Sep 27

Greg Scontras coming HERE to talk about Plural Comparison!

I hope everyone is really excited for Greg Scontras coming to Boston University on October 12th! (Because I know I am). A former Boston University Linguistics major, Greg is a Ph.D student at Harvard and is returning to Boston University to tell us about his research at Harvard.  (Abstract below)

 

Facebook Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/277254892393972/

 

 

Abstract: What does it mean to compare sets of objects along a scale, for example by saying ‘‘the men are taller than the women’’? Speakers have reliable truth-judgments when comparing pluralities, however the semantics of these constructions cannot follow straightforwardly from the semantics generally assumed for comparatives (e.g., von Stechow, 1984; Heim, 1985; Kennedy, 1997) or for plurals (e.g., Link, 1983; Landman, 1989; Schwarzschild, 1996). Past work on plural comparison (Matushanksy and Ruys, 2006) attempts to capture speakers’ intuitions in a semantics that reduces plural comparison to a multitude of comparisons between the individual members of the compared pluralities. We present experimental evidence that plural comparison does not reduce to the comparison of individual members, but rather to the comparison of collective properties inferred from the pluralities involved. Our results support the hypothesis that a plurality can have a single property associated with it that differs from the properties true of each of its parts. More generally, these results support the idea that pluralities are actively represented as single units.

Joint work with Peter Graff (MIT) and Noah D. Goodman (Stanford)

Sep 09

First General Meeting!

Calling all linguistics and language enthusiasts!

The first general meeting of the Boston University Linguistics Association (BULA) will be Wednesday, September 12th at 7pm in 621 Commonwealth Ave (Linguistics Conference Room Basement). We will be discussing possible events and activities for the 2012-2013 year.

It’s going to be pretty informal, just introductions, our plan for the semester and probably some tacky icebreakers. But please please bring your Movie Night Suggestions and be prepared to taste freshly baked chocolate chip cookies (because they will most definitely be heavenly) !

Ideas include: Movie Screenings, Discussion Groups, Bananagrams Tournament, Guest Speakers.

A Tentative Schedule for the Fall Semester Events is posted right before this.

Come share your ideas and interests and meet fellow linguistics lovers!

We hope to see you there!

Where our First General Meeting is taking place!

Sep 09

Welcome Back Linguists!

BULA has a host of exciting events planned for the semester. Join us for our monthly discussion groups, come chat with members at Expo-losion, September 28th, GSU, 10am-12pm and discover what you can do as a linguistics major at our Linguistics Opportunities at BU event!

As a tentative schedule for the Fall Semester- we have planned out:

10/10 Chad’s Presentation on Syntax/Semantics

11/2-11/4 BUCLD- Check out the link! (http://www.bu.edu/bucld/)

Also, BULA is going to be having a Bake Sale there, so please stop by!

11/7 BananaGram’s & Scrabble Tournament

11/28 Alex’s Presentation on Language Evolution & Change

Some Future December Date will be Movie Night!

Keep up to day by following us on Facebook and Twitter!

Apr 17

Two Linguistics Lectures

Apr 01

Lecture: Luc Baronian 4/4, 5-6pm CAS325

Please join us for a lecture from the linguistics department’s own Luc Baronian on“The Metrics of Amédé Ardoin and its Implications on the French stress system”. On April 4th at 5pm in CAS 325

 

 

 

Abstract:

In this talk, I will use the principles of Generative Metrics (Halle & Keyser 1971, Kiparsky 1977) to present an analysis of the unusual metrical structure used by Amédé Ardoin, one of the earliest recorded Louisiana Creole singers of the 1920s and 1930s, in one of his most staple songs, Madame Atchen.  The most intriguing aspect of the song

involves stress placed on syllables which do not normally receive stress in spoken French, yet its musicality is undeniable.  I will show that if we assume Ardoin was using a combination of iambic and anapestic foot structure, his stress (mis)placements fall exactly on syllables that would normally receive secondary stress.  The tension thus created between the expected linguistic stress and the musically delivered one generates a syncopated or off-beat pattern, typical of African music, which is however resolved at the end of lines or stanzas.

 

Besides the sociologically interesting conclusion that African rhythm has in fact influenced a local variety of French in its cultural manifestations, there are linguistic implications of this finding for French in general.  First, there is no consensus as to whether or not French should be considered to have secondary stress.  The intuitive use of the language by a naive Creole French speaker of the 1920s lends support to Noyer’s (2002) view that French has in fact an iambically structured prosody, although I will also argue for an optional anapestic one.  In fact, I will show that it is possible to interpret the popularity of the French alexandrine verse with authors such as Beaudelaire himself as a consequence of the inherent structure of French metrics.

 

 

 

Nov 06

Bananagrams/Scrabble Tournament

Wednesday Nov 16th at 7pm in the Academy Room in the back of the GSU.

BULA is hosting a Bananagrams and Scrabble tournament! Bring your linguistic skills, love of word games and any Bananagrams or Scrabble sets you may own so we can have multiple games going on at once.

Oct 15

Pierre Pica talk Tue Oct 18, 5pm, CAS 224: “Human and Linguistic Diversity: Number and Geometry in Mundurukú”

Dr. Pierre Pica (UMR 7023 CNRS Paris), who has had a unique opportunity to visit the Mundurukú, an indigenous people of Brazil, will talk about the experience of conducting linguistic field work on a language that has a very limited vocabulary for numbers and geometry. His work has been published in Science (among other places) and has received some attention in the media. Pica’s interpretations of the findings have also been the subject of some debate.

Dr. Pica will address questions including the following: How was it that a French linguist came to be in touch with an Amazonian people that has only a few words for numbers and geometrical concepts? How was this aspect of the language discovered at all? What are the implications of this impoverished vocabulary for daily life? Are these people really different from us?

This presentation will address important issues for linguistics and psychology in a way that is accessible to a general audience.

Co-sponsored by the Boston University Linguistics Program and the Boston University undergraduate Linguistics Association.

You can RSVP at the Facebook event.

Sep 26

Dialects: From True Grit to Soda Pop

Thanks to everyone who came to our first meeting. Here are some cool links that relate to the topics we discussed. Stay tuned for the date of our first discussion on Language Myths!

Check out the video on English dialects from How The States Got Their Shapes: Here.

Also Check out this blog post from Language Log. It’s on the use of contractions (or lack there of) in the various True Grit movies as compared with actual speech from the time period.

Please like our fan page on Facebook to get more updates on events, cool links and videos!

 

 

Sep 21

First General Meeting!

Calling all linguistics and language enthusiasts!

The first general meeting of the Boston University Linguistics Association (BULA) will be Thursday, September 22nd at 7pm in CAS 228. We will be discussing possible events and activities for the 2011-2012 year.

Ideas include: Movie Screenings, Discussion Groups, Bananagrams Tournament, Guest Speakers.

Come share your ideas and interests and meet fellow linguistics lovers!

May 04

Linguistics Study Group


Stressing out about finals? Join fellow Linguistics students for an informal study group before exams start!
Many of our e-board members have taken the traditional Linguistics courses and will be happy to help. It’s Monday May 9th from 6pm-9pm in the GSU’s Backcourt.
RSVP on Facebook!