Selected News at Rutgers Linguistics

The proceedings of LSRL 2006 have been published by John Benjamins.

The editors include our own linguists José Camacho, Liliana Sánchez, and Viviane Déprez. Another editor, Nydia Flores-Ferrán, is Assistant Professor, Graduate School of
Education, Department of Learning and Teaching & School of Arts and
Sciences, Department of Spanish & Portuguese. She is a sociolinguist that specializes in Spanish in the U.S.A.,
Bilingualism, and Teaching English as a Second Language Methodology, Second Language Acquisition.

The book includes papers by Viviane Déprez and Daniel Altshuler.

Merchant defense defended

Naz Merchant successfully defended his dissertation on November 16 (see here for the original article). He was taken out to a celebratory lunch. He is shown in conversation below with chair Bruce Tesar and committee member Paul de Lacy.

SLanG

The Signed Languages Reading Group (SLanG) was started in September by Aaron Braver. Its website is here:

http://ling.rutgers.edu/slang

Aaron took a sign language class last summer. I asked him why: "I just thought it was interesting. There's not really a good reason. Some things just interest you and you can't tell why." Aaron's interest in sign languages are about questions such as whether sign languages conform linguistic universals.

So far, SLanG has looked at articles on sign language 'syllables' and wh-movement. If you are interested in hearing news about SLang, please contact Aaron: abraver@eden.rutgers.edu.

Aaron is also looking for native speakers of sign language, and is planning to go to the sign language conference at Swarthmore in March. For more details, please contact him.

Aaron Braver makes one version of the sign for 'helicopter'.

Fieldwork Equipment Training Session

The first fieldwork and phonetics equipment training session was held on November 30. Participants used how to use newly available equipment such as the Edirol R-09, Marantz PMD670, and the new sound-attenuated booth. Here are three sound files recorded by the participants:

[Crystal's mp3] [Carlos' mp3] [Bruce's mp3]

Click on the photos below for a full sized version.

Alan Prince, Jeremy Perkins, Brian Smith, and Crystal Akers explore the mysteries of an Edirol R09.

Alan Prince enjoying the session. Participants recording profundities in the background.

Jonathan Wright mutters "my precious" while caressing the Marantz PMD 671. Tesar observes.

Photograph of Paul de Lacy's hard palate using the Canon Digital Rebel XT.

Aaron Braver and Jimmy Bruno perform an experiment with an Edirol R09, Audio Technica headphones, and a large latte.