From the Arizona Linguistics Circle (graduate students at the Department of Linguistics at the University of Arizona) comes this:
Mar 03
Why Study Elvish?
Dr. Marc Zender, Lecturer on Anthropology, Harvard University
Thu Apr 1, 7:00pm, CAS 326
“Why Study Elvish?”
Beyond popular accolades and prestigious positions at powerful research institutions (which unfortunately are not at all involved), there are some practical benefits to a study of JRR Tolkien’s invented languages and scripts. For one thing, they provide a challenge: poorly attested, highly restrictive in genre, and without comprehensive dictionaries and grammars. Like scholars of Gothic, Tocharian, and other fragmentary tongues known primarily (or solely) from disconnected manuscripts, students of Tolkien’s languages employ the methods of comparative linguistics to decode these tongues, all of which are (carefully designed to appear to be) historically related.
Further, although a philologist of distinction, it is frequently lamented that Tolkien did not publish nearly as many theoretical papers as some of his contemporaries; nonetheless, he worked for some sixty years perfecting the histories and relationships of his invented languages. In recent years, Tolkienian linguists have shown that these languages became the repositories of some of his most profound reflections on linguistics, philosophy, and the theory of translation: ample reward indeed for intrepid decipherers.
You can RSVP at the Facebook event here:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=113878285294454
Mar 02
Sex and the Irish Language: The Cultural Politics of Language Attrition
Jim McCloskey, Professor and Chair of the Department of Linguistics, University of California, Santa Cruz
“Sex and the Irish Language: The Cultural Politics of Language Attrition.”
Thu Apr 8, 7:30pm, KCB 101
(sponsored by The James Geddes, Jr. Lecture Series)
A belief frequently expressed about the Irish language is that ‘there are no words for sex in Irish’. This talk considers the veracity of this strange belief, tries to uncover its origins, and uses that exploration as a probe to better understand the mechanisms of language destruction.
Mar 02
Yes, No, and the Construction of Finite Verbs in a VSO Language
Jim McCloskey, Professor and Chair of the Department of Linguistics, University of California, Santa Cruz
Fri Apr 9, 3:30pm, KCB 101
“Yes, No, and the Construction of Finite Verbs in a VSO Language”
Irish is one of those languages often said to lack words for ‘Yes’ and ‘No’. Where other languages use such words, Irish instead uses so-called ‘responsive forms of the verb’—single word sentences consisting only of an inflected verb. This talk addresses the following two related questions:
1. How does the grammatical device of the `responsive’ relate to the polarity particles (words like ‘Yes’ and `No’) found in other languages? Put differently, why is it possible to render with these single word sentences what other languages render by means of words like ‘Yes’ and ‘No’?
2. How does this effect relate to, and interact with, the single most famous fact about Irish, namely that it is a VSO language?
Mar 01
Cracking the Maya Code (2008)
Tue Apr 13, 7pm, CAS 537C (Geddes Viewing Room)
“Cracking the Maya Code” (2008)
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/mayacode/
The ancient Maya civilization of Central America left behind an intricate and mysterious hieroglyphic script, carved on monuments, painted on pottery, and drawn in handmade bark-paper books. For centuries, scholars considered it too complex ever to understand–until recently, when an ingenious series of breakthroughs finally cracked the code and unleashed a torrent of new insights into the Mayas’ turbulent past. For the first time, NOVA presents the epic inside story of how the decoding was done–traveling to the remote jungles of southern Mexico and Central America to investigate how the code was broken and what Maya writings now reveal.
Mar 01
The Wild Child (1970)
Tue Apr 27, 7pm, CAS 537C (Geddes Viewing Room)
“The Wild Child” (1970)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wild_Child
One summer day in 1798, a naked boy eleven or twelve years of age (Jean-Pierre Cargol) is found in a forest in the rural district of Aveyron in southern France. Living like a wild animal and unable to speak or understand language, the child has apparently grown up in solitude in the forest since an early age. He is brought to Paris and initially placed in a school for “deaf-mutes”. Dr. Jean Marc Gaspard Itard (François Truffaut) observes the boy and believes that he is neither deaf nor, as some of his colleagues do, an “idiot”. Itard thinks the boy’s behavior is a result of his deprived environment, and that he can be educated. Itard takes custody of the boy, whom he eventually names Victor, and removes him to his house on the outskirts of Paris. There, under the patient tutelage of the doctor and his housekeeper (Françoise Seigner), Victor gradually becomes socialized and acquires the rudiments of language.
You can RSVP at the Facebook event.
Mar 01
The Mystery of the Rosetta Stone / The Secrets of the Hieroglyphs (2005)
Tue Mar 23, 7pm, CAS 537C (Geddes Viewing Room)
“The Mystery of the Rosetta Stone / The Secrets of the Hieroglyphs”
From “Egypt: Rediscovering a Lost World” (2005, BBC).
These episodes show how Jean-François Champollion used the Rosetta Stone to unlock the mysteries of the lost civilisation of Ancient Egypt which had been closed off to Europeans for centuries prior to the invasion of Napoleon Bonaparte in 1798. The stone, discovered by the French in 1799, had been created as a work of propaganda by the Greek speaking Pharaoh Ptolemy V to establish his place in Egyptian cosmology and flashbacks are included to explain this belief system.
Mar 01
The Linguists (2008)
Tue Apr 20, 7pm, CAS 537C (Geddes Viewing Room)
“The Linguists” (2008)
David and Greg are “The Linguists,” who document languages on the verge of extinction. In the rugged landscapes of Siberia, India, and Bolivia, their resolve is tested by institutionalized racism and violent economic unrest.
You can RSVP at the Facebook event.
Feb 20
First general meeting, Spring 2010
The first general meeting for BULA Spring 2010 will be
Thursday February 18, 2010, 7:00pm, in CAS 322.
On the agenda for this meeting: Upcoming events, possible movie ideas,
forming a BULA Dance Marathon team, and electing next year’s officers.
You can RSVP at the Facebook event: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=319351226209