From pedprax at terra.com.br Mon Jun 7 02:58:46 2010 From: pedprax at terra.com.br (Pedro Henrique Lima Praxedes Filho) Date: Sun, 6 Jun 2010 23:58:46 -0300 Subject: 2nd Call for papers / 2a. Chamada de trabalhos / 2a. Llamada de trabajos - VI ALSFAL - Fortaleza-Cear=?iso-8859-1?Q?=E1-Brasil?= Message-ID: VI CONFERENCE OF THE ALSFAL - 2nd CALL FOR PAPERS VI CONGRESSO DA ALSFAL - 2a. CHAMADA DE TRABALHOS VI CONGRESO DE LA ALSFAL - 2a. LLAMADA DE TRABAJOS (PARA PORTUGUÊS, POR FAVOR, VEJA ABAIXO / PARA ESPAÑOL, POR FAVOR, VEA MÁS ABAJO): IN ENGLISH: Dear Colleagues, This is to let you know that the period relative to the 2nd call for papers for the VI Conference of the ALSFAL will be from 6/7/10 through 6/27/10. In order to register yourself, submit abstracts, and sign up for up to 2 pre-conference workshps, out of 13, please visit the conference website at http://www.6alsfal-uece.com.br. There will be 6 plenaries (Christian Matthiessen, Louise Ravelli, Kay O'Halloran, Christopher Taylor, Nora Kaplan, and Orlando Vian Jr) and 11 roundtables. The VI Conference of the ALSFAL will be held from October 7 to October 9, 2010. The pre-conference workshops will be held from October 5 to October 6, 2010. All the activities, which will revolve around the theme 'Systemic-Functional Linguistics and its potential for semiotic-discursive emporwerment', will happen at Ponta Mar Hotel, in Fortaleza, the capital city of the Brazilian northeastern State of Ceará and will be hosted by UECE's (Universidade Estadual do Ceará) Graduate Program in Applied Linguistics. We encourage you to take advantage of the early bird payment period, which will last until 7/15/10. We look forward to seeing you all in Fortaleza in October! Very best wishes, Pedro Praxedes For the Organizing Committee -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- EM PORTUGUÊS: Prezado(a)s Colegas, Esta mensagem tem a intenção de informar-lhes que o período relativo à 2a. chamada de trabalhos para o VI Congresso da ALSFAL será de 07/06/10 a 27/06/10. A fim de inscrever-se no congresso, submeter resumos e inscrever-se em até 2 minicursos pré-congresso, de 13, por favor, visite o web site do congresso em http://www.6alsfal-uece.com.br. Haverá 6 conferências plenárias (Christian Matthiessen, Louise Ravelli, Kay O'Halloran, Christopher Taylor, Nora Kaplan, and Orlando Vian Jr) e 11 mesas redondas. O VI Congresso da ALSFAL acontecerá de 7 de outubro a 9 de outubro de 2010. Os minicursos pré-congresso acontecerão de 5 de outubro a 6 de outubro de 2010. Todas as atividades, que girarão em torno do tema 'A Linguística Sistêmico-Funcional e seu potencial de empoderamento semiótico-discursivo', terão lugar no Hotel Ponta Mar, em Fortaleza, a capital do Estado do Ceará, e serão anfitrionadas pelo Programa de Pós-Graduação em Linguística Aplicada da UECE (Universidade Estadual do Ceará). Encorajamos a todo(a)s a aproveitarem o período de pagamento early bird, que se prolongará até 15/07/10. Estamos esperando por vocês aqui em Fortaleza em outubro! Um abraço, Pedro Praxedes Pela Comissão Organizadora -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- EN ESPAÑOL: Estimado(a)s Colegas, Esto es para informarles que el período relativo a la 2a. llamada de trabajos para el VI Congreso de la ALSFAL será del 07/06/10 al 27/06/10. A fin de inscribirse en el congreso, enviar resúmenes y registrarse en un máximo de 2 minicursos, de 13, por favor, visite la página web del congreso en http://www.6alsfal-uece.com.br. Habrá 6 sesiones plenarias (Christian Matthiessen, Louise Ravelli, Kay O'Halloran, Christopher Taylor, Nora Kaplan, and Orlando Vian Jr) y 11 mesas redondas. El VI Congreso de la ALSFAL tendrá lugar del 7 de octubre al 9 de octubre de 2010. Los minicursos pre-congreso tendrán lugar del 5 de octubre al 6 de octubre de 2010. Todas las actividades, que girarán en torno al tema 'La Lingüística Sistémico Funcional y su potencial para el empoderamiento semiótico-discursivo', ocurrirán en el Hotel Ponta Mar, en Fortaleza, capital del Estado de Ceará, en Noreste de Brasil y están siendo organizadas por el Programa de Postgrado en Lingüística Aplicada de la Universidade Estadual do Ceará-UECE. Animamos a todo(a)s a aprovechar el período de pago early bird, que se prolongará hasta el 15/07/10. ¡Estamos esperando por usteds aquí en Fortaleza en octubre! Un cordial saludo, Pedro Praxedes Por el Comité Organizador -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From v.evans at bangor.ac.uk Tue Jun 8 10:04:37 2010 From: v.evans at bangor.ac.uk (Vyv Evans) Date: Tue, 8 Jun 2010 11:04:37 +0100 Subject: ToC Language & Cognition 2-1 Message-ID: Dear Colleagues, Volume 2, issue 1 of 'Language & Cognition' has just been published. The table of contents for volume 2 is below. Full details on the journal, including subscription details, can be found on the journal website: www.languageandcognition.net Table of Contents: Volume 2 (2010) Issue 1 (June) When gesture does and doesn't promote learning. Susan Goldin-Meadow The spatial foundations of the conceptual system. Jean Mandler Incidental verbatim memory for language. Olga Gurevich, Matthew A. Johnson and Adele E. Goldberg Disembodying cognition. Anjan Chatterjee On the genesis of personal pronouns: some conceptual sources Bernd Heine and Kyung An-Song Issue 2 (November) Adaptive cognition without massive modularity Raymond W. Gibbs, Jr. and Guy C. Van Orden Do classifiers predict differences in cognitive processing? A study of nominal classification in Mandarin Chinese Mahesh Srinivasan The conceptual structure of deontic meaning: A model based on geometrical principles Paul Chilton Talking about quantities in space: Vague quantifiers, context and similarity Kenny R. Coventry, Angelo Cangelosi, Stephen N. Newstead and Davi Bugmann Abstract motion is no longer abstract Teenie Matlock Mutual bootstrapping between language and analogical processing Dedre Gentner and Stella Christie Reviews: Jordan Zlatev, Timothy P. Racine, Chris Sinha, and Esa Itkonen (eds.). The shared mind: Perspectives on intersubjectivity. Reviewed by Karolina Krawczak Vyvyan Evans and Stéphanie Pourcel (eds.) New directions in Cognitive Linguistics. Reviewed by Alena Anishchanka Sincerely, Vyv Evans -- Prof. Vyv Evans Professor of Linguistics www.vyvevans.net -- Gall y neges e-bost hon, ac unrhyw atodiadau a anfonwyd gyda hi, gynnwys deunydd cyfrinachol ac wedi eu bwriadu i'w defnyddio'n unig gan y sawl y cawsant eu cyfeirio ato (atynt). Os ydych wedi derbyn y neges e-bost hon trwy gamgymeriad, rhowch wybod i'r anfonwr ar unwaith a dilëwch y neges. Os na fwriadwyd anfon y neges atoch chi, rhaid i chi beidio â defnyddio, cadw neu ddatgelu unrhyw wybodaeth a gynhwysir ynddi. Mae unrhyw farn neu safbwynt yn eiddo i'r sawl a'i hanfonodd yn unig ac nid yw o anghenraid yn cynrychioli barn Prifysgol Bangor. Nid yw Prifysgol Bangor yn gwarantu bod y neges e-bost hon neu unrhyw atodiadau yn rhydd rhag firysau neu 100% yn ddiogel. Oni bai fod hyn wedi ei ddatgan yn uniongyrchol yn nhestun yr e-bost, nid bwriad y neges e-bost hon yw ffurfio contract rhwymol - mae rhestr o lofnodwyr awdurdodedig ar gael o Swyddfa Cyllid Prifysgol Bangor. www.bangor.ac.uk This email and any attachments may contain confidential material and is solely for the use of the intended recipient(s). If you have received this email in error, please notify the sender immediately and delete this email. If you are not the intended recipient(s), you must not use, retain or disclose any information contained in this email. Any views or opinions are solely those of the sender and do not necessarily represent those of the Bangor University. Bangor University does not guarantee that this email or any attachments are free from viruses or 100% secure. Unless expressly stated in the body of the text of the email, this email is not intended to form a binding contract - a list of authorised signatories is available from the Bangor University Finance Office. www.bangor.ac.uk From edith at uwm.edu Tue Jun 15 14:41:30 2010 From: edith at uwm.edu (Edith A Moravcsik) Date: Tue, 15 Jun 2010 09:41:30 -0500 Subject: Conference on competing motivations Message-ID: As announced earlier, there will be a conference on competing motivations held November 23-25 (Tuesday through Thursday) at the Max Planck Institute in Leipzig. Information on speakers, abstracts, registration, travel, and hotels is now available at the conference website. The URL is this: http://www.eva.mpg.de/lingua/conference/10-CompetingMotivations/index.html or search google for Conference on Competing Motivations. Andrej Malchukov and Edith Moravcsik -- Professor Emerita of Linguistics Department of Linguistics University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Milwaukee, WI 53201-0413 USA From bischoff.st at gmail.com Fri Jun 18 11:09:30 2010 From: bischoff.st at gmail.com (s.t. bischoff) Date: Fri, 18 Jun 2010 07:09:30 -0400 Subject: bird song/conversation analysis Message-ID: Hi all, A biologist colleague of mine who works on animal communication (bird songs) is interested in learning a bit about conversation analysis (far outside my area of expertise). He hopes that he might be able to get some ideas from linguists how best to analyze certain bird song behaviour. Any references, comments, or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Below is a brief description of what he is looking at. Thanks, Shannon Behavioral ecologist seeks cross-disciplinary advice: I am seeking input from Linguists to help develop a review of answering rules in song birds. Briefly, individuals of many songbird species sing repertoires of discrete learned song types. When two birds living on neighboring territories interact vocally (i.e., “countersing”), the song type that one bird sings can affect the other bird’s choice of song type. In the simplest case, the second bird might match the first bird's song type. A similar phenomenon occurs when mated pairs of certain species sing rapidly alternating phrases, resulting in so-called "duet" songs.The type of phrase uttered by one partner affects the other partner’s subsequent choice of phrase. Thus during both contersinging and duet singing, birds abide by “answering rules”. Of course, these interactions have some properties in common with conversations, and answering rules bear a passing resemblance to adjacency pairs. I would be grateful if list members could suggest resources (concepts, hypotheses, or methods) from Linguistics that might be relevant to this project. I am particularly interested in hearing from students of conversational analysis. Thank you! -- David Logue, Assistant Professor / Department of Biology, University of Puerto Rico From matti.miestamo at helsinki.fi Fri Jun 18 11:36:55 2010 From: matti.miestamo at helsinki.fi (Matti Miestamo) Date: Fri, 18 Jun 2010 14:36:55 +0300 Subject: Fellowships at the Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies Message-ID: Dear All, I'm forwarding a job ad that may interest some members of the list. The fellowships are available at different levels, postdoc and above. Apologies for cross-postings. Best wishes, Matti Miestamo -------- Original Message -------- Subject: HCAS fellowship call 2011 & opening of the Jane and Aatos Erkko Professorship Date: Fri, 18 Jun 2010 14:15:45 +0300 From: Maria Soukkio *Please circulate. * The Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies is inviting applications for *8–12 UNIVERSITY RESEARCHER/ POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCHER POSITIONS * for a fixed-term appointment starting from 1 August 2011 The director of the Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies will determine the length of the individual appointments (between one and three years) on the basis of the applicants’ research plans. *KONE FOUNDATION SENIOR FELLOWSHIP * for a fixed term from 1 August 2011 to 31 July 2014 The requirements for the above positions include a doctoral degree and the necessary teaching skills. Successful applicants will have research experience in the arts and social sciences as well as proof of their ability to work in an international research environment of a high standard. Applicants must also demonstrate in their application how they plan to engage in the inter- and multidisciplinary cooperation conducted at the Collegium. The working language of the Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies is English. In the 2010 round of applications 2–4 researcher positions may be reserved for scholars whose research interests are related to the theme of /mortality/. All applicants submitting proposals related to this theme, including applicants for the Kone Foundation senior fellowship, will also be taken into account in filling the regular researcher positions at the Collegium. The monthly salary will be based on the job demands level of the position in question as well as personal work performance. The appointees to the Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies will be academics at different stages of their careers. The Collegium encourages applications also from professor-level scholars, who may be appointed as research directors at the Collegium. The application must be submitted electronically. Detailed instructions for applicants will be posted on the website of the Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies on 18 June 2010 and the link to the application form on 2 August 2010. The website of the Collegium can be found at http://www.helsinki.fi/collegium/english/, and the instructions under the tab Application Procedure. The application period will begin on 2 August 2010 at 9.00 and end on 8 September 2010 at 15.45 local Helsinki time. The decision on the appointments will be made on 1 February 2011 in the afternoon. Further information can be obtained from Programme Coordinator Maria Soukkio, collegium-office at helsinki.fi and at: http://www.helsinki.fi/collegium/english/application_procedure/application_procedure2011.htm ****************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************** The Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies has an opening for a distinguished scholar: *The Jane and Aatos Erkko Professorship in Studies on Contemporary Society* for a one- or two-year term starting on 1 August 2011. The Collegium for Advanced Studies requests interested academics to notify the Collegium of their interest by the designated deadline. The position will be filled by invitation. The field of research of the professorship will focus on themes of topical significance to contemporary society and social justice. A special duty of the appointed professor will be to organise a seminar in his or her own research field at the Collegium. According to Section 33 of the Universities Act (No 558/2009) a professor shall carry out and supervise scientific work, provide education based on it, follow developments in research, and participate in societal interaction and international cooperation in his or her field. According to the Regulations of the University of Helsinki, appointees to professorships must hold a doctoral degree and have high-level academic qualifications and experience in heading up scientific research. They must also be able to provide research-based teaching of a high quality and supervise dissertations and theses, as well as present evidence of international cooperation in their field. According to the Government Decree on Universities, professors are required to be proficient in Finnish. They must also have at least satisfactory oral and written skills in Swedish. Foreign citizens, non-native Finnish citizens or citizens who have not been educated in Finnish or Swedish may be exempted from this requirement without a separate application. To successfully attend to the duties of the position, appointees must have good English skills. The salary will be based on levels 8-10 of the demands level chart for teaching and research personnel in the salary system of Finnish universities. In addition, the appointee will be paid a salary component based on personal work performance. The professor will be offered a residence in the centre of Helsinki for the duration of the appointment. The duties of the position as well as the procedure for notifying interest in it are specified in the position overview, which can be obtained free of charge from the Office of the Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies or from the website www.helsinki.fi/collegium under the Application Procedure tab or from the University of Helsinki Registry. The enclosures required with the notification are listed in the position overview. Further information is available from Director Sami Pihlström, tel. +358 9 191 23456, sami.pihlstrom at helsinki.fi, and Kustaa Multamäki, Head of Planning and Development, tel. +358 9 191 23261, kustaa.multamaki at helsinki.fi. Applications, together with the required enclosures, must be delivered to the following address: University of Helsinki Registry, P.O. Box 33 (Yliopistonkatu 4), 00014 University of Helsinki, Finland. The deadline for the notification is 08.09.2010 at 15.45 local Helsinki time. *********** Maria Soukkio Programme coordinator Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies PO BOX 4 FIN 00014 University of Helsinki Finland tel. +358 (0)9 19124974, +358 (0)50 4154503 email: maria.soukkio at helsinki.fi From Arie.Verhagen at hum.LeidenUniv.nl Fri Jun 18 13:10:58 2010 From: Arie.Verhagen at hum.LeidenUniv.nl (Arie Verhagen) Date: Fri, 18 Jun 2010 15:10:58 +0200 Subject: bird song/conversation analysis Message-ID: Dear Shannon, There's a lot out there, mostly based on the seminal Sacks, Schegloff and Jefferson paper "A simplest systematics for the organization of turn-taking for conversation" in Language 50 (1974), pp.669-735. That paper itself is still obligatory reading for this type of question, I would say.. A potentially interesting recent study is a dissertation by Mike Huiskes ("The role of the clause for turn-taking in Dutch conversations", downloadable at http://www.lotpublications.nl/publish/issues/Huiskes/index.html), arguing that the precision of turn-taking (in Dutch) depends on the combination of three types of completeness: intonational, syntactic (i.e. clausal), and pragmatic. The latter may (? ;D) be absent in bird song, but phonology and syntax are there, and there is recent (linguistically informed) research on establishing phonological and syntactic structure in birdsong (which you need when looking for 'completeness') by R.F. Lachlan et al. (see "Are There Species-Universal Categories in Bird Song Phonology and Syntax?", Journal of Comparative Psychology (2010) 124, pp.92-108). Lachlan also has developed software for this type of analysis (he is at Duke University). Good luck, --Arie --------------------------------------- Leiden University Centre for Linguistics P.N. van Eyckhof 1 2311 BV Leiden THE NETHERLANDS www.arieverhagen.nl --------------------------------------- ---------------- Message from s.t. bischoff 18 Jun 2010, 7:09 Subject: [FUNKNET] bird song/conversation analysis > Hi all, > > A biologist colleague of mine who works on animal communication (bird songs) > is interested in learning a bit about conversation analysis (far outside my > area of expertise). He hopes that he might be able to get some ideas from > linguists how best to analyze certain bird song behaviour. Any references, > comments, or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Below is a brief > description of what he is looking at. > > Thanks, > Shannon > > > Behavioral ecologist seeks cross-disciplinary advice: > > I am seeking input from Linguists to help develop a review of answering rules > in song birds. Briefly, individuals of many songbird species sing repertoires > of discrete learned song types. When two birds living on neighboring > territories interact vocally (i.e., "countersing"), the song type that one > bird sings can affect the other bird´s choice of song type. In the simplest > case, the second bird might match the first bird's song type. A similar > phenomenon occurs when mated pairs of certain species sing rapidly alternating > phrases, resulting in so-called "duet" songs.The type of phrase uttered by one > partner affects the other partner´s subsequent choice of phrase. Thus during > both contersinging and duet singing, birds abide by "answering rules". Of > course, these interactions have some properties in common with conversations, > and answering rules bear a passing resemblance to adjacency pairs. I would be > grateful if list members could suggest resources (concepts, hypotheses, or > methods) from Linguistics that might be relevant to this project. I am > particularly interested in hearing from students of conversational analysis. > > Thank you! > -- David Logue, Assistant Professor / Department of Biology, University of > Puerto Rico > From wsmith at csusb.edu Fri Jun 18 16:48:17 2010 From: wsmith at csusb.edu (Wendy Smith) Date: Fri, 18 Jun 2010 09:48:17 -0700 Subject: bird song/conversation analysis In-Reply-To: Message-ID: An excellent summary of CA for a beginner is the Hutchby and Wooffitt book, Conversation Analysis (not sure about the exact title), Polity Press (maybe 1998?). I use this with my undergrad sociolinguistics students and they really like it and actually get it:-) s.t. bischoff wrote: > Hi all, > > A biologist colleague of mine who works on animal communication (bird songs) > is interested in learning a bit about conversation analysis (far outside my > area of expertise). He hopes that he might be able to get some ideas from > linguists how best to analyze certain bird song behaviour. Any references, > comments, or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Below is a brief > description of what he is looking at. > > Thanks, > Shannon > > > Behavioral ecologist seeks cross-disciplinary advice: > > I am seeking input from Linguists to help develop a review of > answering rules in song birds. Briefly, individuals of many songbird > species sing repertoires of discrete learned song types. When two > birds living on neighboring territories interact vocally (i.e., > “countersing”), the song type that one bird sings can affect the other > bird’s choice of song type. In the simplest case, the second bird > might match the first bird's song type. A similar phenomenon occurs > when mated pairs of certain species sing rapidly alternating phrases, > resulting in so-called "duet" songs.The type of phrase uttered by one > partner affects the other partner’s subsequent choice of phrase. Thus > during both contersinging and duet singing, birds abide by “answering > rules”. Of course, these interactions have some properties in common > with conversations, and answering rules bear a passing resemblance to > adjacency pairs. I would be grateful if list members could suggest > resources (concepts, hypotheses, or methods) from Linguistics that > might be relevant to this project. I am particularly interested in > hearing from students of conversational analysis. Thank you! -- David > Logue, Assistant Professor / Department of Biology, University of > Puerto Rico > > From Nick.Enfield at mpi.nl Fri Jun 18 16:52:27 2010 From: Nick.Enfield at mpi.nl (Nick Enfield) Date: Fri, 18 Jun 2010 18:52:27 +0200 Subject: bird song/conversation analysis In-Reply-To: <4C1BA351.1010802@csusb.edu> Message-ID: Also a brand new text book out by Jack Sidnell - 'Conversation Analysis' (Wiley-Blackwell 2010). Nick ________________________________________ From: funknet-bounces at mailman.rice.edu [funknet-bounces at mailman.rice.edu] On Behalf Of Wendy Smith [wsmith at csusb.edu] Sent: Friday, June 18, 2010 18:48 To: s.t. bischoff Cc: funknet at mailman.rice.edu Subject: Re: [FUNKNET] bird song/conversation analysis An excellent summary of CA for a beginner is the Hutchby and Wooffitt book, Conversation Analysis (not sure about the exact title), Polity Press (maybe 1998?). I use this with my undergrad sociolinguistics students and they really like it and actually get it:-) s.t. bischoff wrote: > Hi all, > > A biologist colleague of mine who works on animal communication (bird songs) > is interested in learning a bit about conversation analysis (far outside my > area of expertise). He hopes that he might be able to get some ideas from > linguists how best to analyze certain bird song behaviour. Any references, > comments, or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Below is a brief > description of what he is looking at. > > Thanks, > Shannon > > > Behavioral ecologist seeks cross-disciplinary advice: > > I am seeking input from Linguists to help develop a review of > answering rules in song birds. Briefly, individuals of many songbird > species sing repertoires of discrete learned song types. When two > birds living on neighboring territories interact vocally (i.e., > “countersing”), the song type that one bird sings can affect the other > bird’s choice of song type. In the simplest case, the second bird > might match the first bird's song type. A similar phenomenon occurs > when mated pairs of certain species sing rapidly alternating phrases, > resulting in so-called "duet" songs.The type of phrase uttered by one > partner affects the other partner’s subsequent choice of phrase. Thus > during both contersinging and duet singing, birds abide by “answering > rules”. Of course, these interactions have some properties in common > with conversations, and answering rules bear a passing resemblance to > adjacency pairs. I would be grateful if list members could suggest > resources (concepts, hypotheses, or methods) from Linguistics that > might be relevant to this project. I am particularly interested in > hearing from students of conversational analysis. Thank you! -- David > Logue, Assistant Professor / Department of Biology, University of > Puerto Rico > > From tgivon at uoregon.edu Fri Jun 18 18:55:23 2010 From: tgivon at uoregon.edu (Tom Givon) Date: Fri, 18 Jun 2010 12:55:23 -0600 Subject: bird song/conversation analysis In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Dear Shannon, Before we send your poor colleague on a wild-goose (well, they're avian too) chase for similarities between avian & human communication, perhaps he could benefit from considering some of the fundamental difference: a. *Contents/function/information*: Song-birds communication is almost entirely limited to two adaptive topics--territorial control and mate attraction. b. *Reciprocity*: Most typically, the avian singer is a male, broadcasting two messages, to two different potential interlocutors, with the same-self song: (i) "I control this territory, buzz off!" directed at other males; and (ii) "I'm a big macho with good territory, come mate with me!" directed at females. The interlocutors seldom response with their own songs, they just act appropriately. This doesn't mean that duets don't exist in bird communication, like in e.g. the dual mating dances of some avian species. But in general, the sequencing and reciprocal elaboration of complex information--I contribute this; you respond, elaborate and add; I respond, elaborate and add; etc.--are not found in bird communication. (Work by Wally Chafe, Chuck Goodwin, Sue Erwin-Tripp & others elaborates on this cooperative aspect of human conversation). Orthodox CA, alas, has always tended to emphasize the sociology of turn-taking and competition for the floor over the semiotics of collaborative accretion of information. But this is predictable from CA having been developed by sociologists, not anthropologists or linguists. One way or another, it would be interesting to see how applicable EITHER aspect of human conversation is to bird communication. c. *Form-function matching*: Birds song has complex phonological and syntactic structure, and is thus tantalizingly reminiscent of human language. However, there is no isomorphic matching between units of meaning/message and units of structure in avian communication Rather, it is extremely 'holisti'c (as much as I hate this word, but it fits here). Why then the extreme length & complexity (and artistic elaboration) of the songs? The conjecture is that, much like the peacock's feathers, the singing male broadcasts through this extravagant elaboration a dual message to his two audiences: (i) "I am stronger than you, don't bother to challenge me" (to competing males); and (ii) "I am a big bruiser macho, I can supply superior genetic material for your progeny" (to interested female). There is an extensive discussion of this in Dave Geary's "Male, Female: The Evolution of Human Sex Differences" (2nd edition, 2009; Washington, DC: American Psych. Assoc.). Cheers, TG ============ s.t. bischoff wrote: > Hi all, > > A biologist colleague of mine who works on animal communication (bird songs) > is interested in learning a bit about conversation analysis (far outside my > area of expertise). He hopes that he might be able to get some ideas from > linguists how best to analyze certain bird song behaviour. Any references, > comments, or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Below is a brief > description of what he is looking at. > > Thanks, > Shannon > > > Behavioral ecologist seeks cross-disciplinary advice: > > I am seeking input from Linguists to help develop a review of > answering rules in song birds. Briefly, individuals of many songbird > species sing repertoires of discrete learned song types. When two > birds living on neighboring territories interact vocally (i.e., > “countersing”), the song type that one bird sings can affect the other > bird’s choice of song type. In the simplest case, the second bird > might match the first bird's song type. A similar phenomenon occurs > when mated pairs of certain species sing rapidly alternating phrases, > resulting in so-called "duet" songs.The type of phrase uttered by one > partner affects the other partner’s subsequent choice of phrase. Thus > during both contersinging and duet singing, birds abide by “answering > rules”. Of course, these interactions have some properties in common > with conversations, and answering rules bear a passing resemblance to > adjacency pairs. I would be grateful if list members could suggest > resources (concepts, hypotheses, or methods) from Linguistics that > might be relevant to this project. I am particularly interested in > hearing from students of conversational analysis. Thank you! -- David > Logue, Assistant Professor / Department of Biology, University of > Puerto Rico > From phonosemantics at earthlink.net Fri Jun 18 19:09:19 2010 From: phonosemantics at earthlink.net (jess tauber) Date: Fri, 18 Jun 2010 15:09:19 -0400 Subject: bird song/conversation analysis Message-ID: Yeah, but where do the bits and pieces of the song come from? Just a kluge, or perhaps with internal structure just too alien for us hyoo-mans? And if internally structured, with each piece with a meaning range, can they modulate the parts to differentiate senses, emphases? The more intelligent birds seem to be less operatic in their preferences, with simpler call strings, but also sometimes good imitative abilities. Why? Don't they have the same needs and wants as the more melodious cousins? Or is it about automaticization and fixed, discreet contexts versus more pragmatic usages and fluid contexts, with a generalized code applicable to all? Great discussion. Jess Tauber phonosemantics at earthlink.net From mike_cahill at sil.org Fri Jun 18 19:17:02 2010 From: mike_cahill at sil.org (Mike Cahill) Date: Fri, 18 Jun 2010 14:17:02 -0500 Subject: bird song/conversation analysis In-Reply-To: <4C1BC11B.6070107@uoregon.edu> Message-ID: Stephen Anderson's "Doctor Dolittle's Delusion" (Yale U Press, 2004) has an excellent and accessible summary of the characteristics of bird calls, and what the similarities and especially differences (thus the books' title) are from human speech. Anyone know of anything more recent or complete? Mike Cahill From amnfn at well.com Fri Jun 18 19:22:51 2010 From: amnfn at well.com (A. Katz) Date: Fri, 18 Jun 2010 12:22:51 -0700 Subject: bird song/conversation analysis In-Reply-To: <17300159.1276888159715.JavaMail.root@wamui-junio.atl.sa.earthlink.net> Message-ID: Jess, I don't think it has been proven yet that all bird song is primarily decorative in its complexity. I don't even know how we would go about trying to prove such a thing. --Aya On Fri, 18 Jun 2010, jess tauber wrote: > Yeah, but where do the bits and pieces of the song come from? Just a kluge, or perhaps with internal structure just too alien for us hyoo-mans? And if internally structured, with each piece with a meaning range, can they modulate the parts to differentiate senses, emphases? > > The more intelligent birds seem to be less operatic in their preferences, with simpler call strings, but also sometimes good imitative abilities. Why? Don't they have the same needs and wants as the more melodious cousins? Or is it about automaticization and fixed, discreet contexts versus more pragmatic usages and fluid contexts, with a generalized code applicable to all? > > Great discussion. > > Jess Tauber > phonosemantics at earthlink.net > > From Chad.Nilep at Colorado.EDU Fri Jun 18 19:32:17 2010 From: Chad.Nilep at Colorado.EDU (chad D nilep) Date: Fri, 18 Jun 2010 13:32:17 -0600 Subject: bird song/conversation analysis Message-ID: What an interesting question! Sacks, Schegloff, and Jefferson 1974 is of course the classic CA paper, and Hutchby and Wooffitt 1998 is an excellent overview. I would classify both as works of sociology, but of course language is an important element in CA analysis. I think it might be worthwhile to pay attention to CA or CA-inspired work that is more "linguistic," too. I have in mind edited collections by Ochs, Schegloff, and Thompson (1996); Selting and Cooper-Kuhlen (2001); and Ford, Fox, and Thompson (2002). Many of the papers in these volumes apply the sort of empirical analysis of interaction from CA to studies of grammar and interaction in ways that might shed interesting light on 'counter-singing' or 'answering-rules' in birds. Chad Nilep http://rintintin.colorado.edu/~nilep/ From amnfn at well.com Fri Jun 18 20:22:08 2010 From: amnfn at well.com (A. Katz) Date: Fri, 18 Jun 2010 13:22:08 -0700 Subject: bird song/conversation analysis In-Reply-To: <4C1BC11B.6070107@uoregon.edu> Message-ID: Tom, While I tend to have the same general assumptions about bird song that you have shared here, (territorial/mating function with aesthetic elaboration but no coding of complex meanings), I would be hard pressed to say where I picked up this information. Is it just folklore, or have there been scientific studies done to establish that complex bird song serves aesthetic goals by its complexity but not communicative goals? This brings up the whole issue of proof of a negative -- or a positive. In order to prove that a particular species doesn't have language, what do we do? In order to show that it does, what do we do? It seems that even in the case of encryption, the only way to prove that something is a code is to break it. The only way to prove that something is a language is to learn it and thus be able to use it for communication. Is there some other way to prove that something is a language? For that matter, is there any way to prove that something isn't a language, but is just gibberish? --Aya http://hubpages.com/profile/Aya+Katz Has anybody proven that there is not someth On Fri, 18 Jun 2010, Tom Givon wrote: > > > Dear Shannon, > > Before we send your poor colleague on a wild-goose (well, they're avian too) > chase for similarities between avian & human communication, perhaps he could > benefit from considering some of the fundamental difference: > > a. *Contents/function/information*: Song-birds communication is almost > entirely limited to two adaptive topics--territorial control and mate > attraction. > > b. *Reciprocity*: Most typically, the avian singer is a male, broadcasting > two messages, to two different potential interlocutors, with the same-self > song: (i) "I control this territory, buzz off!" directed at other males; and > (ii) "I'm a big macho with good territory, come mate with me!" directed at > females. The interlocutors seldom response with their own songs, they just > act appropriately. This doesn't mean that duets don't exist in bird > communication, like in e.g. the dual mating dances of some avian species. But > in general, the sequencing and reciprocal elaboration of complex > information--I contribute this; you respond, elaborate and add; I respond, > elaborate and add; etc.--are not found in bird communication. (Work by Wally > Chafe, Chuck Goodwin, Sue Erwin-Tripp & others elaborates on this cooperative > aspect of human conversation). Orthodox CA, alas, has always tended to > emphasize the sociology of turn-taking and competition for the floor over the > semiotics of collaborative accretion of information. But this is predictable > from CA having been developed by sociologists, not anthropologists or > linguists. One way or another, it would be interesting to see how applicable > EITHER aspect of human conversation is to bird communication. > > c. *Form-function matching*: Birds song has complex phonological and > syntactic structure, and is thus tantalizingly reminiscent of human language. > However, there is no isomorphic matching between units of meaning/message and > units of structure in avian communication Rather, it is extremely 'holisti'c > (as much as I hate this word, but it fits here). Why then the extreme length > & complexity (and artistic elaboration) of the songs? The conjecture is that, > much like the peacock's feathers, the singing male broadcasts through this > extravagant elaboration a dual message to his two audiences: (i) "I am > stronger than you, don't bother to challenge me" (to competing males); and > (ii) "I am a big bruiser macho, I can supply superior genetic material for > your progeny" (to interested female). There is an extensive discussion of > this in Dave Geary's "Male, Female: The Evolution of Human Sex Differences" > (2nd edition, 2009; Washington, DC: American Psych. Assoc.). > > Cheers, TG > > ============ > > > s.t. bischoff wrote: >> Hi all, >> >> A biologist colleague of mine who works on animal communication (bird >> songs) >> is interested in learning a bit about conversation analysis (far outside my >> area of expertise). He hopes that he might be able to get some ideas from >> linguists how best to analyze certain bird song behaviour. Any references, >> comments, or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Below is a brief >> description of what he is looking at. >> >> Thanks, >> Shannon >> >> >> Behavioral ecologist seeks cross-disciplinary advice: >> >> I am seeking input from Linguists to help develop a review of >> answering rules in song birds. Briefly, individuals of many songbird >> species sing repertoires of discrete learned song types. When two >> birds living on neighboring territories interact vocally (i.e., >> “countersing”), the song type that one bird sings can affect the other >> bird’s choice of song type. In the simplest case, the second bird >> might match the first bird's song type. A similar phenomenon occurs >> when mated pairs of certain species sing rapidly alternating phrases, >> resulting in so-called "duet" songs.The type of phrase uttered by one >> partner affects the other partner’s subsequent choice of phrase. Thus >> during both contersinging and duet singing, birds abide by “answering >> rules”. Of course, these interactions have some properties in common >> with conversations, and answering rules bear a passing resemblance to >> adjacency pairs. I would be grateful if list members could suggest >> resources (concepts, hypotheses, or methods) from Linguistics that >> might be relevant to this project. I am particularly interested in >> hearing from students of conversational analysis. Thank you! -- David >> Logue, Assistant Professor / Department of Biology, University of >> Puerto Rico >> > > From wilcox at unm.edu Fri Jun 18 20:52:40 2010 From: wilcox at unm.edu (Sherman Wilcox) Date: Fri, 18 Jun 2010 14:52:40 -0600 Subject: bird song/conversation analysis In-Reply-To: Message-ID: On Jun 18, 2010, at 2:22 PM, A. Katz wrote: > The only way to prove that something is a language is to learn it and thus be able to use it for communication. I'm never sure where this will lead us, or why we need to even go here. Saying something can be used for communication won't convince everyone it's a language. One reason may be because they define "language" to be "human language," and that is, ummm, by definition the stuff that only humans do. So, no, birdsong isn't human language. Neither, then, is the stuff signing non-human primates do. I just spent some time at the U of Reno, though, looking at (previously unreleased) films of Washoe and her fellow chimps, and I can tell you, they were doing some pretty amazing things. Does what they were doing have everything needed to qualify it as "human language"? Well, no. Sure enough, chimps aren't humans. Having been through this once before -- trying to "prove" that signed languages are "real human language" -- I find it all pretty distasteful. The problem in the signed language situation was that the "standard" of what counted as "real human language" was based on a biased sample: for centuries people looked only at spoken language, documented the "universal" features they all had, and then ... voila! When signed languages lacked some of these features, looked quite different in some fundamental ways, they were deemed to be "not real language." > Is there some other way to prove that something is a language? For that matter, is there any way to prove that something isn't a language, but is just gibberish? The problem is, there's a lot of territory between "language" and "gibberish." -- Sherman Wilcox, Ph.D. Professor and Chair Department of Linguistics University of New Mexico Albuquerque, NM 87131 On Jun 18, 2010, at 2:22 PM, A. Katz wrote: > Tom, > > While I tend to have the same general assumptions about bird song that you have shared here, (territorial/mating function with aesthetic elaboration but no coding of complex meanings), I would be hard pressed to say where I picked up this information. Is it just folklore, or have there been scientific studies done to establish that complex bird song serves aesthetic goals by its complexity but not communicative goals? > > This brings up the whole issue of proof of a negative -- or a positive. In order to prove that a particular species doesn't have language, what do we do? In order to show that it does, what do we do? > > It seems that even in the case of encryption, the only way to prove that something is a code is to break it. The only way to prove that something is a language is to learn it and thus be able to use it for communication. > > Is there some other way to prove that something is a language? For that matter, is there any way to prove that something isn't a language, but is just gibberish? > > --Aya > > http://hubpages.com/profile/Aya+Katz > > Has anybody proven that there is not someth > > On Fri, 18 Jun 2010, Tom Givon wrote: > >> >> >> Dear Shannon, >> >> Before we send your poor colleague on a wild-goose (well, they're avian too) chase for similarities between avian & human communication, perhaps he could benefit from considering some of the fundamental difference: >> >> a. *Contents/function/information*: Song-birds communication is almost entirely limited to two adaptive topics--territorial control and mate attraction. >> >> b. *Reciprocity*: Most typically, the avian singer is a male, broadcasting two messages, to two different potential interlocutors, with the same-self song: (i) "I control this territory, buzz off!" directed at other males; and (ii) "I'm a big macho with good territory, come mate with me!" directed at females. The interlocutors seldom response with their own songs, they just act appropriately. This doesn't mean that duets don't exist in bird communication, like in e.g. the dual mating dances of some avian species. But in general, the sequencing and reciprocal elaboration of complex information--I contribute this; you respond, elaborate and add; I respond, elaborate and add; etc.--are not found in bird communication. (Work by Wally Chafe, Chuck Goodwin, Sue Erwin-Tripp & others elaborates on this cooperative aspect of human conversation). Orthodox CA, alas, has always tended to emphasize the sociology of turn-taking and competition for the floor over the semiotics of collaborative accretion of information. But this is predictable from CA having been developed by sociologists, not anthropologists or linguists. One way or another, it would be interesting to see how applicable EITHER aspect of human conversation is to bird communication. >> >> c. *Form-function matching*: Birds song has complex phonological and syntactic structure, and is thus tantalizingly reminiscent of human language. However, there is no isomorphic matching between units of meaning/message and units of structure in avian communication Rather, it is extremely 'holisti'c (as much as I hate this word, but it fits here). Why then the extreme length & complexity (and artistic elaboration) of the songs? The conjecture is that, much like the peacock's feathers, the singing male broadcasts through this extravagant elaboration a dual message to his two audiences: (i) "I am stronger than you, don't bother to challenge me" (to competing males); and (ii) "I am a big bruiser macho, I can supply superior genetic material for your progeny" (to interested female). There is an extensive discussion of this in Dave Geary's "Male, Female: The Evolution of Human Sex Differences" (2nd edition, 2009; Washington, DC: American Psych. Assoc.). >> >> Cheers, TG >> >> ============ >> >> >> s.t. bischoff wrote: >>> Hi all, >>> A biologist colleague of mine who works on animal communication (bird songs) >>> is interested in learning a bit about conversation analysis (far outside my >>> area of expertise). He hopes that he might be able to get some ideas from >>> linguists how best to analyze certain bird song behaviour. Any references, >>> comments, or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Below is a brief >>> description of what he is looking at. >>> Thanks, >>> Shannon >>> Behavioral ecologist seeks cross-disciplinary advice: >>> I am seeking input from Linguists to help develop a review of >>> answering rules in song birds. Briefly, individuals of many songbird >>> species sing repertoires of discrete learned song types. When two >>> birds living on neighboring territories interact vocally (i.e., >>> “countersing”), the song type that one bird sings can affect the other >>> bird’s choice of song type. In the simplest case, the second bird >>> might match the first bird's song type. A similar phenomenon occurs >>> when mated pairs of certain species sing rapidly alternating phrases, >>> resulting in so-called "duet" songs.The type of phrase uttered by one >>> partner affects the other partner’s subsequent choice of phrase. Thus >>> during both contersinging and duet singing, birds abide by “answering >>> rules”. Of course, these interactions have some properties in common >>> with conversations, and answering rules bear a passing resemblance to >>> adjacency pairs. I would be grateful if list members could suggest >>> resources (concepts, hypotheses, or methods) from Linguistics that >>> might be relevant to this project. I am particularly interested in >>> hearing from students of conversational analysis. Thank you! -- David >>> Logue, Assistant Professor / Department of Biology, University of >>> Puerto Rico >> >> From Arie.Verhagen at hum.LeidenUniv.nl Fri Jun 18 20:53:49 2010 From: Arie.Verhagen at hum.LeidenUniv.nl (Arie Verhagen) Date: Fri, 18 Jun 2010 22:53:49 +0200 Subject: bird song/conversation analysis In-Reply-To: <87753cd91cb8de449cb5928f35b5752c@sil.org> Message-ID: Given the kind of differences that Tom Givon draws attention to (much of which can be summarized as: lack of duality of patterning in birdsong), birdsong is probably better seen, not as an analogue to language, but rather to speech. But as such, many similarities (behaviorally, developmentally, neurologically) are striking, as already noted by A.J. Doupe & P.K. Kuhl (1999). `Birdsong and human speech: common themes and mechanisms.´ Annual Reviews in Neurosciences 22, 567-631. One important thing is that birdsong is also socially learned, thus transmitted culturally (not genetically), leading to dialect formation, among other things. A good relatively recent overview is M. Naguib & K. Riebel (2006), "Birdsong: a Key Model in Animal Communication", in K. Brown (ed.), Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics, Elsevier. A BIG overview is the volume Nature's Music: The Science of Birdsong, edited by P. Marler & H. Slabbekoorn, Elsevier 2004. Both also include discussions of important differences between birdsong and bird calls, which may have richer meanings than song. By the way, behavioral biologists are very good at designing experiments and observational setups to investigate the communicative functions of the song of different species of birds, including possible functional differences between different PARTS of song (which might be seen as a start of some kind of isomorphism). One example that I know of is A. Leitão & K. Riebel (2003), "Are good ornaments bad armaments? Male chaffinch perception of songs with varying flourish length". Animal Behavior 66, 161-167. But it is actually a huge field (witness the Marler and Slabbekoorn volume)! Cheers, --Arie From amnfn at well.com Fri Jun 18 21:22:52 2010 From: amnfn at well.com (A. Katz) Date: Fri, 18 Jun 2010 14:22:52 -0700 Subject: bird song/conversation analysis In-Reply-To: <05860A00-301E-4489-BB08-C7E7E7932335@unm.edu> Message-ID: I think equating "language" with "human language" makes the question meaningless. If a language is defined as something spoken by humans, then clearly anything used by non-humans is not a language, by definition. That kind of answer is not very enlightening. However, we all know that not all human speech sounds strung together make a language. If you encounter a group of humans using speech sounds at each other, how do you find out if it is language? The only way I know is to get to the point where you can use it yourself and can encode and decode messages. Is there some other way to establish that something is a language (regardless of whether the entities using it are human?) Just to get past the "human" issue, how would you establish that speech sounds as used by this group of humans that you find is "not language". Besides saying "it is not one of the documented human languages", how else would you do it? Whatever the right answer to these questions is applies regarless of the species. --Aya http://hubpages.com/profile/Aya+Katz On Fri, 18 Jun 2010, Sherman Wilcox wrote: > On Jun 18, 2010, at 2:22 PM, A. Katz wrote: > >> The only way to prove that something is a language is to learn it and thus be able to use it for communication. > > I'm never sure where this will lead us, or why we need to even go here. > > Saying something can be used for communication won't convince everyone it's a language. One reason may be because they define "language" to be "human language," and that is, ummm, by definition the stuff that only humans do. So, no, birdsong isn't human language. > > Neither, then, is the stuff signing non-human primates do. I just spent some time at the U of Reno, though, looking at (previously unreleased) films of Washoe and her fellow chimps, and I can tell you, they were doing some pretty amazing things. Does what they were doing have everything needed to qualify it as "human language"? Well, no. Sure enough, chimps aren't humans. > > Having been through this once before -- trying to "prove" that signed languages are "real human language" -- I find it all pretty distasteful. The problem in the signed language situation was that the "standard" of what counted as "real human language" was based on a biased sample: for centuries people looked only at spoken language, documented the "universal" features they all had, and then ... voila! When signed languages lacked some of these features, looked quite different in some fundamental ways, they were deemed to be "not real language." > >> Is there some other way to prove that something is a language? For that matter, is there any way to prove that something isn't a language, but is just gibberish? > > > The problem is, there's a lot of territory between "language" and "gibberish." > > -- > Sherman Wilcox, Ph.D. > Professor and Chair > Department of Linguistics > University of New Mexico > Albuquerque, NM 87131 > > > > > On Jun 18, 2010, at 2:22 PM, A. Katz wrote: > >> Tom, >> >> While I tend to have the same general assumptions about bird song that you have shared here, (territorial/mating function with aesthetic elaboration but no coding of complex meanings), I would be hard pressed to say where I picked up this information. Is it just folklore, or have there been scientific studies done to establish that complex bird song serves aesthetic goals by its complexity but not communicative goals? >> >> This brings up the whole issue of proof of a negative -- or a positive. In order to prove that a particular species doesn't have language, what do we do? In order to show that it does, what do we do? >> >> It seems that even in the case of encryption, the only way to prove that something is a code is to break it. The only way to prove that something is a language is to learn it and thus be able to use it for communication. >> >> Is there some other way to prove that something is a language? For that matter, is there any way to prove that something isn't a language, but is just gibberish? >> >> --Aya >> >> http://hubpages.com/profile/Aya+Katz >> >> Has anybody proven that there is not someth >> >> On Fri, 18 Jun 2010, Tom Givon wrote: >> >>> >>> >>> Dear Shannon, >>> >>> Before we send your poor colleague on a wild-goose (well, they're avian too) chase for similarities between avian & human communication, perhaps he could benefit from considering some of the fundamental difference: >>> >>> a. *Contents/function/information*: Song-birds communication is almost entirely limited to two adaptive topics--territorial control and mate attraction. >>> >>> b. *Reciprocity*: Most typically, the avian singer is a male, broadcasting two messages, to two different potential interlocutors, with the same-self song: (i) "I control this territory, buzz off!" directed at other males; and (ii) "I'm a big macho with good territory, come mate with me!" directed at females. The interlocutors seldom response with their own songs, they just act appropriately. This doesn't mean that duets don't exist in bird communication, like in e.g. the dual mating dances of some avian species. But in general, the sequencing and reciprocal elaboration of complex information--I contribute this; you respond, elaborate and add; I respond, elaborate and add; etc.--are not found in bird communication. (Work by Wally Chafe, Chuck Goodwin, Sue Erwin-Tripp & others elaborates on this cooperative aspect of human conversation). Orthodox CA, alas, has always tended to emphasize the sociology of turn-taking and competition for the floor over the semiotics of collaborative accretion of information. But this is predictable from CA having been developed by sociologists, not anthropologists or linguists. One way or another, it would be interesting to see how applicable EITHER aspect of human conversation is to bird communication. >>> >>> c. *Form-function matching*: Birds song has complex phonological and syntactic structure, and is thus tantalizingly reminiscent of human language. However, there is no isomorphic matching between units of meaning/message and units of structure in avian communication Rather, it is extremely 'holisti'c (as much as I hate this word, but it fits here). Why then the extreme length & complexity (and artistic elaboration) of the songs? The conjecture is that, much like the peacock's feathers, the singing male broadcasts through this extravagant elaboration a dual message to his two audiences: (i) "I am stronger than you, don't bother to challenge me" (to competing males); and (ii) "I am a big bruiser macho, I can supply superior genetic material for your progeny" (to interested female). There is an extensive discussion of this in Dave Geary's "Male, Female: The Evolution of Human Sex Differences" (2nd edition, 2009; Washington, DC: American Psych. Assoc.). >>> >>> Cheers, TG >>> >>> ============ >>> >>> >>> s.t. bischoff wrote: >>>> Hi all, >>>> A biologist colleague of mine who works on animal communication (bird songs) >>>> is interested in learning a bit about conversation analysis (far outside my >>>> area of expertise). He hopes that he might be able to get some ideas from >>>> linguists how best to analyze certain bird song behaviour. Any references, >>>> comments, or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Below is a brief >>>> description of what he is looking at. >>>> Thanks, >>>> Shannon >>>> Behavioral ecologist seeks cross-disciplinary advice: >>>> I am seeking input from Linguists to help develop a review of >>>> answering rules in song birds. Briefly, individuals of many songbird >>>> species sing repertoires of discrete learned song types. When two >>>> birds living on neighboring territories interact vocally (i.e., >>>> “countersing”), the song type that one bird sings can affect the other >>>> bird’s choice of song type. In the simplest case, the second bird >>>> might match the first bird's song type. A similar phenomenon occurs >>>> when mated pairs of certain species sing rapidly alternating phrases, >>>> resulting in so-called "duet" songs.The type of phrase uttered by one >>>> partner affects the other partner’s subsequent choice of phrase. Thus >>>> during both contersinging and duet singing, birds abide by “answering >>>> rules”. Of course, these interactions have some properties in common >>>> with conversations, and answering rules bear a passing resemblance to >>>> adjacency pairs. I would be grateful if list members could suggest >>>> resources (concepts, hypotheses, or methods) from Linguistics that >>>> might be relevant to this project. I am particularly interested in >>>> hearing from students of conversational analysis. Thank you! -- David >>>> Logue, Assistant Professor / Department of Biology, University of >>>> Puerto Rico >>> >>> > > From wilcox at unm.edu Fri Jun 18 21:40:40 2010 From: wilcox at unm.edu (Sherman Wilcox) Date: Fri, 18 Jun 2010 15:40:40 -0600 Subject: bird song/conversation analysis In-Reply-To: Message-ID: On Jun 18, 2010, at 3:22 PM, A. Katz wrote: > I think equating "language" with "human language" makes the question meaningless. If a language is defined as something spoken by humans, then clearly anything used by non-humans is not a language, by definition. That kind of answer is not very enlightening. I guess this was directed to me. I'm not saying it's very enlightening. I don't think it is. I'm also not saying that I say this. I'm saying many of our colleagues do (I'm not thinking of anyone on this list). I just find the whole enterprise of starting with a definition to be the wrong way to approach the question. It reminds me again of my visit with Allen Gardner in Reno. He told a story about presenting some of the Washoe data early on at a psychology conference. A young professor stood up and asked, "What's your definition of language?" Allen replied, "We don't have one." The guy shot back, "Then why should I pay any attention to you?" [Allen says he's convinced that if he'd started with some definition of language -- which at the time probably wouldn't even have included ASL -- Project Washoe would never even have gotten started.] A really insightful article on this topic is by Matt Cartmill (1990), Human uniqueness and theoretical content in paleoanthropology. International Journal of Primatology, 11(3), 173–192. Best, -- Sherman From amnfn at well.com Fri Jun 18 22:07:06 2010 From: amnfn at well.com (A. Katz) Date: Fri, 18 Jun 2010 15:07:06 -0700 Subject: bird song/conversation analysis In-Reply-To: <9F74815F-BED8-496B-8917-5A0E60D18772@unm.edu> Message-ID: Sherman, We may not want to start an ape language experiment with a definition for language, as clearly language can be used without defining it. And I think that we are all pretty good at recognizing what it is, intutitively. But in order to convince others, you need to find out what their definition is and whether they consistently apply it. I have a chimp who spells out sentences of his own invention. Of course it matters to me if someone comes back and says "spelling isn't language." At that point, I turn around and ask them for their definition of language! --Aya Katz http://hubpages.com/profile/Aya+Katz On Fri, 18 Jun 2010, Sherman Wilcox wrote: > On Jun 18, 2010, at 3:22 PM, A. Katz wrote: > >> I think equating "language" with "human language" makes the question meaningless. If a language is defined as something spoken by humans, then clearly anything used by non-humans is not a language, by definition. That kind of answer is not very enlightening. > > I guess this was directed to me. I'm not saying it's very enlightening. I don't think it is. I'm also not saying that I say this. I'm saying many of our colleagues do (I'm not thinking of anyone on this list). > > I just find the whole enterprise of starting with a definition to be the wrong way to approach the question. It reminds me again of my visit with Allen Gardner in Reno. He told a story about presenting some of the Washoe data early on at a psychology conference. A young professor stood up and asked, "What's your definition of language?" Allen replied, "We don't have one." The guy shot back, "Then why should I pay any attention to you?" [Allen says he's convinced that if he'd started with some definition of language -- which at the time probably wouldn't even have included ASL -- Project Washoe would never even have gotten started.] > > A really insightful article on this topic is by Matt Cartmill (1990), Human uniqueness and theoretical content in paleoanthropology. International Journal of Primatology, 11(3), 173–192. > > Best, > -- > Sherman > > > From rcameron at uic.edu Sat Jun 19 01:21:55 2010 From: rcameron at uic.edu (Cameron, Richard) Date: Fri, 18 Jun 2010 20:21:55 -0500 Subject: bird song/conversation analysis In-Reply-To: Message-ID: A concise intro to CA is: Psathas, George. 1995. Conversation Analysis: The Study of Talk-in-Interaction. Sage Publications. - Richard Cameron On Fri, June 18, 2010 6:09 am, s.t. bischoff wrote: > Hi all, > > A biologist colleague of mine who works on animal communication (bird > songs) > is interested in learning a bit about conversation analysis (far outside > my > area of expertise). He hopes that he might be able to get some ideas from > linguists how best to analyze certain bird song behaviour. Any references, > comments, or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Below is a brief > description of what he is looking at. > > Thanks, > Shannon > > > Behavioral ecologist seeks cross-disciplinary advice: > > I am seeking input from Linguists to help develop a review of > answering rules in song birds. Briefly, individuals of many songbird > species sing repertoires of discrete learned song types. When two > birds living on neighboring territories interact vocally (i.e., > “countersing”), the song type that one bird sings can affect the other > bird’s choice of song type. In the simplest case, the second bird > might match the first bird's song type. A similar phenomenon occurs > when mated pairs of certain species sing rapidly alternating phrases, > resulting in so-called "duet" songs.The type of phrase uttered by one > partner affects the other partner’s subsequent choice of phrase. Thus > during both contersinging and duet singing, birds abide by “answering > rules”. Of course, these interactions have some properties in common > with conversations, and answering rules bear a passing resemblance to > adjacency pairs. I would be grateful if list members could suggest > resources (concepts, hypotheses, or methods) from Linguistics that > might be relevant to this project. I am particularly interested in > hearing from students of conversational analysis. Thank you! -- David > Logue, Assistant Professor / Department of Biology, University of > Puerto Rico > > From scheglof at soc.ucla.edu Sat Jun 19 04:29:05 2010 From: scheglof at soc.ucla.edu (Emanuel A. Schegloff) Date: Fri, 18 Jun 2010 21:29:05 -0700 Subject: bird song/conversation analysis Message-ID: Dear Shannon (if I may; we've not met, I think), From your colleague's description of his undertaking, and at the risk of self-promotion, may I suggest the possible relevance of: Schegloff, Sequence Organization in Interaction: A Primer in Conversation Analysis I, Cambridge:CUP, 2007. Tom Givon's characterization to the contrary notwithstanding ("Orthodox CA, alas, has always tended to emphasize the sociology of turn-taking and competition for the floor over the semiotics of collaborative accretion of information"), this book deals precisely with sequences of actions in talk-in-interaction, though it offers compact accounts of turn-taking, repair, etc., for the reader unexposed to the now substantial literature on these topics. Whether or not this will be of use to your colleague will best be assessed, I daresay, by someone with expertise in the conduct of birds. If your colleague finds it of use, he can find all of my papers that might be relevant available at my web site (see below). Best wishes, Manny Schegloff Emanuel A. Schegloff Distinguished Professor of Sociology and Applied Linguistics e-mail: schegloff at soc.ucla.edu phone: 310-825-1719 fax: 310-206-9838 web: From yutamb at mail.ru Wed Jun 23 10:43:02 2010 From: yutamb at mail.ru (Yuri Tambovtsev) Date: Wed, 23 Jun 2010 17:43:02 +0700 Subject: Books on Finno-Ugric; Samoedic; Turkic; Manchu-Tungussic Message-ID: Dear colleagues, I have been collecting books on different world languages for 48 years to build up my phonetic corpora. I have books both with texts and grammars. My list includes books on the following languages: 1) Finno-Ugric; 2) Samoedic; 3) Turkic; 4) Manchu-Tungussic; 5) Paleo-Asiatic; 6) Afro-Asiatic; 7) Iranian (Tadjic, Dari, Pashto, etc); 6) Slavonic. Do you know any linguists or library which would be interested in the books? Do you know any project which transfers texts into the electronic form? Do you think I could joint such a project? I guess many linguists may be interested in the electronic texts of the languages mentioned above. Looking forward to hearing from you to yutamb at mail.ru Yours sincerely Yuri Tambovtsev, Novosibirsk From bischoff.st at gmail.com Wed Jun 23 11:02:33 2010 From: bischoff.st at gmail.com (s.t. bischoff) Date: Wed, 23 Jun 2010 07:02:33 -0400 Subject: birdsong: thanks Message-ID: Hi all, Just a quick note of thanks for all the comments regarding the bird song request. David, the biologist friend asked me to post this his thanks as well which follows. On behalf of my coauthor and myself, thank you all for your thoughtful comments on CA and birdsong. Your suggestions have been most helpful -- just the kinds of leads I was hoping for. I will contact some of you individually as our project develops. Cheers, Shannon From bischoff.st at gmail.com Thu Jun 24 11:42:37 2010 From: bischoff.st at gmail.com (s.t. bischoff) Date: Thu, 24 Jun 2010 07:42:37 -0400 Subject: bird song Message-ID: Hi all, I neglected to include the references we received from everyone regarding bird song and CA in my previous email, sorry about that. Her you go, and thanks again! Shannon Sacks, Schegloff and Jefferson paper "A simplest systematics for the organization of turn-taking for conversation" in Language 50 (1974), pp.669-735. (Jacob Franco was kind enough to send me a PDF of this paper...if anyone would like a copy.) dissertation by Mike Huiskes ("The role of the clause for turn-taking in Dutch conversations", downloadable at http://www.lotpublications.nl/publish/issues/Huiskes/index.html), R.F. Lachlan et al. (see "Are There Species-Universal Categories in Bird Song Phonology and Syntax?", Journal of Comparative Psychology (2010) 124, pp.92-108). An excellent summary of CA for a beginner is the Hutchby and Wooffitt book, Conversation Analysis (not sure about the exact title), Polity Press (maybe 1998?). Schegloff, Sequence Organization in Interaction: A Primer in Conversation Analysis I, Cambridge:CUP, 2007. Various papers of Emanuel A. Schegloff found at http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/soc/faculty/schegloff/ Work by Wally Chafe, Chuck Goodwin, Sue Erwin-Tripp & others elaborates on this cooperative aspect of human conversation Dave Geary's "Male, Female: The Evolution of Human Sex Differences" (2nd edition, 2009; Washington, DC: American Psych. Assoc.) Stephen Anderson's "Doctor Dolittle's Delusion" (Yale U Press, 2004) has an excellent and accessible summary of the characteristics of bird calls edited collections by Ochs, Schegloff, and Thompson (1996); Selting and Cooper-Kuhlen (2001); and Ford, Fox, and Thompson (2002) A.J. Doupe & P.K. Kuhl (1999). `Birdsong and human speech: common themes and mechanisms.? Annual Reviews in Neurosciences 22, 567-631 A good relatively recent overview is M. Naguib & K. Riebel (2006), "Birdsong: a Key Model in Animal Communication", in K. Brown (ed.), Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics, Elsevier. A BIG overview is the volume Nature's Music: The Science of Birdsong, edited by P. Marler & H. Slabbekoorn, Elsevier 2004. A. Leit?o & K. Riebel (2003), "Are good ornaments bad armaments? Male chaffinch perception of songs with varying flourish length". Animal Behavior 66, 161-167 the Hotrodder Paper in the Harvey Sacks collection Jack Sidnell - 'Conversation Analysis' (Wiley-Blackwell 2010). Craig, W. (1908). The Voices of Pigeons Regarded as a Means of Social Control. The American Journal of Sociology, 14(1), 86-100. From gabrielemueller at hotmail.com Fri Jun 25 15:38:41 2010 From: gabrielemueller at hotmail.com (Gabriele Schwiertz) Date: Fri, 25 Jun 2010 17:38:41 +0200 Subject: Lecturer General Linguistics, University of Cologne Message-ID: The Institute of General Linguistics (University of Cologne) is seeking to fill the position of a Lecturer: Im Institut für Linguistik - Abteilung Allgemeine Sprachwissenschaft der Universität zu Köln ist zum 1.10.2010 für die Dauer von 3 Jahren eine halbe Stelle einer Lehrkraft für besondere Aufgaben für Allgemeine Sprachwissenschaft (Lecturer) der Entgeltgruppe 13 TV-L zu besetzen. Die wöchentliche Arbeitszeit beträgt 19,92 Stunden. Aufgaben: - Lehre im Umfang von 6-8 SWS in den Bachelor- und Masterstudiengängen der Abteilung Allgemeine Sprachwissenschaft - Studierendenbetreuung - Mitwirkung an Prüfungen. Einstellungsvoraussetzungen: - qualifizierter Abschluss in Allgemeiner Sprachwissenschaft/Linguistik, vorzugsweise Promotion - Lehrerfahrung, insbesondere im Bereich von Grund- und Einführungskursen - Arbeitsschwerpunkte im Bereich der Diskurs- und Konversationsanalyse (multimodale Interaktion, insbesondere auch Gestik und andere Formen der non-verbalen Kommunikation) oder im Bereich der Psycholinguistik (multimodale Sprachverarbeitung) - vertiefte Kenntnisse einer nicht-indoeuropäischen Sprache sind erwünscht. Bewerbungen schwerbehinderter Menschen sind besonders willkommen. Schwerbehinderte Menschen werden bei gleicher Eignung bevorzugt. Bewerbungen von Frauen werden ausdrücklich erwünscht. Frauen werden bei gleicher Eignung, Befähigung und fachlicher Leistung bevorzugt berücksichtigt, sofern nicht in der Person eines Mitbewerbers liegende Gründe überwiegen. Bewerbungen werden bis zum 20.7.2009 erbeten an Inge Molitor , und zwar ausschließlich auf elektronischem Wege (PDF). Bitte reichen Sie zunächst nur einen vollständigen Lebenslauf und ein Schriften- und Lehrverzeichnis ein. Aus Kostengründen können brieflich eingereichte Unterlagen nicht zurückgesendet werden. Für Auskünfte steht Ihnen Frau Dr. Gabriele Schwiertz zur Verfügung. -- Gabriele Schwiertz Institut für Linguistik Abteilung Allgemeine Sprachwissenschaft Universität zu Köln Albertus-Magnus-Platz 50923 Köln fon: 0221-470 6327 fax: 0221-470 5947 From yutamb at mail.ru Mon Jun 28 09:47:02 2010 From: yutamb at mail.ru (Yuri Tambovtsev) Date: Mon, 28 Jun 2010 16:47:02 +0700 Subject: Use of Chi-square by Yuri Tambovtsev Message-ID: The Use of Chi-square by Yuri Tambovtsev Adam Kilgariff wrote that it is not possible to use Chi-square in corpus linguistics. I do not think it is true. One can use Chi-square in linguistics in all cases under the condition that one keeps to the principle of commensurability. That is here, if two samples are equal. I have counted the occurrence of labial consonants in the equal samples of 10000 speech sounds of different Estonian and Russian authors. For instance, in the text of the Estonian writer Aarne Biin «Moetleja» and Enn Vetemaa «Neitsist Suendinud» labial consonants occur 896 and 962 times. Could we say that statistically it is the same? So, we put forward the null hypothesis under the 5% level of significance and one degree of freedom. The theoretical threshold value for Chi-square is 3.841. The actual Chi-square value should be less than 3.841 to state that the occurrence of labial consonant in these two samples is the same. We calculated the Chi-square between 896 and 962. It is 2.344. Thus, it is less than 3.841. So, the two text samples enter the same general sample or in other words it is statistically the same. I wonder if my reasoning is correct From sn.listen at gmail.com Tue Jun 29 07:42:37 2010 From: sn.listen at gmail.com (Sebastian) Date: Tue, 29 Jun 2010 09:42:37 +0200 Subject: Second Call Conference on Grammaticography, Hawai'i, February 2011 Message-ID: Date: February 12-13, 2011 Location: Manoa, Hawai'i Contact Person: Sebastian Nordhoff Meeting Email: sebastian_nordhoff at eva.mpg.de Web Site: http://www.eva.mpg.de/lingua/conference/11-grammaticography2011 == Meeting Description == This colloquium will bring together field linguists, computer scientists,and publishers with the aim of exploring production and dissemination of grammatical descriptions in electronic/hypertextual format. It will be held under the umbrella of the 2nd International conference on Language Description and Documentation (http://nflrc.hawaii.edu/ICLDC/2011), allowing interested researchers to participate and present in both events. Registration for ICLDC includes this colloquium. The colloquium will take place on the afternoon of the 12th and the morning of the 13th. == Call for Papers == For long a step-child of lexicography, the domain of grammaticography has received growing interest in the recent past, especially in what concerns lesser studied languages. At least three volumes contain parts dealing with this question (Ameka et al. 2006, Gippert et al. 2006, Payne & Weber 2007). At the same time, advances in information technology mean that a number of techniques become available which can present linguistic information in novel ways. This holds true for multimedial content on the one hand (see e.g. Barwick & Thieberger 2007), but also so called content-management-systems (CMS) provide new possibilities to develop, structure and maintain linguistic information, which were unknown when the idea of an electronic grammar was first put to print in Zaefferer (1998). Recent publications in grammaticography often allude to the possibilities of hypertext grammars (Weber 2006, Evans & Dench 2006), but these possibilities are only starting to get explored theoretically (Good 2004, Nordhoff 2008) and in practice (Nordhoff 2007). This conference will bring together experts on grammar writing and information technology to discuss the theoretical and practical advantages hypertext grammars can offer. We invite papers dealing with the arts and crafts of grammar writing in a wide sense, preferably with an eye on electronic publishing. Topics of interest are: -general formal properties of all grammatical descriptions (GDs) in general, and hypertext GDs in particular -functional requirements for GDs and the responses of the traditional and the hypertext approach (cf. Nordhoff 2008) -discussion or presentation of implementations dealing with the media transition from book to electronic publication -opportunities and risks of hypertext grammars -integration with fieldwork or typological work -treatment of a particular linguistic subfield (phonology, syntax, ...) within a hypertext description Presentations will be 20 minutes + 10 minutes discussion. == Invited Speakers == Nick Evans (Australian National University) Christian Lehmann (Universität Erfurt) Jeff Good (University of Buffalo) == Submission of Abstracts == (a) Length: up to one page of text plus up to one page containing possible tables and references (b) Format: The abstract should include the title of the paper and the text of the abstract but not the author's name or affiliation. The e-mail message to which it is attached should list the title, the author's name, and the author's affiliation. Please send the message to the following address: sebastian_nordhoff AT eva DOT mpg DOT de (c) Deadline: !!Note that the deadline is now earlier than announced previously!! The abstracts should reach us by THURSDAY, August 31. Submitters will be notified by FRIDAY, October 01. == References == Ameka, F. K., A. Dench & N. Evans (eds.) (2006). Catching language -- The Standing Challenge of Grammar Writing. Berlin, New York: Mouton de Gruyter. Barwick, L. & N. Thieberger (eds.) (2006). Sustainable data from digital fieldwork. Sydney: University of Sydney. Gippert, J., N. Himmelmann & U. Mosel (eds.) (2006). Essentials of language documentation. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Good, J. (2004). "The descriptive grammar as a (meta)database". Paper presented at the EMELD Language Digitization Project Conference 2004. [paper] Nordhoff, S. (2007). "Grammar writing in the Electronic Age". Paper presented at the ALT VII conference in Paris. Nordhoff, S. (2008). "Electronic reference grammars for typology -- challenges and solutions". Journal for Language Documentation and Conservation, 2(2):296-324. Payne, T. E. & D. Weber (eds.) (2007). Perspectives on grammar writing. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Zaefferer, D. (ed.) (1998). Deskriptive Grammatik und allgemeiner Sprachvergleich. Tübingen: Niemeyer. From pedprax at terra.com.br Tue Jun 29 14:03:51 2010 From: pedprax at terra.com.br (Pedro Henrique Lima Praxedes Filho) Date: Tue, 29 Jun 2010 11:03:51 -0300 Subject: 3rd Call for papers / 3a. Chamada de trabalhos / 3a. Llamada de trabajos - VI ALSFAL - Fortaleza-Cear=?iso-8859-1?Q?=E1-Brasil?= Message-ID: VI CONFERENCE OF THE ALSFAL - 3rd CALL FOR PAPERS (All functionalist theoretical approaches to the stufy of language are more than welcome to the VI Conference of the Latin American Systemic-Functional Association-ALSFAL) VI CONGRESSO DA ALSFAL - 3a. CHAMADA DE TRABALHOS VI CONGRESO DE LA ALSFAL - 3a. LLAMADA DE TRABAJOS (PARA PORTUGUÊS, POR FAVOR, VEJA ABAIXO / PARA ESPAÑOL, POR FAVOR, VEA MÁS ABAJO): IN ENGLISH: Dear Colleagues, This is to let you know that the period relative to the 3rd call for papers for the VI Conference of the ALSFAL will be from 6/28/10 through 7/18/10. In order to register yourself, submit abstracts, and sign up for up to 2 pre-conference workshps, out of 13, please visit the conference website at http://www.6alsfal-uece.com.br. There will be 6 plenaries (Christian Matthiessen, Louise Ravelli, Kay O'Halloran, Christopher Taylor, Nora Kaplan, and Orlando Vian Jr) and 11 roundtables. The VI Conference of the ALSFAL will be held from October 7 to October 9, 2010. The pre-conference workshops will be held from October 5 to October 6, 2010. All the activities, which will revolve around the theme 'Systemic-Functional Linguistics and its potential for semiotic-discursive emporwerment', will happen at Ponta Mar Hotel, in Fortaleza, the capital city of the Brazilian northeastern State of Ceará and will be hosted by UECE's (Universidade Estadual do Ceará) Graduate Program in Applied Linguistics. We encourage you to take advantage of the early bird payment period, which will last until 7/15/10. We look forward to seeing you all in Fortaleza in October! Very best wishes, Pedro Praxedes For the Organizing Committee -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- EM PORTUGUÊS: Prezado(a)s Colegas, Esta mensagem tem a intenção de informar-lhes que o período relativo à 3a. chamada de trabalhos para o VI Congresso da ALSFAL será de 28/06/10 a 18/07/10. A fim de inscrever-se no congresso, submeter resumos e inscrever-se em até 2 minicursos pré-congresso, de 13, por favor, visite o web site do congresso em http://www.6alsfal-uece.com.br. Haverá 6 conferências plenárias (Christian Matthiessen, Louise Ravelli, Kay O'Halloran, Christopher Taylor, Nora Kaplan, and Orlando Vian Jr) e 11 mesas redondas. O VI Congresso da ALSFAL acontecerá de 7 de outubro a 9 de outubro de 2010. Os minicursos pré-congresso acontecerão de 5 de outubro a 6 de outubro de 2010. Todas as atividades, que girarão em torno do tema 'A Linguística Sistêmico-Funcional e seu potencial de empoderamento semiótico-discursivo', terão lugar no Hotel Ponta Mar, em Fortaleza, a capital do Estado do Ceará, e serão anfitrionadas pelo Programa de Pós-Graduação em Linguística Aplicada da UECE (Universidade Estadual do Ceará). Encorajamos a todo(a)s a aproveitarem o período de pagamento early bird, que se prolongará até 15/07/10. Estamos esperando por vocês aqui em Fortaleza em outubro! Um abraço, Pedro Praxedes Pela Comissão Organizadora -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- EN ESPAÑOL: Estimado(a)s Colegas, Esto es para informarles que el período relativo a la 3a. llamada de trabajos para el VI Congreso de la ALSFAL será del 28/06/10 al 18/07/10. A fin de inscribirse en el congreso, enviar resúmenes y registrarse en un máximo de 2 minicursos, de 13, por favor, visite la página web del congreso en http://www.6alsfal-uece.com.br. Habrá 6 sesiones plenarias (Christian Matthiessen, Louise Ravelli, Kay O'Halloran, Christopher Taylor, Nora Kaplan, and Orlando Vian Jr) y 11 mesas redondas. El VI Congreso de la ALSFAL tendrá lugar del 7 de octubre al 9 de octubre de 2010. Los minicursos pre-congreso tendrán lugar del 5 de octubre al 6 de octubre de 2010. Todas las actividades, que girarán en torno al tema 'La Lingüística Sistémico Funcional y su potencial para el empoderamiento semiótico-discursivo', ocurrirán en el Hotel Ponta Mar, en Fortaleza, capital del Estado de Ceará, en Noreste de Brasil y están siendo organizadas por el Programa de Postgrado en Lingüística Aplicada de la Universidade Estadual do Ceará-UECE. Animamos a todo(a)s a aprovechar el período de pago early bird, que se prolongará hasta el 15/07/10. ¡Estamos esperando por usteds aquí en Fortaleza en octubre! Un cordial saludo, Pedro Praxedes Por el Comité Organizador -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From pedprax at terra.com.br Mon Jun 7 02:58:46 2010 From: pedprax at terra.com.br (Pedro Henrique Lima Praxedes Filho) Date: Sun, 6 Jun 2010 23:58:46 -0300 Subject: 2nd Call for papers / 2a. Chamada de trabalhos / 2a. Llamada de trabajos - VI ALSFAL - Fortaleza-Cear=?iso-8859-1?Q?=E1-Brasil?= Message-ID: VI CONFERENCE OF THE ALSFAL - 2nd CALL FOR PAPERS VI CONGRESSO DA ALSFAL - 2a. CHAMADA DE TRABALHOS VI CONGRESO DE LA ALSFAL - 2a. LLAMADA DE TRABAJOS (PARA PORTUGU?S, POR FAVOR, VEJA ABAIXO / PARA ESPA?OL, POR FAVOR, VEA M?S ABAJO): IN ENGLISH: Dear Colleagues, This is to let you know that the period relative to the 2nd call for papers for the VI Conference of the ALSFAL will be from 6/7/10 through 6/27/10. In order to register yourself, submit abstracts, and sign up for up to 2 pre-conference workshps, out of 13, please visit the conference website at http://www.6alsfal-uece.com.br. There will be 6 plenaries (Christian Matthiessen, Louise Ravelli, Kay O'Halloran, Christopher Taylor, Nora Kaplan, and Orlando Vian Jr) and 11 roundtables. The VI Conference of the ALSFAL will be held from October 7 to October 9, 2010. The pre-conference workshops will be held from October 5 to October 6, 2010. All the activities, which will revolve around the theme 'Systemic-Functional Linguistics and its potential for semiotic-discursive emporwerment', will happen at Ponta Mar Hotel, in Fortaleza, the capital city of the Brazilian northeastern State of Cear? and will be hosted by UECE's (Universidade Estadual do Cear?) Graduate Program in Applied Linguistics. We encourage you to take advantage of the early bird payment period, which will last until 7/15/10. We look forward to seeing you all in Fortaleza in October! Very best wishes, Pedro Praxedes For the Organizing Committee -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- EM PORTUGU?S: Prezado(a)s Colegas, Esta mensagem tem a inten??o de informar-lhes que o per?odo relativo ? 2a. chamada de trabalhos para o VI Congresso da ALSFAL ser? de 07/06/10 a 27/06/10. A fim de inscrever-se no congresso, submeter resumos e inscrever-se em at? 2 minicursos pr?-congresso, de 13, por favor, visite o web site do congresso em http://www.6alsfal-uece.com.br. Haver? 6 confer?ncias plen?rias (Christian Matthiessen, Louise Ravelli, Kay O'Halloran, Christopher Taylor, Nora Kaplan, and Orlando Vian Jr) e 11 mesas redondas. O VI Congresso da ALSFAL acontecer? de 7 de outubro a 9 de outubro de 2010. Os minicursos pr?-congresso acontecer?o de 5 de outubro a 6 de outubro de 2010. Todas as atividades, que girar?o em torno do tema 'A Lingu?stica Sist?mico-Funcional e seu potencial de empoderamento semi?tico-discursivo', ter?o lugar no Hotel Ponta Mar, em Fortaleza, a capital do Estado do Cear?, e ser?o anfitrionadas pelo Programa de P?s-Gradua??o em Lingu?stica Aplicada da UECE (Universidade Estadual do Cear?). Encorajamos a todo(a)s a aproveitarem o per?odo de pagamento early bird, que se prolongar? at? 15/07/10. Estamos esperando por voc?s aqui em Fortaleza em outubro! Um abra?o, Pedro Praxedes Pela Comiss?o Organizadora -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- EN ESPA?OL: Estimado(a)s Colegas, Esto es para informarles que el per?odo relativo a la 2a. llamada de trabajos para el VI Congreso de la ALSFAL ser? del 07/06/10 al 27/06/10. A fin de inscribirse en el congreso, enviar res?menes y registrarse en un m?ximo de 2 minicursos, de 13, por favor, visite la p?gina web del congreso en http://www.6alsfal-uece.com.br. Habr? 6 sesiones plenarias (Christian Matthiessen, Louise Ravelli, Kay O'Halloran, Christopher Taylor, Nora Kaplan, and Orlando Vian Jr) y 11 mesas redondas. El VI Congreso de la ALSFAL tendr? lugar del 7 de octubre al 9 de octubre de 2010. Los minicursos pre-congreso tendr?n lugar del 5 de octubre al 6 de octubre de 2010. Todas las actividades, que girar?n en torno al tema 'La Ling??stica Sist?mico Funcional y su potencial para el empoderamiento semi?tico-discursivo', ocurrir?n en el Hotel Ponta Mar, en Fortaleza, capital del Estado de Cear?, en Noreste de Brasil y est?n siendo organizadas por el Programa de Postgrado en Ling??stica Aplicada de la Universidade Estadual do Cear?-UECE. Animamos a todo(a)s a aprovechar el per?odo de pago early bird, que se prolongar? hasta el 15/07/10. ?Estamos esperando por usteds aqu? en Fortaleza en octubre! Un cordial saludo, Pedro Praxedes Por el Comit? Organizador -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From v.evans at bangor.ac.uk Tue Jun 8 10:04:37 2010 From: v.evans at bangor.ac.uk (Vyv Evans) Date: Tue, 8 Jun 2010 11:04:37 +0100 Subject: ToC Language & Cognition 2-1 Message-ID: Dear Colleagues, Volume 2, issue 1 of 'Language & Cognition' has just been published. The table of contents for volume 2 is below. Full details on the journal, including subscription details, can be found on the journal website: www.languageandcognition.net Table of Contents: Volume 2 (2010) Issue 1 (June) When gesture does and doesn't promote learning. Susan Goldin-Meadow The spatial foundations of the conceptual system. Jean Mandler Incidental verbatim memory for language. Olga Gurevich, Matthew A. Johnson and Adele E. Goldberg Disembodying cognition. Anjan Chatterjee On the genesis of personal pronouns: some conceptual sources Bernd Heine and Kyung An-Song Issue 2 (November) Adaptive cognition without massive modularity Raymond W. Gibbs, Jr. and Guy C. Van Orden Do classifiers predict differences in cognitive processing? A study of nominal classification in Mandarin Chinese Mahesh Srinivasan The conceptual structure of deontic meaning: A model based on geometrical principles Paul Chilton Talking about quantities in space: Vague quantifiers, context and similarity Kenny R. Coventry, Angelo Cangelosi, Stephen N. Newstead and Davi Bugmann Abstract motion is no longer abstract Teenie Matlock Mutual bootstrapping between language and analogical processing Dedre Gentner and Stella Christie Reviews: Jordan Zlatev, Timothy P. Racine, Chris Sinha, and Esa Itkonen (eds.). The shared mind: Perspectives on intersubjectivity. Reviewed by Karolina Krawczak Vyvyan Evans and St?phanie Pourcel (eds.) New directions in Cognitive Linguistics. Reviewed by Alena Anishchanka Sincerely, Vyv Evans -- Prof. Vyv Evans Professor of Linguistics www.vyvevans.net -- Gall y neges e-bost hon, ac unrhyw atodiadau a anfonwyd gyda hi, gynnwys deunydd cyfrinachol ac wedi eu bwriadu i'w defnyddio'n unig gan y sawl y cawsant eu cyfeirio ato (atynt). Os ydych wedi derbyn y neges e-bost hon trwy gamgymeriad, rhowch wybod i'r anfonwr ar unwaith a dil?wch y neges. Os na fwriadwyd anfon y neges atoch chi, rhaid i chi beidio ? defnyddio, cadw neu ddatgelu unrhyw wybodaeth a gynhwysir ynddi. Mae unrhyw farn neu safbwynt yn eiddo i'r sawl a'i hanfonodd yn unig ac nid yw o anghenraid yn cynrychioli barn Prifysgol Bangor. Nid yw Prifysgol Bangor yn gwarantu bod y neges e-bost hon neu unrhyw atodiadau yn rhydd rhag firysau neu 100% yn ddiogel. Oni bai fod hyn wedi ei ddatgan yn uniongyrchol yn nhestun yr e-bost, nid bwriad y neges e-bost hon yw ffurfio contract rhwymol - mae rhestr o lofnodwyr awdurdodedig ar gael o Swyddfa Cyllid Prifysgol Bangor. www.bangor.ac.uk This email and any attachments may contain confidential material and is solely for the use of the intended recipient(s). If you have received this email in error, please notify the sender immediately and delete this email. If you are not the intended recipient(s), you must not use, retain or disclose any information contained in this email. Any views or opinions are solely those of the sender and do not necessarily represent those of the Bangor University. Bangor University does not guarantee that this email or any attachments are free from viruses or 100% secure. Unless expressly stated in the body of the text of the email, this email is not intended to form a binding contract - a list of authorised signatories is available from the Bangor University Finance Office. www.bangor.ac.uk From edith at uwm.edu Tue Jun 15 14:41:30 2010 From: edith at uwm.edu (Edith A Moravcsik) Date: Tue, 15 Jun 2010 09:41:30 -0500 Subject: Conference on competing motivations Message-ID: As announced earlier, there will be a conference on competing motivations held November 23-25 (Tuesday through Thursday) at the Max Planck Institute in Leipzig. Information on speakers, abstracts, registration, travel, and hotels is now available at the conference website. The URL is this: http://www.eva.mpg.de/lingua/conference/10-CompetingMotivations/index.html or search google for Conference on Competing Motivations. Andrej Malchukov and Edith Moravcsik -- Professor Emerita of Linguistics Department of Linguistics University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Milwaukee, WI 53201-0413 USA From bischoff.st at gmail.com Fri Jun 18 11:09:30 2010 From: bischoff.st at gmail.com (s.t. bischoff) Date: Fri, 18 Jun 2010 07:09:30 -0400 Subject: bird song/conversation analysis Message-ID: Hi all, A biologist colleague of mine who works on animal communication (bird songs) is interested in learning a bit about conversation analysis (far outside my area of expertise). He hopes that he might be able to get some ideas from linguists how best to analyze certain bird song behaviour. Any references, comments, or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Below is a brief description of what he is looking at. Thanks, Shannon Behavioral ecologist seeks cross-disciplinary advice: I am seeking input from Linguists to help develop a review of answering rules in song birds. Briefly, individuals of many songbird species sing repertoires of discrete learned song types. When two birds living on neighboring territories interact vocally (i.e., ?countersing?), the song type that one bird sings can affect the other bird?s choice of song type. In the simplest case, the second bird might match the first bird's song type. A similar phenomenon occurs when mated pairs of certain species sing rapidly alternating phrases, resulting in so-called "duet" songs.The type of phrase uttered by one partner affects the other partner?s subsequent choice of phrase. Thus during both contersinging and duet singing, birds abide by ?answering rules?. Of course, these interactions have some properties in common with conversations, and answering rules bear a passing resemblance to adjacency pairs. I would be grateful if list members could suggest resources (concepts, hypotheses, or methods) from Linguistics that might be relevant to this project. I am particularly interested in hearing from students of conversational analysis. Thank you! -- David Logue, Assistant Professor / Department of Biology, University of Puerto Rico From matti.miestamo at helsinki.fi Fri Jun 18 11:36:55 2010 From: matti.miestamo at helsinki.fi (Matti Miestamo) Date: Fri, 18 Jun 2010 14:36:55 +0300 Subject: Fellowships at the Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies Message-ID: Dear All, I'm forwarding a job ad that may interest some members of the list. The fellowships are available at different levels, postdoc and above. Apologies for cross-postings. Best wishes, Matti Miestamo -------- Original Message -------- Subject: HCAS fellowship call 2011 & opening of the Jane and Aatos Erkko Professorship Date: Fri, 18 Jun 2010 14:15:45 +0300 From: Maria Soukkio *Please circulate. * The Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies is inviting applications for *8?12 UNIVERSITY RESEARCHER/ POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCHER POSITIONS * for a fixed-term appointment starting from 1 August 2011 The director of the Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies will determine the length of the individual appointments (between one and three years) on the basis of the applicants? research plans. *KONE FOUNDATION SENIOR FELLOWSHIP * for a fixed term from 1 August 2011 to 31 July 2014 The requirements for the above positions include a doctoral degree and the necessary teaching skills. Successful applicants will have research experience in the arts and social sciences as well as proof of their ability to work in an international research environment of a high standard. Applicants must also demonstrate in their application how they plan to engage in the inter- and multidisciplinary cooperation conducted at the Collegium. The working language of the Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies is English. In the 2010 round of applications 2?4 researcher positions may be reserved for scholars whose research interests are related to the theme of /mortality/. All applicants submitting proposals related to this theme, including applicants for the Kone Foundation senior fellowship, will also be taken into account in filling the regular researcher positions at the Collegium. The monthly salary will be based on the job demands level of the position in question as well as personal work performance. The appointees to the Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies will be academics at different stages of their careers. The Collegium encourages applications also from professor-level scholars, who may be appointed as research directors at the Collegium. The application must be submitted electronically. Detailed instructions for applicants will be posted on the website of the Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies on 18 June 2010 and the link to the application form on 2 August 2010. The website of the Collegium can be found at http://www.helsinki.fi/collegium/english/, and the instructions under the tab Application Procedure. The application period will begin on 2 August 2010 at 9.00 and end on 8 September 2010 at 15.45 local Helsinki time. The decision on the appointments will be made on 1 February 2011 in the afternoon. Further information can be obtained from Programme Coordinator Maria Soukkio, collegium-office at helsinki.fi and at: http://www.helsinki.fi/collegium/english/application_procedure/application_procedure2011.htm ****************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************** The Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies has an opening for a distinguished scholar: *The Jane and Aatos Erkko Professorship in Studies on Contemporary Society* for a one- or two-year term starting on 1 August 2011. The Collegium for Advanced Studies requests interested academics to notify the Collegium of their interest by the designated deadline. The position will be filled by invitation. The field of research of the professorship will focus on themes of topical significance to contemporary society and social justice. A special duty of the appointed professor will be to organise a seminar in his or her own research field at the Collegium. According to Section 33 of the Universities Act (No 558/2009) a professor shall carry out and supervise scientific work, provide education based on it, follow developments in research, and participate in societal interaction and international cooperation in his or her field. According to the Regulations of the University of Helsinki, appointees to professorships must hold a doctoral degree and have high-level academic qualifications and experience in heading up scientific research. They must also be able to provide research-based teaching of a high quality and supervise dissertations and theses, as well as present evidence of international cooperation in their field. According to the Government Decree on Universities, professors are required to be proficient in Finnish. They must also have at least satisfactory oral and written skills in Swedish. Foreign citizens, non-native Finnish citizens or citizens who have not been educated in Finnish or Swedish may be exempted from this requirement without a separate application. To successfully attend to the duties of the position, appointees must have good English skills. The salary will be based on levels 8-10 of the demands level chart for teaching and research personnel in the salary system of Finnish universities. In addition, the appointee will be paid a salary component based on personal work performance. The professor will be offered a residence in the centre of Helsinki for the duration of the appointment. The duties of the position as well as the procedure for notifying interest in it are specified in the position overview, which can be obtained free of charge from the Office of the Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies or from the website www.helsinki.fi/collegium under the Application Procedure tab or from the University of Helsinki Registry. The enclosures required with the notification are listed in the position overview. Further information is available from Director Sami Pihlstr?m, tel. +358 9 191 23456, sami.pihlstrom at helsinki.fi, and Kustaa Multam?ki, Head of Planning and Development, tel. +358 9 191 23261, kustaa.multamaki at helsinki.fi. Applications, together with the required enclosures, must be delivered to the following address: University of Helsinki Registry, P.O. Box 33 (Yliopistonkatu 4), 00014 University of Helsinki, Finland. The deadline for the notification is 08.09.2010 at 15.45 local Helsinki time. *********** Maria Soukkio Programme coordinator Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies PO BOX 4 FIN 00014 University of Helsinki Finland tel. +358 (0)9 19124974, +358 (0)50 4154503 email: maria.soukkio at helsinki.fi From Arie.Verhagen at hum.LeidenUniv.nl Fri Jun 18 13:10:58 2010 From: Arie.Verhagen at hum.LeidenUniv.nl (Arie Verhagen) Date: Fri, 18 Jun 2010 15:10:58 +0200 Subject: bird song/conversation analysis Message-ID: Dear Shannon, There's a lot out there, mostly based on the seminal Sacks, Schegloff and Jefferson paper "A simplest systematics for the organization of turn-taking for conversation" in Language 50 (1974), pp.669-735. That paper itself is still obligatory reading for this type of question, I would say.. A potentially interesting recent study is a dissertation by Mike Huiskes ("The role of the clause for turn-taking in Dutch conversations", downloadable at http://www.lotpublications.nl/publish/issues/Huiskes/index.html), arguing that the precision of turn-taking (in Dutch) depends on the combination of three types of completeness: intonational, syntactic (i.e. clausal), and pragmatic. The latter may (? ;D) be absent in bird song, but phonology and syntax are there, and there is recent (linguistically informed) research on establishing phonological and syntactic structure in birdsong (which you need when looking for 'completeness') by R.F. Lachlan et al. (see "Are There Species-Universal Categories in Bird Song Phonology and Syntax?", Journal of Comparative Psychology (2010) 124, pp.92-108). Lachlan also has developed software for this type of analysis (he is at Duke University). Good luck, --Arie --------------------------------------- Leiden University Centre for Linguistics P.N. van Eyckhof 1 2311 BV Leiden THE NETHERLANDS www.arieverhagen.nl --------------------------------------- ---------------- Message from s.t. bischoff 18 Jun 2010, 7:09 Subject: [FUNKNET] bird song/conversation analysis > Hi all, > > A biologist colleague of mine who works on animal communication (bird songs) > is interested in learning a bit about conversation analysis (far outside my > area of expertise). He hopes that he might be able to get some ideas from > linguists how best to analyze certain bird song behaviour. Any references, > comments, or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Below is a brief > description of what he is looking at. > > Thanks, > Shannon > > > Behavioral ecologist seeks cross-disciplinary advice: > > I am seeking input from Linguists to help develop a review of answering rules > in song birds. Briefly, individuals of many songbird species sing repertoires > of discrete learned song types. When two birds living on neighboring > territories interact vocally (i.e., "countersing"), the song type that one > bird sings can affect the other bird?s choice of song type. In the simplest > case, the second bird might match the first bird's song type. A similar > phenomenon occurs when mated pairs of certain species sing rapidly alternating > phrases, resulting in so-called "duet" songs.The type of phrase uttered by one > partner affects the other partner?s subsequent choice of phrase. Thus during > both contersinging and duet singing, birds abide by "answering rules". Of > course, these interactions have some properties in common with conversations, > and answering rules bear a passing resemblance to adjacency pairs. I would be > grateful if list members could suggest resources (concepts, hypotheses, or > methods) from Linguistics that might be relevant to this project. I am > particularly interested in hearing from students of conversational analysis. > > Thank you! > -- David Logue, Assistant Professor / Department of Biology, University of > Puerto Rico > From wsmith at csusb.edu Fri Jun 18 16:48:17 2010 From: wsmith at csusb.edu (Wendy Smith) Date: Fri, 18 Jun 2010 09:48:17 -0700 Subject: bird song/conversation analysis In-Reply-To: Message-ID: An excellent summary of CA for a beginner is the Hutchby and Wooffitt book, Conversation Analysis (not sure about the exact title), Polity Press (maybe 1998?). I use this with my undergrad sociolinguistics students and they really like it and actually get it:-) s.t. bischoff wrote: > Hi all, > > A biologist colleague of mine who works on animal communication (bird songs) > is interested in learning a bit about conversation analysis (far outside my > area of expertise). He hopes that he might be able to get some ideas from > linguists how best to analyze certain bird song behaviour. Any references, > comments, or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Below is a brief > description of what he is looking at. > > Thanks, > Shannon > > > Behavioral ecologist seeks cross-disciplinary advice: > > I am seeking input from Linguists to help develop a review of > answering rules in song birds. Briefly, individuals of many songbird > species sing repertoires of discrete learned song types. When two > birds living on neighboring territories interact vocally (i.e., > ?countersing?), the song type that one bird sings can affect the other > bird?s choice of song type. In the simplest case, the second bird > might match the first bird's song type. A similar phenomenon occurs > when mated pairs of certain species sing rapidly alternating phrases, > resulting in so-called "duet" songs.The type of phrase uttered by one > partner affects the other partner?s subsequent choice of phrase. Thus > during both contersinging and duet singing, birds abide by ?answering > rules?. Of course, these interactions have some properties in common > with conversations, and answering rules bear a passing resemblance to > adjacency pairs. I would be grateful if list members could suggest > resources (concepts, hypotheses, or methods) from Linguistics that > might be relevant to this project. I am particularly interested in > hearing from students of conversational analysis. Thank you! -- David > Logue, Assistant Professor / Department of Biology, University of > Puerto Rico > > From Nick.Enfield at mpi.nl Fri Jun 18 16:52:27 2010 From: Nick.Enfield at mpi.nl (Nick Enfield) Date: Fri, 18 Jun 2010 18:52:27 +0200 Subject: bird song/conversation analysis In-Reply-To: <4C1BA351.1010802@csusb.edu> Message-ID: Also a brand new text book out by Jack Sidnell - 'Conversation Analysis' (Wiley-Blackwell 2010). Nick ________________________________________ From: funknet-bounces at mailman.rice.edu [funknet-bounces at mailman.rice.edu] On Behalf Of Wendy Smith [wsmith at csusb.edu] Sent: Friday, June 18, 2010 18:48 To: s.t. bischoff Cc: funknet at mailman.rice.edu Subject: Re: [FUNKNET] bird song/conversation analysis An excellent summary of CA for a beginner is the Hutchby and Wooffitt book, Conversation Analysis (not sure about the exact title), Polity Press (maybe 1998?). I use this with my undergrad sociolinguistics students and they really like it and actually get it:-) s.t. bischoff wrote: > Hi all, > > A biologist colleague of mine who works on animal communication (bird songs) > is interested in learning a bit about conversation analysis (far outside my > area of expertise). He hopes that he might be able to get some ideas from > linguists how best to analyze certain bird song behaviour. Any references, > comments, or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Below is a brief > description of what he is looking at. > > Thanks, > Shannon > > > Behavioral ecologist seeks cross-disciplinary advice: > > I am seeking input from Linguists to help develop a review of > answering rules in song birds. Briefly, individuals of many songbird > species sing repertoires of discrete learned song types. When two > birds living on neighboring territories interact vocally (i.e., > ?countersing?), the song type that one bird sings can affect the other > bird?s choice of song type. In the simplest case, the second bird > might match the first bird's song type. A similar phenomenon occurs > when mated pairs of certain species sing rapidly alternating phrases, > resulting in so-called "duet" songs.The type of phrase uttered by one > partner affects the other partner?s subsequent choice of phrase. Thus > during both contersinging and duet singing, birds abide by ?answering > rules?. Of course, these interactions have some properties in common > with conversations, and answering rules bear a passing resemblance to > adjacency pairs. I would be grateful if list members could suggest > resources (concepts, hypotheses, or methods) from Linguistics that > might be relevant to this project. I am particularly interested in > hearing from students of conversational analysis. Thank you! -- David > Logue, Assistant Professor / Department of Biology, University of > Puerto Rico > > From tgivon at uoregon.edu Fri Jun 18 18:55:23 2010 From: tgivon at uoregon.edu (Tom Givon) Date: Fri, 18 Jun 2010 12:55:23 -0600 Subject: bird song/conversation analysis In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Dear Shannon, Before we send your poor colleague on a wild-goose (well, they're avian too) chase for similarities between avian & human communication, perhaps he could benefit from considering some of the fundamental difference: a. *Contents/function/information*: Song-birds communication is almost entirely limited to two adaptive topics--territorial control and mate attraction. b. *Reciprocity*: Most typically, the avian singer is a male, broadcasting two messages, to two different potential interlocutors, with the same-self song: (i) "I control this territory, buzz off!" directed at other males; and (ii) "I'm a big macho with good territory, come mate with me!" directed at females. The interlocutors seldom response with their own songs, they just act appropriately. This doesn't mean that duets don't exist in bird communication, like in e.g. the dual mating dances of some avian species. But in general, the sequencing and reciprocal elaboration of complex information--I contribute this; you respond, elaborate and add; I respond, elaborate and add; etc.--are not found in bird communication. (Work by Wally Chafe, Chuck Goodwin, Sue Erwin-Tripp & others elaborates on this cooperative aspect of human conversation). Orthodox CA, alas, has always tended to emphasize the sociology of turn-taking and competition for the floor over the semiotics of collaborative accretion of information. But this is predictable from CA having been developed by sociologists, not anthropologists or linguists. One way or another, it would be interesting to see how applicable EITHER aspect of human conversation is to bird communication. c. *Form-function matching*: Birds song has complex phonological and syntactic structure, and is thus tantalizingly reminiscent of human language. However, there is no isomorphic matching between units of meaning/message and units of structure in avian communication Rather, it is extremely 'holisti'c (as much as I hate this word, but it fits here). Why then the extreme length & complexity (and artistic elaboration) of the songs? The conjecture is that, much like the peacock's feathers, the singing male broadcasts through this extravagant elaboration a dual message to his two audiences: (i) "I am stronger than you, don't bother to challenge me" (to competing males); and (ii) "I am a big bruiser macho, I can supply superior genetic material for your progeny" (to interested female). There is an extensive discussion of this in Dave Geary's "Male, Female: The Evolution of Human Sex Differences" (2nd edition, 2009; Washington, DC: American Psych. Assoc.). Cheers, TG ============ s.t. bischoff wrote: > Hi all, > > A biologist colleague of mine who works on animal communication (bird songs) > is interested in learning a bit about conversation analysis (far outside my > area of expertise). He hopes that he might be able to get some ideas from > linguists how best to analyze certain bird song behaviour. Any references, > comments, or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Below is a brief > description of what he is looking at. > > Thanks, > Shannon > > > Behavioral ecologist seeks cross-disciplinary advice: > > I am seeking input from Linguists to help develop a review of > answering rules in song birds. Briefly, individuals of many songbird > species sing repertoires of discrete learned song types. When two > birds living on neighboring territories interact vocally (i.e., > ???countersing???), the song type that one bird sings can affect the other > bird???s choice of song type. In the simplest case, the second bird > might match the first bird's song type. A similar phenomenon occurs > when mated pairs of certain species sing rapidly alternating phrases, > resulting in so-called "duet" songs.The type of phrase uttered by one > partner affects the other partner???s subsequent choice of phrase. Thus > during both contersinging and duet singing, birds abide by ???answering > rules???. Of course, these interactions have some properties in common > with conversations, and answering rules bear a passing resemblance to > adjacency pairs. I would be grateful if list members could suggest > resources (concepts, hypotheses, or methods) from Linguistics that > might be relevant to this project. I am particularly interested in > hearing from students of conversational analysis. Thank you! -- David > Logue, Assistant Professor / Department of Biology, University of > Puerto Rico > From phonosemantics at earthlink.net Fri Jun 18 19:09:19 2010 From: phonosemantics at earthlink.net (jess tauber) Date: Fri, 18 Jun 2010 15:09:19 -0400 Subject: bird song/conversation analysis Message-ID: Yeah, but where do the bits and pieces of the song come from? Just a kluge, or perhaps with internal structure just too alien for us hyoo-mans? And if internally structured, with each piece with a meaning range, can they modulate the parts to differentiate senses, emphases? The more intelligent birds seem to be less operatic in their preferences, with simpler call strings, but also sometimes good imitative abilities. Why? Don't they have the same needs and wants as the more melodious cousins? Or is it about automaticization and fixed, discreet contexts versus more pragmatic usages and fluid contexts, with a generalized code applicable to all? Great discussion. Jess Tauber phonosemantics at earthlink.net From mike_cahill at sil.org Fri Jun 18 19:17:02 2010 From: mike_cahill at sil.org (Mike Cahill) Date: Fri, 18 Jun 2010 14:17:02 -0500 Subject: bird song/conversation analysis In-Reply-To: <4C1BC11B.6070107@uoregon.edu> Message-ID: Stephen Anderson's "Doctor Dolittle's Delusion" (Yale U Press, 2004) has an excellent and accessible summary of the characteristics of bird calls, and what the similarities and especially differences (thus the books' title) are from human speech. Anyone know of anything more recent or complete? Mike Cahill From amnfn at well.com Fri Jun 18 19:22:51 2010 From: amnfn at well.com (A. Katz) Date: Fri, 18 Jun 2010 12:22:51 -0700 Subject: bird song/conversation analysis In-Reply-To: <17300159.1276888159715.JavaMail.root@wamui-junio.atl.sa.earthlink.net> Message-ID: Jess, I don't think it has been proven yet that all bird song is primarily decorative in its complexity. I don't even know how we would go about trying to prove such a thing. --Aya On Fri, 18 Jun 2010, jess tauber wrote: > Yeah, but where do the bits and pieces of the song come from? Just a kluge, or perhaps with internal structure just too alien for us hyoo-mans? And if internally structured, with each piece with a meaning range, can they modulate the parts to differentiate senses, emphases? > > The more intelligent birds seem to be less operatic in their preferences, with simpler call strings, but also sometimes good imitative abilities. Why? Don't they have the same needs and wants as the more melodious cousins? Or is it about automaticization and fixed, discreet contexts versus more pragmatic usages and fluid contexts, with a generalized code applicable to all? > > Great discussion. > > Jess Tauber > phonosemantics at earthlink.net > > From Chad.Nilep at Colorado.EDU Fri Jun 18 19:32:17 2010 From: Chad.Nilep at Colorado.EDU (chad D nilep) Date: Fri, 18 Jun 2010 13:32:17 -0600 Subject: bird song/conversation analysis Message-ID: What an interesting question! Sacks, Schegloff, and Jefferson 1974 is of course the classic CA paper, and Hutchby and Wooffitt 1998 is an excellent overview. I would classify both as works of sociology, but of course language is an important element in CA analysis. I think it might be worthwhile to pay attention to CA or CA-inspired work that is more "linguistic," too. I have in mind edited collections by Ochs, Schegloff, and Thompson (1996); Selting and Cooper-Kuhlen (2001); and Ford, Fox, and Thompson (2002). Many of the papers in these volumes apply the sort of empirical analysis of interaction from CA to studies of grammar and interaction in ways that might shed interesting light on 'counter-singing' or 'answering-rules' in birds. Chad Nilep http://rintintin.colorado.edu/~nilep/ From amnfn at well.com Fri Jun 18 20:22:08 2010 From: amnfn at well.com (A. Katz) Date: Fri, 18 Jun 2010 13:22:08 -0700 Subject: bird song/conversation analysis In-Reply-To: <4C1BC11B.6070107@uoregon.edu> Message-ID: Tom, While I tend to have the same general assumptions about bird song that you have shared here, (territorial/mating function with aesthetic elaboration but no coding of complex meanings), I would be hard pressed to say where I picked up this information. Is it just folklore, or have there been scientific studies done to establish that complex bird song serves aesthetic goals by its complexity but not communicative goals? This brings up the whole issue of proof of a negative -- or a positive. In order to prove that a particular species doesn't have language, what do we do? In order to show that it does, what do we do? It seems that even in the case of encryption, the only way to prove that something is a code is to break it. The only way to prove that something is a language is to learn it and thus be able to use it for communication. Is there some other way to prove that something is a language? For that matter, is there any way to prove that something isn't a language, but is just gibberish? --Aya http://hubpages.com/profile/Aya+Katz Has anybody proven that there is not someth On Fri, 18 Jun 2010, Tom Givon wrote: > > > Dear Shannon, > > Before we send your poor colleague on a wild-goose (well, they're avian too) > chase for similarities between avian & human communication, perhaps he could > benefit from considering some of the fundamental difference: > > a. *Contents/function/information*: Song-birds communication is almost > entirely limited to two adaptive topics--territorial control and mate > attraction. > > b. *Reciprocity*: Most typically, the avian singer is a male, broadcasting > two messages, to two different potential interlocutors, with the same-self > song: (i) "I control this territory, buzz off!" directed at other males; and > (ii) "I'm a big macho with good territory, come mate with me!" directed at > females. The interlocutors seldom response with their own songs, they just > act appropriately. This doesn't mean that duets don't exist in bird > communication, like in e.g. the dual mating dances of some avian species. But > in general, the sequencing and reciprocal elaboration of complex > information--I contribute this; you respond, elaborate and add; I respond, > elaborate and add; etc.--are not found in bird communication. (Work by Wally > Chafe, Chuck Goodwin, Sue Erwin-Tripp & others elaborates on this cooperative > aspect of human conversation). Orthodox CA, alas, has always tended to > emphasize the sociology of turn-taking and competition for the floor over the > semiotics of collaborative accretion of information. But this is predictable > from CA having been developed by sociologists, not anthropologists or > linguists. One way or another, it would be interesting to see how applicable > EITHER aspect of human conversation is to bird communication. > > c. *Form-function matching*: Birds song has complex phonological and > syntactic structure, and is thus tantalizingly reminiscent of human language. > However, there is no isomorphic matching between units of meaning/message and > units of structure in avian communication Rather, it is extremely 'holisti'c > (as much as I hate this word, but it fits here). Why then the extreme length > & complexity (and artistic elaboration) of the songs? The conjecture is that, > much like the peacock's feathers, the singing male broadcasts through this > extravagant elaboration a dual message to his two audiences: (i) "I am > stronger than you, don't bother to challenge me" (to competing males); and > (ii) "I am a big bruiser macho, I can supply superior genetic material for > your progeny" (to interested female). There is an extensive discussion of > this in Dave Geary's "Male, Female: The Evolution of Human Sex Differences" > (2nd edition, 2009; Washington, DC: American Psych. Assoc.). > > Cheers, TG > > ============ > > > s.t. bischoff wrote: >> Hi all, >> >> A biologist colleague of mine who works on animal communication (bird >> songs) >> is interested in learning a bit about conversation analysis (far outside my >> area of expertise). He hopes that he might be able to get some ideas from >> linguists how best to analyze certain bird song behaviour. Any references, >> comments, or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Below is a brief >> description of what he is looking at. >> >> Thanks, >> Shannon >> >> >> Behavioral ecologist seeks cross-disciplinary advice: >> >> I am seeking input from Linguists to help develop a review of >> answering rules in song birds. Briefly, individuals of many songbird >> species sing repertoires of discrete learned song types. When two >> birds living on neighboring territories interact vocally (i.e., >> ???countersing???), the song type that one bird sings can affect the other >> bird???s choice of song type. In the simplest case, the second bird >> might match the first bird's song type. A similar phenomenon occurs >> when mated pairs of certain species sing rapidly alternating phrases, >> resulting in so-called "duet" songs.The type of phrase uttered by one >> partner affects the other partner???s subsequent choice of phrase. Thus >> during both contersinging and duet singing, birds abide by ???answering >> rules???. Of course, these interactions have some properties in common >> with conversations, and answering rules bear a passing resemblance to >> adjacency pairs. I would be grateful if list members could suggest >> resources (concepts, hypotheses, or methods) from Linguistics that >> might be relevant to this project. I am particularly interested in >> hearing from students of conversational analysis. Thank you! -- David >> Logue, Assistant Professor / Department of Biology, University of >> Puerto Rico >> > > From wilcox at unm.edu Fri Jun 18 20:52:40 2010 From: wilcox at unm.edu (Sherman Wilcox) Date: Fri, 18 Jun 2010 14:52:40 -0600 Subject: bird song/conversation analysis In-Reply-To: Message-ID: On Jun 18, 2010, at 2:22 PM, A. Katz wrote: > The only way to prove that something is a language is to learn it and thus be able to use it for communication. I'm never sure where this will lead us, or why we need to even go here. Saying something can be used for communication won't convince everyone it's a language. One reason may be because they define "language" to be "human language," and that is, ummm, by definition the stuff that only humans do. So, no, birdsong isn't human language. Neither, then, is the stuff signing non-human primates do. I just spent some time at the U of Reno, though, looking at (previously unreleased) films of Washoe and her fellow chimps, and I can tell you, they were doing some pretty amazing things. Does what they were doing have everything needed to qualify it as "human language"? Well, no. Sure enough, chimps aren't humans. Having been through this once before -- trying to "prove" that signed languages are "real human language" -- I find it all pretty distasteful. The problem in the signed language situation was that the "standard" of what counted as "real human language" was based on a biased sample: for centuries people looked only at spoken language, documented the "universal" features they all had, and then ... voila! When signed languages lacked some of these features, looked quite different in some fundamental ways, they were deemed to be "not real language." > Is there some other way to prove that something is a language? For that matter, is there any way to prove that something isn't a language, but is just gibberish? The problem is, there's a lot of territory between "language" and "gibberish." -- Sherman Wilcox, Ph.D. Professor and Chair Department of Linguistics University of New Mexico Albuquerque, NM 87131 On Jun 18, 2010, at 2:22 PM, A. Katz wrote: > Tom, > > While I tend to have the same general assumptions about bird song that you have shared here, (territorial/mating function with aesthetic elaboration but no coding of complex meanings), I would be hard pressed to say where I picked up this information. Is it just folklore, or have there been scientific studies done to establish that complex bird song serves aesthetic goals by its complexity but not communicative goals? > > This brings up the whole issue of proof of a negative -- or a positive. In order to prove that a particular species doesn't have language, what do we do? In order to show that it does, what do we do? > > It seems that even in the case of encryption, the only way to prove that something is a code is to break it. The only way to prove that something is a language is to learn it and thus be able to use it for communication. > > Is there some other way to prove that something is a language? For that matter, is there any way to prove that something isn't a language, but is just gibberish? > > --Aya > > http://hubpages.com/profile/Aya+Katz > > Has anybody proven that there is not someth > > On Fri, 18 Jun 2010, Tom Givon wrote: > >> >> >> Dear Shannon, >> >> Before we send your poor colleague on a wild-goose (well, they're avian too) chase for similarities between avian & human communication, perhaps he could benefit from considering some of the fundamental difference: >> >> a. *Contents/function/information*: Song-birds communication is almost entirely limited to two adaptive topics--territorial control and mate attraction. >> >> b. *Reciprocity*: Most typically, the avian singer is a male, broadcasting two messages, to two different potential interlocutors, with the same-self song: (i) "I control this territory, buzz off!" directed at other males; and (ii) "I'm a big macho with good territory, come mate with me!" directed at females. The interlocutors seldom response with their own songs, they just act appropriately. This doesn't mean that duets don't exist in bird communication, like in e.g. the dual mating dances of some avian species. But in general, the sequencing and reciprocal elaboration of complex information--I contribute this; you respond, elaborate and add; I respond, elaborate and add; etc.--are not found in bird communication. (Work by Wally Chafe, Chuck Goodwin, Sue Erwin-Tripp & others elaborates on this cooperative aspect of human conversation). Orthodox CA, alas, has always tended to emphasize the sociology of turn-taking and competition for the floor over the semiotics of collaborative accretion of information. But this is predictable from CA having been developed by sociologists, not anthropologists or linguists. One way or another, it would be interesting to see how applicable EITHER aspect of human conversation is to bird communication. >> >> c. *Form-function matching*: Birds song has complex phonological and syntactic structure, and is thus tantalizingly reminiscent of human language. However, there is no isomorphic matching between units of meaning/message and units of structure in avian communication Rather, it is extremely 'holisti'c (as much as I hate this word, but it fits here). Why then the extreme length & complexity (and artistic elaboration) of the songs? The conjecture is that, much like the peacock's feathers, the singing male broadcasts through this extravagant elaboration a dual message to his two audiences: (i) "I am stronger than you, don't bother to challenge me" (to competing males); and (ii) "I am a big bruiser macho, I can supply superior genetic material for your progeny" (to interested female). There is an extensive discussion of this in Dave Geary's "Male, Female: The Evolution of Human Sex Differences" (2nd edition, 2009; Washington, DC: American Psych. Assoc.). >> >> Cheers, TG >> >> ============ >> >> >> s.t. bischoff wrote: >>> Hi all, >>> A biologist colleague of mine who works on animal communication (bird songs) >>> is interested in learning a bit about conversation analysis (far outside my >>> area of expertise). He hopes that he might be able to get some ideas from >>> linguists how best to analyze certain bird song behaviour. Any references, >>> comments, or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Below is a brief >>> description of what he is looking at. >>> Thanks, >>> Shannon >>> Behavioral ecologist seeks cross-disciplinary advice: >>> I am seeking input from Linguists to help develop a review of >>> answering rules in song birds. Briefly, individuals of many songbird >>> species sing repertoires of discrete learned song types. When two >>> birds living on neighboring territories interact vocally (i.e., >>> ?countersing?), the song type that one bird sings can affect the other >>> bird?s choice of song type. In the simplest case, the second bird >>> might match the first bird's song type. A similar phenomenon occurs >>> when mated pairs of certain species sing rapidly alternating phrases, >>> resulting in so-called "duet" songs.The type of phrase uttered by one >>> partner affects the other partner?s subsequent choice of phrase. Thus >>> during both contersinging and duet singing, birds abide by ?answering >>> rules?. Of course, these interactions have some properties in common >>> with conversations, and answering rules bear a passing resemblance to >>> adjacency pairs. I would be grateful if list members could suggest >>> resources (concepts, hypotheses, or methods) from Linguistics that >>> might be relevant to this project. I am particularly interested in >>> hearing from students of conversational analysis. Thank you! -- David >>> Logue, Assistant Professor / Department of Biology, University of >>> Puerto Rico >> >> From Arie.Verhagen at hum.LeidenUniv.nl Fri Jun 18 20:53:49 2010 From: Arie.Verhagen at hum.LeidenUniv.nl (Arie Verhagen) Date: Fri, 18 Jun 2010 22:53:49 +0200 Subject: bird song/conversation analysis In-Reply-To: <87753cd91cb8de449cb5928f35b5752c@sil.org> Message-ID: Given the kind of differences that Tom Givon draws attention to (much of which can be summarized as: lack of duality of patterning in birdsong), birdsong is probably better seen, not as an analogue to language, but rather to speech. But as such, many similarities (behaviorally, developmentally, neurologically) are striking, as already noted by A.J. Doupe & P.K. Kuhl (1999). `Birdsong and human speech: common themes and mechanisms.? Annual Reviews in Neurosciences 22, 567-631. One important thing is that birdsong is also socially learned, thus transmitted culturally (not genetically), leading to dialect formation, among other things. A good relatively recent overview is M. Naguib & K. Riebel (2006), "Birdsong: a Key Model in Animal Communication", in K. Brown (ed.), Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics, Elsevier. A BIG overview is the volume Nature's Music: The Science of Birdsong, edited by P. Marler & H. Slabbekoorn, Elsevier 2004. Both also include discussions of important differences between birdsong and bird calls, which may have richer meanings than song. By the way, behavioral biologists are very good at designing experiments and observational setups to investigate the communicative functions of the song of different species of birds, including possible functional differences between different PARTS of song (which might be seen as a start of some kind of isomorphism). One example that I know of is A. Leit?o & K. Riebel (2003), "Are good ornaments bad armaments? Male chaffinch perception of songs with varying flourish length". Animal Behavior 66, 161-167. But it is actually a huge field (witness the Marler and Slabbekoorn volume)! Cheers, --Arie From amnfn at well.com Fri Jun 18 21:22:52 2010 From: amnfn at well.com (A. Katz) Date: Fri, 18 Jun 2010 14:22:52 -0700 Subject: bird song/conversation analysis In-Reply-To: <05860A00-301E-4489-BB08-C7E7E7932335@unm.edu> Message-ID: I think equating "language" with "human language" makes the question meaningless. If a language is defined as something spoken by humans, then clearly anything used by non-humans is not a language, by definition. That kind of answer is not very enlightening. However, we all know that not all human speech sounds strung together make a language. If you encounter a group of humans using speech sounds at each other, how do you find out if it is language? The only way I know is to get to the point where you can use it yourself and can encode and decode messages. Is there some other way to establish that something is a language (regardless of whether the entities using it are human?) Just to get past the "human" issue, how would you establish that speech sounds as used by this group of humans that you find is "not language". Besides saying "it is not one of the documented human languages", how else would you do it? Whatever the right answer to these questions is applies regarless of the species. --Aya http://hubpages.com/profile/Aya+Katz On Fri, 18 Jun 2010, Sherman Wilcox wrote: > On Jun 18, 2010, at 2:22 PM, A. Katz wrote: > >> The only way to prove that something is a language is to learn it and thus be able to use it for communication. > > I'm never sure where this will lead us, or why we need to even go here. > > Saying something can be used for communication won't convince everyone it's a language. One reason may be because they define "language" to be "human language," and that is, ummm, by definition the stuff that only humans do. So, no, birdsong isn't human language. > > Neither, then, is the stuff signing non-human primates do. I just spent some time at the U of Reno, though, looking at (previously unreleased) films of Washoe and her fellow chimps, and I can tell you, they were doing some pretty amazing things. Does what they were doing have everything needed to qualify it as "human language"? Well, no. Sure enough, chimps aren't humans. > > Having been through this once before -- trying to "prove" that signed languages are "real human language" -- I find it all pretty distasteful. The problem in the signed language situation was that the "standard" of what counted as "real human language" was based on a biased sample: for centuries people looked only at spoken language, documented the "universal" features they all had, and then ... voila! When signed languages lacked some of these features, looked quite different in some fundamental ways, they were deemed to be "not real language." > >> Is there some other way to prove that something is a language? For that matter, is there any way to prove that something isn't a language, but is just gibberish? > > > The problem is, there's a lot of territory between "language" and "gibberish." > > -- > Sherman Wilcox, Ph.D. > Professor and Chair > Department of Linguistics > University of New Mexico > Albuquerque, NM 87131 > > > > > On Jun 18, 2010, at 2:22 PM, A. Katz wrote: > >> Tom, >> >> While I tend to have the same general assumptions about bird song that you have shared here, (territorial/mating function with aesthetic elaboration but no coding of complex meanings), I would be hard pressed to say where I picked up this information. Is it just folklore, or have there been scientific studies done to establish that complex bird song serves aesthetic goals by its complexity but not communicative goals? >> >> This brings up the whole issue of proof of a negative -- or a positive. In order to prove that a particular species doesn't have language, what do we do? In order to show that it does, what do we do? >> >> It seems that even in the case of encryption, the only way to prove that something is a code is to break it. The only way to prove that something is a language is to learn it and thus be able to use it for communication. >> >> Is there some other way to prove that something is a language? For that matter, is there any way to prove that something isn't a language, but is just gibberish? >> >> --Aya >> >> http://hubpages.com/profile/Aya+Katz >> >> Has anybody proven that there is not someth >> >> On Fri, 18 Jun 2010, Tom Givon wrote: >> >>> >>> >>> Dear Shannon, >>> >>> Before we send your poor colleague on a wild-goose (well, they're avian too) chase for similarities between avian & human communication, perhaps he could benefit from considering some of the fundamental difference: >>> >>> a. *Contents/function/information*: Song-birds communication is almost entirely limited to two adaptive topics--territorial control and mate attraction. >>> >>> b. *Reciprocity*: Most typically, the avian singer is a male, broadcasting two messages, to two different potential interlocutors, with the same-self song: (i) "I control this territory, buzz off!" directed at other males; and (ii) "I'm a big macho with good territory, come mate with me!" directed at females. The interlocutors seldom response with their own songs, they just act appropriately. This doesn't mean that duets don't exist in bird communication, like in e.g. the dual mating dances of some avian species. But in general, the sequencing and reciprocal elaboration of complex information--I contribute this; you respond, elaborate and add; I respond, elaborate and add; etc.--are not found in bird communication. (Work by Wally Chafe, Chuck Goodwin, Sue Erwin-Tripp & others elaborates on this cooperative aspect of human conversation). Orthodox CA, alas, has always tended to emphasize the sociology of turn-taking and competition for the floor over the semiotics of collaborative accretion of information. But this is predictable from CA having been developed by sociologists, not anthropologists or linguists. One way or another, it would be interesting to see how applicable EITHER aspect of human conversation is to bird communication. >>> >>> c. *Form-function matching*: Birds song has complex phonological and syntactic structure, and is thus tantalizingly reminiscent of human language. However, there is no isomorphic matching between units of meaning/message and units of structure in avian communication Rather, it is extremely 'holisti'c (as much as I hate this word, but it fits here). Why then the extreme length & complexity (and artistic elaboration) of the songs? The conjecture is that, much like the peacock's feathers, the singing male broadcasts through this extravagant elaboration a dual message to his two audiences: (i) "I am stronger than you, don't bother to challenge me" (to competing males); and (ii) "I am a big bruiser macho, I can supply superior genetic material for your progeny" (to interested female). There is an extensive discussion of this in Dave Geary's "Male, Female: The Evolution of Human Sex Differences" (2nd edition, 2009; Washington, DC: American Psych. Assoc.). >>> >>> Cheers, TG >>> >>> ============ >>> >>> >>> s.t. bischoff wrote: >>>> Hi all, >>>> A biologist colleague of mine who works on animal communication (bird songs) >>>> is interested in learning a bit about conversation analysis (far outside my >>>> area of expertise). He hopes that he might be able to get some ideas from >>>> linguists how best to analyze certain bird song behaviour. Any references, >>>> comments, or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Below is a brief >>>> description of what he is looking at. >>>> Thanks, >>>> Shannon >>>> Behavioral ecologist seeks cross-disciplinary advice: >>>> I am seeking input from Linguists to help develop a review of >>>> answering rules in song birds. Briefly, individuals of many songbird >>>> species sing repertoires of discrete learned song types. When two >>>> birds living on neighboring territories interact vocally (i.e., >>>> ?countersing?), the song type that one bird sings can affect the other >>>> bird?s choice of song type. In the simplest case, the second bird >>>> might match the first bird's song type. A similar phenomenon occurs >>>> when mated pairs of certain species sing rapidly alternating phrases, >>>> resulting in so-called "duet" songs.The type of phrase uttered by one >>>> partner affects the other partner?s subsequent choice of phrase. Thus >>>> during both contersinging and duet singing, birds abide by ?answering >>>> rules?. Of course, these interactions have some properties in common >>>> with conversations, and answering rules bear a passing resemblance to >>>> adjacency pairs. I would be grateful if list members could suggest >>>> resources (concepts, hypotheses, or methods) from Linguistics that >>>> might be relevant to this project. I am particularly interested in >>>> hearing from students of conversational analysis. Thank you! -- David >>>> Logue, Assistant Professor / Department of Biology, University of >>>> Puerto Rico >>> >>> > > From wilcox at unm.edu Fri Jun 18 21:40:40 2010 From: wilcox at unm.edu (Sherman Wilcox) Date: Fri, 18 Jun 2010 15:40:40 -0600 Subject: bird song/conversation analysis In-Reply-To: Message-ID: On Jun 18, 2010, at 3:22 PM, A. Katz wrote: > I think equating "language" with "human language" makes the question meaningless. If a language is defined as something spoken by humans, then clearly anything used by non-humans is not a language, by definition. That kind of answer is not very enlightening. I guess this was directed to me. I'm not saying it's very enlightening. I don't think it is. I'm also not saying that I say this. I'm saying many of our colleagues do (I'm not thinking of anyone on this list). I just find the whole enterprise of starting with a definition to be the wrong way to approach the question. It reminds me again of my visit with Allen Gardner in Reno. He told a story about presenting some of the Washoe data early on at a psychology conference. A young professor stood up and asked, "What's your definition of language?" Allen replied, "We don't have one." The guy shot back, "Then why should I pay any attention to you?" [Allen says he's convinced that if he'd started with some definition of language -- which at the time probably wouldn't even have included ASL -- Project Washoe would never even have gotten started.] A really insightful article on this topic is by Matt Cartmill (1990), Human uniqueness and theoretical content in paleoanthropology. International Journal of Primatology, 11(3), 173?192. Best, -- Sherman From amnfn at well.com Fri Jun 18 22:07:06 2010 From: amnfn at well.com (A. Katz) Date: Fri, 18 Jun 2010 15:07:06 -0700 Subject: bird song/conversation analysis In-Reply-To: <9F74815F-BED8-496B-8917-5A0E60D18772@unm.edu> Message-ID: Sherman, We may not want to start an ape language experiment with a definition for language, as clearly language can be used without defining it. And I think that we are all pretty good at recognizing what it is, intutitively. But in order to convince others, you need to find out what their definition is and whether they consistently apply it. I have a chimp who spells out sentences of his own invention. Of course it matters to me if someone comes back and says "spelling isn't language." At that point, I turn around and ask them for their definition of language! --Aya Katz http://hubpages.com/profile/Aya+Katz On Fri, 18 Jun 2010, Sherman Wilcox wrote: > On Jun 18, 2010, at 3:22 PM, A. Katz wrote: > >> I think equating "language" with "human language" makes the question meaningless. If a language is defined as something spoken by humans, then clearly anything used by non-humans is not a language, by definition. That kind of answer is not very enlightening. > > I guess this was directed to me. I'm not saying it's very enlightening. I don't think it is. I'm also not saying that I say this. I'm saying many of our colleagues do (I'm not thinking of anyone on this list). > > I just find the whole enterprise of starting with a definition to be the wrong way to approach the question. It reminds me again of my visit with Allen Gardner in Reno. He told a story about presenting some of the Washoe data early on at a psychology conference. A young professor stood up and asked, "What's your definition of language?" Allen replied, "We don't have one." The guy shot back, "Then why should I pay any attention to you?" [Allen says he's convinced that if he'd started with some definition of language -- which at the time probably wouldn't even have included ASL -- Project Washoe would never even have gotten started.] > > A really insightful article on this topic is by Matt Cartmill (1990), Human uniqueness and theoretical content in paleoanthropology. International Journal of Primatology, 11(3), 173?192. > > Best, > -- > Sherman > > > From rcameron at uic.edu Sat Jun 19 01:21:55 2010 From: rcameron at uic.edu (Cameron, Richard) Date: Fri, 18 Jun 2010 20:21:55 -0500 Subject: bird song/conversation analysis In-Reply-To: Message-ID: A concise intro to CA is: Psathas, George. 1995. Conversation Analysis: The Study of Talk-in-Interaction. Sage Publications. - Richard Cameron On Fri, June 18, 2010 6:09 am, s.t. bischoff wrote: > Hi all, > > A biologist colleague of mine who works on animal communication (bird > songs) > is interested in learning a bit about conversation analysis (far outside > my > area of expertise). He hopes that he might be able to get some ideas from > linguists how best to analyze certain bird song behaviour. Any references, > comments, or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Below is a brief > description of what he is looking at. > > Thanks, > Shannon > > > Behavioral ecologist seeks cross-disciplinary advice: > > I am seeking input from Linguists to help develop a review of > answering rules in song birds. Briefly, individuals of many songbird > species sing repertoires of discrete learned song types. When two > birds living on neighboring territories interact vocally (i.e., > ???countersing???), the song type that one bird sings can affect the other > bird???s choice of song type. In the simplest case, the second bird > might match the first bird's song type. A similar phenomenon occurs > when mated pairs of certain species sing rapidly alternating phrases, > resulting in so-called "duet" songs.The type of phrase uttered by one > partner affects the other partner???s subsequent choice of phrase. Thus > during both contersinging and duet singing, birds abide by ???answering > rules???. Of course, these interactions have some properties in common > with conversations, and answering rules bear a passing resemblance to > adjacency pairs. I would be grateful if list members could suggest > resources (concepts, hypotheses, or methods) from Linguistics that > might be relevant to this project. I am particularly interested in > hearing from students of conversational analysis. Thank you! -- David > Logue, Assistant Professor / Department of Biology, University of > Puerto Rico > > From scheglof at soc.ucla.edu Sat Jun 19 04:29:05 2010 From: scheglof at soc.ucla.edu (Emanuel A. Schegloff) Date: Fri, 18 Jun 2010 21:29:05 -0700 Subject: bird song/conversation analysis Message-ID: Dear Shannon (if I may; we've not met, I think), From your colleague's description of his undertaking, and at the risk of self-promotion, may I suggest the possible relevance of: Schegloff, Sequence Organization in Interaction: A Primer in Conversation Analysis I, Cambridge:CUP, 2007. Tom Givon's characterization to the contrary notwithstanding ("Orthodox CA, alas, has always tended to emphasize the sociology of turn-taking and competition for the floor over the semiotics of collaborative accretion of information"), this book deals precisely with sequences of actions in talk-in-interaction, though it offers compact accounts of turn-taking, repair, etc., for the reader unexposed to the now substantial literature on these topics. Whether or not this will be of use to your colleague will best be assessed, I daresay, by someone with expertise in the conduct of birds. If your colleague finds it of use, he can find all of my papers that might be relevant available at my web site (see below). Best wishes, Manny Schegloff Emanuel A. Schegloff Distinguished Professor of Sociology and Applied Linguistics e-mail: schegloff at soc.ucla.edu phone: 310-825-1719 fax: 310-206-9838 web: From yutamb at mail.ru Wed Jun 23 10:43:02 2010 From: yutamb at mail.ru (Yuri Tambovtsev) Date: Wed, 23 Jun 2010 17:43:02 +0700 Subject: Books on Finno-Ugric; Samoedic; Turkic; Manchu-Tungussic Message-ID: Dear colleagues, I have been collecting books on different world languages for 48 years to build up my phonetic corpora. I have books both with texts and grammars. My list includes books on the following languages: 1) Finno-Ugric; 2) Samoedic; 3) Turkic; 4) Manchu-Tungussic; 5) Paleo-Asiatic; 6) Afro-Asiatic; 7) Iranian (Tadjic, Dari, Pashto, etc); 6) Slavonic. Do you know any linguists or library which would be interested in the books? Do you know any project which transfers texts into the electronic form? Do you think I could joint such a project? I guess many linguists may be interested in the electronic texts of the languages mentioned above. Looking forward to hearing from you to yutamb at mail.ru Yours sincerely Yuri Tambovtsev, Novosibirsk From bischoff.st at gmail.com Wed Jun 23 11:02:33 2010 From: bischoff.st at gmail.com (s.t. bischoff) Date: Wed, 23 Jun 2010 07:02:33 -0400 Subject: birdsong: thanks Message-ID: Hi all, Just a quick note of thanks for all the comments regarding the bird song request. David, the biologist friend asked me to post this his thanks as well which follows. On behalf of my coauthor and myself, thank you all for your thoughtful comments on CA and birdsong. Your suggestions have been most helpful -- just the kinds of leads I was hoping for. I will contact some of you individually as our project develops. Cheers, Shannon From bischoff.st at gmail.com Thu Jun 24 11:42:37 2010 From: bischoff.st at gmail.com (s.t. bischoff) Date: Thu, 24 Jun 2010 07:42:37 -0400 Subject: bird song Message-ID: Hi all, I neglected to include the references we received from everyone regarding bird song and CA in my previous email, sorry about that. Her you go, and thanks again! Shannon Sacks, Schegloff and Jefferson paper "A simplest systematics for the organization of turn-taking for conversation" in Language 50 (1974), pp.669-735. (Jacob Franco was kind enough to send me a PDF of this paper...if anyone would like a copy.) dissertation by Mike Huiskes ("The role of the clause for turn-taking in Dutch conversations", downloadable at http://www.lotpublications.nl/publish/issues/Huiskes/index.html), R.F. Lachlan et al. (see "Are There Species-Universal Categories in Bird Song Phonology and Syntax?", Journal of Comparative Psychology (2010) 124, pp.92-108). An excellent summary of CA for a beginner is the Hutchby and Wooffitt book, Conversation Analysis (not sure about the exact title), Polity Press (maybe 1998?). Schegloff, Sequence Organization in Interaction: A Primer in Conversation Analysis I, Cambridge:CUP, 2007. Various papers of Emanuel A. Schegloff found at http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/soc/faculty/schegloff/ Work by Wally Chafe, Chuck Goodwin, Sue Erwin-Tripp & others elaborates on this cooperative aspect of human conversation Dave Geary's "Male, Female: The Evolution of Human Sex Differences" (2nd edition, 2009; Washington, DC: American Psych. Assoc.) Stephen Anderson's "Doctor Dolittle's Delusion" (Yale U Press, 2004) has an excellent and accessible summary of the characteristics of bird calls edited collections by Ochs, Schegloff, and Thompson (1996); Selting and Cooper-Kuhlen (2001); and Ford, Fox, and Thompson (2002) A.J. Doupe & P.K. Kuhl (1999). `Birdsong and human speech: common themes and mechanisms.? Annual Reviews in Neurosciences 22, 567-631 A good relatively recent overview is M. Naguib & K. Riebel (2006), "Birdsong: a Key Model in Animal Communication", in K. Brown (ed.), Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics, Elsevier. A BIG overview is the volume Nature's Music: The Science of Birdsong, edited by P. Marler & H. Slabbekoorn, Elsevier 2004. A. Leit?o & K. Riebel (2003), "Are good ornaments bad armaments? Male chaffinch perception of songs with varying flourish length". Animal Behavior 66, 161-167 the Hotrodder Paper in the Harvey Sacks collection Jack Sidnell - 'Conversation Analysis' (Wiley-Blackwell 2010). Craig, W. (1908). The Voices of Pigeons Regarded as a Means of Social Control. The American Journal of Sociology, 14(1), 86-100. From gabrielemueller at hotmail.com Fri Jun 25 15:38:41 2010 From: gabrielemueller at hotmail.com (Gabriele Schwiertz) Date: Fri, 25 Jun 2010 17:38:41 +0200 Subject: Lecturer General Linguistics, University of Cologne Message-ID: The Institute of General Linguistics (University of Cologne) is seeking to fill the position of a Lecturer: Im Institut f?r Linguistik - Abteilung Allgemeine Sprachwissenschaft der Universit?t zu K?ln ist zum 1.10.2010 f?r die Dauer von 3 Jahren eine halbe Stelle einer Lehrkraft f?r besondere Aufgaben f?r Allgemeine Sprachwissenschaft (Lecturer) der Entgeltgruppe 13 TV-L zu besetzen. Die w?chentliche Arbeitszeit betr?gt 19,92 Stunden. Aufgaben: - Lehre im Umfang von 6-8 SWS in den Bachelor- und Masterstudieng?ngen der Abteilung Allgemeine Sprachwissenschaft - Studierendenbetreuung - Mitwirkung an Pr?fungen. Einstellungsvoraussetzungen: - qualifizierter Abschluss in Allgemeiner Sprachwissenschaft/Linguistik, vorzugsweise Promotion - Lehrerfahrung, insbesondere im Bereich von Grund- und Einf?hrungskursen - Arbeitsschwerpunkte im Bereich der Diskurs- und Konversationsanalyse (multimodale Interaktion, insbesondere auch Gestik und andere Formen der non-verbalen Kommunikation) oder im Bereich der Psycholinguistik (multimodale Sprachverarbeitung) - vertiefte Kenntnisse einer nicht-indoeurop?ischen Sprache sind erw?nscht. Bewerbungen schwerbehinderter Menschen sind besonders willkommen. Schwerbehinderte Menschen werden bei gleicher Eignung bevorzugt. Bewerbungen von Frauen werden ausdr?cklich erw?nscht. Frauen werden bei gleicher Eignung, Bef?higung und fachlicher Leistung bevorzugt ber?cksichtigt, sofern nicht in der Person eines Mitbewerbers liegende Gr?nde ?berwiegen. Bewerbungen werden bis zum 20.7.2009 erbeten an Inge Molitor , und zwar ausschlie?lich auf elektronischem Wege (PDF). Bitte reichen Sie zun?chst nur einen vollst?ndigen Lebenslauf und ein Schriften- und Lehrverzeichnis ein. Aus Kostengr?nden k?nnen brieflich eingereichte Unterlagen nicht zur?ckgesendet werden. F?r Ausk?nfte steht Ihnen Frau Dr. Gabriele Schwiertz zur Verf?gung. -- Gabriele Schwiertz Institut f?r Linguistik Abteilung Allgemeine Sprachwissenschaft Universit?t zu K?ln Albertus-Magnus-Platz 50923 K?ln fon: 0221-470 6327 fax: 0221-470 5947 From yutamb at mail.ru Mon Jun 28 09:47:02 2010 From: yutamb at mail.ru (Yuri Tambovtsev) Date: Mon, 28 Jun 2010 16:47:02 +0700 Subject: Use of Chi-square by Yuri Tambovtsev Message-ID: The Use of Chi-square by Yuri Tambovtsev Adam Kilgariff wrote that it is not possible to use Chi-square in corpus linguistics. I do not think it is true. One can use Chi-square in linguistics in all cases under the condition that one keeps to the principle of commensurability. That is here, if two samples are equal. I have counted the occurrence of labial consonants in the equal samples of 10000 speech sounds of different Estonian and Russian authors. For instance, in the text of the Estonian writer Aarne Biin ?Moetleja? and Enn Vetemaa ?Neitsist Suendinud? labial consonants occur 896 and 962 times. Could we say that statistically it is the same? So, we put forward the null hypothesis under the 5% level of significance and one degree of freedom. The theoretical threshold value for Chi-square is 3.841. The actual Chi-square value should be less than 3.841 to state that the occurrence of labial consonant in these two samples is the same. We calculated the Chi-square between 896 and 962. It is 2.344. Thus, it is less than 3.841. So, the two text samples enter the same general sample or in other words it is statistically the same. I wonder if my reasoning is correct From sn.listen at gmail.com Tue Jun 29 07:42:37 2010 From: sn.listen at gmail.com (Sebastian) Date: Tue, 29 Jun 2010 09:42:37 +0200 Subject: Second Call Conference on Grammaticography, Hawai'i, February 2011 Message-ID: Date: February 12-13, 2011 Location: Manoa, Hawai'i Contact Person: Sebastian Nordhoff Meeting Email: sebastian_nordhoff at eva.mpg.de Web Site: http://www.eva.mpg.de/lingua/conference/11-grammaticography2011 == Meeting Description == This colloquium will bring together field linguists, computer scientists,and publishers with the aim of exploring production and dissemination of grammatical descriptions in electronic/hypertextual format. It will be held under the umbrella of the 2nd International conference on Language Description and Documentation (http://nflrc.hawaii.edu/ICLDC/2011), allowing interested researchers to participate and present in both events. Registration for ICLDC includes this colloquium. The colloquium will take place on the afternoon of the 12th and the morning of the 13th. == Call for Papers == For long a step-child of lexicography, the domain of grammaticography has received growing interest in the recent past, especially in what concerns lesser studied languages. At least three volumes contain parts dealing with this question (Ameka et al. 2006, Gippert et al. 2006, Payne & Weber 2007). At the same time, advances in information technology mean that a number of techniques become available which can present linguistic information in novel ways. This holds true for multimedial content on the one hand (see e.g. Barwick & Thieberger 2007), but also so called content-management-systems (CMS) provide new possibilities to develop, structure and maintain linguistic information, which were unknown when the idea of an electronic grammar was first put to print in Zaefferer (1998). Recent publications in grammaticography often allude to the possibilities of hypertext grammars (Weber 2006, Evans & Dench 2006), but these possibilities are only starting to get explored theoretically (Good 2004, Nordhoff 2008) and in practice (Nordhoff 2007). This conference will bring together experts on grammar writing and information technology to discuss the theoretical and practical advantages hypertext grammars can offer. We invite papers dealing with the arts and crafts of grammar writing in a wide sense, preferably with an eye on electronic publishing. Topics of interest are: -general formal properties of all grammatical descriptions (GDs) in general, and hypertext GDs in particular -functional requirements for GDs and the responses of the traditional and the hypertext approach (cf. Nordhoff 2008) -discussion or presentation of implementations dealing with the media transition from book to electronic publication -opportunities and risks of hypertext grammars -integration with fieldwork or typological work -treatment of a particular linguistic subfield (phonology, syntax, ...) within a hypertext description Presentations will be 20 minutes + 10 minutes discussion. == Invited Speakers == Nick Evans (Australian National University) Christian Lehmann (Universit?t Erfurt) Jeff Good (University of Buffalo) == Submission of Abstracts == (a) Length: up to one page of text plus up to one page containing possible tables and references (b) Format: The abstract should include the title of the paper and the text of the abstract but not the author's name or affiliation. The e-mail message to which it is attached should list the title, the author's name, and the author's affiliation. Please send the message to the following address: sebastian_nordhoff AT eva DOT mpg DOT de (c) Deadline: !!Note that the deadline is now earlier than announced previously!! The abstracts should reach us by THURSDAY, August 31. Submitters will be notified by FRIDAY, October 01. == References == Ameka, F. K., A. Dench & N. Evans (eds.) (2006). Catching language -- The Standing Challenge of Grammar Writing. Berlin, New York: Mouton de Gruyter. Barwick, L. & N. Thieberger (eds.) (2006). Sustainable data from digital fieldwork. Sydney: University of Sydney. Gippert, J., N. Himmelmann & U. Mosel (eds.) (2006). Essentials of language documentation. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Good, J. (2004). "The descriptive grammar as a (meta)database". Paper presented at the EMELD Language Digitization Project Conference 2004. [paper] Nordhoff, S. (2007). "Grammar writing in the Electronic Age". Paper presented at the ALT VII conference in Paris. Nordhoff, S. (2008). "Electronic reference grammars for typology -- challenges and solutions". Journal for Language Documentation and Conservation, 2(2):296-324. Payne, T. E. & D. Weber (eds.) (2007). Perspectives on grammar writing. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Zaefferer, D. (ed.) (1998). Deskriptive Grammatik und allgemeiner Sprachvergleich. T?bingen: Niemeyer. From pedprax at terra.com.br Tue Jun 29 14:03:51 2010 From: pedprax at terra.com.br (Pedro Henrique Lima Praxedes Filho) Date: Tue, 29 Jun 2010 11:03:51 -0300 Subject: 3rd Call for papers / 3a. Chamada de trabalhos / 3a. Llamada de trabajos - VI ALSFAL - Fortaleza-Cear=?iso-8859-1?Q?=E1-Brasil?= Message-ID: VI CONFERENCE OF THE ALSFAL - 3rd CALL FOR PAPERS (All functionalist theoretical approaches to the stufy of language are more than welcome to the VI Conference of the Latin American Systemic-Functional Association-ALSFAL) VI CONGRESSO DA ALSFAL - 3a. CHAMADA DE TRABALHOS VI CONGRESO DE LA ALSFAL - 3a. LLAMADA DE TRABAJOS (PARA PORTUGU?S, POR FAVOR, VEJA ABAIXO / PARA ESPA?OL, POR FAVOR, VEA M?S ABAJO): IN ENGLISH: Dear Colleagues, This is to let you know that the period relative to the 3rd call for papers for the VI Conference of the ALSFAL will be from 6/28/10 through 7/18/10. In order to register yourself, submit abstracts, and sign up for up to 2 pre-conference workshps, out of 13, please visit the conference website at http://www.6alsfal-uece.com.br. There will be 6 plenaries (Christian Matthiessen, Louise Ravelli, Kay O'Halloran, Christopher Taylor, Nora Kaplan, and Orlando Vian Jr) and 11 roundtables. The VI Conference of the ALSFAL will be held from October 7 to October 9, 2010. The pre-conference workshops will be held from October 5 to October 6, 2010. All the activities, which will revolve around the theme 'Systemic-Functional Linguistics and its potential for semiotic-discursive emporwerment', will happen at Ponta Mar Hotel, in Fortaleza, the capital city of the Brazilian northeastern State of Cear? and will be hosted by UECE's (Universidade Estadual do Cear?) Graduate Program in Applied Linguistics. We encourage you to take advantage of the early bird payment period, which will last until 7/15/10. We look forward to seeing you all in Fortaleza in October! Very best wishes, Pedro Praxedes For the Organizing Committee -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- EM PORTUGU?S: Prezado(a)s Colegas, Esta mensagem tem a inten??o de informar-lhes que o per?odo relativo ? 3a. chamada de trabalhos para o VI Congresso da ALSFAL ser? de 28/06/10 a 18/07/10. A fim de inscrever-se no congresso, submeter resumos e inscrever-se em at? 2 minicursos pr?-congresso, de 13, por favor, visite o web site do congresso em http://www.6alsfal-uece.com.br. Haver? 6 confer?ncias plen?rias (Christian Matthiessen, Louise Ravelli, Kay O'Halloran, Christopher Taylor, Nora Kaplan, and Orlando Vian Jr) e 11 mesas redondas. O VI Congresso da ALSFAL acontecer? de 7 de outubro a 9 de outubro de 2010. Os minicursos pr?-congresso acontecer?o de 5 de outubro a 6 de outubro de 2010. Todas as atividades, que girar?o em torno do tema 'A Lingu?stica Sist?mico-Funcional e seu potencial de empoderamento semi?tico-discursivo', ter?o lugar no Hotel Ponta Mar, em Fortaleza, a capital do Estado do Cear?, e ser?o anfitrionadas pelo Programa de P?s-Gradua??o em Lingu?stica Aplicada da UECE (Universidade Estadual do Cear?). Encorajamos a todo(a)s a aproveitarem o per?odo de pagamento early bird, que se prolongar? at? 15/07/10. Estamos esperando por voc?s aqui em Fortaleza em outubro! Um abra?o, Pedro Praxedes Pela Comiss?o Organizadora -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- EN ESPA?OL: Estimado(a)s Colegas, Esto es para informarles que el per?odo relativo a la 3a. llamada de trabajos para el VI Congreso de la ALSFAL ser? del 28/06/10 al 18/07/10. A fin de inscribirse en el congreso, enviar res?menes y registrarse en un m?ximo de 2 minicursos, de 13, por favor, visite la p?gina web del congreso en http://www.6alsfal-uece.com.br. Habr? 6 sesiones plenarias (Christian Matthiessen, Louise Ravelli, Kay O'Halloran, Christopher Taylor, Nora Kaplan, and Orlando Vian Jr) y 11 mesas redondas. El VI Congreso de la ALSFAL tendr? lugar del 7 de octubre al 9 de octubre de 2010. Los minicursos pre-congreso tendr?n lugar del 5 de octubre al 6 de octubre de 2010. Todas las actividades, que girar?n en torno al tema 'La Ling??stica Sist?mico Funcional y su potencial para el empoderamiento semi?tico-discursivo', ocurrir?n en el Hotel Ponta Mar, en Fortaleza, capital del Estado de Cear?, en Noreste de Brasil y est?n siendo organizadas por el Programa de Postgrado en Ling??stica Aplicada de la Universidade Estadual do Cear?-UECE. Animamos a todo(a)s a aprovechar el per?odo de pago early bird, que se prolongar? hasta el 15/07/10. ?Estamos esperando por usteds aqu? en Fortaleza en octubre! Un cordial saludo, Pedro Praxedes Por el Comit? Organizador --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------