EPhuyUFp2frQRhYF4FySK9AIYpMFxYTPkNz_HeQkYOBgT/s1600-h/Small_bins.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvJ0CCyC9Y6SocBn9kegjcdxAE_7SzKvQ1tjEDaHTZ4LTIImeslN6jMUl5jY7GIAmiRbASQtLnrRsVNMw6VX-6o26gVgORnr7EPhuyUFp2frQRhYF4FySK9AIYpMFxYTPkNz_HeQkYOBgT/s400/Small_bins.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5384370129455837362" border="0" /></a>Further compounding the issue (or possibly disambiguating it, depending on your perspective), is the presence of nested bins, found propping the doors of many of the smaller classrooms. While the garbage bin is consistently blue, the recycling bin follows the 'smaller' constraint, but violates the 'liner' constraint. However, it can be argued that the bins in this case are reversed, as the 'recycling' bin is barely large enough to fit 2 bottles, and the 'garbage' bin is liner-less and somewhat covered by the nested bin.<br /><br />What to do? All I can say is this: the situation causes undo computational strain on my feeble brain.<br /><br />Also, who painstakingly sorts this stuff? Every day I see both types of bins with mixed garbage/recycling in them, probably due to peoples' confusion in processing the mixed messages. I feel for these people, meaning all of us. Common sense does not always prevail.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">*Why does nerdview seem to come up often in relation to garbage?<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);font-size:85%;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;">*** UPDATE! ***</span></span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Walking on campus, I found some more confusion to share:<br /><br />On the left, below, we have a small, black, liner-ed, labeled, close-topped, garbage bin sitting beside a larger, blue, unlined, unlabeled, close-topped, GARBAGE bin. And in the next photo (right), we have THREE bins (whee) that mix up the constraints in more ways I can describe here. I think you're getting the idea.<br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQa1SOYBJuUK9oWEEsxhrWm-LHzVfSKRxqGseSD3TeNRhB_L4n2GdfAu2Zl2kKvAg7TRvSLI4hTRhJNy8nmrauTdBW391dYR9zCs4blHJQrDTwUh_-AbNovFDcjMCFyymiEYYYgLwZQkDG/s1600-h/3946017029_fefa0b2789.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQa1SOYBJuUK9oWEEsxhrWm-LHzVfSKRxqGseSD3TeNRhB_L4n2GdfAu2Zl2kKvAg7TRvSLI4hTRhJNy8nmrauTdBW391dYR9zCs4blHJQrDTwUh_-AbNovFDcjMCFyymiEYYYgLwZQkDG/s400/3946017029_fefa0b2789.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5384500431081938258" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWtaFGZHfG5iX4von-kCUOvLc7Us_pqUQ0ahl4P_gOL23-68VM-mOsaLy32XB_Lk7AXMZRNCZTCwUcvXz_5q_bw3PD1SBalaOwTeyVTHrGE7ef1HKt7by0Y_MEscG_uemuSAFyizf8V9Or/s1600-h/3946017163_867c8cac9a.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWtaFGZHfG5iX4von-kCUOvLc7Us_pqUQ0ahl4P_gOL23-68VM-mOsaLy32XB_Lk7AXMZRNCZTCwUcvXz_5q_bw3PD1SBalaOwTeyVTHrGE7ef1HKt7by0Y_MEscG_uemuSAFyizf8V9Or/s400/3946017163_867c8cac9a.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5384500311763826690" border="0" /></a></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2526053028610404911.post-73265780098351873332009-09-14T23:26:00.000-07:002009-09-14T23:32:18.649-07:00Free event on SFSU Alumni Day - Saturday, Oct 17, 2009Check out this free event, taking place Saturday, Oct. 17th, 2:00 pm to 3:00 pm at the Cesar Chavez Student Center, Rosa Park A:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.sfsu.edu/%7Ealumni/simons_alumni_days/speakers.html#david"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Cultural Variations in Facial Expression and Nonverbal Behavior</span><br />David Matsumoto, professor of psychology</a><br /><br />Join internationally acclaimed author and psychologist David Matsumoto for a presentation about his groundbreaking research on facial expression and nonverbal behavior and their variations from culture to culture. Hear how his studies, which garnered a prestigious $1.9 million grant from the U.S. Department of Defense, have shed new light on how humans manage emotional displays according to social context, suggesting that the ability to regulate emotional expressions is innate and not learned through observation.<br /><br />Professor Matsumoto received his B.A. from the University of Michigan in 1981 with high honors in psychology and Japanese. He subsequently earned his M.A. (1983) and Ph.D. (1986) in psychology from the University of California at Berkeley. He has served as professor of psychology and director of the Culture and Emotion Research Laboratory at San Francisco State since 1989. He has studied culture, emotion, social interaction and communication for twenty years, and has published approximately 400 works related to these areas.Fledgelingshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01032102128851770989noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2526053028610404911.post-397142286023466032009-09-11T08:42:00.000-07:002009-09-11T08:54:08.304-07:00An apology to Alan Turing, better late than neverGeoff Pullum, over at Language Log, has written a <a href="http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=1733">nice post about Alan Turing's life</a>, and the current UK Prime Minister's recent public apology on behalf of the British Government for the despicable and inhumane treatment Turing suffered under their country's law, which led to Turing's suicide in 1954.<br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Turing">Alan Turing</a> made revolutionary advances in computer science, mathematics, cryptology and the WWII war effort. Turing's work has been crucial to linguistics, particularly in computational linguistics.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2526053028610404911.post-88654997266772882422009-09-01T09:49:00.000-07:002009-09-01T09:51:24.399-07:00Updates on Fledgelings CalendarsThe <a href="http://fledgelings.blogspot.com/2008/10/lgsa-fledgelings-calendar.html">Fledgelings Calendars</a> have been updated with new events and features! You can now subscribe to both the Academic and Events calendars using iCal or XML (for your favorite RSS/feed reader - I prefer Google Reader personally). <a href="http://fledgelings.blogspot.com/2008/10/lgsa-fledgelings-calendar.html">Check it out!</a>Fledgelingshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01032102128851770989noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2526053028610404911.post-23036504788970634862009-09-01T08:42:00.000-07:002009-09-01T08:55:59.929-07:00UC Berkeley events open to SFSU Linguists!Just want to let you all know about some of the regular events that our friends over at UC Berkeley are hosting this semester.<br /><ul><li>The <a href="http://linguistics.berkeley.edu/%7Ephorum/">Phonology Phorum</a>, a weekly talk and discussion series, is held every Monday from 11am-noon, in 50 Dwinelle (<a href="http://linguistics.berkeley.edu/phonlab/resources/">UCB phonology lab</a>). More information about upcoming phorums, found <a href="http://linguistics.berkeley.edu/%7Ephorum/">here</a>.<br /><br /></li><li>The <a href="http://linguistics.berkeley.edu/%7Esyntax-circle/">Syntax and Semantics Circle</a> meets every Monday, from 12:30-2:00pm in 1303 Dwinelle. More information about the Syntax and Semantics Circle can be found <a href="http://linguistics.berkeley.edu/%7Esyntax-circle/">here</a>.<br /><br /></li><li>The next event is the <a href="http://linguistics.berkeley.edu/events/">UCB Linguistics Dept. Colloquium</a>, taking place every Monday from 4–5:30pm in Dwinelle 182. More information about the UCB Colloquium can be found <a href="http://linguistics.berkeley.edu/events/">here</a>.<br /><br /></li><li>Lastly, the <a href="http://icbs.berkeley.edu/index.php">ICBS Seminars</a> are held every Friday from 11:00am–12:30pm in 5101 Tolman hall. Their schedule is posted <a href="http://icbs.berkeley.edu/index.php">here</a>. Last Friday's Roger Levy talk about garden path sentence parsing was really interesting and informative! Don't miss the next one, Sept. 11th, where <a href="http://icbs.berkeley.edu/events/event.php?rid=102">Yuko Munakata will talk about "Developing Cognitive Control."</a></li></ul>That's a lot of great information to get in on! Also, these events will be updated on our <a href="http://fledgelings.blogspot.com/2008/10/lgsa-fledgelings-calendar.html">Fledgelings Calendar</a>, so please keep checking it, as we probably won't be making out weekly post reminders.<br /><br />We will be updating you all again soon with some announcements about LGSA- and SFSU-hosted events. Until then, we hope to see you at some of these great UCB opportunities!Fledgelingshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01032102128851770989noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2526053028610404911.post-74641671420523695912009-08-27T10:36:00.000-07:002009-08-27T10:47:17.415-07:00<span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" >The Graduate Literature Association presents:</span><br /><span style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >"You're All Going to Die" Anything Goes and Poetry or Prose Night </span><br /><span style="color: rgb(153, 102, 51); font-weight: bold;">Thursday, 8 pm on September 3rd, at </span><a style="color: rgb(153, 102, 51); font-weight: bold;" href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&view=text&gl=us&q=cafe+du+soleil+200+fillmore&ie=UTF8&hl=en&sll=36.727531,-101.282313&sspn=21.870486,42.300738&latlng=6180844298539226253&ei=-sSWSpL6EJiusAOg5uHfCA&sig2=maZS1MSjz-A6Yuby7uGlkQ&cd=1&usq=cafe+du+soleil+200+fillmore&geocode=FaVXQAId8Nyz-A&dtab=1&oi=md_structdata&sa=X">Cafe Du Soleil (200 Fillmore Street)</a><span style="color: rgb(153, 102, 51); font-weight: bold;">.</span><br /><br /><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" >Message from Ned B., President of the GLA and event host:</span><br />Save the date and help me fill this place out. Here's a breakdown of what to keep in mind :::<br /><br />Signups will be that night. You have until 7:45pm to signup or until we have 24 total readers for the night. So, if you want to read, you'd better get there early...<br /><br />...and, yes, we're going to start promptly at 8pm. PROMPTLY AT 8pm. It'll give us more time to hang out and less time reading late into the night.<br /><ul><li>If you're going to read, keep it under 5 MINUTES long. That's right: 5 MINUTES. WE WILL TIME YOU. And we will hug you when we have to stop you.</li><li>As far as reading goes, you can bring anything you want to read. It doesn't have to be poetry. It doesn't have to be yours. You can bring the packaging label for your toilet paper and read that. It doesn't matter. BUT DO IT FULL OUT. </li><li>You don't have to read anything. You are just as welcome to sit back, relax, clap at what you love and hiss at what you hate.</li><li>Clapping and hissing will be encouraged.</li><li>If you have some musical instruments you'd like to bring and play, do it.</li></ul><span style="font-weight: bold;">IMPORTANT ::: DON'T TAKE YOURSELF SO SERIOUSLY.</span> Come and have fun. The end. Remember. Someday, we won't exist and neither will the English language. If you choose to take yourself seriously, then take yourself so seriously that it's stupid. Ridiculousness is encouraged.<br /><br />That's pretty much it... and here's the rundown of information for the night again:<br /><br />Where: <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&view=text&gl=us&q=cafe+du+soleil+200+fillmore&ie=UTF8&hl=en&sll=36.727531,-101.282313&sspn=21.870486,42.300738&latlng=6180844298539226253&ei=-sSWSpL6EJiusAOg5uHfCA&sig2=maZS1MSjz-A6Yuby7uGlkQ&cd=1&usq=cafe+du+soleil+200+fillmore&geocode=FaVXQAId8Nyz-A&dtab=1&oi=md_structdata&sa=X">Cafe Du Soleil @ 200 Fillmore Street.</a><br />When: Thursday, September 3rd @ 8pm (sign-ups will start before that)<br /><br />"You're Going to Die" ...be there when it happens.Fledgelingshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01032102128851770989noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2526053028610404911.post-54855547935526504012009-08-26T11:36:00.000-07:002009-08-26T12:45:50.180-07:00Come Higgins, be reasonable!I watched the 1938 classic '<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pygmalion_%281938_film%29">Pygmalion</a>' the other day and while it was not my favorite, it did star a Leslie Howard as a surly phonetician. The movie is based on the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pygmalion_%28play%29">1913 play of the same name, by George Bernard Shaw</a>. It was also re-adapted in film in 1964, as 'My Fair Lady', featuring Rex Harrison and Audrey Hepburn. I haven't read the play or seen '<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Fair_Lady_%28film%29">My Fair Lady</a>' yet, so my take on this is strictly limited to the 1938 film.<br /><br />The plot of Pygmalion is as follows (from <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0030637/plotsummary">IMDB</a>):<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">The snobbish & intellectual Professor of languages, Henry Higgins makes a bet with his friend that he can take a London flower seller, Eliza Doolittle, from the gutters and pass her off as a society lady. However he discovers that this involves dealing with a human being with ideas of her own. </span><br /><br />According to <a href="http://www.wordnik.com/words/pygmalion">Wordnik.com</a> (a fantastic site for historical and cultural etymologies of words), the word 'Pygmalion' comes from Greek mythology, referring to a king of Cyprus who created a statue of a woman and loved it so much that the Goddess Aphrodite gave it life.<br /><br />Unbeknown to many at the time I would argue, as far as linguistics goes, this movie is more about sociolinguistics than phonetics (if one had to choose). The movie is a fantastic and grotesque display of language attitudes, stemming from two progressive (at the time) but ultimately false premises:<br /><ol><li>You can change your socioeconomic station by changing your language.</li><li>Some dialects are bad, unrefined and/or socially undesirable.</li></ol>There are some serious flaws with those ideas, but they are fascinating nonetheless, especially as represented in a 1938 film focused on socioeconomic class and language.<br /><br />The movie opens with a street scene. There is a mix of dialects mingling about, all being recorded by a suspicious looking man leaning against a column taking notes. When a passerby calls him out, and a crowd forms, the man (our protagonist of sorts) rattles off quotes from his notebook and identifies all of the neighborhoods of origin of the various speakers. He is obliquely accused of some sort of sorcery, and he combats this by explaining that he is a linguist. Nobody asked how many languages he spoke.<br /><br />The movie carries on outrageously from there. The man, Professor Higgins, is by today's standards, a completely insufferable, misogynistic a-hole. He is somewhat prescriptivist as well, which is a whole 'nother crime of existence. I kid, I kid. Sort of.<br /><br />Anyways, the movie reveals all sorts of interesting and laughable phenomenon. The script is written with a pretty thorough understanding of the London Cockney accent, which is impressive, even though (and thankful that) <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cockney#Attitudes_towards_Cockney_English">attitudes about this particular dialect</a>, and <a href="http://www.pbs.org/speak/speech/prejudice/">language attitudes in general</a>, have changed somewhat. <a href="http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/%7Emyl/languagelog/archives/001271.html">But we still have a ways to go.</a><br /><br />There is ample material for linguists to get excited about...lot's of oral cavity drawings, familiar quotes (the rain in Spain, anyone?), and mentions of places of articulation. The style-shifting is a kick. There is a particular scene I found, um, entertaining. The student, Eliza Doolittle, is being publicly 'tested' for the first time. Her phonology is excellent and passable to the high-class company, but her lexical choices are questionable. This is passed off my Prof. Higgins as that new 'street slang'. This, apparently has high prestige. Other notable things too...watch for yourself here: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7oYCMb0nA4">Tea scene in Pygmalion.</a> <br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Q7oYCMb0nA4&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Q7oYCMb0nA4&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />Oh, and don't get your hopes up about the ending. It is horribly lame. As my s/o said to me while watching the 10-minute final argument scene, "Just how long is this one gonna go on?!"<br /><br />In summary, it's an interesting film, full of linguistic bits to admire or pick apart. Please share your thoughts on this! Also, what are some of your favorite films about or featuring linguists?Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2526053028610404911.post-50018788775621763982009-08-23T20:51:00.000-07:002009-08-26T11:36:11.036-07:00Pragmatics of knockingWhile camping with some linguists and non-linguists this weekend, a funny little language quirk came up. Upon returning from a trip to the bathroom, a non-linguist friend asked, "How come when somebody knocks on a bathroom door, or simply barges in, we say 'There's someone in here!' and not '<span style="font-style: italic;">I'm</span> in here'?"<br /><br />Fair enough question. Really, why is it that we don't claim our own agency when responding to the unexpected bathroom intrusion? It's not as if we are so startled that we forget who we are. It is also unlikely that we are trying to remain unknown to our intruders (that would necessitate climbing out the bathroom window after our business, I would think). So what is going on here?<br /><br />The first thing we must establish when answering the bigger question is a determination of what exactly is going on here. Meaning that we must figure out what is different between these two sentences, before we can figure out the reasons why a speaker would automatically orient to one phrasing over another. And before I go on, it should be noted that there is a premise here that has not been tested whatsoever; rather a bunch of drunken linguists around a campfire assumed that the '<span style="font-style: italic;">There's</span>' phrasing is more prevalent than the '<span style="font-style: italic;">I'm</span>' phrasing. We didn't go knocking on tents and barging into bathrooms to verify this, despite the grounds being rife for this sort of empirical study.<br /><br />There are several differences between the following two sentences, and many of them involve <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deixis">deixis</a>. For reference, the two sentences being compared are as follows:<br /><br />A) There's someone in here!<br />B) I'm in here!<br /><br />The first thing we noticed is the lack of agency signaled by the indefinite referent 'someone'. We also determined that 'somebody' could work in place of 'someone', even though there are ever-so-slight semantic differences. It seems more important in this case that a person spontaneously refers to him or her self as something other than 'I'.<br /><br />One thing that is puzzling about this is that we know that in the case of barging in, the responder is abruptly tasked with the responsibility of conveying the occupancy of the room as quickly as possible. So we would expect shorter phrases, such as B (and not A). Sometimes this is the case, but I'm inclined to think they are more often the 1 word variety...Hey! Occupied! Here!<br /><br />Another thing to notice is the perspective of the responder. By using the word 'here' in both cases (as opposed to 'there' or something else entirely) we know that the deictic center (place of semantic focus) is indeed in the bathroom. This is important because it's contrasted with deixis of the speaker who responds, who does so NOT in the first person. So, while the location of focus is in the room, the perspective is shifted away from the responder (who presumably is also located in the room).<br /><br />I think that last point is key, since it more salient to establish that somebody is in the room rather than exactly who is in the room (which presupposes a somebody). And it answers the question that is asked by the paralinguistic act of knocking on a door. Because when we knock on a door, we are not asking "Who is in here?" but rather "Is there someone in here (and may I enter)?"<br /><br />It is interesting that this is implicitly understood. Also, that even in a split-second response (possibly while compromised in some pants-down fashion), we tailor our answers to place focus on the presence of a person in a particular location rather than the identity of the person in that location. We even take linguistic pains to avoid putting ourselves in the equation.<br /><br />It is possible that there are several other factors involved. Maybe this phenomenon only happens in bathrooms and other super private places. Maybe we disassociate from claiming ourselves as a discretionary measure. Maybe something else is pragmatically conveyed by using 'I'm in here' that we haven't thought of. Perhaps there is a trend not to do this in publicly shared spaces in general (as opposed to the rooms of our homes, where we 'own' the space and there's expectations about the identities of the occupants).<br /><br />Anyways, that's plenty on this topic for now. Please comment if you have any additional thoughts about what might be going on in there.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2526053028610404911.post-4549245150085458812009-07-14T19:56:00.000-07:002009-07-14T21:21:38.262-07:00#lsa2009, zeitgeists 'and shit'We're 1/6th of the way into the <a href="http://lsa2009.berkeley.edu/">2009 Linguistic Institute</a> at <a href="http://berkeley.edu/">UC Berkeley</a>. I've had lots of things to say, but little time to write. For me, the whole experience can be summarized so far as both unbelievably inspiring and absolutely intimidating. The sheer wealth of opportunity for us is overwhelming. Aside from the courses, there are conferences, lectures, workshops and social events. The professors are accessible and interested. The entire experience is available to us and for us.<br /><br />Not to mention the excellent opportunities here on the Berkeley campus. For $10 you can get an <a href="http://www.recsports.berkeley.edu/insidepage.aspx?uid=b21e61d9-bb15-4db8-89f0-109a67ba90be">RSF membership</a> for the entire summer, offering free reign of the gym, group classes, and four pools. It's been in the 90ºs here. <a href="http://geoimages.berkeley.edu/geoimages/QTVR/Berkeley/HearstPoolL.html">The Hearst pool</a>, a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julia_Morgan">Julia Morgan</a> design with marble deck and a view of the bay area, is like a little high-top retreat and refreshing sanctuary. I highly recommend taking advantage of it! Also, lesser known highlights...stop by the <a href="http://services.housing.berkeley.edu/c1c/static/index.htm">Cal1 office</a> for your Cal1 card and <a href="http://www2.actransit.org/main.wu">AC Transit</a> sticker. Free bus access anywhere! Once that hot little card is in your hands, you can <a href="http://services.housing.berkeley.edu/c1c/static/online.htm">add money to it</a>, and use it for purchases <a href="http://services.housing.berkeley.edu/c1c/static/merchants.htm">anywhere on campus, and many places nearby</a>. The <a href="http://pt.berkeley.edu/around/transit/routes">Perimeter bus (P-line)</a> makes this card definitely worthwhile. Especially if you need to get up that hill to Stanley Hall or Donner Lab. It drops off at Mining Circle and you're good.<br /><br />Back to linguistics though...<br /><br />First things first, I'm happy to discover a little <a href="http://twitter.com/">Twitter</a> contingency going. It's been a very fun way to network with people here. We're all coming from different places, and converging on the same shared interests. This is what Twitter was made for. #lsa2009 is your friend.<br /><br />Another thing that fellow linguists and I have noticed as we've travelled around together for almost two weeks are the current trends and almost meme-like topics that have been circulating through the discourse. Frames, blends and schemas are hot right now. As is <a href="http://www.icsi.berkeley.edu/NTL/">NTL</a>, <a href="http://ecgweb.pbworks.com/Introduction-to-ECG">ECG</a>, <a href="http://www.r-project.org/">R</a>, <a href="http://tedlab.mit.edu/%7Edr/TGrep2/">TGrep2</a>, and many other letters in our delectible* acronym soup. There is also spoken and near unspoken life-after-Universal-Grammar – not because it is unappreciated, but because there are exciting new theories about language evolution that have found their ways into the minds of these syntacticians, psycholinguists, cognitive scientists, historical linguists, sociolinguists and the like. It truly is an exciting time.<br /><br />These themes are contagious. I hear an idea mentioned in one class, then carried over into another with a whole new perspective added to it. It's like a giant game of intelligent telephone. And the professors are in on it too. They sit in each other's classes, share theories, and bring treats freshly baked from their subfield of the big pie. Sometimes they even make – and lose – bets with each other, as witnessed in yesterday's delightful reparte between Geoffrey Pullum and Adele Goldberg in LSA 110, English Grammar. With AirBears, a corpus search, and Google, these things move fast!<br /><br />I'm currently enrolled in four courses, all tucked into seemingly disparate pockets of linguistics. There is always crossover of course, but my Tuesdays and Thursdays literally go something like this:<br /><ul><li>8:30 - 10:15 Discussion of stylistic choices and discursive features of Obama, hipsters, 'and shit' – referring to the actual use of 'and shit' as indexical of a particular identity construction construction.**</li><li>10:30 - 12:30 Meet with various professors and TAs to talk about my favorite subject, linguistics!</li><li>12:30 - 1:30 Meet with fellow linguists to talk about the things we all just talked about with other linguists.</li><li>1:30 - 3:15 Get mind blown by Neural Theory of Language. Recruitment Learning happens. Neurons strengthen. <span style="font-style: italic;">That's how it works. Isn't that cool?!</span></li><li>3:15 - 3:35 Revising mental map of Dwinelle Hall.</li><li>3:36 - 5:15 Humbling reminder hour. There is this whole field called 'Psycholinguistics' out there. And I mean out there. I embrace this time, and take what I can. Unix, TGrep2, R Regressions, Uniform Information Density, and many things that start with the letter 'A'. Having come from a background focused on qualitative sociolinguistic study, this is a whole new animal. I'm beyond intrigued, and determined to walk away as friends with these new terms. Additionally, Jaeger and his crew are wicked smart, and constantly offer up areas for further exploration, possibly study designs, and ways to bridge our backgrounds with the offerings of the field. Talk about inspiring!</li><li>5:15 - 7:00 Decompression with food.</li><li>7:00 - 8:30 Find lecture. Get inspired all over again. Think about future. Dream big.</li></ul>And that's it. Celebrity fest ends for the day. Repeat and wear better shoes tomorrow.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">*This close to going for the bad pun. Be thankful I didn't.</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">**Here I must apologize. I've wanted to use the 'construction construction' construction all week.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2526053028610404911.post-86183725278463533082009-07-05T19:53:00.000-07:002009-07-05T20:01:50.805-07:00Animal MindsThere was a very fascinating episode of <span style="font-style: italic;">To the Best of Our Knowledge</span> on the radio today (NPR, 88.5 bay area fm). It was called "<a href="http://www.wpr.org/book/080713a.html">Animal Minds</a>" (and can be heard by clicking that link there).<br /><br />PRI Website excerpt:<br /><blockquote style="font-style: italic;">In Baltimore, Maryland, there's an octopus that likes to play with toys. In Vienna, Austria, there's a border collie with a vocabulary of 340 words - more than many toddlers. Southeast Asia is home to dozens of elephants who like to paint. In this hour of<b> To the Best of Our Knowledge</b>, re-thinking animal intelligence. Not only are they smarter than we thought – in some cases they're smarter than us. </blockquote><br />Definitely worth checking out. Then go talk to your pets.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2526053028610404911.post-23512548033268263152009-07-04T18:39:00.000-07:002009-07-04T18:51:33.677-07:00Call for (blog) Posters!The LGSA encourages guest posts and collaborations! We would love to share your linguistics-related event, observations, or research with other SF State students and readers of this blog. If you have something to say, let us know. Please email us at <a href="mailto:fledgelings@gmail.com">fledgelings at gmail dot com</a> to discuss your ideas or suggestions; we're happy to help and spread the word.Fledgelingshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01032102128851770989noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2526053028610404911.post-86028506870542193962009-07-04T17:37:00.000-07:002009-07-06T21:45:50.421-07:00You can't get there from here!Dwinelle Hall is arguably the most famous building on the UC Berkeley campus, and undeniably the most confusing. I did my undergrad in Linguistics at Cal, and I fondly remember orientation day, where world expert Folklore Professor Alan Dundes told us of the legend – two feuding brothers, in a torrid love triangle with a woman, then resigned to designing separate wings of the same building, resulting in a convoluted mess of twisty passages leading almost nowhere, not unlike this sentence. This story is not true, except for the twisty passages leading almost nowhere part.<br /><br />I was captivated by the tale, and mostly by its telling. I vowed to depart from my linguistics curriculum for at least one course, to take a class from Dundes, Mr. Folklore Extraordinaire. Sadly, he unexpectedly died before I got the chance. Even from the brief encounter I had with Prof. Dundes on orientation day, I recognized that someone truly great was gone.<br /><br />What he said rang true, as any Linguistics student at Cal knows...the building is indeed a mess. Seven floors of offices mashed up with seven(?) floors of classrooms. Built on a slope. You can actually enter Dwinelle hall on the first, second, or third floor, depending.<br /><br />Truly, all you need to know about Dwinelle is two things:<br />1. The linguistics department is located on Level A (<a href="http://dwinelle.berkeley.edu/MAPS/level_A.html">see map here</a>).<br />2. Never attempt to walk 'through' the building. There is no such thing. Instead, enter at the corner or face closest to the office or classroom of your destination.<br /><br />Ok, wait, three things:<br />3. If you're lost, and you see a door leading outside, take it and start over.<br /><br />Tomorrow the LSA Institute Check-In begins. Since it is Sunday, and a holiday weekend, many of the offices in Dwinelle will be closed. According to the website, check-in is in room 1303 Dwinelle, from 3:00-7:00. So, according to the <a href="http://dwinelle.berkeley.edu/MAPS/level_A.html">map</a>, you should be able to enter the building from the main entrance (east side), and take a right. Theoretically, and if memory serves.<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);"><span style="font-weight: bold;">UPDATE:</span> Oh boy, was I wrong. The best way to get to 1303 (LSA Institute Registration) is to enter the building at the NW corner. The office is right next to the door. Getting there from the main entrance is a pain; I don't recommend it.</span><br /><br />Not only am I extremely excited about the LSA Institute + additional events, but I am also pretty stoked about the opportunity to go back and experience Cal with all new seriousness and mad linguistic passion. It is with a bit of regret that I didn't take full advantage of the programs, events, and instruction during my time there previously. Then, it was the most interesting means to a degree – I didn't know that linguistics would become my sole inspiration to stay in academia for as long as possible, with future aspirations of a lifelong career with language. It's all part of the journey I suppose, and another reason to enjoy the opportunity for do-over like revisiting.<br /><br />I imagine that there will be plenty of things to write about over the next several weeks, albeit very little time to do so. In the meantime, I'd like to share a few tips about Cal...this stuff is random and only slightly informative, may no longer be true, but could potentially make somebody's experience there a little bit brighter. Also, if you have anything to add, please leave a comment or email to let us know, and we'll add it to the list going here:<br /><ul><li>Squirrels are rampant on campus. They are fearless and look as though they would like to be petted. They don't. It's a trick and they bite. Cute, glorified rats they are.</li><li>There is a perimeter bus that will take you from one side of campus to the other. I do not know if its running during summer, but if so, it can be a lifesaver if say, you need to get from Stanley Hall to Valley Life Sciences Building in a pinch. Also, the perimeter bus is free, and only goes in one direction (clockwise).</li><li>The Valley Life Sciences Building has a giant <a href="http://ls.berkeley.edu/?q=node/311">T-rex</a> hanging out in the center of it all. No kidding. Opt to walk through instead of around if you get the chance.</li><li>The <a href="http://facilities.calperfs.berkeley.edu/greek/">Greek Theater</a> is an amazing concert venue. Go there! Drive if you must, but park as far away as possible. There is something very fun about leaving at the end of the show in a crowd of thousands stumbling down the hill together. Traffic is a nightmare and walking can be much more rewarding.</li><li>The <a href="http://www.recsports.berkeley.edu/index.aspx">Recreational Sports Facility (RSF)</a> is amazing. Summer passes should be available to purchase for us. I'm going to look into it for myself on Monday. I highly recommend the Hearst Pool for open lap swim. 80º, outdoors, and a view of the city and treetops. </li><li>Here is a link to <a href="http://berkeley.edu/map/">the campus map page</a>.</li></ul>I'll update this list as ideas come in or come to mind. Until then, Happy 4th of July!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2526053028610404911.post-5162827000072292912009-07-02T08:00:00.000-07:002009-07-02T08:33:58.999-07:00A Timely Code-CrackingAn interesting article appears in this morning's Wall Street Journal:<br /><br /><a style="font-weight: bold; font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124648494429082661.html">Two Centuries On, a Cryptologist Cracks a Presidential Code </a><br />The article covers the recent code-breaking by Dr. Lawren Smithline, Center for Communications Research in Princeton, NJ. Smithline was told by a neighbor several years ago about the secret messages hidden in correspondences between Thomas Jefferson and mathematician friend, Robert Patterson. The now 200+ year old cipher that Patterson claimed would "defy the united ingenuity of the whole human race," has finally been solved.<br /><br />From the article:<br /><span style="font-style: italic;"></span><blockquote><span style="font-style: italic;">To Mr. Patterson's view, a perfect code had four properties: It should be adaptable to all languages; it should be simple to learn and memorize; it should be easy to write and to read; and most important of all, "it should be absolutely inscrutable to all unacquainted with the particular key or secret for decyphering."</span></blockquote><br />The contents of the cipher are interesting...the onset of the hidden message is quite familiar to many of us. It's meaning of course can't be ignored (dare I say, it be self-evident?) – the very founding message of this country, to be celebrated soon. But what I like most about this story is really, when it comes down to it, it is also simply an inside joke between friends.<br /><br />It's sometimes nice to be privy to these things. It connects us to our past in a small, meaningful way, but also remind us that our leaders are not Gods, superheros, or celebrities. They are not 'good', 'evil', 'super- or sub-human'. They're just people, friends, pranksters, writers, and occasionally philosophers and cryptologists.<br /><br />Which makes me think that maybe modern day linguists aren't the weird aliens I sometimes think we must be. But maybe that's just me.<br /><br />Happy 4th of July, wordnerds!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2526053028610404911.post-67854718219036947362009-06-29T19:03:00.000-07:002009-06-30T21:42:22.695-07:00Narrative, Metaphor, Gender and Identity Construction in Pixar's 'Up'<span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);font-size:85%;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;">NOTE: This post contains potential spoilers about the movie 'Up'. No major secrets are revealed, but themes are discussed and analyzed below. Read at your own risk.</span></span><br /><br />Last night I went and saw <a href="http://www.pixar.com/companyinfo/index.html">Pixar's</a> latest, <a href="http://www.pixar.com/featurefilms/up/">Up</a>, in 3D at the Daly City CineMark theater. I had read quite a lot about this movie beforehand, including <a href="http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090527/REVIEWS/905279997">Roger Ebert's movie review</a>, an <a href="http://www.npr.org/blogs/monkeysee/2009/06/dear_pixar_from_all_the_girls.html">open letter from Linda Holmes at NPR</a>, and a fascinating <a href="http://www.metafilter.com/82473/The-Boys-Club">650+ comment thread about Pixar's lead-character gender bias problem</a>, (via <a href="http://www.metafilter.com/">Metafilter</a>). I also had the pleasure of spending one of my recent weekly Spanish lessons reciting and then paraphrasing a Spanish newspaper's review and interview with the director of the film. And so with all that, and as a huge fan of Pixar's previous work, I was very intrigued and excited to see this!<br /><br />Pixar does a wonderful job of conveying a complex narrative visually. As with much of their work, you get much more than just one. Up delivers the classic 'Coming of Age' story, hitting all the recognizable and relatable plot points – i.e., naivety and wonder in hero worship, standing up for what you believe in, going against the pack, accepting life's disappointments, letting go of your childhood idols and ideals (and in one particular case, physically battling them). Up also dabbles in divorce narratives, love and loss narratives, and of course, the adventure and treasure-seeking narratives. What is so interesting about these elements is <span style="font-style: italic;">how</span> Up tells its tale. It's shockingly realistic, because these different narratives aren't relegated to individual characters, genders, age-groups, or even species! For example, just as much as Russell journeys along the coming of age storyline, so do the elderly Carl and even the dog, Doug. Our adventurer is Ellie, a young little girl, who, while not being foremost, is indeed first, and remains the inspiration and lodestar for Carl throughout the film.<br /><br />Even more than these atypical representations, is the way that Pixar then weaves the narratives. Everybody is at different stages of the same story, and their actions force the hands of others. For example, it is only because Carl is deep in his misery and fixation on the past that he lashes out at Russell, who is at the turning point in his own journey, a little further down the road than his young elder. Carl's harsh words are the kick in the pants for Russell, filling him with indignation and oompf he needs to go tackle the world on his own. This frees up Carl to take inventory of his house, where he winds up making an important discovery, leading him to the next stage of the big adventure. There things aren't accidents, nor are they simply convenient plot elements. Which is exactly why well-written-but-visually-artificial characters can come to embody something more real and relatable than the seemingly real thing.<br /><br />Conceptual metaphor plays a crucially big role in this film as well. It drives the 3D experience and reinforces the narrative structure. However, even this too is toyed with. The most obvious conceptual metaphor, <span style="font-size:85%;">GOOD IS UP</span>, can be flipped on its head when its trumped by <span style="font-size:85%;">EMOTIONAL STABILITY IS CONTACT WITH THE GROUND</span>. It's all relative, to each character and to his or her particular stage of development. This is why <span style="font-size:85%;">OBLIGATIONS ARE POSSESSIONS</span>, except when they are <span style="font-size:85%;">PROPERTIES</span>. Or why <span style="font-size:85%;">POSSESSING IS HOLDING</span>, but not when that requires letting go. There's also the very 3-dimensionally represented complimentary metaphors, <span style="font-size:85%;">FREEDOM IS OPEN SPACE </span>and <span style="font-size:85%;">FREEDOM IS MOBILITY</span>. Which takes on a certain illogic and irony when you're an old man walking caneless along a vast, open space...with a floating house weighing you down.<br /><br />Shapes, directions, colors and movements all take on both relative and fixed meanings, if that can be said. Carl's square features at once represent reliability and stubborness. Russell's convey his youth, as well as his youthful naivety. The symbolism seems natural and obvious (dare I say circular?), except when you realize each and every angle or curve was very likely a deliberate choice, designed to heighten and reinforce our experience. Why then does the most coveted and hard to find object of the antagonist's desire happen to be the most brightly colored (and therefore easiest to spot in a monochrome environment), yet perpetually elusive? How does a house provide shelter from a storm, when you aren't actually inside it? How do we balance the role of underdog vs. alpha dog, when the world tells us we can't be both?<br /><br />Which leads me of one of the biggest riddles of the film...why the gender bias, Pixar? I went into this knowing that 11 out of your 11 films have a male lead. I suppose this is ok, because our princess is coming, right? (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bear_and_the_Bow">Bear and the Bow, 2011</a>) Seriously, though, I know you can knock it out of the park already. Ellen Parsons (of Incredibles fame) was wonderfully complex and delightful; Dory (from Finding Nemo) is funny and EQ-smart and picks up all the slack; and of course, Ellie (of Up) is a total peach, not to mention the underlying motivation and inspiration for Carl.<br /><br />I admit, I went into this one with my eyes and ears hyper-tuned for all things gendered. Maybe that's not an entirely fair approach, but I will say that I give them the benefit of the doubt, for all the reasons stated above having to do with their legacy of fine craftsmanship. So I was relieved to find only a few things that seemed unnecessarily biased. However, they could be deemed statistically significant, depending on your perspective.<br /><br />The most obvious gender assigment were the trio of vicious dogs, all male. I don't believe that it would have made a difference to have one of them be female, but I can sort of see why they are cast as they are, being the dark triad of creation by their narcissistic, machiavellian inventor. But I do have a problem with the bit where the alpha dog has a chronic voicebox wiring problem, inviting ridicule and loss of credibility as the alpha male with a voice like a girl. There is really no need to write this element into the script, and thereby setting up the correlation between power and low, stereotypically male voice (which is also interesting to note that the alpha dog's actual, corrected voice is REALLY deep).<br /><br />The other gender problem I notice is the overall lack of female character presence contrasted with the roles available to the females who are present, totalling a whopping two. Ellie is the obvious half of the female population of Up, but...SPOILER!...she dies within the first 10 minutes. As wonderful as she is, she only lives on in Carl's memory, and can have no agency whatsoever. The other character, a flightless bird named Kevin, is hunted and helpless as she struggles to protect her newborn chicks. She's voiceless, and somewhat blatantly a brightly plummaged <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacGuffin">MacGuffin</a>. She does have personality however, and she likes chocolate. There's a point where one has to just stop reading into things. Besides, there's plenty of great, positive and healthy gender role and identity construction elements to focus on.<br /><br />Which is probably a good place to switch gears and point out some other interesting things I noticed about the film, not entirely linguistic, but hey...<br /><ul><li>The design of the 3D glasses were no accident. We are all the leads in our own adventure narratives anyway, aren't we? And doesn't a 3D movie <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_wall">break the fourth wall</a> by definition?</li><li>I had my ears ready for some <a href="http://fledgelings.blogspot.com/2009/05/abstract-3-definition-of-dogwhistle-and.html">dogwhistles</a>, and I did happily find at least one candidate; pro-canine, although non-canonical. More of a parlor trick pun than anything. ;)</li><li>Watching a 3D film takes a few minutes of mental calibration. We are very used to 2D, where we have freedom to focus on any corner of the screen or detail that we wish. With the 3D experience, our focus is guided every step of the way. If you try to fight it, you might be in for a world of nauseaus. So, don't. Relax, and enjoy the show.</li></ul>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0