Department of Linguistics
Totem Field Studios 2613 West Mall
Vancouver,
BC
Canada
V6T 1Z4
Tel 604-822-0415
Click on title to view abstract of talk (if available)
Friday, June 3
Steve Winters (University of Calgary)
Title: TBA
TFS 103, 3:30 pm
Click on title to view abstract of talk (if available).
Friday, January 28
Kurt Grimm (University of British Columbia, Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences)
Title: Is Linguistics Biology?
TFS 103, 3:30 pm
Monday, February 7 Note special day and time
Paul Portner (Georgetown University)
Title: Two types of scales for gradable modal expressions
TFS 103, 12:15 pm
Abstract: Modal elements, most obviously modal adjectives but also members of other categories, display gradability:
(1)a It's very likely that John will win.
(1)b It's more likely that John will win than that Mary will.
(1)c There's an 80% chance that it will rain today.
Gradable expressions are frequently analyzed in terms of degrees in a scale, and patterns of modification can be used to determine the properties of scales (Kennedy and McNally 2005). For example (2) indicates that the scale associated with tall is open (has no maximal member), a fact which accords with intuition:
(2) *Mary is entirely tall.
As discussed by Portner (2009) and Lassiter (2010), we can use similar tests to determine the properties of modal scales. For example, Portner points out that probable also appears to have an open scale:
(3) *It is entirely probable that it will rain.
However, the intuitive scale for probable is closed, since it has a maximum (certainty). I will discuss this and other related puzzles, and consider the feasibility of a solution which incorporates probability theory into the semantics, as proposed by Yalcin (2007, 2010) and Lassiter (2010). In the end, I suggest that there are two ways of defining scales for GMEs, each appropriate for a certain range of uses, and which fit into a unified overarching framework.
Friday, February 25
Stefan Gries (University of California, Santa Barbara)
Title: Special Seminar on R
Co-sponsored with the Department of English
TFS 103, 3-6 pm
Friday, March 4
Darlene LaCharité and Carole Paradis (Université Laval, Département de langues, linguistique et traduction)
Title: Preservation and Deletion in Loanwords: Results from Project CoPho.
TFS 103, 3:30 pm
Friday, March 25
Scott Moisik
(University of Victoria, Linguistics)
Title:The Epilaryngeal Articulator: A New Conceptual Tool for Understanding Post-Velar Phenomena
TFS 103, 3:30 pm
Abstract:
In this talk, I will propose a new articulator to account for lingual-laryngeal interactions that occur in post-velar phenomena. I contend that previous accounts of these sounds using features like [ATR/RTR] and [constricted/expanded pharynx] are insufficient on phonetic grounds based on empirical observation and lead to an incomplete phonological model. From the phonetic perspective, these features are inaccurate, vague, and fail to account for the lingual-laryngeal connection. From the phonological perspective, they make incorrect predictions about post-velar vowel quality alternations and fail to explain why post-velars can induce lingual-laryngeal effects. The new articulator I propose to remedy these issues is the epilaryngeal tube—a structure that physiologically connects the tongue and the larynx. Constriction of the epilaryngeal tube can be accomplished by synergistic action of intrinsic laryngeal muscle contraction, raising the larynx, and retracting the tongue. I introduce a new feature [+constricted epilaryngeal tube (cet)] to represent this relationship. I will review a considerable body of phonetic evidence that supports this feature and underscores the need to be specific about where the constriction is occurring. I will then review a wide array of phonological evidence that is incompatible with the prior models (such as [ATR]) but fits with the epilaryngeal account. Finally, as a point of departure for future research, I will reveal how this articulator can be integrated into feature geometry and illustrate its potential by analysing an alternation from the South Wakashan pharyngeal sound shift.
[click on title to view abstract of talk (if available)]
Friday, January 8
Jeff Mielke (University of Ottawa)
Feature effects and phonetic similarity
TFS 103, 3:30 pm
Friday, January 22
Kees de Schepper (Radboud University & UBC)
On a person-to-person basis: Sentence mood, evidentiality, and person hierarchies
TFS 103, 3:30 pm
Friday, March 5
Chandan Narayan (University of Toronto & UBC)
What language development in infants tells us about sound systems and change
TFS 103, 3:30 pm
Friday, March 12
Bettina Gruber (Universiteit Utrecht & UBC)
You and I: On the morphosyntax and interpretation of indexical pronouns
TFS 103, 3:30 pm
Friday, March 19
Donna Gerdts (Simon Frasier University)
Gender and Cognition in Halkomelem Salish: Women, fire, and (not so) dangerous things
TFS 103, 3:30 pm
Friday, March 26
Louis Goldstein (University of Southern California)
Coupled oscillator model of speech planning and syllable structure
TFS 103, 3:30 pm
Friday, April 9
Grant McGuire (University of California, Santa Cruz)
Exploring the use of phonetic dimensions in categorization through manipulating attention
TFS 103, 3:30 pm
Monday, May 3
Sigrid Beck (Universität Tübingen)
Acquisition of Comparison: English and German are different
TFS 103, 12 pm
Friday, September 11, 2009
Susannah Kirby (UBC Linguistics / Univ. of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
The developmental problem in language acquisition: Evidence from child passives
TFS 103, 3:30 pm
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Sotaro Kita (University of Birmingham)
Why does human language encode information linearly? An insight from Nicaraguan Sign Language and children's gestures
TFS 103, 12:15 pm
Friday, September 25, 2009
Seunghun Lee (Central Connecticut State University)
Consonant-tone interaction in Dagara: how depressors allow high tone
TFS 103, 3:30 pm
Friday, October 9, 2009
Nicola Daly (University of Waikato)
Three studies examining the use of Maori loanwords in New Zealand English children's picture books
TFS 103, 3:30 pm
Friday, October 23, 2009
Eric Baković (University of California, San Diego)
On becoming more similar but avoiding identity
TFS 103, 3:30 pm
Friday, October 30, 2009
Nada Šabec (University of Maribor)
The Linguistic Situation among Slovenes in the U.S.A.
TFS 103, 3:30 pm
Friday, November 6, 2009
Gennaro Chierchia (Harvard University)
Implicatures, Presuppositions and the Role of Pragmatics in Grammar
TFS 103, 3:30 pm
Friday, December 11, 2009
Yvan Rose (Memorial University of Newfoundland)
A Sneak Peek at Phon 1.4: Data Searching and Reporting Functions
TFS 103, 3:30 pm
Friday, January 16, 2009
Frederick Newmeyer (UBC/SFU)
In Defence of the Autonomy of Syntax
TFS 103, 3:30 pm
Friday, February 13, 2009
Edith Aldridge (University of Washington)
Antipassive and Transitivity in Tagalog
TFS 103, 3:30 pm
Friday, February 27, 2009
Ileana Paul (University of Western Ontario)
Determiners and Definiteness: The View from Malagasy
TFS 103, 3:30 pm
Friday, March 6, 2009
Strang Burton (UBC/Sto:lo Nation)
Multimedia Production Techniques for Documenting Endangered Languages
TFS 103, 3:30 pm
Friday, March 13, 2009
Jessica de Villiers (UBC English)
Pragmatics and Conversation in the Autism Spectrum
TFS 103, 3:30 pm
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Marcin Morzycki (Michigan State University)
Extreme Degree Modification
TFS 103, 12:15 pm
Friday, March 20, 2009
Samuel Navarro (UBC French, Hispanic & Italian Studies)
Learning Style Preferences in Romance Languages
TFS 103, 3:30 pm
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Greg Carlson (University of Rochester)
Exploring Patterns in Generic Sentences
TFS 103, 12:15 pm
Friday, March 27, 2009
Kai von Fintel (MIT)
Must... Stay... Strong!
TFS 103, 3:30 pm
Friday, April 3, 2009
Eurie Shin (Berkeley/UBC)
Title: "A cross-dialect comparison of Seoul and North Kyungsang Korean consonants in perception"
TFS 103, 3:30 pm
Friday, September 12, 2008
Poverty of Stimulus and Inference from Absence
Ulrike Hahn (University of Cardiff)
TFS 103, 3:30 pm
Friday, September 19, 2008
Conventional Implicature: A Return to Grice
William Salmon (UBC English)
TFS 103, 3:30 pm
Friday, October 3, 2008
Phonetic and Phonological Evidence for Posterior Place Contrasts in Click Consonants
Amanda Miller (UBC Linguistics)
TFS 103, 3:30 pm
Friday, October 17, 2008
Multiple Spell-Out and PF: A Case of the Double-o Constraint
Ken Hiraiwa (University of Victoria)
TFS 103, 3:30 pm
Friday, October 24, 2008
Acoustic Realization and Perception of English Lexical Stress by Mandarin Learners
Yuwen Lai (UBC Linguistics)
TFS 103, 3:30 pm
Friday, November 7, 2008
Automatic Summarization of Multimodal Conversations
Gabriel Murray (UBC Computer Science)
TFS 103, 3:30 pm
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
When Agreement is for Number and Gender but not Person
Mark C. Baker (Rutgers University)
TFS 103, 12:15 pm
Monday, November 24, 2008
Bound Pronouns and Morphology
Irene Heim (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
TFS 103, 12:15 pm
Friday, November 28, 2008
Stranding, Repair, and Interface Syntax: Why is Indonesian (Not) So Special?
Yosuke Sato (UBC Linguistics)
TFS 103, 3:30 pm
Friday, January 25, 2008
Sources of Exhaustive Interpretations
Angelika Kratzer (University of Massachusetts, Amherst)
Buchanan Penthouse, 3:30 pm
Friday, February 1, 2008
Corpus Studies
Christine Rouget (UBC French, Hispanic & Italian Studies)
Rm 104, Buchanan Tower, 3:30 pm
Friday, March 7, 2008
Grammar of Contrastive Topics: Japanese and Beyond
Satoshi Tomioka (Univ. of Delaware)
TFS 103, 3:30 pm
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Speech as Signal for Infants
Athena Vouloumanos (McGill University / New York University)
TFS 103, 12:30 pm
Friday, March 28, 2008
The Intentionality of Words
Ori Simchen (UBC Philosophy)
TFS 103, 3:30 pm
Friday, April 4, 2008
Prosodic Profiles: Suspects' Speech During Police Interviews
Lorna Fadden (SFU Linguistics / UBC Linguistics)
TFS 103, 3:30 pm
Friday, April 11, 2008
Conditional Probabilities Cue Morphosyntactic Type: An Italian & Hungarian Corpus Study
Judit Gervain (UBC Psychology)
TFS 103, 3:30 pm