Linguistics
The
Letter
www.clas.wayne.edu/linguistics Fall 2011
The Linguistics Program boasts
Letter from the Director, Prof. Ljiljana Progovac
20 full-time faculty members, 51
T
active majors, 44 active graduate he Linguistics Program at Wayne our alumni,
students, as well as several minors State continues to flourish not some from
and second majors. In the past five only in numbers, but also in a very long
years the Program granted 26 BA reputation, as both our alumni and time ago.
faculty do us proud with truly remarkable Please keep
and 16 MA degrees, for the total of
achievements. Just in the past two years, us posted
42 degrees. three of our alumni received Ph.D. about where
Director: Prof. Ljiljana Progovac; degrees and secured tenure-track jobs in you are and
Student Advisor: Prof. Martha the field of Linguistics! This is in addition what you
Ratliff. to Nicola Work’s tenure-track position in are doing—
French at The University of Dayton, OH, we really
reported on in the previous newsletter. do want to
Many other alumni hold important know. We are also immensely grateful
What’s inside… positions in business, government and to our alumni Tom Wolff (M.A. 2002)
education. Since 2010, five of our and Zoran Minderovic (M.A. 1977) for
1 undergraduate students have been invited their generous monetary donations to the
Letter from the Director
to join Phi Beta Kappa, an impressive Program.
Faculty news 2-3 number for this rare honor. The Linguistics Program has itself made
Our faculty and students are not only a donation in books and journals to a
Alumni and 4
researching the world around them, Linguistics department in Haiti, Faculté
Student news
but many are also actively engaged in de Linguistique Appliquée, which was
Linguistics Faculty 6 changing it for the better, both at home devastated by the recent earthquake and
& Friends and on an international scale. Particularly which is literally trying to rebuild itself
notable recent example among faculty is from scratch. The donation was facilitated
Syntax/Semantics 7 Prof. Walter Edwards’ involvement in the by the long-time friend of the Linguistics
Reading Group drafting of a language policies charter Program at Wayne, a native of Haiti, and
for the Caribbean. Among the students, an MIT Professor of Linguistics, Prof.
Event Schedule 7 three of our alumni with tenure-track Michel DeGraff.
positions, Dr. Andrea Berez, Dr. Michelle Join us for all of our events, but
Forbes and Dr. Sarah Murray, have made especially on September 30, for the
the documentation and preservation of Linguistics Open House, which will take
minority and/or endangered languages place in conjunction with the colloquium
the centerpiece of their careers. You talk by Dr. Alan Berretta, neurolinguist
will find the specifics under Faculty and from MSU. We will have catered food!
Alumni news. Linguistics events are always fulfilling
This is the second issue of our newsletter. occasions, featuring thought-provoking
When our first issue launched two years discussions, festive refreshments, and
ago, we were so glad to hear back from very fine company. n
a publication of the W A Y N E S T A T E U N I V E R S I T Y L I N G U I S T I C S P R O G R A M A N D T H E
COLLEGE OF LIBERAL ARTS AND SCIENCES
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Faculty News
Prof. Walter Edwards Dr. Haiyong Liu receives
participates in the drafting tenure and promotion at
of a historic language rights Wayne
charter
Prof. Walter Edwards was privileged
to participate along with several
prominent creole scholars in drafting a
historic charter of language rights for
speakers of Caribbean creoles and other
non-standard varieties. The mission of
the charter and all programs inspired
by it is to help reverse the prejudices
against vernacular languages in the
Caribbean. The leader of this enterprise
Three WSU Linguistics was Professor Hubert Devonish of the
professors met in Asia to University of the West Indies in Jamaica,
present papers one of Edwards’
Professors Geoff Nathan, Martha Ratliff former
and Margaret Winters met in Osaka, students.
Japan, where they presented papers at Edwards’
the 20th International Conference on contribution
Historical Linguistics, at the National to the charter
Museum of Ethnology, July 25-30, project was In May 2011, Dr. Haiyong Liu received
2011. Ratliff’s presentation was to chair the tenure and promotion to the rank of
entitled “Interrogative pronouns in “Language Associate Professor. The Linguistics
isolating languages.” It established and Culture” Program celebrated the occasion at Liu’s
that interrogatives are often highly Electronic favorite Chinese restaurant away from
unstable compounds in these languages, Working Group, which drafted a part of home, in Canton, Michigan (Liu is at
adding support to the contention that the charter document. The Charter was the head of table in the picture). Liu is
interrogative pronouns should not be presented to a conference of Caribbean also a WSU alumnus! He received his
included in the set of 100 or 200 core linguists, educators and political leaders, MA degree in Linguistics from WSU in
vocabulary items used for linguistic including ministers of Education, in 1998, and then went on to receive his
reconstruction and the demonstration of January of 2011. These participants Ph.D. degree in Linguistics from UCLA
genetic relatedness between languages. became signatories of the document, in 2004, the year when he also returned
Nathan and Winters’ joint paper was thereby pledging to work towards to Wayne State as Assistant Professor.
entitled “Prediction and Language securing these rights for the Caribbean In 2008 Liu published his first book:
Change.” Nathan and Winters also vernacular speakers. Bu-Yu, the Complex-Predicate Structures
attended the International Conference on October 28 was declared “International in Mandarin Chinese, Lincom Europa.
Cognitive Linguistics earlier in July in Creole Day.” Walter Edwards agreed Liu conducts research in three areas:
Xi’an, China. Winters’ paper was entitled to give a talk on October 26 to honor Chinese syntax, acquisition of Chinese,
“Syntax: Symbolic or autonomous?” this day. The talk will be part of the and Chinese language pedagogy.
and Nathan’s paper was entitled “Usage- Humanities Center’s Brown Bag series, Currently, in syntax, he is working
based and natural models.” but jointly sponsored by the Linguistics on the following topics: the emerging
Program and the Humanities Center. ba-gei structure in Mandarin Chinese,
Continued on page 3
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Faculty News
Continued from page 2
which might signal that Chinese is and English spoken in the area. One to spread like wildfire, leading to a
drifting from an SVO language to an of her objectives for the summer is to defining moment in Egyptian history.
SOV language, the adjectival intensifier examine the contents of a regional Prof. Rouchdy has agreed to give a
hen whose distribution sheds light on German-language newspaper read widely Colloquium talk on the topic on Friday,
the nature of Chinese stative verbs, and from the mid-1800s to 1900s in the Nov. 4.
the derivation of the so-called A-not-A community under study to find articles
questions whose formation exhibits which discuss language-related issues Prof. Margaret Winters
many idiosyncrasies. In pedagogy, and help create a community portrait of publishes a co-edited volume
Liu is finishing a paper on non-verbal language attitudes, while further adding Prof. Margaret Winters is co-editor
communication in the classroom, aiming details to the timeline of language shift of a new book: Winters, Margaret E.,
to draw language teachers’ attention to that is emerging from the data. Heli Tissari, and Kathryn Allan (eds.)
this important but largely neglected tool 2010. Historical Cognitive Linguistics,
for classroom management, as well as an Prof. Aleya Rouchdy Berlin: De Gruyer. The volume explores
essential linguistic element of the target experiences history in the the ways in which language change
language. Another co-authored paper is making in Egypt is studied within the framework of
on the effects of technology in language During the Egyptian Revolution of Cognitive Linguistics, a semantics-based
and culture classrooms on student January theory of language production and
emotional responses to the class. During 25, 2011, perception. The eleven chapters explore
his upcoming sabbatical leave in Winter Prof. Aleya two kinds of changes: first, those which
2012, Liu will focus on a book project on Rouchdy was involve
the employment of linguistic theory in in Egypt and mental
the improvement of language teaching. she turned prototypes
her blog into or ‘best
Dr. Felecia Lucht receives a tool to instances’
summer grant for her book inform people of particular
project about the concepts and
Dr. Felecia Revolution. extensions
Lucht was Today’s of these
awarded Internet and prototypes,
a 2011 media technology were instrumental in and second,
University keeping the protesters connected and those which
Research informed during this historic time. The relate to
Grant for her young people used Facebook, Twitter conceptual
book project and YouTube to rally support. When networks, for example via metaphor or
“Life after the government tried to shut down the metonymy. More specifically, the papers
Language Internet and cut the use of cell phones, address syntactic and lexical change,
Death: Rouchdy and her husband used a as well as the evolution of language
Language landline to update their blogs through and changes in the expression–usually
Variation, Shift, and Change in a a trusted friend. Her words and her metaphoric–of emotions. In presenting a
German-American Community.” messages continued to be transmitted wide range of current work of this kind,
Lucht’s work documents language use through the blog. the volume demonstrates the value of
in a German-American community in The Egyptian Revolution presents cross-fertilization between historical and
Wisconsin, traces the shift from German an excellent example of the power cognitive linguistics, and is intended
to English, as well as examines language of words, which gave voice to the to open the way for further related
change within the varieties of German protesters in Egypt. Words began research. n
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Alumni and Student News
Andrea Berez defends dissertation at Santa James Kirchner: An
Barbara and accepts a tenure-track job at artist and a linguist
the University of Hawai’i, Manoa James Kirchner (M.A. 1995)
Dr. Andrea Berez (M.A. 2006) started Wayne’s M.A. in
defended her dissertation at UC Santa linguistics program with an
Barbara in June of 2011, and, after unusual background: his
receiving three job offers, accepted undergraduate degree was
a tenure-track position as Assistant a B.F.A. in painting (see the
Professor in Language Documentation self-portrait of James). He
and Conservation in the Department not only got through the
of Linguistics at the University of Linguistics program, but he graduated having written an
Hawai’i, Manoa. Her dissertation titled outstanding essay on Czech phonology. His excellent work
“Directional Reference, Discourse, and made the program anxious to recruit more art students in
Landscape in Ahtna” is based on ten the future! After several years of teaching linguistics as an
months of fieldwork on the Ahtna adjunct, Kirchner now works as a full-time translator (Czech,
language in the Copper River Valley of Alaska, which also led Slovak, German and French into English) and a part-time
to two paper publications and three invited talks, including adult ESL instructor. He is vice president of the Michigan
one in Australia, one at USC, Los Angeles, and an upcoming Translators/Interpreters Network (mitin.org), which is the
one in Boulder. Michigan chapter of the American Translators Association. The
Moreover, Berez has published a co-edited book in 2010: organization assists those who want to enter the translation
Berez, A., J. Mulder and D. Rosenblum, Fieldwork and profession or develop their skills. Kirchner gives annual
Linguistic Analysis in Indigenous Languages of the Americas, seminars for MiTiN on translation technology, and at its
University of Hawai’i Press. The volume is a collection October 2011 conference, in Novi, he will give a presentation
of articles on the role that field-based research plays in on prosody and phonotactics to help interpreters decode other
the linguistic analysis of indigenous American languages. people’s accents better.
The articles encompass both theoretical and functional
considerations, highlighting how the collection of data within
the speaker community informs theory, and vice-versa. Here is Michelle Forbes lands a tenure-track job at
a link to a description of the book: http://nflrc.hawaii.edu/ldc/ Valdosta State University, Georgia
sp02/. Berez plans to continue fieldwork in Alaska and will be Dr. Michelle Forbes (B.A. 1998) defended her Ph.D. dissertation
starting new fieldwork in Papua New Guinea next year. “Garífuna: The Birth and Rise of an Identity through
Contact Language and Contact Culture” at the University
of Missouri in April of 2011, and accepted a tenure-track
Linguistics students present at the WSU position as Assistant Professor of Spanish Linguistics and
Graduate Exhibition TESOL at Valdosta State University, Georgia. This is the
Three Linguistics students
from the Discourse Analysis
class (taught by Ellen Barton)
presented a poster at the WSU
2011 Graduate Exhibition:
Laura Plesco (in the picture),
Steven Singletary and Kathleen
Laskowski. The presentation is
entitled “Exploration of the role
of reformulation in motivational
interviewing using a corpus derived from obesity counseling
sessions.”
The
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www.clas.wayne.edu/linguistics Fall 2011
first time someone has written a chronology of the Garífuna presentation of the at-issue proposition, a non-negotiable
language. She gathered the data for her dissertation in 2009 in update that directly restricts the common ground, and a
Livingston, Guatemala, the last remaining Garífuna village on negotiable update that imposes structure on the common
the Atlantic coast. Forbes conducted interviews with Garífuna ground. You can view Sarah’s dissertation at: http://conf.ling.
speakers by walking from house to house, by approaching cornell.edu/sem/Murray_Thesis-Rutgers-2010.pdf.
people sitting on the curb, in the bars, on the soccer field, or
on the playground bleachers, as was the case with Luis, who
is next to Michelle in the photograph. The photograph itself Linguistics students invited to join Phi Beta
was awarded Honorable Mention in the Fulbright photography Kappa
contest. Since 2010, five of our undergraduate
The Garífuna are very proud that Forbes has written about their students have been invited to join Phi
language, and the week before she left, they held a ceremony Beta Kappa, the country’s oldest and
in her honor, presented her with a certificate and thanked her most prestigious honorary society.
for giving them the gift of the history of their language. In Only 10% of colleges and universities
addition to the dissertation, Forbes has an article currently are granted chapters of Phi Beta
under review with PALARA (Publication of the Afro-Latin/ Kappa, and no more than 10% of the
American Research Association), entitled “Proto-Garífuna: The students in each graduating class may
language of the Kalípona on the eve of the Africans’ arrival in be invited to join. It is an honor based
St. Vincent.” For more details, visit Michelle’s research page at on demonstrated breadth and depth
www.GarifunaResearch.com. of achievement in the liberal arts.
Congratulations to all five!
Sarah Murray lands Kimberly Ann Cortes (2010)
tenure-track position Scott James Lantz (2010)
at Cornell Kelly Juliana Schaefer (2010)
Dr. Sarah Murray (M.A. 2004) Amelia Arnette Hill (2011)
defended her Ph.D. dissertation Zein Kalaj (2011)
entitled “Evidentiality and
the Structure of Speech Acts”
in 2010 at Rutgers, and then Tom Wolff pursues his love of language and
secured a tenure-track position travel in spare time
at Cornell University the same Tom Wolff (M.A. 2002) continues to work in insurance as the
year. Murray spent her first claim manager for the Michigan Municipal League. He also
year at Cornell adjusting to continues to be drawn to different cultures and languages. Tom
teaching and the other aspects travels frequently
of academic life. She gave two in his spare time,
invited presentations in 2011, one and recently
on Cheyenne semantics at the Semantics of Underrepresented visited Turkey.
Languages in the Americas, University of Manchester, He has also taken
England, and another on evidentiality and speech acts at the classes at the
Evidentials Fest at the Ohio State University, Columbus, OH. Alliance Francaise
Murray’s dissertation “Evidentiality and the Structure of during the past
Speech Acts” examines the semantics and pragmatics of few years, and
evidentiality and illocutionary mood, set within formal since last summer,
theories of meaning and discourse. The empirical focus is the he has also joined
evidential system of Cheyenne (Algonquian: Montana), which a French group
is analyzed based on several years of fieldwork by the author. which meets in
Her analysis of evidentials implies a more articulated theory downtown Royal Oak every other Wednesday night. Here is a
of assertion and other speech acts. In particular, she argues picture of Tom in Haghia Sophia! n
that all speech acts are structured into three components:
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Linguistics Faculty & Friends at Dinner Party
The
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Syntax/Semantics Reading Group Receives an Award
T
he Linguistics Program has launched a
successful Syntax/Semantics Reading Group,
which gathers together faculty and students in
order to read and discuss recent publications in
linguistics. It is a lot of fun! Our new moderator is Dr.
Haiyong Liu. Last year the Group was awarded a grant
from the Humanities Center, which made it possible to
bring to campus semanticist Chris Barker of New York
University. Whether you are an active student or a
former student, come check us out. n
Fall 2011/Winter 2012 Events Schedule
Save the dates and be there!
Colloquium talk by Alan Beretta, Michigan State University; Linguistics Open House follows
Friday, Sept. 30, 3:00 at 4:30; there will be catered food
Wednesday, Oct. 26 Creole Day Talk by Walter Edwards, WSU, Humanities Center and Linguistics
Friday, Nov. 4, 3:00 Colloquium Talk by Aleya Rouchdy, WSU
Friday, Dec. 2, 3:00 Colloquium Talk by Andries Coetzee, University of Michigan
February, TBA Colloquium talk by Shelly Jo Kraft, WSU, Communication Sciences and Disorders
March, TBA Colloquium Talk by Geoff Nathan, WSU
April, TBA Student Research Colloquium
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Alumni News and Information for Future Newsletters
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moment to complete the following information and return Your current position (title and employer)
it to us via fax, e-mail or US Mail.
Ljiljana Progovac phone: (313) 577-7553
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email: progovac@wayne.edu
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