Letter: Teacher finds U-M to be a valuable neighbor
by Janet M. Popper, Ann Arbor
Sunday January 25, 2009, 12:28 PM
I beg to differ with the letter of Jan. 12 that leveled a charge at the University of Michigan for its “lack of support to the community.” I must say from my experience, U-M does share its talents with the public schools.

For the 12 years I have been an elementary teacher in Ann Arbor, I have consistently had U-M students. They have come via various programs through the U-M, helping out in my classroom.

Athletes who mentor children, students from a linguistics class focusing on language issues and Project Outreach students who provide teacher/student assistance have all been a part of my life as a teacher. Just recently, a group of neuroscience students presented to a fifth-grade class, and my colleague said they did an awesome job of enriching the curriculum.

Furthermore, each year in May, after the campus quiets down, I take my elementary students to the U-M campus to be “college students” for a day. From the commuter bus (free) trips to North Campus to the exceptionally well-received tours we get of the graduate library (especially the Map Room), also free, to the numerous other places on campus that we have always been welcomed to, and reminded to come back and visit any time, I consider the U-M to be a most welcome and supportive neighbor and friend to this teacher in the public schools.

Jane Poling, one of our undergraduate concentrators, has won the Roger M. Jones Poetry contest for her poetry, including Consonants A Sonnet

Consonants, a Sonnet
In English speech the following abide,
Yet select few we boldly aspirate.
The liquids, semi-vowels, a few glide,
Distinguished as we coarticulate.

And then we come to basic allophones,
Which fill the classes of English phonemes.
These unit sounds more frequently are known,
In floods of sleeping modern linguist dreams.

Yet more to us the English language gives,
(This rhythmic noise linguistically expressed)
In affricates, the plosives, fricatives.
Oh, bursting air pulmonically egressed!

I rest myself in consonantal bliss,
As sounds pour out my facial orifice.

Miyeon Ahn’s Qualifying Research Paper, Experimental Investigation of Consonant Cluster Simplification, has been approved by its readers and Miyeon is now advanced to Doctoral Candidacy.

Congratulations, Miyeon!

Abstract: In linguistic phenomena that allow phonological variation,
one variant is often preferred to the others. Traditionally, it has
been argued that the preference depends, amongst other things, on
perceptual knowledge and this argument has led to theories that
incorporate perceptibility in the grammar. The purpose of this study
is to investigate the factors that are involved in phonological
variation. Based on experimental evidence involving consonant cluster
simplification in Korean, I argue that language users consider
information about morphology, frequency and the OCP as well as about
perceptibility and that they apply the integrated information to
consonant cluster resolution.

Pires, Acrisio and Sarah G. Thomason. 2008. How Much Syntactic Reconstruction is Possible? In Principles of Syntactic Reconstruction, ed. G. Ferraresi and M. Goldbach. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. p. 27-72.

Abstract:

This paper explores ways to synthesize methods from generative linguistics and historical linguistics to develop explanatory criteria that need to be satisfied by different attempts to carry out syntactic reconstruction.  It addresses various questions such as (i) the need to define exactly what it means to reconstruct a language; (ii) characterizing the formal entities that count as the basic elements in the analysis of the empirical evidence for syntactic reconstruction, and whether the units of analysis and the elements that need to be reconstructed are formal entities of the same kind; (iii) whether it is possible to establish general principles for reconstructing syntax; (iv) to which extent the methodology adopted for the reconstruction of other properties of a linguistic system can be applied successfully to the reconstruction of syntax; and (v) identifying methodological criteria to assess the success of a syntactic reconstruction, and devise empirical tests for the reconstruction model.

UM linguistics faculty, Robin Queen and Anne Curzan, both lent their opinion to a Michigan Daily article about the use of gender-neutral pronouns published Monday, Jan. 6, 2009.

John Swales gave a plenary address at the Conference on Academic Discourse on Dec. 11 in Jato, Spain.

John also gave two lectures at Pampeu Fabra: “The L2 junior researcher in a globalizing research world” and “Telling a research story–Writing a literature review.”

The winter term begins today, Wed., Jan. 7.  Happy class-ing

The following UofM-affiliated linguists will be giving talks this week-end at the annual meeting of the Linguistic Society of America

Acrisio Pires (University of Michigan, Ann Arbor), Jason Rothman (University of Iowa): Competence divergence across heritage grammar.

Barbra Meek (University of Michigan), Gerald Carr (University of Michigan): The IRB in the bush: Protocols for linguistic fieldwork from within Native North America.

Miki Obata (University of Michigan, Ann Arbor), Marlyse Baptista (University of Michigan, Ann Arbor): Complementizer-alternation in Cape Verdean Creole: New evidence for spec-head agreement.

John Lawler (University of Michigan): The Data Fetishist’s Guide to Assonance Coherence

Xinting Zhang (University of Michigan): Lexical decision in Standard Chinese: Factors influencing speed and accuracy.

Andries W. Coetzee (University of Michigan), Rigardt Pretorius (North-West University, South Africa): Tswana voiced plosives: Observing change-in-progress.

Sally Thomason will begin her year as the President of the Society.