Halloween Special: The Linguistics of the Paranormal

I asked our resident expert on linguistic "weird stuff," Sally Thomason (remember our phenomenal 10/24 meeting? The very same!) for some Halloween-related linguistics, and she was kind enough to forward me an article she wrote about xenoglossy, a spooky process by which someone suddenly learns a language or accent without acquiring it naturally, supposedly (according to the psychiatrist who first described it) a language learned in a previous life. She also posted an article about the linguistics of channeling spirits in the Skeptical Inquirer called "Entities in the linguistic minefield", and if anyone is able to find it that would be great.

Sally Thomason's Article

And here's a sort-of-related Colbert Report video on Japanese phonetics robots and Foreign Accent Syndrome!

The Colbert Report
Get More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,Video Archive

Last Monday's (10/24) Meeting and Halloween

Thanks so much to Sally Thomason for a phenomenal talk on fieldwork! She shared with us tips and tricks, responses to other fieldworkers' advice, problems she encountered, and a slew of entertaining anecdotes, mainly about her work on Montana Salish. It was an excellent talk, and we look forward very much to our next guest lecture from Marlyse Baptista on November 7th.
Just a reminder that we have NO meeting on Halloween, and that tutoring is cancelled for that evening. We may post a fun linguistics- and Halloween-related post for the Holiday on the blog though, so keep an eye out!
Other upcoming events include our next Colloquium Breakfast on November 4th with psycholinguist Katherine Kinzler.

Tonight: Rescheduled Sally Thomason Talk

Just a reminders that Sally Thomason's talk is rescheduled to TONIGHT at 7:30. There will be FREE PIZZA! Here is the abstract once again:
"I'll talk about some of the pitfalls of linguistic fieldwork -- especially fieldwork on endangered languages -- and on how to avoid those pitfalls. For instance: how to collect lots of lexical data from speakers who haven't spoken their language regularly for decades; how to collect data on nonstandard dialects when everyone who goes to school gets taught the standard dialect; how to avoid offending your consultants; how to collect data on rare grammatical constructions; how to deal with speaker-to-speaker variation; how to keep cultural taboos from preventing data collection."
Be there or be square!

Meeting Tonight: Sarah Harper on Media Lengua

Come join us tonight as Sarah Harper gives a talk on Media Lengua, a mixed language of Peru between Quechua and Spanish!

Discussion Group Schedules

I'll let you in on a little secret not many undergraduates seem to know about (or at least, take advantage of): Discussion Groups. These are groups which are geared towards specific interests in Linguistics. Do you like Syntax? Sociolinguistics? Historical Linguistics? Phonetics? They're all here! And I have compiled a handy-dandy schedule for the Fall Term, so that you know when they all meet!
Here are general times and locations:
SoConDi (Sociolinguistics, Language Contact, and Discourse Analysis): Sociolinguistics Lab, on the mezzanine of the fourth floor. Times vary, which is why they are provided on the table
HistLing: in room 403 at 2:00
Psycholing: in room 3048 in East Hall (note: not Lorch Hall, like all the rest)
PhonDi: at 1:00 in the computer lab on 4th Lorch
Syntax: at 3:00 in 403 Lorch (the Catford Conference Room)
Colloquiums: they start at 4:00, but the place varies. Keep an eye out for Department emails

Announcement: Meeting Cancelled

Unfortunately, we had to cancel our Monday meeting due to the time restraints of the Ling Club Field Trip to see William Labov at MSU. Sally is still going to speak, but at a later date. You will receive more information on this later. If you would still like to join the Ling Club group going to see William Labov, please email me (amyhem@umich.edu) and let me know AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. Also, let me know if you have a car that you would be willing to drive.

Next Meeting: Sally Thomason! (plus free pizza)

Thanks to all who came to watch the Confederate States of America. We discussed how the film portrayed language: how the prestige dialect shifted to the Southern dialect, how certain lexical items which are taboo today might possibly be acceptable if slavery were still around, and how our own presumptions about prestige in a dialect made it harder for us to notice that the upper-class characters in the commercials were speaking a Southern dialect, because we index wealth with a more Northern way of speaking. The movie was fascinating and provided an interesting opportunity to discuss sociolinguistics in an entirely different context than we're used to.

Next meeting (Monday, October 3rd, at 7:30 in 403 Lorch), we have the distinguished Sally Thomason joining us! She is the head of the University of Michigan Linguistics Department, and has held high-status positions as a well-respected linguist in such large societies as the Linguistics Society of America, where she was once President for a term. She is best known for her work on Language Contact (for which she wrote the standard textbook), and she currently does fieldwork in Montana on Montana Salish, an endangered Native American language. Her talk will focus on this part of her academic career, and she will discuss with us some of the practical aspects of field work:

"I'll talk about some of the pitfalls of linguistic fieldwork -- especially fieldwork on endangered languages -- and on how to avoid those pitfalls. For instance: how to collect lots of lexical data from speakers who haven't spoken their language regularly for decades; how to collect data on nonstandard dialects when everyone who goes to school gets taught the standard dialect; how to avoid offending your consultants; how to collect data on rare grammatical constructions; how to deal with speaker-to-speaker variation; how to keep cultural taboos from preventing data collection."

In addition to her high status as a well-known linguist, Sally is also an excellent speaker and a delight to listen to. Please join us for this very special event! Also, we will be having free pizza. Hope to see you Monday!