From john at research.haifa.ac.il Fri Nov 2 15:02:55 2012 From: john at research.haifa.ac.il (john) Date: Fri, 2 Nov 2012 17:02:55 +0200 Subject: Looking for linguists working on Oromo In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Dear Funknetters, Could any of your refer me to any linguists who've been working on Oromo (Cushitic, in Ethiopia). For a language with 25 million speakers, it seems to be incredibly difficult to get in touch with anyone who's worked on it. Thanks, john From maarten.lemmens at univ-lille3.fr Fri Nov 2 17:22:25 2012 From: maarten.lemmens at univ-lille3.fr (Maarten Lemmens) Date: Fri, 2 Nov 2012 18:22:25 +0100 Subject: Last Call: Empirical Aproaches to Multi-modality and to Language Variation (AFLiCo 5, Lille, France, 15-17 May 2013) Message-ID: LAST CALL FOR PAPERS - AFLiCo 5 *SUBMISSION DEADLINE: 15 November 2012* “Empirical Approaches to Multi-modality and to Language Variation” Fifth International Conference of the Association Française de Linguistique Cognitive (AFLiCo 5) University of Lille 3, Lille, France May 15-17, 2013 http://aflico5.sciencesconf.org/ PLENARY SPEAKERS (titles and abstracts on conference web site) Dagmar Divjak (University of Sheffield) Colette Grinevald (University of Lyon 2) Irene Mittelberg (RWTH Aachen University) Gary Morgan (City University London) François Rastier (CNRS and INALCO Paris) Luc Steels (ICREA (IBE-UPF-CSIC) BARCELONA & SONY CSL PARIS) OBJECTIVES This conference chiefly aims at consolidating and strengthening the network of cognitive linguists working in France and abroad by providing a forum for discussion and collaboration in the tradition of the preceding AFLiCo conferences in Bordeaux (2005), Lille (2007), Nanterre (2009) and Lyon (2011) and the ‘JET’ workshops in Bordeaux (2010) and Paris (2012). THEMATIC SESSIONS This conference will be the fifth international conference of the Association Française de Linguistique Cognitive (AFLiCo; www.aflico.fr). The conference’s major foci are in line with the direction the previous AFLiCo conferences were headed in: multi-modality (in particular, co-verbal gestures and signed languages viewed as multi-channel communication systems) and linguistic variation (typology as well as intra-language variation). However, the conference seeks to add an important dimension to this direction, viz. empirical methods in (cognitive) linguistics, which have recently been attracting growing interest. With this emphasis on empirical approaches, the conference meets a real need of the linguistic community (cognitive or otherwise), given that the field of linguistics is shifting ever more rapidly towards interdisciplinary approaches, using various advanced empirical methods, ranging from psycholinguistic experiments to sophisticated analyses based on (large) corpora. The study of multi-modality recognizes the frequent simultaneous presence of multiple communication channels. In the visual domain, co-verbal gestures underscore the embodied nature of language proposed by cognitive linguistics. In the aural domain, para-verbal aspects of utterances (pitch, intonation, voice quality, etc.) beg the question of how to isolate stable correspondences between these ‘forms’ and semantic (particularly attitudinal) values. As was the case for the 2007 AFLiCo conference held in Lille, we explicitly welcome proposals for papers on signed languages, which by their very nature are multi-modal communication systems, as the signed utterance is brought about not just by means of hand gestures but also through posture and movements of, inter alia, the upper body, the head, the mouth and the eyebrows. Signed languages provide a window to the human mind and its capacity to represent abstract concepts in concrete, material forms; cognitive linguistics offers a well-suited model to account for iconicity, metaphor and metonymy, which are central to the study of the world’s signed languages. The topic of signed languages ties in with the LSF (langue des signes française) Interpreter training at the University of Lille 3. Cross-linguistic variation has been the object of typological and comparative cognitive studies which address the issue of universal grammar and linguistic relativity. With regard to intra-language variation, recent years have witnessed the emergence of a cognitive sociolinguistics. Language variation is also a key ingredient in explaining language change and grammaticalization. GENERAL SESSIONS The conference will not be limited to thematic sessions devoted to the main foci described above. The organisers also encourage researchers to submit proposals within other areas of cognitive linguistics, to be presented in the general parallel sessions. Possible topics include (but are not restricted to): - (cognitive) construction grammar - conceptual metaphors - image schemata - frame semantics - coercion and the tension between productivity and convention in language - computer modelling based on empirical data - problems and solutions in empirical methods: corpus studies, acceptability ratings, response time measurements, event-related potential experiments, eye tracking studies, etc. The organisers further encourage young researchers to submit an abstract. NOTE: for organisational reasons, the thematic sessions on signed languages will be grouped on the first day of the conference (15 May). SUBMISSION PROCEDURE Abstracts will be submitted to a double, blind review. They should be fully anonymous and not exceed 500 words (references excluded). Submission is to be done via a login on the conference website (http://aflico5.sciencesconf.org/). Researchers who have a login on the HAL-SHS website can use that instead of creating a new one. IMPORTANT DATES Submission deadline: November 15, 2012 Notification of acceptance: January 15, 2013 Workshop “Empirical methods in Usage-Based Linguistics”: May 13 and 14, 2013 Conference dates: May 15-17, 2013 (TBC: registration & welcome reception: May 14, from 17:00) REGISTRATION Details about the registration procedure and registration deadlines will be posted on the conference website as soon as they become available. There will be reduced registration fee for AFLiCo members and students as well as early bird reduction. CONFERENCE LANGUAGES English (preferred), French, LSF (please notify the organisers in advance) CONFERENCE WEBSITE http://aflico5.sciencesconf.org/ SPRING SCHOOL To enhance the success of the empirical dimension, we will organise, pending funding, a Spring School on “Empirical methods in Usage-Based Linguistics” on the two days preceding the conference (i.e. on May 13 and 14) with 5 parallel workshops on different empirical approaches, each presenting a specific methodology or tool: (1) corpus linguistics: principles and general methods (Dagmar Divjak, University of Sheffield, UK); (2) statistics in corpus linguistics with R (Dylan Glynn, Lund University, Sweden); (3) annotating and analysing multi-modal data in ELAN (Mark Tutton, University of Nantes, France); (4) transcribing and analysing oral data in CLAN (Christophe Parisse, University of Paris 10, France); (5) methods in psycholinguistic experiments ([to be confirmed]). Further details will be posted on the conference website. ORGANISING COMMITTEE: Maarten Lemmens, UMR 8163 STL (CNRS and Universities of Lille 3 and Lille 1) Annie Risler, UMR 8163 STL (CNRS and Universities of Lille 3 and Lille 1) Bert Cappelle, UMR 8163 STL (CNRS and Universities of Lille 3 and Lille 1) Dany Amiot, UMR 8163 STL (CNRS and Universities of Lille 3 and Lille 1) SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE Florence Chenu, University of Lyon 2, France Marion Blondel, University of Paris 8, France Jana Bressem, University of Frankfurt an der Oder, Germany Georgette Dal, University of Lille 3, France Nicole Delbecque, University of Leuven, Belgium Walter Demulder, University of Antwerp, Belgium Guillaume Desagulier, University of Paris 8 Elisabeth Engberg-Pedersen, University of Copenhagen, Denmark Sonja Erlenkamp, University of Trondheim, Norway Jean-Michel Fortis, University of Paris 7, France Craig Hamilton, University of Mulhouse, France Dylan Glynn, University of Lund, Sweden Maya Hickmann, University of Paris 5, France Harriet Jisa, University of Lyon 2, France Annetta Kopecka, University of Lyon 2, France Silva Ladewig, University of Frankfort an der Oder, Germany Jean-Rémi Lapaire, University of Bordeaux 3, France Diana Lewis, University Provence, France Aliyah Morgenstern, University of Paris 3, France Caroline Rossi, University of Lyon 2, France Stéphane Robert, Fédération TUL - FR 2559, France Paul Sambre, Lessius Hogeschool, Antwerp, Belgium Mark Tutton, University de Nantes, France Kristel van Goethem, University of Louvain, Belgium Myriam Vermeerbergen, University of Leuven, Belgium Bencie Woll, University College London, U.K. Sherman Wilcox, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA From v.evans at bangor.ac.uk Sun Nov 4 21:55:45 2012 From: v.evans at bangor.ac.uk (Vyv Evans) Date: Sun, 4 Nov 2012 21:55:45 +0000 Subject: 3rd CFP: Cognitive Futures of the Humanities, 4-6th April 2013, Bangor University Message-ID: COGNITIVE FUTURES OF THE HUMANITIES International Conference 4-6th April 2013, School of Linguistics & English Language, Bangor University, UK WEBSITE: www.bangor.ac.uk/cognitive-humanities/ CONTACT: cognitivehumanities at bangor.ac.uk ORGANIZER: Prof. Vyv Evans (www.vyvevans.net) Deadline for abstract submissions: 30th Nov 2012 We invite 20-minute paper submissions and poster submissions for a major international conference organized on the Cognitive Futures in the Humanities. The conference will take place on 4-6 April 2013, and will be hosted by Bangor University. Confirmed plenary speakers include the following distinguished scholars: Peter Stockwell (University of Nottingham) Ellen Spolsky (Bar Ilan University ) Shaun Gallagher (University of Memphis) Lisa Zunshine (University of Kentucky) Mark Turner (Case Western Reserve University) Elena Semino (Lancaster University) The conference is associated with an international research network on the ‘Cognitive Futures in the Humanities’, which is supported by the UK’s Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), awarded to Dr. Peter Garrett (Northumbria, UK), and Prof. Vyv Evans (Bangor, UK). The project manager is Dr. Matt Hayler (Exeter, UK). RATIONALE AND CONTEXT This first major conference provides a forum in order to bring together researchers from different humanities disciplines, whose work relates to, informs, or is informed by aspects of the cognitive, brain and behavioural sciences. It aims to address, in various ways, the following questions: what is the ‘cognitive humanities’? In what ways is knowledge from the cognitive sciences changing approaches to language, literature, aesthetics, historiography and creative culture? How have practices in the arts and humanities influenced the cognitive sciences, and how might they do so in the future? This conference will facilitate the exchange of new, innovative research at the intersection of established disciplines, such as philosophy, linguistics, literary studies, art history and cultural studies. The ‘cognitive revolution’ has begun to make an impact on how humanists think about language, identity, embodiment and culture, in fields such as cognitive poetics, narratology, phenomenology and literary theory. This conference will assess the state of the field now and ask what new directions lie open for cognitive humanities research. If the cognitive sciences ask fundamental questions about the very nature of the ‘human' that underpins the humanities, what new forms of knowledge and research practice might be produced in an emerging area called the ‘cognitive humanities’? How can the field be mapped? What methodological opportunities exist, and what value do cognitive paradigms add to traditional modes of inquiry? How may interests particular to the humanities, such as fiction and the imagination, influence the development of research in the cognitive sciences? In addressing these questions, the conference will generate exciting new communication across disciplines and help define an emerging international research community. As part of this initiative, two postgraduate fee-waiver bursaries are being advertised (see details below). CONFERENCE STRUCTURES In addition to six plenary talks, the conference will feature a series of special themed panel sessions with leading researchers serving as discussants, including Alan Richardson (Boston College), Michael Wheeler (Stirling University), Vyv Evans (Bangor University) and Patricia Waugh (Durham University). Proposals may indicate if they wish to be considered for inclusion in one of these sessions (see below). We invite abstracts for 20-minute papers on topics such as: Cognitive neuroscience and the arts Language, meaning and cognitive processing Embodiment Phenomenology of technologies Cognitive poetics and interpretation Reading, immersion and memory Theory of mind Cognition beyond the skin Applied conceptual blending Empirical aesthetics Modularity and creativity Cognition and race, gender and sexuality Cognitive approaches to theatrical performance Literature and affect Literary history and mental science Historicizing cognitive science SUBMISSION DETAILS Please send 250-word abstracts to cognitivehumanities at bangor.ac.uk by the closing date of 30 November 2012. Abstracts should be included as Word file attachments, and be anonymized. Please indicate clearly in your email whether your abstract is to be considered for a paper, or poster, along with the name of presenter(s), university affiliation(s) and email address(es). Proposers can expect to hear if their abstract has been accepted by January 2013, when registration will open. If you wish your abstract to be considered for one of the special themed sessions, please also state which of the following sessions it might contribute to: Metaphor and Mind; Extended and Embodied Cognition; Cognitive Historicism; The Minds of Others; and Cognitive Approaches to Art, Visual Culture and Performance. If you are a postgraduate student who wishes to apply for one of the two fee-waiver bursaries, please also append a 100-word statement to your attached abstract explaining how your research relates to the conference theme of the ‘cognitive humanities’, and include contact details for your principal supervisor. In addition, there will be a satellite event involving a special seminar delivered by Prof. Bernard Spolsky (Bar-Ilan University, Israel) relating to language policy and bilingualism: "What can endangered language activists learn from the “revival” of Hebrew?" Full conference details are available from the conference website: www.bangor.ac.uk/cognitive-humanities/ -- Professor/Yr Athro Vyv Evans Professor of Linguistics/Athro mewn Ieithyddiaeth www.vyvevans.net Deputy Head of College (Research)/ Dirprwy Bennaeth y Coleg (Ymchwil) College of Arts and Humanities/ Coleg y Celfyddydau a’r Dyniaethau Bangor University/Prifysgol Bangor General Editor of 'Language & Cognition' A Mouton de Gruyter journal www.languageandcognition.net -- Rhif Elusen Gofrestredig / Registered Charity No. 1141565 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 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 abergs at uos.de Mon Nov 5 13:34:22 2012 From: abergs at uos.de (Alexander Bergs) Date: Mon, 5 Nov 2012 14:34:22 +0100 Subject: Cognition and Poetics - Second Call for Papers Message-ID: *CaP-12: Cognition and Poetics* *International Conference 25-27th April 2013* *Universität Osnabrück, Germany* ** www.blogs.uos.de/cap12 cap at uni-osnabrueck.de** ** *SECOND CALL FOR PAPERS* Over the past 30 years we have seen a growing body of research devoted to the cognitive underpinnings of literature and the arts in general, especially with regard to the linguistics of literature. This first international conference on cognition and poetics (CaP) aims at bringing together scholars from a wide range of disciplines, including, but not limited to, literature, culture, aesthetics, semiotics, linguistics, cognitive science, neuroscience, philosophy, history, and psychology in order to illuminate the possibilities (and limitations) of taking a fresh look at literature and other poetic artifacts (such as film, music, art, drama) from a cognitive perspective. On the one hand, we need to take stock of what has already been done in this field over the past 30 years or more, on the other hand, some ideas and methods will have to be critically evaluated in the light of new research, and there are also many new pathways to be discovered and developed. In particular, a cognitive approach to literature raises questions about the basic nature of aesthetic experience and whether there are specific constraints and features (differentia specifica, as Jakobson termed them) that characterize the individual art forms, their production, and their reception. Eventually, we hope to arrive at a fruitful collaboration and symbiosis between the different disciplines. The conference will take place from the 25-27 April 2013 at the Institute of English and American Studies of the University of Osnabrück, Germany. Invited plenary speakers include: Mark Bruhn (Regis University, Denver) Wallace Chafe (University of California, Santa Barbara) Barbara Dancygier (University of British Columbia, Vancouver) Suzanne Nalbantian, Long Island University, New York In addition, the conference will also host a roundtable discussion on "Cognition and Poetics: Past, Present, Future". Discussants are Reuven Tsur, Margaret Freeman, Patrick Colm Hogan, Raymond Gibbs, Gerhard Lauer, Ralph Müller, Alan Palmer, Frank Kelleter, and Mark Turner. The conference is part of the UOS Research Cluster on Cognition and Poetics. The Research Cluster on Cognition and Poetics offers fifteen (15) stipends covering conference fee and accommodation for the best student/graduate/ post-graduate abstracts. *SUBMISSION DETAILS* Deadline for submission of 250-word abstracts is November 30, 2012. Abstracts should be sent as word or pdf attachments to cap at uni-osnabrueck.de You need to specify in your email text - your name, - affiliation, - email address, - title of the talk Please see www.blogs.uni-osnabrueck.de/cap12 for more details. +++++++++++++ Univ.-Prof. Dr. Alexander Bergs, M.A. Chair of English Language and Linguistics Institut für Anglistik und Amerikanistik (IfAA) Fachbereich 7 -Universitaet Osnabrueck Neuer Graben 40 D-49069 Osnabrueck Germany Tel: +49 541 969 4255 Tel: +49 541 969 6041 (secy) Fax: +49 541 969 4738 http:/www.ifaa.uni-osnabrueck.de/bergs From dlpayne at uoregon.edu Tue Nov 6 01:26:30 2012 From: dlpayne at uoregon.edu (dlpayne) Date: Mon, 5 Nov 2012 17:26:30 -0800 Subject: Extension of date: Aspect and Discourse in African Languages, SLE 2013 Message-ID: Dear Colleagues: We invite you to submit an abstract for a workshop on "Aspect and Discourse in African Languages" (see description below), for the 46th SLE (Societas Linguistica Europaea) 2013 conference, to be held September 18-21, 2013, in Split, Croatia. We are extending the date for initial (300-word) abstracts to November 10. Please send your 300-word abstract as both PDF and either Word or Open Office documents, to shahars at uoregon.edu. Please state “SLE 2013” in the subject line. Workshops at the SLE are usually composed of from 8 to 13 papers, selected by the workshop organizers, and by the SLE organizing committee. The deadline for the full workshop proposal plus short (300-word) abstracts is November 15, 2012. Thank you for your collaboration! Please forward this to anyone you think may be interested. Also feel free to discuss your ideas with us, if you are uncertain about scope. Workshop Organizers: Shahar Shirtz (shahars at uoregon.edu), Doris Payne (dlpayne at uoregon.edu), Lutz Marten (lm5 at soas.ac.uk), and Stephane Robert (robert at vjf.cnrs.fr). ________________ Proposed SLE 2013 Workshop onː Aspect and Discourse in African Languages The correlation between discourse / narrative function and aspect has been noted in many studies (e.g., Fleischmann 1990 for Romance, Sawicki 2008 for Polish). Roughly, a correlation is found between perfective forms and main story line (or foreground) clauses and imperfective forms and non-main story line or background clauses (Labov & Waletzky 1967, Bybee, Perkins & Pagliuca 1994, inter alia). In many African languages one finds constructions (either clausal constructions or specialized verb forms) which are used primarily (but almost never solely) to convey events on the main narrative / plot line. Such constructions are found in West African languages (Robert 1991, 2012, Carlson 1992), Nilotic (Tucker & Mpaayei 1955, Dimmendaal 1983, König 1993) Afro-Asiatic (e.g., Jaggar 2006) and Bantu (Doke 1954, Hopper 1979, Nurse 2008) among other phyla and groups of African languages. Such constructions differ in the degree to which they are “dedicated” to narrative usage and the other usages they are found in, the morphosyntax of the constructions, their pragmatic implications, their diachronic sources and many other parameters. They may also vary in the degree in which the “narrative” form is an aspect or even TAM form. Thus, the typological and genealogical variety of African languages, together with the frequency of so called “narrative” forms, raise ample questions and problems of analysis and description. In turn, these forms provide opportunities for many lines of research including the diachrony of these forms or their grammaticalization pathways (e.g., Bybee, Perkins & Pagliuca 1994), the functional range of these forms in different discourse types (e.g., Robert 2012) their morpho-syntactic and functional typology, and the potential genesis of aspect categories under discourse pressures, among many others. This workshop is aimed at bringing together scholars interested in the different linguistic phyla and areas of Africa in order to address questions of aspect and discourse and narrative usage. The topics and questions we wish to address include, but are by no means limited to, the following: 1. Many African languages have been claimed to have specialized “narrative” constructions. However these constructions may also be used in non-narrative texts or in non-plot / non-main event line contexts. What is the functional range or distribution of these so called “narrative” forms? 2. What is the relation between aspect and “narrative” forms? Are “narrative” forms always perfective? If no, are there other signals of perfectivity in the clausal construction for? 3. Do forms used to advance the main even line carry special implicatures? Do they carry an implicature of a finished event? An implicature that the preceding event has finished? Is there an implication / implicature of telicity in “narrative” forms 4. What are the attested diachronic sources and pathways of the so called “narrative forms”? 5. What types of changes in Tense Aspect Mood (TAM) marking are found when shifting between main plot line to other discourse modes (e.g., description, explanation)? Or when shifting from one episode to another (i.e., from one narrative sequence to another)? 6. How clear is the relation between imperfectivity and background / non main event line clauses? What types of imperfectivity are found in such clauses? Do certain functions attract certain types of imperfectivity? 7. Perfectivity is seldom divided into subtypes (Comrie 1976). Can one, given the central role of perfectivity in discourse (Fleischmann 1990), identify distinct semantic (sub-)types of the perfective in African languages? 8. Some African languages have subtypes of perfects, or of “anteriors” (cf. Drolc 1992, 2000). Via what different diachronic paths might these have arisen? What roles do they play in discourse; e.g., is there a relation between perfect and background / non main event line clauses? Do certain discourse functions attract certain types of perfect (cf. Comrie 1976:56-65)? 9. Besides perfects or anteriors (Nurse 2008), are there other aspects or aspect-like categories or constructions which refer to two time points, e.g. situative (‘while’), persistive (‘still’), alterative (‘now but not before’)? How are these used in narrative discourse? 10. Contrastive focus and information focus constructions are thought of as incompatible with main event line function(s) (but see Jagger 2006). Is there a relation between contrastive / information focus constructions and particular aspects? REFERENCES Bybee, J., R. Perkins, & W. Pagliuca. 1994. The evolution of grammar: tense, aspect and modality in the languages of the world. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press. Carlson, Robert. 1992. Narrative, subjunctive and finiteness. Journal ofAfrican Languages and Linguistics. 13: 59-85 Comrie, B. 1976. Aspect. Cambridgeː Cambridge University Press. Doke, C.M. 1954. The Southern Bantu languages. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Drolc, U. 1992. On the perfect in Swahili. Afrikanistische Arbeitspapiere 29: 63-87. Drolc, U. 2000. Zur Typologie des Perfekts (am Beispiel des Swahili). W. Breu (ed.), Probleme der interaktion von Lexik und Aspekt (ILA). 91-112. Tübingen: Max Niemeyer. Fleischmann, S. 1990. Tense and narrativityː From medieval performance to modern fiction. Austinː University of Texas Press. Hopper, P. 1979. Aspect and foregrounding in discourse. T. Givón (ed.), Syntax and Semantics, 12ː Discourse and Syntax. 213-241. New York, Academic Press. Jaggar, P.H, 2006, The Hausa perfective tense-aspect used in WH-/Focus constructions and historical narratives: A unified account. In: Hyman, Larry M. and Newman, Paul, (eds.), West African Linguistics: Descriptive, Comparative, and Historical Studies in Honor of Russell G. Schuh. 100-133. Studies in African Linguistics. König, C. 1993. Aspekt im Maa. Köln: Institüt für Afrikanistik, Universitat zu Köln. Labov, W. & J. Waletzky. 1967. Narrative analysisː oral versions of personal experience. J. Helm (ed.), Essays on the verbal and visual arts, 12-42. (Proceedings of the 1966 Annual Spring Meeting of the American Ethnological Society.) Seattleː University of Washington Press. Newman, P. 2000. The Hausa language: An encyclopedic reference grammar. New-Haven and London: Yale University Press. Nurse, D. 2008. Tense and aspect in Bantu. Oxfordː Oxford University Press. Robert, S. 1991. Approche énonciative du système verbalː le cas du Wolof. Parisː Éditions du CNRS. Robert, S. 2012. From temporal vagueness to syntactic and pragmatic dependencyː the case of null tense (or aorist). Paper presented at the SLE 45th meeting, Stockholm. Sawicki, L. 2008. Towards a narrative grammar of Polish. Warsaw: Warsaw University Press. Tucker, A. N. & J. Ole-Mpaayei. 1955. Maasai grammar, with vocabulary. Londonː Longman, Green & Co. -- _____________________ Doris L. Payne Professor of Linguistics & Associate Head of Linguistics for AEI matters University of Oregon Eugene, OR 97403 541-346-3894 From mpentrel at uos.de Tue Nov 6 08:23:43 2012 From: mpentrel at uos.de (Meike Pentrel) Date: Tue, 6 Nov 2012 09:23:43 +0100 Subject: CfP: Workshop "Music, Poetics and Cognition" (Cognition and Poetics Conference) In-Reply-To: <5098C89A.7080405@uos.de> Message-ID: *Workshop "Music, Poetics and Cognition" *Call for Papers** We invite 20-minute paper submissions for the workshop on *Music, Poetics and Cognition* which will be part of the first international conference on Cognition and Poetics (CaP-12) held at the University of Osnabrueck. The conference will take place from the 25 -- 27 April 2013 at the Institute of English and American Studies of the University of Osnabrueck, Germany. The conference is part of the UOS Research Cluster on Cognition and Poetics. Topics for papers dealing with music, poetics and cognition may include but are not limited to: ·Aesthetics of musicalized fiction ·From sentence to movement: musical grammar ·Universals and specifics in cognition and musical (reading and listening) experience ·Musical semantics ·Literature and musical experience ·Musical text types / genres from a cognitive perspective ·The evolution of music and language ·Musical semiotics and communication ·Cognitive approaches to a musicalization of fiction ·Music in text: translation, transfer, alienation Abstracts (250 words) should be sent as anonymized attachments in MS-Word or PDF format to workshop organizer Nadja Hekal (nhekal at uni-osnabrueck.de ) by 15 December 2012. In your email text you need to specify: ·your name, ·affiliation ·email address ·title of workshop ·title of your talk Acceptance of papers will be sent out by 31 January 2013. *STIPENDS & WAIVERS* Graduate students and PhD Candidates are particularly invited to send paper and workshop proposals. The conference as a whole offers fifteen (15) grants for graduate students which cover the conference fee and accommodation. These grants will be awarded for the fifteen best proposals. General information about the conference, registration and the venue can be found here: http://www.blogs.uni-osnabrueck.de/cap12/. For further details about the conference please contact Professor Alexander Bergs (abergs at uos.de), Professor Peter Schneck (pschneck at uos.de), or Ms Meike Pentrel, who is in charge of organizing the conference (mpentrel at uos.de). Workshop details are available from Nadja Hekal (nhekal at uos.de). ________________________________________ Meike Pentrel English Linguistics Universität Osnabrück Institut für Anglistik und Amerikanistik Neuer Graben 40 49069 Osnabrück phone: +49-(0)541-969-4446 From danibrancalhao at hotmail.com Tue Nov 6 23:58:34 2012 From: danibrancalhao at hotmail.com (dani brancalhao) Date: Tue, 6 Nov 2012 21:58:34 -0200 Subject: events Message-ID: Good Evening! Please i´d like to know about any events in Europe which I can participate as listener I´m in Dublin until March, 2013 and on this period I´d like enjoying learning more about Linguistics Thanks From jordan.zlatev at ling.lu.se Wed Nov 7 20:03:44 2012 From: jordan.zlatev at ling.lu.se (Jordan Zlatev) Date: Wed, 7 Nov 2012 20:03:44 +0000 Subject: CfP, Scandianvian Association for Language and Cognition IV, 2013 Message-ID: With apologies for multiple postings ******************************************************************** SALC IV, 2013 University of Eastern Finland - Joensuu FIRST CALL FOR PAPERS The Fourth Conference of the Scandinavian Association for Language and Cognition The Fourth Conference of the Scandinavian Association for Language and Cognition (SALC IV) will take place on the Joensuu campus of the University of Eastern Finland (UEF), June 12 - 14, 2013. The conference will be organized by the Scandinavian Association for Language and Cognition (SALC), the Finnish Cognitive Linguistics Association (FiCLA) and the UEF language departments. Keynote speakers: Elisabeth Engberg-Pedersen University of Copenhagen Raymond Gibbs University of California, Santa Cruz Irene Mittelberg RWTH Aachen University Anatol Stefanowitsch Universität Hamburg Emile van der Zee Lincoln University The conference is aimed at covering all areas of linguistics with a cognitive flavour, including, for instance, * Cognitive impairment and language use * Language acquisition and cognition * Language and cognitive development and evolution * Language and consciousness * Language and gesture * Language change and cognition * Language structure and cognition * Language use and cognition * Linguistic relativity * Linguistic typology and cognition * Multicultural communication and cognition * Psycholinguistic approaches to language and cognition * Translation and cognition We now invite submissions of abstracts for paper, workshop and poster presentations. The deadline for abstract submission is January 1, 2013. Section papers will be allocated 20 minutes plus 10 minutes for discussion. Organizers of workshops should submit a one-page general abstract of their workshop as well as enclose one (one-page) abstract for each workshop presentation. The language of the conference is English. The abstracts should be sent by email as a Word, rtf or Open/Libre Office attachment to salc4 at uef.fi (format of message title and attachment name: SALC2013Abstract: author last name(s)). The document should contain author information (including author name(s), affiliation and contact email address), presentation title, abstract and your preference for oral or poster presentation (if applicable). Notification of acceptance will be communicated by February 1, 2013. By September 15 2013 the conference web page https://www.uef.fi/salc2013 will contain information about conference fees, accommodation, travel and other details about the infrastructure and activities associated with SALC IV. Conference email address: salc4 at uef.fi For SALC, see: http://www.salc-sssk.org/ For FiCLA, see: http://www.protsv.fi/ficla/index_english.html Jussi Niemi, PhD Professor, Linguistics University of Eastern Finland at Joensuu POB 111 (street address: Yliopistokatu 4) FIN-80101 Joensuu Finland Phone: +358 50 303 4337, or +358 2944 52141 (UEF internally: 52 141) jussi.niemi at uef.fi http://www.uef.fi/filtdk/yleinen-kielitiede/henkilosto *************************************** Jordan Zlatev Professor of General Linguistics Lund University Centre for Languages and Literature Box 201 221 00 Lund, Sweden From bherrma1 at gwdg.de Mon Nov 12 12:05:57 2012 From: bherrma1 at gwdg.de (Berenike Herrmann) Date: Mon, 12 Nov 2012 12:05:57 +0000 Subject: FUNKNET Digest, Vol 110, Issue 6 In-Reply-To: Message-ID: I'm out of office until 29 October and will reply to your e-mail as soon as possible upon my return. Ich bin bis zum 29. Oktober nicht im Hause und werde nach meiner Rueckkehr so schnell als moeglich auf Deine/Ihre Nachricht zurueckkommen. With kind regards, Mit freundlichen Gruessen, Berenike Herrmann From heine39 at gmail.com Tue Nov 13 05:31:54 2012 From: heine39 at gmail.com (Bernd Heine) Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2012 06:31:54 +0100 Subject: Proverbs Message-ID: Looking through a range of grammars of languages across the world I am surprised that proverbs are largely or entirely ignored in grammatical descriptions. They appear occasionally in the exemplification of structures but are essentially never discussed, e.g., as a discourse type, or as illustrating a special kind of morphosyntactic structure or relationship between form and meaning. To be sure, I could think of a number of reasons for that, but I find none of them entirely convincing. Why should proverbs not have a place in a (comprehensive) reference grammar? After all, they appear to occur in all languages that have been appropriately documented, and they are part of the knowledge speakers have about their language. Please advise. Bernd From mwmbombay at gmail.com Tue Nov 13 06:25:34 2012 From: mwmbombay at gmail.com (Mike Morgan) Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2012 12:10:34 +0545 Subject: Proverbs In-Reply-To: <50A1DB4A.6060702@uni-koeln.de> Message-ID: Bernd, I totally agree. Should but aren't. Like you I too can think of a number of reasons for that, but I too am not entirely convinced. But I will make the reasons I can think of explicit 1) The fact that even where Reference Grammars do discuss discourse at all (which is probably a minority of the time), they rarely do it deeply enough to discuss different TYPEs of discourse (i.e. genres). Reference Grammars with appended text samples SOMETIMES contain a variety of genres, but not always, and rarely are there comments anywhere in the grammar which addresses any of the difference between the genres. 2) The feeling that proverbs contain 'irregular" and "incomplete" grammar ... proverbs like "Once Bitten, twice shy", "Neither borrower nor lender be", etc. Poetry is also excluded for a similar reason. And, of course, some theoretical traditions are more inclined to ignore (sweep under the rug with an *?) anything they see as abnormal. 3) Proverbs often contain elements of diachronicity, and we have ALL been taught not to confuse synchronic language description with historical linguistics, and the best way to do that is by excluding anything that smacks (or might smack) of a languages history. Proverbs are used all the time in L2 instruction, and most language learners LOVE them. Language learners are usually just as interested in the cultures and in the languages, and proverbs supposedly give us great insight into cultures. Maybe that leads to a (4)th reason: Proverbs and such are felt to be MORE a part of culture than anything else (and hence extra-linguistic) And, to the category of neglected genres which SHOULD be considered for I will add : RIDDLES. Analysis and discssion of these might be less abnormal (i.e. interesting) structurally, but certainly would contribute a lot to any treatment of of semantics. -- mwm || *U*C> || mike || माईक || мика || マイク (aka Dr Michael W Morgan) sign language linguist / linguistic typologist academic adviser, Nepal Sign Language Training and Research NDFN, Kathmandu, Nepal From benjamin.lyngfelt at svenska.gu.se Tue Nov 13 07:18:48 2012 From: benjamin.lyngfelt at svenska.gu.se (Benjamin Lyngfelt) Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2012 07:18:48 +0000 Subject: Proverbs In-Reply-To: <50A1DB4A.6060702@uni-koeln.de> Message-ID: To some extent, proverbs are included in better dictionaries. Only to some extent, though, and I have no idea how many languages have dictionaries with that kind of information. Also, the proverbs aren't always easy to find, since they have to sort under specific word entries. E-dictionaries and constructicons offer other possibilities, but they are'nt very well developed yet – and exist for even fewer languages, I would guess. It's not always self evident which kinds of linguistic information should be covered where: reference grammars or dictionaries. Preferably, there should be some overlap, but many kinds of linguistic phenomena are considered peripheral from both perspectives – and, hence, have tended to be neglected. For a few languages, there are now constructicons being developed, resources focusing on linguistic patterns that are too specific to be considered general rules but too general to be tied to specific words. However, proverbs aren't covered in those either, at least not yet. In any case, in order to deal with the problem of achieving better coverage – of proverbs and lots of other stuff – grammarians and lexicographers should talk more to each other. /Ben ________________________________________ Från: funknet-bounces at mailman.rice.edu [funknet-bounces at mailman.rice.edu] för Bernd Heine [heine39 at gmail.com] Skickat: den 13 november 2012 06:31 Till: funknet at mailman.rice.edu Ämne: [FUNKNET] Proverbs Looking through a range of grammars of languages across the world I am surprised that proverbs are largely or entirely ignored in grammatical descriptions. They appear occasionally in the exemplification of structures but are essentially never discussed, e.g., as a discourse type, or as illustrating a special kind of morphosyntactic structure or relationship between form and meaning. To be sure, I could think of a number of reasons for that, but I find none of them entirely convincing. Why should proverbs not have a place in a (comprehensive) reference grammar? After all, they appear to occur in all languages that have been appropriately documented, and they are part of the knowledge speakers have about their language. Please advise. Bernd From golla at humboldt.edu Tue Nov 13 10:43:56 2012 From: golla at humboldt.edu (Victor Golla) Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2012 02:43:56 -0800 Subject: Proverbs In-Reply-To: <50A1DB4A.6060702@uni-koeln.de> Message-ID: On Mon, Nov 12, 2012 at 9:31 PM, Bernd Heine wrote: > Why should proverbs not have a place in a > (comprehensive) reference grammar? After all, they appear to occur in all > languages that have been appropriately documented, and they are part of the > knowledge speakers have about their language. Proverbs are far from universal. They are notably rare in North American Indian languages, where riddles, too, are virtually unattested, except for a few post-contact borrowings from English or French. I don't think that the absence of these genres across an entire continent can be written off as due to the lack of appropriate documentation. Rather, it's a matter of metaphorical speech in general being little used in aboriginal North American cultures for reasons that are ultimately historical and distributional. I'm not sure what this says about speakers' knowledge of their languages in North America, but it at least suggests that certain elements of cognitive style can co-vary with differences in discourse=level patterns of encoding. This is apparently what Whorf meant when he wrote in "The Relation of Habitual Thought and Behavior to Language" (in Carroll, ed., Language, Thought and Reality, p. 146) that Hopi does not have metaphor "built into it" in the same way that European languages do. --Victor Golla From geoffnathan at wayne.edu Tue Nov 13 10:46:46 2012 From: geoffnathan at wayne.edu (Geoffrey Steven Nathan) Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2012 05:46:46 -0500 Subject: Proverbs In-Reply-To: <50A1DB4A.6060702@uni-koeln.de> Message-ID: My colleague Ljiljana Progovac led a research group here at Wayne State that spent considerable time looking at (and taking seriously the syntax of) non-sententials, including proverbs. The result of their study (which I did not take part in, other than to attend the conference at the end) was the following volume: Progovac, L. & et al. (eds) 2006. The Syntax of Nonsententials: Multidisciplinary Perspectives (Linguistik aktuell = 93). Amsterdam ; Philadelphia: J. Benjamins. There might be some useful information therein. Geoffrey S. Nathan Faculty Liaison, C&IT and Professor, Linguistics Program http://blogs.wayne.edu/proftech/ +1 (313) 577-1259 (C&IT) ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Bernd Heine" > To: funknet at mailman.rice.edu > Sent: Tuesday, November 13, 2012 12:31:54 AM > Subject: [FUNKNET] Proverbs > Looking through a range of grammars of languages across the world I > am > surprised that proverbs are largely or entirely ignored in > grammatical > descriptions. They appear occasionally in the exemplification of > structures but are essentially never discussed, e.g., as a discourse > type, or as illustrating a special kind of morphosyntactic structure > or > relationship between form and meaning. > To be sure, I could think of a number of reasons for that, but I find > none of them entirely convincing. Why should proverbs not have a > place > in a (comprehensive) reference grammar? After all, they appear to > occur > in all languages that have been appropriately documented, and they > are > part of the knowledge speakers have about their language. Please > advise. > Bernd From maarten.lemmens at univ-lille3.fr Tue Nov 13 14:51:57 2012 From: maarten.lemmens at univ-lille3.fr (Maarten Lemmens) Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2012 15:51:57 +0100 Subject: DEADLINE EXTENSION: "Empirical approaches to Multi-Modality and Language variation" (AFLiCo 5, Lille, France) Message-ID: [apologies for multiple postings] VERY LAST CALL FOR PAPERS - AFLiCo 5 *EXTENDED SUBMISSION DEADLINE: 25 November 2012* “Empirical Approaches to Multi-modality and to Language Variation” Fifth International Conference of the Association Française de Linguistique Cognitive (AFLiCo 5) University of Lille 3, Lille, France May 15-17, 2013 http://aflico5.sciencesconf.org/ PLENARY SPEAKERS (titles and abstracts on conference web site) Dagmar Divjak (University of Sheffield) Colette Grinevald (University of Lyon 2) Irene Mittelberg (RWTH Aachen University) Gary Morgan (City University London) François Rastier (CNRS and INALCO Paris) Luc Steels (ICREA (IBE-UPF-CSIC) BARCELONA & SONY CSL PARIS) OBJECTIVES This conference chiefly aims at consolidating and strengthening the network of cognitive linguists working in France and abroad by providing a forum for discussion and collaboration in the tradition of the preceding AFLiCo conferences in Bordeaux (2005), Lille (2007), Nanterre (2009) and Lyon (2011) and the ‘JET’ workshops in Bordeaux (2010) and Paris (2012). THEMATIC SESSIONS This conference will be the fifth international conference of the Association Française de Linguistique Cognitive (AFLiCo; www.aflico.fr). The conference’s major foci are in line with the direction the previous AFLiCo conferences were headed in: multi-modality (in particular, co-verbal gestures and signed languages viewed as multi-channel communication systems) and linguistic variation (typology as well as intra-language variation). However, the conference seeks to add an important dimension to this direction, viz. empirical methods in (cognitive) linguistics, which have recently been attracting growing interest. With this emphasis on empirical approaches, the conference meets a real need of the linguistic community (cognitive or otherwise), given that the field of linguistics is shifting ever more rapidly towards interdisciplinary approaches, using various advanced empirical methods, ranging from psycholinguistic experiments to sophisticated analyses based on (large) corpora. The study of multi-modality recognizes the frequent simultaneous presence of multiple communication channels. In the visual domain, co-verbal gestures underscore the embodied nature of language proposed by cognitive linguistics. In the aural domain, para-verbal aspects of utterances (pitch, intonation, voice quality, etc.) beg the question of how to isolate stable correspondences between these ‘forms’ and semantic (particularly attitudinal) values. As was the case for the 2007 AFLiCo conference held in Lille, we explicitly welcome proposals for papers on signed languages, which by their very nature are multi-modal communication systems, as the signed utterance is brought about not just by means of hand gestures but also through posture and movements of, inter alia, the upper body, the head, the mouth and the eyebrows. Signed languages provide a window to the human mind and its capacity to represent abstract concepts in concrete, material forms; cognitive linguistics offers a well-suited model to account for iconicity, metaphor and metonymy, which are central to the study of the world’s signed languages. The topic of signed languages ties in with the LSF (langue des signes française) Interpreter training at the University of Lille 3. Cross-linguistic variation has been the object of typological and comparative cognitive studies which address the issue of universal grammar and linguistic relativity. With regard to intra-language variation, recent years have witnessed the emergence of a cognitive sociolinguistics. Language variation is also a key ingredient in explaining language change and grammaticalization. GENERAL SESSIONS The conference will not be limited to thematic sessions devoted to the main foci described above. The organisers also encourage researchers to submit proposals within other areas of cognitive linguistics, to be presented in the general parallel sessions. Possible topics include (but are not restricted to): - (cognitive) construction grammar - conceptual metaphors - image schemata - frame semantics - coercion and the tension between productivity and convention in language - computer modelling based on empirical data - problems and solutions in empirical methods: corpus studies, acceptability ratings, response time measurements, event-related potential experiments, eye tracking studies, etc. The organisers further encourage young researchers to submit an abstract. NOTE: for organisational reasons, the thematic sessions on signed languages will be grouped on the first day of the conference (15 May). SUBMISSION PROCEDURE Abstracts will be submitted to a double, blind review. They should be fully anonymous and not exceed 500 words (references excluded). Submission is to be done via a login on the conference website (http://aflico5.sciencesconf.org/). Researchers who have a login on the HAL-SHS website can use that instead of creating a new one. IMPORTANT DATES Submission deadline: November 25, 2012 Notification of acceptance: January 15, 2013 Workshop “Empirical methods in Usage-Based Linguistics”: May 13 and 14, 2013 Conference dates: May 15-17, 2013 (TBC: registration & welcome reception: May 14, from 17:00) REGISTRATION Details about the registration procedure and registration deadlines will be posted on the conference website as soon as they become available. There will be reduced registration fee for AFLiCo members and students as well as early bird reduction. CONFERENCE LANGUAGES English (preferred), French, LSF (please notify the organisers in advance) CONFERENCE WEBSITE http://aflico5.sciencesconf.org/ SPRING SCHOOL To enhance the success of the empirical dimension, we will organise, pending funding, a Spring School on “Empirical methods in Usage-Based Linguistics” on the two days preceding the conference (i.e. on May 13 and 14) with 5 parallel workshops on different empirical approaches, each presenting a specific methodology or tool: (1) corpus linguistics: principles and general methods (Dagmar Divjak, University of Sheffield, UK); (2) statistics in corpus linguistics with R (Dylan Glynn, Lund University, Sweden); (3) annotating and analysing multi-modal data in ELAN (Mark Tutton, University of Nantes, France); (4) transcribing and analysing oral data in CLAN (Christophe Parisse, University of Paris 10, France); (5) methods in psycholinguistic experiments ([to be confirmed]). Further details will be posted on the conference website. ORGANISING COMMITTEE: Maarten Lemmens, UMR 8163 STL (CNRS and Universities of Lille 3 and Lille 1) Annie Risler, UMR 8163 STL (CNRS and Universities of Lille 3 and Lille 1) Bert Cappelle, UMR 8163 STL (CNRS and Universities of Lille 3 and Lille 1) Dany Amiot, UMR 8163 STL (CNRS and Universities of Lille 3 and Lille 1) SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE Florence Chenu, University of Lyon 2, France Marion Blondel, University of Paris 8, France Jana Bressem, University of Frankfurt an der Oder, Germany Georgette Dal, University of Lille 3, France Nicole Delbecque, University of Leuven, Belgium Walter Demulder, University of Antwerp, Belgium Guillaume Desagulier, University of Paris 8 Elisabeth Engberg-Pedersen, University of Copenhagen, Denmark Sonja Erlenkamp, University of Trondheim, Norway Jean-Michel Fortis, University of Paris 7, France Craig Hamilton, University of Mulhouse, France Dylan Glynn, University of Lund, Sweden Maya Hickmann, University of Paris 5, France Harriet Jisa, University of Lyon 2, France Annetta Kopecka, University of Lyon 2, France Silva Ladewig, University of Frankfort an der Oder, Germany Jean-Rémi Lapaire, University of Bordeaux 3, France Diana Lewis, University Provence, France Aliyah Morgenstern, University of Paris 3, France Caroline Rossi, University of Lyon 2, France Stéphane Robert, Fédération TUL - FR 2559, France Paul Sambre, Lessius Hogeschool, Antwerp, Belgium Mark Tutton, University de Nantes, France Kristel van Goethem, University of Louvain, Belgium Myriam Vermeerbergen, University of Leuven, Belgium Bencie Woll, University College London, U.K. Sherman Wilcox, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA From munro at ucla.edu Tue Nov 13 15:31:53 2012 From: munro at ucla.edu (Pamela Munro) Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2012 07:31:53 -0800 Subject: Proverbs In-Reply-To: Message-ID: I second what Victor says here. I have never seen anything like a proverb in the North American languages I've studied. Pam On 11/13/12 2:43 AM, Victor Golla wrote: > On Mon, Nov 12, 2012 at 9:31 PM, Bernd Heine wrote: > >> Why should proverbs not have a place in a >> (comprehensive) reference grammar? After all, they appear to occur in all >> languages that have been appropriately documented, and they are part of the >> knowledge speakers have about their language. > Proverbs are far from universal. They are notably rare in North American > Indian languages, where riddles, too, are virtually unattested, except for a > few post-contact borrowings from English or French. > > I don't think that the absence of these genres across an entire continent can > be written off as due to the lack of appropriate documentation. Rather, it's > a matter of metaphorical speech in general being little used in aboriginal > North American cultures for reasons that are ultimately historical and > distributional. > > I'm not sure what this says about speakers' knowledge of their languages > in North America, but it at least suggests that certain elements of cognitive > style can co-vary with differences in discourse=level patterns of encoding. > This is apparently what Whorf meant when he wrote in "The Relation of > Habitual Thought and Behavior to Language" (in Carroll, ed., Language, > Thought and Reality, p. 146) that Hopi does not have metaphor "built into it" > in the same way that European languages do. > > --Victor Golla > -- Pamela Munro, Distinguished Professor, Linguistics, UCLA UCLA Box 951543 Los Angeles, CA 90095-1543 http://www.linguistics.ucla.edu/people/munro/munro.htm From mithun at linguistics.ucsb.edu Tue Nov 13 16:40:21 2012 From: mithun at linguistics.ucsb.edu (Marianne Mithun) Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2012 08:40:21 -0800 Subject: Proverbs In-Reply-To: <50A267E9.5030303@ucla.edu> Message-ID: And I was just going to chime in with the same thing. I think Victor put it exactly right. Marianne Mithun --On Tuesday, November 13, 2012 7:31 AM -0800 Pamela Munro wrote: > I second what Victor says here. I have never seen anything like a proverb > in the North American languages I've studied. > > Pam > > On 11/13/12 2:43 AM, Victor Golla wrote: >> On Mon, Nov 12, 2012 at 9:31 PM, Bernd Heine wrote: >> >>> Why should proverbs not >>> have a place in a >>> (comprehensive) reference grammar? After all, they appear to occur in >>> all languages that have been appropriately documented, and they are >>> part of the knowledge speakers have about their language. >> Proverbs are far from universal. They are notably rare in North American >> Indian languages, where riddles, too, are virtually unattested, except >> for a few post-contact borrowings from English or French. >> >> I don't think that the absence of these genres across an entire >> continent can be written off as due to the lack of appropriate >> documentation. Rather, it's a matter of metaphorical speech in general >> being little used in aboriginal North American cultures for reasons that >> are ultimately historical and distributional. >> >> I'm not sure what this says about speakers' knowledge of their languages >> in North America, but it at least suggests that certain elements of >> cognitive style can co-vary with differences in discourse=level patterns >> of encoding. This is apparently what Whorf meant when he wrote in "The >> Relation of Habitual Thought and Behavior to Language" (in Carroll, ed., >> Language, Thought and Reality, p. 146) that Hopi does not have metaphor >> "built into it" in the same way that European languages do. >> >> --Victor Golla >> > > -- > Pamela Munro, > Distinguished Professor, Linguistics, UCLA > UCLA Box 951543 > Los Angeles, CA 90095-1543 > http://www.linguistics.ucla.edu/people/munro/munro.htm > From emriddle at bsu.edu Tue Nov 13 16:49:14 2012 From: emriddle at bsu.edu (Riddle, Elizabeth) Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2012 16:49:14 +0000 Subject: Proverbs In-Reply-To: <1A87A03540A39AD1A6671553@host-199-30.ucsb.edu> Message-ID: In the North American languages referenced, does some other form of communication, such as story telling, serve any purpose similar to the use of proverbs in other languages and cultures? Thanks, Liz Elizabeth M. Riddle Professor and Chair Department of English Ball State University Muncie, IN 47306 USA emriddle at bsu.edu Tel: 765-285-8584 ________________________________________ From: funknet-bounces at mailman.rice.edu [funknet-bounces at mailman.rice.edu] on behalf of Marianne Mithun [mithun at linguistics.ucsb.edu] Sent: Tuesday, November 13, 2012 11:40 AM To: Pamela Munro; Victor Golla Cc: Bernd Heine; funknet at mailman.rice.edu Subject: Re: [FUNKNET] Proverbs And I was just going to chime in with the same thing. I think Victor put it exactly right. Marianne Mithun --On Tuesday, November 13, 2012 7:31 AM -0800 Pamela Munro wrote: > I second what Victor says here. I have never seen anything like a proverb > in the North American languages I've studied. > > Pam > > On 11/13/12 2:43 AM, Victor Golla wrote: >> On Mon, Nov 12, 2012 at 9:31 PM, Bernd Heine wrote: >> >>> Why should proverbs not >>> have a place in a >>> (comprehensive) reference grammar? After all, they appear to occur in >>> all languages that have been appropriately documented, and they are >>> part of the knowledge speakers have about their language. >> Proverbs are far from universal. They are notably rare in North American >> Indian languages, where riddles, too, are virtually unattested, except >> for a few post-contact borrowings from English or French. >> >> I don't think that the absence of these genres across an entire >> continent can be written off as due to the lack of appropriate >> documentation. Rather, it's a matter of metaphorical speech in general >> being little used in aboriginal North American cultures for reasons that >> are ultimately historical and distributional. >> >> I'm not sure what this says about speakers' knowledge of their languages >> in North America, but it at least suggests that certain elements of >> cognitive style can co-vary with differences in discourse=level patterns >> of encoding. This is apparently what Whorf meant when he wrote in "The >> Relation of Habitual Thought and Behavior to Language" (in Carroll, ed., >> Language, Thought and Reality, p. 146) that Hopi does not have metaphor >> "built into it" in the same way that European languages do. >> >> --Victor Golla >> > > -- > Pamela Munro, > Distinguished Professor, Linguistics, UCLA > UCLA Box 951543 > Los Angeles, CA 90095-1543 > http://www.linguistics.ucla.edu/people/munro/munro.htm > From mithun at linguistics.ucsb.edu Tue Nov 13 16:53:59 2012 From: mithun at linguistics.ucsb.edu (Marianne Mithun) Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2012 08:53:59 -0800 Subject: Proverbs In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Sure, in a sense. But, one could say, stories also serve many other functions, and much more elaborately. Marianne --On Tuesday, November 13, 2012 4:49 PM +0000 "Riddle, Elizabeth" wrote: > In the North American languages referenced, does some other form of > communication, such as story telling, serve any purpose similar to the > use of proverbs in other languages and cultures? > > Thanks, > > Liz > > Elizabeth M. Riddle > Professor and Chair > Department of English > Ball State University > Muncie, IN 47306 USA > emriddle at bsu.edu > Tel: 765-285-8584 > ________________________________________ > From: funknet-bounces at mailman.rice.edu [funknet-bounces at mailman.rice.edu] > on behalf of Marianne Mithun [mithun at linguistics.ucsb.edu] Sent: Tuesday, > November 13, 2012 11:40 AM > To: Pamela Munro; Victor Golla > Cc: Bernd Heine; funknet at mailman.rice.edu > Subject: Re: [FUNKNET] Proverbs > > And I was just going to chime in with the same thing. I think Victor put > it exactly right. > > Marianne Mithun > > > --On Tuesday, November 13, 2012 7:31 AM -0800 Pamela Munro > wrote: > >> I second what Victor says here. I have never seen anything like a proverb >> in the North American languages I've studied. >> >> Pam >> >> On 11/13/12 2:43 AM, Victor Golla wrote: >>> On Mon, Nov 12, 2012 at 9:31 PM, Bernd Heine wrote: >>> >>>> Why should proverbs not >>>> have a place in a >>>> (comprehensive) reference grammar? After all, they appear to occur in >>>> all languages that have been appropriately documented, and they are >>>> part of the knowledge speakers have about their language. >>> Proverbs are far from universal. They are notably rare in North >>> American Indian languages, where riddles, too, are virtually >>> unattested, except for a few post-contact borrowings from English or >>> French. >>> >>> I don't think that the absence of these genres across an entire >>> continent can be written off as due to the lack of appropriate >>> documentation. Rather, it's a matter of metaphorical speech in general >>> being little used in aboriginal North American cultures for reasons that >>> are ultimately historical and distributional. >>> >>> I'm not sure what this says about speakers' knowledge of their languages >>> in North America, but it at least suggests that certain elements of >>> cognitive style can co-vary with differences in discourse=level patterns >>> of encoding. This is apparently what Whorf meant when he wrote in "The >>> Relation of Habitual Thought and Behavior to Language" (in Carroll, ed., >>> Language, Thought and Reality, p. 146) that Hopi does not have metaphor >>> "built into it" in the same way that European languages do. >>> >>> --Victor Golla >>> >> >> -- >> Pamela Munro, >> Distinguished Professor, Linguistics, UCLA >> UCLA Box 951543 >> Los Angeles, CA 90095-1543 >> http://www.linguistics.ucla.edu/people/munro/munro.htm >> From macw at cmu.edu Tue Nov 13 17:02:58 2012 From: macw at cmu.edu (Brian MacWhinney) Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2012 12:02:58 -0500 Subject: Proverbs In-Reply-To: <1A87A03540A39AD1A6671553@host-199-30.ucsb.edu> Message-ID: Dear FunkNet, To someone unfamiliar with the data, Viktor's claim that metaphorical speech in general is little used in North American cultures is quite fascinating. It goes way beyond the idea that proverbs might be missing, and touches on issues right at the core of basic assumptions being made by psychologists and anthropologists about human cognition, mental models, and belief. Before accepting Victor's observations, I was hoping for a bit more input from others on FunkNet about the generality of the claim. I had earlier learned just a little bit of Navajo and been impressed by the way in which the parts of the car were mapped metaphorically onto the human body image, much as suggested by the role of the BODY as source metaphor in Conceptual Metaphor Theory. It had never occurred to me that all the other types of metaphors that we find so regularly in languages like English, Chinese, and Japanese would actually be missing in North America. So, I took a look at what Whorf wrote on this subject about Hopi on p. 146 and it seems that the focus there is on the absence of the shape metaphors for extent, because of the high level of availability of built-in quantifiers or "tensors". Whorf also claims that the "conduit" metaphor for communication is completely missing in Hopi, along with the metaphor of KNOWING IS SEEING. In the most extreme case, one could interpret what Whorf is writing as saying that Hopi's do not develop mental models of either their own thoughts or the thoughts of others. How this avoidance of metaphor and mental models could square with the intense religious experiences in North America is something that puzzles me. Perhaps Whorf is not saying this. Perhaps I have misunderstood what Victor and Marianne and Pamela are saying. Perhaps this is all JUST about proverbs and not really about metaphor. Elizabeth's question about alternatives to proverbs led me to think of the rich tradition of folk tales in North America, which could easily be understood as expanded proverbs, much as Aesop's Fables ca be compressed into proverbs. Marianne notes that stories serve other functions. However, I wonder whether one can refer to acts of protagonists in stories and thereby effectively avoid a frozen proverb. -- Brian MacWhinney On Nov 13, 2012, at 11:40 AM, Marianne Mithun wrote: > And I was just going to chime in with the same thing. I think Victor put it exactly right. > > Marianne Mithun > > > --On Tuesday, November 13, 2012 7:31 AM -0800 Pamela Munro wrote: > >> I second what Victor says here. I have never seen anything like a proverb >> in the North American languages I've studied. >> >> Pam >> >> On 11/13/12 2:43 AM, Victor Golla wrote: >>> On Mon, Nov 12, 2012 at 9:31 PM, Bernd Heine wrote: >>> >>>> Why should proverbs not >>>> have a place in a >>>> (comprehensive) reference grammar? After all, they appear to occur in >>>> all languages that have been appropriately documented, and they are >>>> part of the knowledge speakers have about their language. >>> Proverbs are far from universal. They are notably rare in North American >>> Indian languages, where riddles, too, are virtually unattested, except >>> for a few post-contact borrowings from English or French. >>> >>> I don't think that the absence of these genres across an entire >>> continent can be written off as due to the lack of appropriate >>> documentation. Rather, it's a matter of metaphorical speech in general >>> being little used in aboriginal North American cultures for reasons that >>> are ultimately historical and distributional. >>> >>> I'm not sure what this says about speakers' knowledge of their languages >>> in North America, but it at least suggests that certain elements of >>> cognitive style can co-vary with differences in discourse=level patterns >>> of encoding. This is apparently what Whorf meant when he wrote in "The >>> Relation of Habitual Thought and Behavior to Language" (in Carroll, ed., >>> Language, Thought and Reality, p. 146) that Hopi does not have metaphor >>> "built into it" in the same way that European languages do. >>> >>> --Victor Golla >>> >> >> -- >> Pamela Munro, >> Distinguished Professor, Linguistics, UCLA >> UCLA Box 951543 >> Los Angeles, CA 90095-1543 >> http://www.linguistics.ucla.edu/people/munro/munro.htm >> > > > > > From mithun at linguistics.ucsb.edu Tue Nov 13 17:11:56 2012 From: mithun at linguistics.ucsb.edu (Marianne Mithun) Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2012 09:11:56 -0800 Subject: Proverbs In-Reply-To: <9045DD3D-A1B5-4851-A4AD-D8DEAA682EC8@cmu.edu> Message-ID: Sorry, you're right, Brian. Actually, I think the use of metaphor in North America is more culture-specific. Iroquoian languages raise metaphor to great, dazzling heights. It was surely there before contact, and is something that has long been prized, cultivated, and enjoyed. It infuses the whole of language. And I've seen constant use of metaphor in Navajo too, like you have. But not at all, really, in some other languages I've worked with. Marianne --On Tuesday, November 13, 2012 12:02 PM -0500 Brian MacWhinney wrote: > Dear FunkNet, > > To someone unfamiliar with the data, Viktor's claim that metaphorical > speech in general is little used in North American cultures is quite > fascinating. It goes way beyond the idea that proverbs might be missing, > and touches on issues right at the core of basic assumptions being made > by psychologists and anthropologists about human cognition, mental > models, and belief. Before accepting Victor's observations, I was hoping > for a bit more input from others on FunkNet about the generality of the > claim. > > I had earlier learned just a little bit of Navajo and been impressed by > the way in which the parts of the car were mapped metaphorically onto > the human body image, much as suggested by the role of the BODY as source > metaphor in Conceptual Metaphor Theory. It had never occurred to me that > all the other types of metaphors that we find so regularly in languages > like English, Chinese, and Japanese would actually be missing in North > America. > > So, I took a look at what Whorf wrote on this subject about Hopi on p. > 146 and it seems that the focus there is on the absence of the shape > metaphors for extent, because of the high level of availability of > built-in quantifiers or "tensors". Whorf also claims that the "conduit" > metaphor for communication is completely missing in Hopi, along with the > metaphor of KNOWING IS SEEING. In the most extreme case, one could > interpret what Whorf is writing as saying that Hopi's do not develop > mental models of either their own thoughts or the thoughts of others. How > this avoidance of metaphor and mental models could square with the > intense religious experiences in North America is something that puzzles > me. > > Perhaps Whorf is not saying this. Perhaps I have misunderstood what > Victor and Marianne and Pamela are saying. Perhaps this is all JUST > about proverbs and not really about metaphor. > > Elizabeth's question about alternatives to proverbs led me to think of > the rich tradition of folk tales in North America, which could easily be > understood as expanded proverbs, much as Aesop's Fables ca be compressed > into proverbs. Marianne notes that stories serve other functions. > However, I wonder whether one can refer to acts of protagonists in > stories and thereby effectively avoid a frozen proverb. > > -- Brian MacWhinney > > On Nov 13, 2012, at 11:40 AM, Marianne Mithun > wrote: > >> And I was just going to chime in with the same thing. I think Victor put >> it exactly right. >> >> Marianne Mithun >> >> >> --On Tuesday, November 13, 2012 7:31 AM -0800 Pamela Munro >> wrote: >> >>> I second what Victor says here. I have never seen anything like a >>> proverb in the North American languages I've studied. >>> >>> Pam >>> >>> On 11/13/12 2:43 AM, Victor Golla wrote: >>>> On Mon, Nov 12, 2012 at 9:31 PM, Bernd Heine wrote: >>>> >>>>> Why should proverbs not >>>>> have a place in a >>>>> (comprehensive) reference grammar? After all, they appear to occur in >>>>> all languages that have been appropriately documented, and they are >>>>> part of the knowledge speakers have about their language. >>>> Proverbs are far from universal. They are notably rare in North >>>> American Indian languages, where riddles, too, are virtually >>>> unattested, except for a few post-contact borrowings from English or >>>> French. >>>> >>>> I don't think that the absence of these genres across an entire >>>> continent can be written off as due to the lack of appropriate >>>> documentation. Rather, it's a matter of metaphorical speech in >>>> general being little used in aboriginal North American cultures for >>>> reasons that are ultimately historical and distributional. >>>> >>>> I'm not sure what this says about speakers' knowledge of their >>>> languages in North America, but it at least suggests that certain >>>> elements of cognitive style can co-vary with differences in >>>> discourse=level patterns of encoding. This is apparently what Whorf >>>> meant when he wrote in "The Relation of Habitual Thought and Behavior >>>> to Language" (in Carroll, ed., Language, Thought and Reality, p. 146) >>>> that Hopi does not have metaphor "built into it" in the same way that >>>> European languages do. >>>> >>>> --Victor Golla >>>> >>> >>> -- >>> Pamela Munro, >>> Distinguished Professor, Linguistics, UCLA >>> UCLA Box 951543 >>> Los Angeles, CA 90095-1543 >>> http://www.linguistics.ucla.edu/people/munro/munro.htm >>> >> >> >> >> >> > From kemmer at rice.edu Tue Nov 13 17:34:50 2012 From: kemmer at rice.edu (Suzanne Kemmer) Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2012 11:34:50 -0600 Subject: Proverbs In-Reply-To: Message-ID: I thought that the idea that North American languages lack metaphor was something that used to be said back when metaphor was understood as a rarified and special process. Once metaphor was understood as an ordinary process of conceptual mapping and incremental semantic extension, people recognized the prevalence of metaphor in these languages. (I thought.) Grammaticalization processes that involve metaphorical extensions seem to me (non-specialist in the languages but a grammar-reader) to be as widespread there as anywhere - the grammar of space is one place, but also in aspectual systems (e.g. the grammaticalization of verbs meaning 'sit', 'stand', and 'lie' into aspectuals in lgs of the southwest). Don't know how this relates to proverbs. Suzanne On Nov 13, 2012, at 11:11 AM, Marianne Mithun wrote: > Sorry, you're right, Brian. > > Actually, I think the use of metaphor in North America is more culture-specific. Iroquoian languages raise metaphor to great, dazzling heights. It was surely there before contact, and is something that has long been prized, cultivated, and enjoyed. It infuses the whole of language. And I've seen constant use of metaphor in Navajo too, like you have. But not at all, really, in some other languages I've worked with. > > Marianne > > --On Tuesday, November 13, 2012 12:02 PM -0500 Brian MacWhinney wrote: > >> Dear FunkNet, >> >> To someone unfamiliar with the data, Viktor's claim that metaphorical >> speech in general is little used in North American cultures is quite >> fascinating. It goes way beyond the idea that proverbs might be missing, >> and touches on issues right at the core of basic assumptions being made >> by psychologists and anthropologists about human cognition, mental >> models, and belief. Before accepting Victor's observations, I was hoping >> for a bit more input from others on FunkNet about the generality of the >> claim. >> >> I had earlier learned just a little bit of Navajo and been impressed by >> the way in which the parts of the car were mapped metaphorically onto >> the human body image, much as suggested by the role of the BODY as source >> metaphor in Conceptual Metaphor Theory. It had never occurred to me that >> all the other types of metaphors that we find so regularly in languages >> like English, Chinese, and Japanese would actually be missing in North >> America. >> >> So, I took a look at what Whorf wrote on this subject about Hopi on p. >> 146 and it seems that the focus there is on the absence of the shape >> metaphors for extent, because of the high level of availability of >> built-in quantifiers or "tensors". Whorf also claims that the "conduit" >> metaphor for communication is completely missing in Hopi, along with the >> metaphor of KNOWING IS SEEING. In the most extreme case, one could >> interpret what Whorf is writing as saying that Hopi's do not develop >> mental models of either their own thoughts or the thoughts of others. How >> this avoidance of metaphor and mental models could square with the >> intense religious experiences in North America is something that puzzles >> me. >> >> Perhaps Whorf is not saying this. Perhaps I have misunderstood what >> Victor and Marianne and Pamela are saying. Perhaps this is all JUST >> about proverbs and not really about metaphor. >> >> Elizabeth's question about alternatives to proverbs led me to think of >> the rich tradition of folk tales in North America, which could easily be >> understood as expanded proverbs, much as Aesop's Fables ca be compressed >> into proverbs. Marianne notes that stories serve other functions. >> However, I wonder whether one can refer to acts of protagonists in >> stories and thereby effectively avoid a frozen proverb. >> >> -- Brian MacWhinney >> >> On Nov 13, 2012, at 11:40 AM, Marianne Mithun >> wrote: >> >>> And I was just going to chime in with the same thing. I think Victor put >>> it exactly right. >>> >>> Marianne Mithun >>> >>> >>> --On Tuesday, November 13, 2012 7:31 AM -0800 Pamela Munro >>> wrote: >>> >>>> I second what Victor says here. I have never seen anything like a >>>> proverb in the North American languages I've studied. >>>> >>>> Pam >>>> >>>> On 11/13/12 2:43 AM, Victor Golla wrote: >>>>> On Mon, Nov 12, 2012 at 9:31 PM, Bernd Heine wrote: >>>>> >>>>>> Why should proverbs not >>>>>> have a place in a >>>>>> (comprehensive) reference grammar? After all, they appear to occur in >>>>>> all languages that have been appropriately documented, and they are >>>>>> part of the knowledge speakers have about their language. >>>>> Proverbs are far from universal. They are notably rare in North >>>>> American Indian languages, where riddles, too, are virtually >>>>> unattested, except for a few post-contact borrowings from English or >>>>> French. >>>>> >>>>> I don't think that the absence of these genres across an entire >>>>> continent can be written off as due to the lack of appropriate >>>>> documentation. Rather, it's a matter of metaphorical speech in >>>>> general being little used in aboriginal North American cultures for >>>>> reasons that are ultimately historical and distributional. >>>>> >>>>> I'm not sure what this says about speakers' knowledge of their >>>>> languages in North America, but it at least suggests that certain >>>>> elements of cognitive style can co-vary with differences in >>>>> discourse=level patterns of encoding. This is apparently what Whorf >>>>> meant when he wrote in "The Relation of Habitual Thought and Behavior >>>>> to Language" (in Carroll, ed., Language, Thought and Reality, p. 146) >>>>> that Hopi does not have metaphor "built into it" in the same way that >>>>> European languages do. >>>>> >>>>> --Victor Golla >>>>> >>>> >>>> -- >>>> Pamela Munro, >>>> Distinguished Professor, Linguistics, UCLA >>>> UCLA Box 951543 >>>> Los Angeles, CA 90095-1543 >>>> http://www.linguistics.ucla.edu/people/munro/munro.htm >>>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >> > > > > > From dan at daneverett.org Tue Nov 13 17:42:37 2012 From: dan at daneverett.org (Daniel Everett) Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2012 12:42:37 -0500 Subject: Proverbs In-Reply-To: <9045DD3D-A1B5-4851-A4AD-D8DEAA682EC8@cmu.edu> Message-ID: This is funny. I have been reading this as "pro-verbs" and wondering what people had in mind (verbs like English "do", etc). My response is roughly the same, though, whichever is in mind. If we believe that language fulfills functions, then there is no reason to think that the same function will be fulfilled in the same way in every language, nor that every culture will have the same range of functions for language. Careful, "thick" descriptions of discourse are needed, but so are comparative anthropological studies and attempts to advance the agenda of Dell Hymes (and to a lesser degree one that I have advocated) - finding out where each language fits in the system of values of a people and how and where this is expressed in the language and society. Dan On Nov 13, 2012, at 12:02 PM, Brian MacWhinney wrote: > Dear FunkNet, > > To someone unfamiliar with the data, Viktor's claim that metaphorical speech in general > is little used in North American cultures is quite fascinating. It goes way beyond the > idea that proverbs might be missing, and touches on issues right at the core of basic assumptions > being made by psychologists and anthropologists about human cognition, mental models, and belief. > Before accepting Victor's observations, I was hoping for a bit more input from others on > FunkNet about the generality of the claim. > > I had earlier learned just a little bit of Navajo and been impressed by the way in which the parts of the car were > mapped metaphorically onto the human body image, much as suggested by the role of the BODY as > source metaphor in Conceptual Metaphor Theory. It had never occurred to me that > all the other types of metaphors that we find so regularly in languages like English, Chinese, and > Japanese would actually be missing in North America. > > So, I took a look at what Whorf wrote on this subject about Hopi on p. 146 and it seems that the > focus there is on the absence of the shape metaphors for extent, because of the high > level of availability of built-in quantifiers or "tensors". Whorf also claims that the "conduit" > metaphor for communication is completely missing in Hopi, along with the metaphor of KNOWING IS > SEEING. In the most extreme case, one could interpret what Whorf is writing as saying that > Hopi's do not develop mental models of either their own thoughts or the thoughts of others. > How this avoidance of metaphor and mental models could square with the intense religious experiences > in North America is something that puzzles me. > > Perhaps Whorf is not saying this. Perhaps I have misunderstood what Victor and Marianne and Pamela > are saying. Perhaps this is all JUST about proverbs and not really about metaphor. > > Elizabeth's question about alternatives to proverbs led me to think of the rich tradition of folk tales in > North America, which could easily be understood as expanded proverbs, much as Aesop's Fables ca > be compressed into proverbs. Marianne notes that stories serve other functions. However, I wonder > whether one can refer to acts of protagonists in stories and thereby effectively avoid a frozen proverb. > > -- Brian MacWhinney > > On Nov 13, 2012, at 11:40 AM, Marianne Mithun wrote: > >> And I was just going to chime in with the same thing. I think Victor put it exactly right. >> >> Marianne Mithun >> >> >> --On Tuesday, November 13, 2012 7:31 AM -0800 Pamela Munro wrote: >> >>> I second what Victor says here. I have never seen anything like a proverb >>> in the North American languages I've studied. >>> >>> Pam >>> >>> On 11/13/12 2:43 AM, Victor Golla wrote: >>>> On Mon, Nov 12, 2012 at 9:31 PM, Bernd Heine wrote: >>>> >>>>> Why should proverbs not >>>>> have a place in a >>>>> (comprehensive) reference grammar? After all, they appear to occur in >>>>> all languages that have been appropriately documented, and they are >>>>> part of the knowledge speakers have about their language. >>>> Proverbs are far from universal. They are notably rare in North American >>>> Indian languages, where riddles, too, are virtually unattested, except >>>> for a few post-contact borrowings from English or French. >>>> >>>> I don't think that the absence of these genres across an entire >>>> continent can be written off as due to the lack of appropriate >>>> documentation. Rather, it's a matter of metaphorical speech in general >>>> being little used in aboriginal North American cultures for reasons that >>>> are ultimately historical and distributional. >>>> >>>> I'm not sure what this says about speakers' knowledge of their languages >>>> in North America, but it at least suggests that certain elements of >>>> cognitive style can co-vary with differences in discourse=level patterns >>>> of encoding. This is apparently what Whorf meant when he wrote in "The >>>> Relation of Habitual Thought and Behavior to Language" (in Carroll, ed., >>>> Language, Thought and Reality, p. 146) that Hopi does not have metaphor >>>> "built into it" in the same way that European languages do. >>>> >>>> --Victor Golla >>>> >>> >>> -- >>> Pamela Munro, >>> Distinguished Professor, Linguistics, UCLA >>> UCLA Box 951543 >>> Los Angeles, CA 90095-1543 >>> http://www.linguistics.ucla.edu/people/munro/munro.htm >>> >> >> >> >> >> > From emriddle at bsu.edu Tue Nov 13 17:51:09 2012 From: emriddle at bsu.edu (Riddle, Elizabeth) Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2012 17:51:09 +0000 Subject: Proverbs In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Following up the points about story telling, I'm thinking of times when English speakers say things like "Remember the boy who cried 'wolf'" as an admonishment to a child. This utterance is not a proverb in and of itself, has normal sentence structure, and is not really metaphorical in the sense that saying "that's sour grapes" might be, but seems to serve a similar communicative purpose to that of a proverb in such a situation. I'm wondering if such references regularly occur in the discourse of various native North American languages. Thanks, Liz Elizabeth M. Riddle Professor and Chair Department of English Ball State University Muncie, IN 47306 USA emriddle at bsu.edu Tel: 765-285-8584 ________________________________________ From: funknet-bounces at mailman.rice.edu [funknet-bounces at mailman.rice.edu] on behalf of Marianne Mithun [mithun at linguistics.ucsb.edu] Sent: Tuesday, November 13, 2012 12:11 PM To: Brian MacWhinney; Funknet Subject: Re: [FUNKNET] Proverbs Sorry, you're right, Brian. Actually, I think the use of metaphor in North America is more culture-specific. Iroquoian languages raise metaphor to great, dazzling heights. It was surely there before contact, and is something that has long been prized, cultivated, and enjoyed. It infuses the whole of language. And I've seen constant use of metaphor in Navajo too, like you have. But not at all, really, in some other languages I've worked with. Marianne --On Tuesday, November 13, 2012 12:02 PM -0500 Brian MacWhinney wrote: > Dear FunkNet, > > To someone unfamiliar with the data, Viktor's claim that metaphorical > speech in general is little used in North American cultures is quite > fascinating. It goes way beyond the idea that proverbs might be missing, > and touches on issues right at the core of basic assumptions being made > by psychologists and anthropologists about human cognition, mental > models, and belief. Before accepting Victor's observations, I was hoping > for a bit more input from others on FunkNet about the generality of the > claim. > > I had earlier learned just a little bit of Navajo and been impressed by > the way in which the parts of the car were mapped metaphorically onto > the human body image, much as suggested by the role of the BODY as source > metaphor in Conceptual Metaphor Theory. It had never occurred to me that > all the other types of metaphors that we find so regularly in languages > like English, Chinese, and Japanese would actually be missing in North > America. > > So, I took a look at what Whorf wrote on this subject about Hopi on p. > 146 and it seems that the focus there is on the absence of the shape > metaphors for extent, because of the high level of availability of > built-in quantifiers or "tensors". Whorf also claims that the "conduit" > metaphor for communication is completely missing in Hopi, along with the > metaphor of KNOWING IS SEEING. In the most extreme case, one could > interpret what Whorf is writing as saying that Hopi's do not develop > mental models of either their own thoughts or the thoughts of others. How > this avoidance of metaphor and mental models could square with the > intense religious experiences in North America is something that puzzles > me. > > Perhaps Whorf is not saying this. Perhaps I have misunderstood what > Victor and Marianne and Pamela are saying. Perhaps this is all JUST > about proverbs and not really about metaphor. > > Elizabeth's question about alternatives to proverbs led me to think of > the rich tradition of folk tales in North America, which could easily be > understood as expanded proverbs, much as Aesop's Fables ca be compressed > into proverbs. Marianne notes that stories serve other functions. > However, I wonder whether one can refer to acts of protagonists in > stories and thereby effectively avoid a frozen proverb. > > -- Brian MacWhinney > > On Nov 13, 2012, at 11:40 AM, Marianne Mithun > wrote: > >> And I was just going to chime in with the same thing. I think Victor put >> it exactly right. >> >> Marianne Mithun >> >> >> --On Tuesday, November 13, 2012 7:31 AM -0800 Pamela Munro >> wrote: >> >>> I second what Victor says here. I have never seen anything like a >>> proverb in the North American languages I've studied. >>> >>> Pam >>> >>> On 11/13/12 2:43 AM, Victor Golla wrote: >>>> On Mon, Nov 12, 2012 at 9:31 PM, Bernd Heine wrote: >>>> >>>>> Why should proverbs not >>>>> have a place in a >>>>> (comprehensive) reference grammar? After all, they appear to occur in >>>>> all languages that have been appropriately documented, and they are >>>>> part of the knowledge speakers have about their language. >>>> Proverbs are far from universal. They are notably rare in North >>>> American Indian languages, where riddles, too, are virtually >>>> unattested, except for a few post-contact borrowings from English or >>>> French. >>>> >>>> I don't think that the absence of these genres across an entire >>>> continent can be written off as due to the lack of appropriate >>>> documentation. Rather, it's a matter of metaphorical speech in >>>> general being little used in aboriginal North American cultures for >>>> reasons that are ultimately historical and distributional. >>>> >>>> I'm not sure what this says about speakers' knowledge of their >>>> languages in North America, but it at least suggests that certain >>>> elements of cognitive style can co-vary with differences in >>>> discourse=level patterns of encoding. This is apparently what Whorf >>>> meant when he wrote in "The Relation of Habitual Thought and Behavior >>>> to Language" (in Carroll, ed., Language, Thought and Reality, p. 146) >>>> that Hopi does not have metaphor "built into it" in the same way that >>>> European languages do. >>>> >>>> --Victor Golla >>>> >>> >>> -- >>> Pamela Munro, >>> Distinguished Professor, Linguistics, UCLA >>> UCLA Box 951543 >>> Los Angeles, CA 90095-1543 >>> http://www.linguistics.ucla.edu/people/munro/munro.htm >>> >> >> >> >> >> > From pyoung at uoregon.edu Tue Nov 13 18:08:47 2012 From: pyoung at uoregon.edu (Phil Young) Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2012 10:08:47 -0800 Subject: Proverbs In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Elizabeth, What you say about communicative purpose reminded me of Keith Basso's work with the Western Apache, in particular _Wisdom Sits in Places_. Cheers, Phil Young, Professor Emeritus Department of Anthropology 1218 University of Oregon Eugene, OR 97403 Office phone: (541) 346-5117 Office fax: (541) 346-0668 pyoung at uoregon.edu From dryer at buffalo.edu Tue Nov 13 18:16:16 2012 From: dryer at buffalo.edu (Matthew Dryer) Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2012 13:16:16 -0500 Subject: Proverbs In-Reply-To: <50A1DB4A.6060702@uni-koeln.de> Message-ID: My impression based on examples involving proverbs in grammars is that there are clear geographical patterns in the frequency or importance of proverbs.In particular, they seem far more common in Africa than elsewhere in the world, though I recall seeing examples in languages of southeast Asia. With regard to metaphor, I might point out the following recent volume *Endangered Metaphors* *Edited by Anna Idström and Elisabeth Piirainen* University of Helsinki / Steinfurt, Germany *In cooperation with Tiber F.M. Falzett* [Cognitive Linguistic Studies in Cultural Contexts , 2] 2012. vi, 376 pp. contains the following chapters dealing with languages of the Americas: "Our language is very literal": Figurative expression in Dene Su;?iné [Athapaskan] /Sally Rice/ 21 -- 76 "My heart falls out": Conceptualizations of body parts and emotion expressions in Beaver Athabascan /Carolina Pasamonik/ 77 -- 102 Walking like a porcupine, talking like a raven: Figurative language in Upper Tanana Athabascan /Olga Lovick/ 103 -- 122 Are Nahuatl riddles endangered conceptualizations? /Mercedes Montes de Oca Vega/ 123 -- 144 Bodily-based conceptual metaphors in Ashéninka Perené myths and folk stories /Elena Mihas/ 145 -- 160 Matthew On 11/13/12 12:31 AM, Bernd Heine wrote: > Looking through a range of grammars of languages across the world I am > surprised that proverbs are largely or entirely ignored in grammatical > descriptions. They appear occasionally in the exemplification of > structures but are essentially never discussed, e.g., as a discourse > type, or as illustrating a special kind of morphosyntactic structure > or relationship between form and meaning. > To be sure, I could think of a number of reasons for that, but I find > none of them entirely convincing. Why should proverbs not have a place > in a (comprehensive) reference grammar? After all, they appear to > occur in all languages that have been appropriately documented, and > they are part of the knowledge speakers have about their language. > Please advise. > Bernd > > From emriddle at bsu.edu Tue Nov 13 18:15:03 2012 From: emriddle at bsu.edu (Riddle, Elizabeth) Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2012 18:15:03 +0000 Subject: Proverbs In-Reply-To: <17483446.20121113100847@uoregon.edu> Message-ID: Thanks for the reference, Phil! Liz Elizabeth M. Riddle Professor and Chair Department of English Ball State University Muncie, IN 47306 USA emriddle at bsu.edu Tel: 765-285-8584 ________________________________________ From: funknet-bounces at mailman.rice.edu [funknet-bounces at mailman.rice.edu] on behalf of Phil Young [pyoung at uoregon.edu] Sent: Tuesday, November 13, 2012 1:08 PM To: Riddle, Elizabeth Cc: Funknet; Brian MacWhinney; Marianne Mithun Subject: Re: [FUNKNET] Proverbs Elizabeth, What you say about communicative purpose reminded me of Keith Basso's work with the Western Apache, in particular _Wisdom Sits in Places_. Cheers, Phil Young, Professor Emeritus Department of Anthropology 1218 University of Oregon Eugene, OR 97403 Office phone: (541) 346-5117 Office fax: (541) 346-0668 pyoung at uoregon.edu From wsmith at csusb.edu Tue Nov 13 18:21:31 2012 From: wsmith at csusb.edu (Wendy Smith) Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2012 10:21:31 -0800 Subject: Proverbs In-Reply-To: <50A28E70.6030407@buffalo.edu> Message-ID: They are *extremely common* in the language I work with, Ladino (or Djudeo-espanyol). They are so common, in fact, that there are several books written about them and all Ladino speakers and their descendents can quote them with ease. They are an integral part of the culture, as is narrative. On Nov 13, 2012, at 10:16 AM, Matthew Dryer wrote: > My impression based on examples involving proverbs in grammars is that there are clear geographical patterns in the frequency or importance of proverbs.In particular, they seem far more common in Africa than elsewhere in the world, though I recall seeing examples in languages of southeast Asia. > > With regard to metaphor, I might point out the following recent volume > > *Endangered Metaphors* > > *Edited by Anna Idström and Elisabeth Piirainen* > > University of Helsinki / Steinfurt, Germany > > *In cooperation with Tiber F.M. Falzett* > > [Cognitive Linguistic Studies in Cultural Contexts , 2] 2012. vi, 376 pp. > > contains the following chapters dealing with languages of the Americas: > > "Our language is very literal": Figurative expression in Dene Su;?iné [Athapaskan] > > /Sally Rice/ > > > > 21 -- 76 > > "My heart falls out": Conceptualizations of body parts and emotion expressions in Beaver Athabascan > > /Carolina Pasamonik/ > > > > 77 -- 102 > > Walking like a porcupine, talking like a raven: Figurative language in Upper Tanana Athabascan > > /Olga Lovick/ > > > > 103 -- 122 > > Are Nahuatl riddles endangered conceptualizations? > > /Mercedes Montes de Oca Vega/ > > > > 123 -- 144 > > Bodily-based conceptual metaphors in Ashéninka Perené myths and folk stories > > /Elena Mihas/ > > > > 145 -- 160 > > > > Matthew > > On 11/13/12 12:31 AM, Bernd Heine wrote: >> Looking through a range of grammars of languages across the world I am surprised that proverbs are largely or entirely ignored in grammatical descriptions. They appear occasionally in the exemplification of structures but are essentially never discussed, e.g., as a discourse type, or as illustrating a special kind of morphosyntactic structure or relationship between form and meaning. >> To be sure, I could think of a number of reasons for that, but I find none of them entirely convincing. Why should proverbs not have a place in a (comprehensive) reference grammar? After all, they appear to occur in all languages that have been appropriately documented, and they are part of the knowledge speakers have about their language. Please advise. >> Bernd >> >> > From chafe at linguistics.ucsb.edu Tue Nov 13 18:26:06 2012 From: chafe at linguistics.ucsb.edu (Wallace Chafe) Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2012 10:26:06 -0800 Subject: Proverbs In-Reply-To: <17483446.20121113100847@uoregon.edu> Message-ID: We seem to have strayed pretty far from Bernd's question. Just a couple more miscellaneous remarks. A long long time ago I started to write a grammar of Armenian in collaboration with Hasmig Seropian. For various reasons we never finished it, but I remember that we were in fact going to include a chapter on proverbs, with which Armenian is rife. I seem to remember that others had written about Armenian proverbs, but my memory could be faulty. Marianne is certainly right about the prevalence of metaphor in Iroquois languages. One I especially like captures the idea of being amused or entertained, which is expressed as "stirring one's mind." Often it's in the context of telling stories. Reference to "crying wolf" reminded me of coyote stories, but I don't know that coyote is ever cited as a model for how one should behave. Sometimes he wins and sometimes he loses, so imitating him could get one into big trouble. Nobody mentioned puns, in which I have a special interest because of my broader interest in humor. If you're interested yourself, look at Polysynthetic Puns in UCPL 131 (1998). Wally From grvsmth at panix.com Wed Nov 14 02:45:13 2012 From: grvsmth at panix.com (Angus Grieve-Smith) Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2012 21:45:13 -0500 Subject: Proverbs In-Reply-To: Message-ID: On 11/13/2012 12:51 PM, Riddle, Elizabeth wrote: > Following up the points about story telling, I'm thinking of times when English speakers say things like "Remember the boy who cried 'wolf'" as an admonishment to a child. This utterance is not a proverb in and of itself, has normal sentence structure, and is not really metaphorical in the sense that saying "that's sour grapes" might be, but seems to serve a similar communicative purpose to that of a proverb in such a situation. I'm wondering if such references regularly occur in the discourse of various native North American languages. It's not just explicit allusions like that, but implicit quotations like "Once more into the breach, my friends!" or in French, "revenons à ces moutons..." At this point I have to mention the Star Trek episode "Darmok," which imagined a culture that communicated entirely in those kinds of allusions to old stories: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darmok The "Universal Translator" technology was unable to cope with it, passing the allusions on literally without supplying either the stories themselves or any interpretation as to their relevance. -- -Angus B. Grieve-Smith grvsmth at panix.com From sweetser at berkeley.edu Wed Nov 14 02:56:20 2012 From: sweetser at berkeley.edu (Eve Sweetser) Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2012 18:56:20 -0800 Subject: Proverbs In-Reply-To: <50A305B9.5010907@panix.com> Message-ID: Karen Sullivan and I have a paper about the metaphoric and metonymic relationships in proverbs which I think applies quite well to these cases: 2009. Karen Sullivan and Eve Sweetser. 2009. Is "Generic is Specific" a Metaphor?" in Fey Parrill, Vera Tobin and Mark Turner (eds.), /Meaning, Form and Body/. (Selected papers from the 2008 CSDL meeting). Stanford CA: CSLI Publications. On 11/13/12 6:45 PM, Angus Grieve-Smith wrote: > On 11/13/2012 12:51 PM, Riddle, Elizabeth wrote: >> Following up the points about story telling, I'm thinking of times >> when English speakers say things like "Remember the boy who cried >> 'wolf'" as an admonishment to a child. This utterance is not a >> proverb in and of itself, has normal sentence structure, and is not >> really metaphorical in the sense that saying "that's sour grapes" >> might be, but seems to serve a similar communicative purpose to that >> of a proverb in such a situation. I'm wondering if such references >> regularly occur in the discourse of various native North American >> languages. > > It's not just explicit allusions like that, but implicit > quotations like "Once more into the breach, my friends!" or in French, > "revenons à ces moutons..." > > At this point I have to mention the Star Trek episode "Darmok," > which imagined a culture that communicated entirely in those kinds of > allusions to old stories: > > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darmok > > The "Universal Translator" technology was unable to cope with it, > passing the allusions on literally without supplying either the > stories themselves or any interpretation as to their relevance. > From timthornes at boisestate.edu Wed Nov 14 05:15:10 2012 From: timthornes at boisestate.edu (Tim Thornes) Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2012 23:15:10 -0600 Subject: Proverbs In-Reply-To: <50A30854.5030604@berkeley.edu> Message-ID: I don't know that my original reply to all was delivered to funknet, as my recent change of email address appeared to have shut me out momentarily as a discussant. My comment regarded the apparent lack of proverbs as a distinct discourse genre in Native North American languages, as per Victor's reply. I was responding in part to Elizabeth's comment and to Marianne's and Wally's insights: "I was struck with the same idea regarding the invocation of a well known story in Native America as serving the same "wise saying" function of a proverb. I was thinking, too, of Coyote stories and how the simple mention of one (of the stories) serves as a reminder not to be vain, greedy, garrulous, disobedient, disrespectful, or lascivious. Perhaps it is the invocation itself that serves (a proverbial role), since, as Marianne points out, storytelling carries a broader range of functions. Cheers, Tim On 11/13/12, Eve Sweetser wrote: > Karen Sullivan and I have a paper about the metaphoric and metonymic > relationships in proverbs which I think applies quite well to these cases: > > 2009. Karen Sullivan and Eve Sweetser. 2009. Is "Generic is Specific" a > Metaphor?" in Fey Parrill, Vera Tobin and Mark Turner (eds.), /Meaning, > Form and Body/. (Selected papers from the 2008 CSDL meeting). Stanford > CA: CSLI Publications. > > > > On 11/13/12 6:45 PM, Angus Grieve-Smith wrote: >> On 11/13/2012 12:51 PM, Riddle, Elizabeth wrote: >>> Following up the points about story telling, I'm thinking of times >>> when English speakers say things like "Remember the boy who cried >>> 'wolf'" as an admonishment to a child. This utterance is not a >>> proverb in and of itself, has normal sentence structure, and is not >>> really metaphorical in the sense that saying "that's sour grapes" >>> might be, but seems to serve a similar communicative purpose to that >>> of a proverb in such a situation. I'm wondering if such references >>> regularly occur in the discourse of various native North American >>> languages. >> >> It's not just explicit allusions like that, but implicit >> quotations like "Once more into the breach, my friends!" or in French, >> "revenons à ces moutons..." >> >> At this point I have to mention the Star Trek episode "Darmok," >> which imagined a culture that communicated entirely in those kinds of >> allusions to old stories: >> >> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darmok >> >> The "Universal Translator" technology was unable to cope with it, >> passing the allusions on literally without supplying either the >> stories themselves or any interpretation as to their relevance. >> > > -- TimThornes Assistant Professor of Linguistics English Department Boise State University SMITC 218A (208) 426-4267 From wllu at ntu.edu.tw Wed Nov 14 11:35:49 2012 From: wllu at ntu.edu.tw (Louis Wei-lun Lu) Date: Wed, 14 Nov 2012 19:35:49 +0800 Subject: Proverbs In-Reply-To: <50A28E70.6030407@buffalo.edu> Message-ID: I agree with Matthew's observation that there exists variation in terms of the frequency and importance of proverbs. And I can't help but suspect that genre may also play a role in the usage variation of proverbs: Proverbs in Mandarin Chinese seem to me more frequent in written language but less so in conversation. Now back to Bernd's question, if my above hunch turns out correct, then the fact that most reference grammars (for lgs with a writing tradition) are based on written lg should partially explain why proverbs are left out. Louis Wei-lun Lu 引述 Matthew Dryer : > My impression based on examples involving proverbs in grammars is > that there are clear geographical patterns in the frequency or > importance of proverbs.In particular, they seem far more common in > Africa than elsewhere in the world, though I recall seeing examples > in languages of southeast Asia. > > With regard to metaphor, I might point out the following recent volume > > *Endangered Metaphors* > > *Edited by Anna Idstr"om and Elisabeth Piirainen* > > University of Helsinki / Steinfurt, Germany > > *In cooperation with Tiber F.M. Falzett* > > [Cognitive Linguistic Studies in Cultural Contexts > , 2] 2012. vi, 376 pp. > > contains the following chapters dealing with languages of the Americas: > > "Our language is very literal": Figurative expression in Dene > Su;?in'e [Athapaskan] > > > /Sally Rice/ > > > > 21 -- 76 > > "My heart falls out": Conceptualizations of body parts and emotion > expressions in Beaver Athabascan > > > /Carolina Pasamonik/ > > > > 77 -- 102 > > Walking like a porcupine, talking like a raven: Figurative language > in Upper Tanana Athabascan > > > /Olga Lovick/ > > > > 103 -- 122 > > Are Nahuatl riddles endangered conceptualizations? > > > /Mercedes Montes de Oca Vega/ > > > > 123 -- 144 > > Bodily-based conceptual metaphors in Ash'eninka Peren'e myths and > folk stories > > /Elena Mihas/ > > > > 145 -- 160 > > > > Matthew > > On 11/13/12 12:31 AM, Bernd Heine wrote: >> Looking through a range of grammars of languages across the world I >> am surprised that proverbs are largely or entirely ignored in >> grammatical descriptions. They appear occasionally in the >> exemplification of structures but are essentially never discussed, >> e.g., as a discourse type, or as illustrating a special kind of >> morphosyntactic structure or relationship between form and meaning. >> To be sure, I could think of a number of reasons for that, but I >> find none of them entirely convincing. Why should proverbs not have >> a place in a (comprehensive) reference grammar? After all, they >> appear to occur in all languages that have been appropriately >> documented, and they are part of the knowledge speakers have about >> their language. Please advise. >> Bernd >> >> > > -- Louis Wei-lun Lu (呂維倫) Graduate Institute of Linguistics National Taiwan University From dan at daneverett.org Mon Nov 19 15:24:39 2012 From: dan at daneverett.org (Daniel Everett) Date: Mon, 19 Nov 2012 10:24:39 -0500 Subject: Documentary Message-ID: http://www.smithsonianchannel.com/site/sn/show.do?show=141519 In case anyone is interested in a documentary about the Pirahas, the Smithsonian Channel has just placed the entire program on the internet. Dan Everett From dan at daneverett.org Mon Nov 19 17:04:39 2012 From: dan at daneverett.org (Daniel Everett) Date: Mon, 19 Nov 2012 12:04:39 -0500 Subject: Documentary In-Reply-To: <1EAC95B2-3E8E-4EB8-AF97-DA242A81334F@daneverett.org> Message-ID: Several said that they couldn't watch the movie outside the US. Someone has sent this link to youtube, on which apparently folks outside the US can also watch the documentary. Dan The Grammar of Happiness (2012 Documentary) http://youtu.be/2nlPgSovUow On Nov 19, 2012, at 10:24 AM, Daniel Everett wrote: > http://www.smithsonianchannel.com/site/sn/show.do?show=141519 > > In case anyone is interested in a documentary about the Pirahas, the Smithsonian Channel has just placed the entire program on the internet. > > Dan Everett From jrubba at calpoly.edu Mon Nov 19 17:16:49 2012 From: jrubba at calpoly.edu (Johanna Rubba) Date: Mon, 19 Nov 2012 09:16:49 -0800 Subject: Documentary In-Reply-To: <1EAC95B2-3E8E-4EB8-AF97-DA242A81334F@daneverett.org> Message-ID: Dan, The YouTube doesn't work. It's been taken down by Smithsonian. I had no trouble getting the original, though. Jo Dr. Johanna Rubba, Professor, Linguistics Linguistics Minor Advisor English Department Cal Poly State University, San Luis Obispo Tel. 805.756.2184 Dept. Tel 805.756.2596 E-mail: jrubba at calpoly.edu URL: http://cla.calpoly.edu/~jrubba ******************************************* "Justice is what love looks like in public." - Cornel West On Nov 19, 2012, at 7:24 AM, Daniel Everett wrote: > http://www.smithsonianchannel.com/site/sn/show.do?show=141519 > > In case anyone is interested in a documentary about the Pirahas, the Smithsonian Channel has just placed the entire program on the internet. > > Dan Everett From lachlan_mackenzie at hotmail.com Mon Nov 19 17:25:14 2012 From: lachlan_mackenzie at hotmail.com (Lachlan Mackenzie) Date: Mon, 19 Nov 2012 17:25:14 +0000 Subject: Documentary In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Hi, the YouTube works just fine here in Spain. Looking forward to watching it. Best wishes, Lachlan > From: jrubba at calpoly.edu> Date: Mon, 19 Nov 2012 09:16:49 -0800 > To: dan at daneverett.org > CC: funknet at mailman.rice.edu > Subject: Re: [FUNKNET] Documentary > > Dan, > > The YouTube doesn't work. It's been taken down by Smithsonian. I had no trouble getting the original, though. > > Jo > > Dr. Johanna Rubba, Professor, Linguistics > Linguistics Minor Advisor > English Department > Cal Poly State University, San Luis Obispo > Tel. 805.756.2184 > Dept. Tel 805.756.2596 > E-mail: jrubba at calpoly.edu > URL: http://cla.calpoly.edu/~jrubba > ******************************************* > "Justice is what love looks like in public." > - Cornel West > > > > On Nov 19, 2012, at 7:24 AM, Daniel Everett wrote: > > > http://www.smithsonianchannel.com/site/sn/show.do?show=141519 > > > > In case anyone is interested in a documentary about the Pirahas, the Smithsonian Channel has just placed the entire program on the internet. > > > > Dan Everett > From deseretian at gmail.com Mon Nov 19 18:05:56 2012 From: deseretian at gmail.com (Alex Walker) Date: Mon, 19 Nov 2012 10:05:56 -0800 Subject: Documentary In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Wonderful piece. I'll be playing it for my students tomorrow. Thanks for the link! On Mon, Nov 19, 2012 at 9:25 AM, Lachlan Mackenzie < lachlan_mackenzie at hotmail.com> wrote: > > Hi, the YouTube works just fine here in Spain. Looking forward to watching > it. > Best wishes, > Lachlan > > > From: jrubba at calpoly.edu> Date: Mon, 19 Nov 2012 09:16:49 -0800 > > To: dan at daneverett.org > > CC: funknet at mailman.rice.edu > > Subject: Re: [FUNKNET] Documentary > > > > Dan, > > > > The YouTube doesn't work. It's been taken down by Smithsonian. I had no > trouble getting the original, though. > > > > Jo > > > > Dr. Johanna Rubba, Professor, Linguistics > > Linguistics Minor Advisor > > English Department > > Cal Poly State University, San Luis Obispo > > Tel. 805.756.2184 > > Dept. Tel 805.756.2596 > > E-mail: jrubba at calpoly.edu > > URL: http://cla.calpoly.edu/~jrubba > > ******************************************* > > "Justice is what love looks like in public." > > - Cornel West > > > > > > > > On Nov 19, 2012, at 7:24 AM, Daniel Everett wrote: > > > > > http://www.smithsonianchannel.com/site/sn/show.do?show=141519 > > > > > > In case anyone is interested in a documentary about the Pirahas, the > Smithsonian Channel has just placed the entire program on the internet. > > > > > > Dan Everett > > > > From v.evans at bangor.ac.uk Mon Nov 19 23:22:52 2012 From: v.evans at bangor.ac.uk (Vyv Evans) Date: Mon, 19 Nov 2012 23:22:52 +0000 Subject: Final CfP: Cognitive Futures of the Humanities, 4-6 April 2013 Message-ID: COGNITIVE FUTURES OF THE HUMANITIES International Conference 4-6th April 2013, School of Linguistics & English Language, Bangor University, UK WEBSITE: www.bangor.ac.uk/cognitive-humanities/ CONTACT: cognitivehumanities at bangor.ac.uk ORGANIZER: Prof. Vyv Evans (www.vyvevans.net) Deadline for abstract submissions: 30th Nov 2012 We invite 20-minute paper submissions and poster submissions for a major international conference organized on the Cognitive Futures in the Humanities. The conference will take place on 4-6 April 2013, and will be hosted by Bangor University. Confirmed plenary speakers include the following distinguished scholars: Peter Stockwell (University of Nottingham) Ellen Spolsky (Bar Ilan University ) Shaun Gallagher (University of Memphis) Lisa Zunshine (University of Kentucky) Mark Turner (Case Western Reserve University) Elena Semino (Lancaster University) The conference is associated with an international research network on the ‘Cognitive Futures in the Humanities’, which is supported by the UK’s Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), awarded to Dr. Peter Garrett (Northumbria, UK), and Prof. Vyv Evans (Bangor, UK). The project manager is Dr. Matt Hayler (Exeter, UK). RATIONALE AND CONTEXT This first major conference provides a forum in order to bring together researchers from different humanities disciplines, whose work relates to, informs, or is informed by aspects of the cognitive, brain and behavioural sciences. It aims to address, in various ways, the following questions: what is the ‘cognitive humanities’? In what ways is knowledge from the cognitive sciences changing approaches to language, literature, aesthetics, historiography and creative culture? How have practices in the arts and humanities influenced the cognitive sciences, and how might they do so in the future? This conference will facilitate the exchange of new, innovative research at the intersection of established disciplines, such as philosophy, linguistics, literary studies, art history and cultural studies. The ‘cognitive revolution’ has begun to make an impact on how humanists think about language, identity, embodiment and culture, in fields such as cognitive poetics, narratology, phenomenology and literary theory. This conference will assess the state of the field now and ask what new directions lie open for cognitive humanities research. If the cognitive sciences ask fundamental questions about the very nature of the ‘human' that underpins the humanities, what new forms of knowledge and research practice might be produced in an emerging area called the ‘cognitive humanities’? How can the field be mapped? What methodological opportunities exist, and what value do cognitive paradigms add to traditional modes of inquiry? How may interests particular to the humanities, such as fiction and the imagination, influence the development of research in the cognitive sciences? In addressing these questions, the conference will generate exciting new communication across disciplines and help define an emerging international research community. As part of this initiative, two postgraduate fee-waiver bursaries are being advertised (see details below). CONFERENCE STRUCTURES In addition to six plenary talks, the conference will feature a series of special themed panel sessions with leading researchers serving as discussants, including Alan Richardson (Boston College), Michael Wheeler (Stirling University), Vyv Evans (Bangor University) and Patricia Waugh (Durham University). Proposals may indicate if they wish to be considered for inclusion in one of these sessions (see below). We invite abstracts for 20-minute papers on topics such as: Cognitive neuroscience and the arts Language, meaning and cognitive processing Embodiment Phenomenology of technologies Cognitive poetics and interpretation Reading, immersion and memory Theory of mind Cognition beyond the skin Applied conceptual blending Empirical aesthetics Modularity and creativity Cognition and race, gender and sexuality Cognitive approaches to theatrical performance Literature and affect Literary history and mental science Historicizing cognitive science SUBMISSION DETAILS Please send 250-word abstracts to cognitivehumanities at bangor.ac.uk by the closing date of 30 November 2012. Abstracts should be included as Word file attachments, and be anonymized. Please indicate clearly in your email whether your abstract is to be considered for a paper, or poster, along with the name of presenter(s), university affiliation(s) and email address(es). Proposers can expect to hear if their abstract has been accepted by January 2013, when registration will open. If you wish your abstract to be considered for one of the special themed sessions, please also state which of the following sessions it might contribute to: Metaphor and Mind; Extended and Embodied Cognition; Cognitive Historicism; The Minds of Others; and Cognitive Approaches to Art, Visual Culture and Performance. If you are a postgraduate student who wishes to apply for one of the two fee-waiver bursaries, please also append a 100-word statement to your attached abstract explaining how your research relates to the conference theme of the ‘cognitive humanities’, and include contact details for your principal supervisor. In addition, there will be a satellite event involving a special seminar delivered by Prof. Bernard Spolsky (Bar-Ilan University, Israel) relating to language policy and bilingualism: "What can endangered language activists learn from the “revival” of Hebrew?" Full conference details are available from the conference website: www.bangor.ac.uk/cognitive-humanities/ -- Professor/Yr Athro Vyv Evans Professor of Linguistics/Athro mewn Ieithyddiaeth www.vyvevans.net Deputy Head of College (Research)/ Dirprwy Bennaeth y Coleg (Ymchwil) College of Arts and Humanities/ Coleg y Celfyddydau a’r Dyniaethau Bangor University/Prifysgol Bangor General Editor of 'Language & Cognition' A Mouton de Gruyter journal www.languageandcognition.net -- Rhif Elusen Gofrestredig / Registered Charity No. 1141565 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 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 jordan.zlatev at ling.lu.se Tue Nov 20 14:47:50 2012 From: jordan.zlatev at ling.lu.se (Jordan Zlatev) Date: Tue, 20 Nov 2012 14:47:50 +0000 Subject: Documentary In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Hi, It DID in the morning in Sweden and France - but not anymore! And Dan does not know what is going on... Does anyone? Best, Jordan *************************************** Jordan Zlatev Professor of General Linguistics Lund University Centre for Languages and Literature Box 201 221 00 Lund, Sweden Deputy research director of Centre for Cognitive Semiotics (CCS) http://project.sol.lu.se/en/ccs/ -----Ursprungligt meddelande----- Från: funknet-bounces at mailman.rice.edu [mailto:funknet-bounces at mailman.rice.edu] För Lachlan Mackenzie Skickat: den 19 november 2012 18:25 Till: jrubba at calpoly.edu; dan at daneverett.org Kopia: Funknet List Ämne: Re: [FUNKNET] Documentary Hi, the YouTube works just fine here in Spain. Looking forward to watching it. Best wishes, Lachlan > From: jrubba at calpoly.edu> Date: Mon, 19 Nov 2012 09:16:49 -0800 > To: dan at daneverett.org > CC: funknet at mailman.rice.edu > Subject: Re: [FUNKNET] Documentary > > Dan, > > The YouTube doesn't work. It's been taken down by Smithsonian. I had no trouble getting the original, though. > > Jo > > Dr. Johanna Rubba, Professor, Linguistics > Linguistics Minor Advisor > English Department > Cal Poly State University, San Luis Obispo Tel. 805.756.2184 Dept. Tel > 805.756.2596 > E-mail: jrubba at calpoly.edu > URL: http://cla.calpoly.edu/~jrubba > ******************************************* > "Justice is what love looks like in public." > - Cornel West > > > > On Nov 19, 2012, at 7:24 AM, Daniel Everett wrote: > > > http://www.smithsonianchannel.com/site/sn/show.do?show=141519 > > > > In case anyone is interested in a documentary about the Pirahas, the Smithsonian Channel has just placed the entire program on the internet. > > > > Dan Everett > From mwmbombay at gmail.com Tue Nov 20 14:48:26 2012 From: mwmbombay at gmail.com (Mike Morgan) Date: Tue, 20 Nov 2012 20:33:26 +0545 Subject: Documentary In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Yes, was able to download the youtube posted video even here in Nepal with our turtle-slow download speeds ;-) Haven't had time to watch it all yet, but watched segments throughout to see that it all downlaoded okay... looks to be a very good piece. On 11/19/12, Alex Walker wrote: > Wonderful piece. I'll be playing it for my students tomorrow. Thanks for > the link! > > On Mon, Nov 19, 2012 at 9:25 AM, Lachlan Mackenzie < > lachlan_mackenzie at hotmail.com> wrote: > >> >> Hi, the YouTube works just fine here in Spain. Looking forward to >> watching >> it. >> Best wishes, >> Lachlan >> >> > From: jrubba at calpoly.edu> Date: Mon, 19 Nov 2012 09:16:49 -0800 >> > To: dan at daneverett.org >> > CC: funknet at mailman.rice.edu >> > Subject: Re: [FUNKNET] Documentary >> > >> > Dan, >> > >> > The YouTube doesn't work. It's been taken down by Smithsonian. I had no >> trouble getting the original, though. >> > >> > Jo >> > >> > Dr. Johanna Rubba, Professor, Linguistics >> > Linguistics Minor Advisor >> > English Department >> > Cal Poly State University, San Luis Obispo >> > Tel. 805.756.2184 >> > Dept. Tel 805.756.2596 >> > E-mail: jrubba at calpoly.edu >> > URL: http://cla.calpoly.edu/~jrubba >> > ******************************************* >> > "Justice is what love looks like in public." >> > - Cornel West >> > >> > >> > >> > On Nov 19, 2012, at 7:24 AM, Daniel Everett wrote: >> > >> > > http://www.smithsonianchannel.com/site/sn/show.do?show=141519 >> > > >> > > In case anyone is interested in a documentary about the Pirahas, the >> Smithsonian Channel has just placed the entire program on the internet. >> > > >> > > Dan Everett >> > >> >> > -- mwm || *U*C> || mike || माईक || мика || マイク (aka Dr Michael W Morgan) sign language linguist / linguistic typologist academic adviser, Nepal Sign Language Training and Research NDFN, Kathmandu, Nepal From amnfn at well.com Tue Nov 20 14:57:50 2012 From: amnfn at well.com (A. Katz) Date: Tue, 20 Nov 2012 06:57:50 -0800 Subject: Documentary In-Reply-To: Message-ID: I watched it yesterday, and I shared it on FB and on my blog in many places. It is a very profound piece, as it not only highlights the academic conflict over turf, but the way that local governments want to erase the evidence of the lack of numeracy by enforcing education and modern living on a people who do not want these things. There are many, many conflicting points of view being represented in this one documentary. I initially watched it with Bow, a chimpanzee, and he was upset by something completely different: http://notesfromthepens.blogspot.com/2012/11/different-points-of-view-grammar-of.html --Aya ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mike Morgan" To: "Funknet List" Cc: dan at daneverett.org Sent: Tuesday, November 20, 2012 8:48:26 AM Subject: Re: [FUNKNET] Documentary Yes, was able to download the youtube posted video even here in Nepal with our turtle-slow download speeds ;-) Haven't had time to watch it all yet, but watched segments throughout to see that it all downlaoded okay... looks to be a very good piece. On 11/19/12, Alex Walker wrote: > Wonderful piece. I'll be playing it for my students tomorrow. Thanks for > the link! > > On Mon, Nov 19, 2012 at 9:25 AM, Lachlan Mackenzie < > lachlan_mackenzie at hotmail.com> wrote: > >> >> Hi, the YouTube works just fine here in Spain. Looking forward to >> watching >> it. >> Best wishes, >> Lachlan >> >> > From: jrubba at calpoly.edu> Date: Mon, 19 Nov 2012 09:16:49 -0800 >> > To: dan at daneverett.org >> > CC: funknet at mailman.rice.edu >> > Subject: Re: [FUNKNET] Documentary >> > >> > Dan, >> > >> > The YouTube doesn't work. It's been taken down by Smithsonian. I had no >> trouble getting the original, though. >> > >> > Jo >> > >> > Dr. Johanna Rubba, Professor, Linguistics >> > Linguistics Minor Advisor >> > English Department >> > Cal Poly State University, San Luis Obispo >> > Tel. 805.756.2184 >> > Dept. Tel 805.756.2596 >> > E-mail: jrubba at calpoly.edu >> > URL: http://cla.calpoly.edu/~jrubba >> > ******************************************* >> > "Justice is what love looks like in public." >> > - Cornel West >> > >> > >> > >> > On Nov 19, 2012, at 7:24 AM, Daniel Everett wrote: >> > >> > > http://www.smithsonianchannel.com/site/sn/show.do?show=141519 >> > > >> > > In case anyone is interested in a documentary about the Pirahas, the >> Smithsonian Channel has just placed the entire program on the internet. >> > > >> > > Dan Everett >> > >> >> > -- mwm || *U*C> || mike || माईक || мика || マイク (aka Dr Michael W Morgan) sign language linguist / linguistic typologist academic adviser, Nepal Sign Language Training and Research NDFN, Kathmandu, Nepal From dan at daneverett.org Tue Nov 20 15:05:22 2012 From: dan at daneverett.org (Daniel Everett) Date: Tue, 20 Nov 2012 10:05:22 -0500 Subject: Documentary In-Reply-To: <766689007.665.1353423470674.JavaMail.root@zimbra.well.com> Message-ID: The documentary won the Jackson Hole Film Festival Award for the best human science film of 2012. It just won the Gold 'Australian Cinematographers Society' Award at the ACS awards ceremony and the final award of the night - the prestigious 2012 Judges Award for Best Cinematography. It has won several other awards. It was a finalist at the Paris Science Film Festival. It premiers on Arte France/Germany and on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in December. (GOH was produced and originated completely by Essential Media and I had zero to do with the process, except to answer hours of questions.) -- Dan On Nov 20, 2012, at 9:57 AM, A. Katz wrote: > I watched it yesterday, and I shared it on FB and on my blog in many places. > > It is a very profound piece, as it not only highlights the academic conflict over turf, but the way that local governments want to erase the evidence of the lack of numeracy by enforcing education and modern living on a people who do not want these things. > > There are many, many conflicting points of view being represented in this one documentary. I initially watched it with Bow, a chimpanzee, and he was upset by something completely different: > > http://notesfromthepens.blogspot.com/2012/11/different-points-of-view-grammar-of.html > > --Aya > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Mike Morgan" > To: "Funknet List" > Cc: dan at daneverett.org > Sent: Tuesday, November 20, 2012 8:48:26 AM > Subject: Re: [FUNKNET] Documentary > > Yes, was able to download the youtube posted video even here in Nepal > with our turtle-slow download speeds ;-) > > Haven't had time to watch it all yet, but watched segments throughout > to see that it all downlaoded okay... looks to be a very good piece. > > > > On 11/19/12, Alex Walker wrote: >> Wonderful piece. I'll be playing it for my students tomorrow. Thanks for >> the link! >> >> On Mon, Nov 19, 2012 at 9:25 AM, Lachlan Mackenzie < >> lachlan_mackenzie at hotmail.com> wrote: >> >>> >>> Hi, the YouTube works just fine here in Spain. Looking forward to >>> watching >>> it. >>> Best wishes, >>> Lachlan >>> >>>> From: jrubba at calpoly.edu> Date: Mon, 19 Nov 2012 09:16:49 -0800 >>>> To: dan at daneverett.org >>>> CC: funknet at mailman.rice.edu >>>> Subject: Re: [FUNKNET] Documentary >>>> >>>> Dan, >>>> >>>> The YouTube doesn't work. It's been taken down by Smithsonian. I had no >>> trouble getting the original, though. >>>> >>>> Jo >>>> >>>> Dr. Johanna Rubba, Professor, Linguistics >>>> Linguistics Minor Advisor >>>> English Department >>>> Cal Poly State University, San Luis Obispo >>>> Tel. 805.756.2184 >>>> Dept. Tel 805.756.2596 >>>> E-mail: jrubba at calpoly.edu >>>> URL: http://cla.calpoly.edu/~jrubba >>>> ******************************************* >>>> "Justice is what love looks like in public." >>>> - Cornel West >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> On Nov 19, 2012, at 7:24 AM, Daniel Everett wrote: >>>> >>>>> http://www.smithsonianchannel.com/site/sn/show.do?show=141519 >>>>> >>>>> In case anyone is interested in a documentary about the Pirahas, the >>> Smithsonian Channel has just placed the entire program on the internet. >>>>> >>>>> Dan Everett >>>> >>> >>> >> > > > -- > mwm || *U*C> || mike || माईक || мика || マイク (aka Dr Michael W Morgan) > sign language linguist / linguistic typologist > academic adviser, Nepal Sign Language Training and Research > NDFN, Kathmandu, Nepal From michel.launey at ird.fr Tue Nov 20 17:50:39 2012 From: michel.launey at ird.fr (Michel LAUNEY) Date: Tue, 20 Nov 2012 18:50:39 +0100 Subject: Documentary In-Reply-To: <20121119170451.B05BE2F3E68E@fx804.security-mail.net> Message-ID: I was able to watch the movie yesterday from the link below (with You-Tube) However, today when I tried a new access, entry was denied ("Cette vidéo est privée") This world is full of mysteries Best Michel Launey On Mon, 19 Nov 2012 12:04:39 -0500 Daniel Everett wrote: > Several said that they couldn't watch the movie outside the US. >Someone has sent this link to youtube, on which apparently folks >outside the US can also watch the documentary. > > Dan > > > The Grammar of Happiness (2012 Documentary) > http://youtu.be/2nlPgSovUow > > > > On Nov 19, 2012, at 10:24 AM, Daniel Everett wrote: > >> http://www.smithsonianchannel.com/site/sn/show.do?show=141519 >> >> In case anyone is interested in a documentary about the Pirahas, the >>Smithsonian Channel has just placed the entire program on the >>internet. >> >> Dan Everett > From twood at uwc.ac.za Wed Nov 21 07:12:24 2012 From: twood at uwc.ac.za (Tahir Wood) Date: Wed, 21 Nov 2012 09:12:24 +0200 Subject: Final CfP: Cognitive Futures of the Humanities, 4-6 April 2013 In-Reply-To: <50AABF4C.1090003@bangor.ac.uk> Message-ID: Dear Prof Evans Forgive me for contacting you on this list, but I think you should know that I am unable to access the Bangor server and so I cannot get my abstract to you for this conference. Our IT people here tested the connection and said the problem is on your side. I couldn't get through to the conference address nor to your personal e-mail address. So I hope you can help me because the time remaining for submissions is short. Please advise. Yours sincerely Tahir Wood >>> Vyv Evans 11/20/2012 1:22 am >>> COGNITIVE FUTURES OF THE HUMANITIES International Conference 4-6th April 2013, School of Linguistics & English Language, Bangor University, UK WEBSITE: www.bangor.ac.uk/cognitive-humanities/ CONTACT: cognitivehumanities at bangor.ac.uk ORGANIZER: Prof. Vyv Evans (www.vyvevans.net) Deadline for abstract submissions: 30th Nov 2012 We invite 20-minute paper submissions and poster submissions for a major international conference organized on the Cognitive Futures in the Humanities. The conference will take place on 4-6 April 2013, and will be hosted by Bangor University. Confirmed plenary speakers include the following distinguished scholars: Peter Stockwell (University of Nottingham) Ellen Spolsky (Bar Ilan University ) Shaun Gallagher (University of Memphis) Lisa Zunshine (University of Kentucky) Mark Turner (Case Western Reserve University) Elena Semino (Lancaster University) The conference is associated with an international research network on the ‘Cognitive Futures in the Humanities’, which is supported by the UK’s Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), awarded to Dr. Peter Garrett (Northumbria, UK), and Prof. Vyv Evans (Bangor, UK). The project manager is Dr. Matt Hayler (Exeter, UK). RATIONALE AND CONTEXT This first major conference provides a forum in order to bring together researchers from different humanities disciplines, whose work relates to, informs, or is informed by aspects of the cognitive, brain and behavioural sciences. It aims to address, in various ways, the following questions: what is the ‘cognitive humanities’? In what ways is knowledge from the cognitive sciences changing approaches to language, literature, aesthetics, historiography and creative culture? How have practices in the arts and humanities influenced the cognitive sciences, and how might they do so in the future? This conference will facilitate the exchange of new, innovative research at the intersection of established disciplines, such as philosophy, linguistics, literary studies, art history and cultural studies. The ‘cognitive revolution’ has begun to make an impact on how humanists think about language, identity, embodiment and culture, in fields such as cognitive poetics, narratology, phenomenology and literary theory. This conference will assess the state of the field now and ask what new directions lie open for cognitive humanities research. If the cognitive sciences ask fundamental questions about the very nature of the ‘human' that underpins the humanities, what new forms of knowledge and research practice might be produced in an emerging area called the ‘cognitive humanities’? How can the field be mapped? What methodological opportunities exist, and what value do cognitive paradigms add to traditional modes of inquiry? How may interests particular to the humanities, such as fiction and the imagination, influence the development of research in the cognitive sciences? In addressing these questions, the conference will generate exciting new communication across disciplines and help define an emerging international research community. As part of this initiative, two postgraduate fee-waiver bursaries are being advertised (see details below). CONFERENCE STRUCTURES In addition to six plenary talks, the conference will feature a series of special themed panel sessions with leading researchers serving as discussants, including Alan Richardson (Boston College), Michael Wheeler (Stirling University), Vyv Evans (Bangor University) and Patricia Waugh (Durham University). Proposals may indicate if they wish to be considered for inclusion in one of these sessions (see below). We invite abstracts for 20-minute papers on topics such as: Cognitive neuroscience and the arts Language, meaning and cognitive processing Embodiment Phenomenology of technologies Cognitive poetics and interpretation Reading, immersion and memory Theory of mind Cognition beyond the skin Applied conceptual blending Empirical aesthetics Modularity and creativity Cognition and race, gender and sexuality Cognitive approaches to theatrical performance Literature and affect Literary history and mental science Historicizing cognitive science SUBMISSION DETAILS Please send 250-word abstracts to cognitivehumanities at bangor.ac.uk by the closing date of 30 November 2012. Abstracts should be included as Word file attachments, and be anonymized. Please indicate clearly in your email whether your abstract is to be considered for a paper, or poster, along with the name of presenter(s), university affiliation(s) and email address(es). Proposers can expect to hear if their abstract has been accepted by January 2013, when registration will open. If you wish your abstract to be considered for one of the special themed sessions, please also state which of the following sessions it might contribute to: Metaphor and Mind; Extended and Embodied Cognition; Cognitive Historicism; The Minds of Others; and Cognitive Approaches to Art, Visual Culture and Performance. If you are a postgraduate student who wishes to apply for one of the two fee-waiver bursaries, please also append a 100-word statement to your attached abstract explaining how your research relates to the conference theme of the ‘cognitive humanities’, and include contact details for your principal supervisor. In addition, there will be a satellite event involving a special seminar delivered by Prof. Bernard Spolsky (Bar-Ilan University, Israel) relating to language policy and bilingualism: "What can endangered language activists learn from the “revival” of Hebrew?" Full conference details are available from the conference website: www.bangor.ac.uk/cognitive-humanities/ -- Professor/Yr Athro Vyv Evans Professor of Linguistics/Athro mewn Ieithyddiaeth www.vyvevans.net Deputy Head of College (Research)/ Dirprwy Bennaeth y Coleg (Ymchwil) College of Arts and Humanities/ Coleg y Celfyddydau a’r Dyniaethau Bangor University/Prifysgol Bangor General Editor of 'Language & Cognition' A Mouton de Gruyter journal www.languageandcognition.net -- Rhif Elusen Gofrestredig / Registered Charity No. 1141565 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 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 filtchenko at policy.hu Wed Nov 21 14:17:02 2012 From: filtchenko at policy.hu (Andrey Filchenko) Date: Wed, 21 Nov 2012 15:17:02 +0100 Subject: Documentary In-Reply-To: <20121120175040.6757111A79C7@fx805.security-mail.net> Message-ID: The original video was unavailble for Germany based IP addresses, but was accessible via youtube (address provided by Daniel). As of yesterday it is no longer available on youtube as well (the sign says limited access has to do with privacy issues). Although it is interesting that one can find various trailers and shorter versions of the film edited with various points emphasized: - http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=kYtBR2vfgzU - http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=endscreen&v=lS1Dno_d2yA - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsZlY43jI2I Andrey ??????? Michel LAUNEY : > I was able to watch the movie yesterday from the link below (with You-Tube) > However, today when I tried a new access, entry was denied ("Cette > vid?o est priv?e") > This world is full of mysteries > Best > Michel Launey > > > On Mon, 19 Nov 2012 12:04:39 -0500 > Daniel Everett wrote: >> Several said that they couldn't watch the movie outside the US. >> Someone has sent this link to youtube, on which apparently folks >> outside the US can also watch the documentary. >> >> Dan >> >> >> The Grammar of Happiness (2012 Documentary) >> http://youtu.be/2nlPgSovUow >> >> >> >> On Nov 19, 2012, at 10:24 AM, Daniel Everett wrote: >> >>> http://www.smithsonianchannel.com/site/sn/show.do?show=141519 >>> >>> In case anyone is interested in a documentary about the Pirahas, >>> the Smithsonian Channel has just placed the entire program on the >>> internet. >>> >>> Dan Everett >> > > ~-~ From dan at daneverett.org Wed Nov 21 14:22:33 2012 From: dan at daneverett.org (Daniel Everett) Date: Wed, 21 Nov 2012 09:22:33 -0500 Subject: Documentary In-Reply-To: <20121121151702.63443wgsw0wws4kc@mail.policy.hu> Message-ID: Very sorry about the problems for those outside the US in viewing the film. It will be available in several additional countries over the next couple of months, I am told. Watching the film piecemeal is not the way to watch it. It tells a cohesive story about the Pirahas and cannot really be fully appreciated without seeing it in its entirety. The film can be ordered from this site: http://justnow.com.au/evg/search.php?mode=search&page=1 Smithsonian Channel only owns the US rights (and they have to follow the dictates of Comcast). Dan On Nov 21, 2012, at 9:17 AM, filtchenko at policy.hu wrote: > The original video was unavailble for Germany based IP addresses, but was accessible via youtube (address provided by Daniel). As of yesterday it is no longer available on youtube as well (the sign says limited access has to do with privacy issues). Although it is interesting that one can find various trailers and shorter versions of the film edited with various points emphasized: > - http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=kYtBR2vfgzU > - http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=endscreen&v=lS1Dno_d2yA > - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsZlY43jI2I > Andrey > > > > ??????? Michel LAUNEY : > >> I was able to watch the movie yesterday from the link below (with You-Tube) >> However, today when I tried a new access, entry was denied ("Cette vid?o est priv?e") >> This world is full of mysteries >> Best >> Michel Launey >> >> >> On Mon, 19 Nov 2012 12:04:39 -0500 >> Daniel Everett wrote: >>> Several said that they couldn't watch the movie outside the US. Someone has sent this link to youtube, on which apparently folks outside the US can also watch the documentary. >>> >>> Dan >>> >>> >>> The Grammar of Happiness (2012 Documentary) >>> http://youtu.be/2nlPgSovUow >>> >>> >>> >>> On Nov 19, 2012, at 10:24 AM, Daniel Everett wrote: >>> >>>> http://www.smithsonianchannel.com/site/sn/show.do?show=141519 >>>> >>>> In case anyone is interested in a documentary about the Pirahas, the Smithsonian Channel has just placed the entire program on the internet. >>>> >>>> Dan Everett >>> >> >> > > > ~-~ > > From agreenwood at utpress.utoronto.ca Wed Nov 21 20:31:33 2012 From: agreenwood at utpress.utoronto.ca (Greenwood, Audrey) Date: Wed, 21 Nov 2012 20:31:33 +0000 Subject: New Issue Alert - The Canadian Journal of Linguistics 57:3, November 2012 Message-ID: Now available on Project MUSE The Canadian Journal of Linguistics 57(3), November/novembre 2012 This issue contains: Copular sentences expressing Kimian states in Irish and Russian pp. 341-358 | DOI: 10.1353/cjl.2012.0039 Gréte Dalmi Abstract: The central claim of this article is that the D(avidsonian)-state vs. K(imian)-state distinction established for German and Spanish by Maienborn is of wider crosslinguistic relevance. Stage-level and individual-level secondary predicates are both viewed here as K-states as they contain only a Kimian temporal variable but no Davidsonian event variable. Secondary predicates expressing a K-state may acquire the temporary/ actual property interpretation when an alternative state entailment is added to them. In such cases the functional layer of the be-predicate contains a syntactic operator (OPalt) that can bind the Kimian temporal variable in accessible worlds. If no such entailment is added, the same temporal variable is bound by the T0 functional head of the BE-predicate in the actual world. The auxiliary tá/bhí ‘be’ in Irish imposes the semantic restriction that its secondary predicate must contain the alternative state entailment. The copula is/ba ‘be’, on the other hand, is used in the absence of such an entailment. Case obviation on the secondary predicate head in Russian copular sentences signals alternative state entailment, while case agreement on the secondary predicate appears in the absence of this entailment. Résumé: Cet article propose que la distinction entre l’état-D(avidsonien) et l’état-K(imien) établie pour l’allemand et l’espagnol par Maienborn est pertinente pour d’autres langues. Les prédicats secondaires d’individu ou épisodiques sont tous les deux considérés comme des états-K puisqu’ils ne contiennent qu’une variable temporelle kimienne mais aucune variable d’événement davidsonienne. Les prédicats secondaires qui expriment un état-K peuvent acquérir l’interprétation de propriété temporelle/ réelle dès qu’une conséquence nécessaire d’état alternatif s’y ajoute. Dans de tels cas, le niveau fonctionnel du prédicat être contient un opérateur syntaxique (OPalt) qui peut lier la variable temporelle kimienne dans des mondes accessibles. Lorsqu’une telle conséquence ne s’ajoute pas, la même variable temporelle est liée par la tête fonctionnelle T0 du prédicat être dans le monde réel. L’auxiliaire tá/bhí ‘être’ en irlandais impose la restriction sémantique selon laquelle son prédicat secondaire doit contenir la conséquence d’état alternatif. La copule is/ba ‘être’, par contre, est utilisée en l’absence d’une telle conséquence. L’obviation du cas sur la tête du prédicat secondaire dans des phrases copulatives en russe signale une conséquence d’état alternatif, alors que l’accord de cas sur le prédicat secondaire apparaît en l’absence de cette conséquence. Tenetehára: A predicate-fronting language pp. 359-386 | DOI: 10.1353/cjl.2012.0042 Fábio Bonfim Duarte Abstract: This article investigates whether Tenetehára is a predicate-raising language. The purpose is to determine whether VSO order results from verb movement to the heads T0 or C0 only, or whether Tenetehára exhibits VP remnant movement, similarly to languages like Niuean, Chol, Malagasy, and Seediq. The analysis concludes that Tenetehára does allow predicate movement, to Spec-CP or Spec-TP. Either option depends on particles related to tense and complementation, in sentence-final position. Additionally, assuming Kayne’s antisymmetry theory, in which all movement occurs to the left, and the predicate-raising hypothesis, it is proposed that final tense particle orders are derived from the basic word order [Tense [SVO] ]. To derive the fact that T0 can be head-final, the analysis holds that the predicate, represented by the v- VP complex, must move to the specifier position of TP. Finally, it is proposed that the syntactic trigger for predicate-raising is the presence of a [+PRED] feature both in the head C0 and in the head T0, a fact that explains why Tenetehára grammar systematically strands tense and complementizer particles in clause-final position. Résumé: Cet article tente de déterminer si la langue tenetehára est une langue à prédicat à montée. Le but de l’étude est de vérifier si l’ordre VSO résulte du mouvement du verbe vers les têtes T0 ou C0, ou s’il s’agit du mouvement d’un constituant vestige, comme en niuéen, chol, malgache et seediq. L’analyse conclut que le tenetehára autorise le mouvement du prédicat aussi bien vers Spéc-CP que vers Spéc-TP. Ces options dépendent de particules en position finale de phrase et qui se rapportent au temps ou à la complémentation. En outre, compte tenu de la théorie antisymétrique de Kayne selon laquelle tout mouvement se réalise vers la gauche, et de l’hypothèse du prédicat à montée, on propose que l’ordre final des particules de temps résulte de l’ordre fondamental [Temps [SVO] ]. Ainsi, pour conclure que T0 peut être tête finale en tenetehára, l’analyse présume que le prédicat, représenté par le complexe v- VP, doit se déplacer vers la position de spécifieur du TP. L’article propose enfin que le déclencheur syntaxique qui force le prédicat à monter est la présence d’un trait [+PRED] aussi bien dans la tête de C0 que dans celle de T0, ce qui explique pourquoi les particules du temps et du complémenteur se retrouvent systématiquement dans la position finale de la phrase. The T-Extension Condition pp. 387-426 | DOI: 10.1353/cjl.2012.0044 Ivona Kučerová Abstract: This article presents a case study of Czech that opens the possibility of unifying various second-position phenomena as instances of an interface condition on head extension. The condition requires a head to undergo at least two instances of merge within its phase. The core of the article explores properties of T0. It is shown that any merge (external or internal, merge of a head or a phrase) yields a well-formed structure. Since it does not matter to the requirement what category merges to T0, the condition must be stated as a general requirement on what category may be the root. Résumé: Cet article présente une étude de cas du tchèque qui rend possible une analyse unifiée de divers phénomènes de deuxième position selon laquelle ils sont tous le résultat d’une condition d’interface sur l’extension d’une tête. La condition exige qu’une tête doit subir au moins deux occurrences de fusion à l’intérieur de sa phase. La partie centrale de l’article étudie les propriétés de T0. Il est démontré que n’importe quelle occurrence de fusion (externe ou interne, fusion d’une tête ou d’un syntagme) crée une structure bien formée. Puisque la catégorie de l’élément qui fusionne à T0 n’est pas importante, la condition doit être formulée comme une exigence générale sur la catégorie de la racine. Transitive be perfect: An experimental study of Canadian English pp. 427-457 | DOI: 10.1353/cjl.2012.0046 Yuri Yerastov Abstract: This article investigates exemplars of the transitive be perfect in Canadian English, such as I am done dinner and I am finished my homework. I report on an experimental study of acceptability judgments of this construction, given by speakers of Canadian English primarily recruited from the Calgary area. I claim that the construction [be done NP] is characterized by preference for the animacy of the subject, preference for definiteness of the direct object, open-endedness of the direct object slot, and limited variability of the participle. I conclude that [be done NP] is a partially schematic construction that is close to a “prefab”. Résumé: Cet article étudie des exemples du parfait transitif avec l’auxiliaire be en anglais canadien, comme dans I am done dinner et I am finished my homework. L’article rend compte d’une étude expérimentale dans laquelle étaient sollicités des jugements d’acceptabilité portant sur des exemples de cette construction fournis par des locuteurs d’anglais canadien recrutés surtout dans la région de Calgary. Sur la base de cette étude, j’affirme que la construction [be done SN] est caractérisée par une préférence pour un sujet animé, une préférence pour la définitude du complément d’objet direct, le caractère ouvert du complément d’objet direct et la variabilité limitée du participe. Je tire la conclusion que [be done SN] est une construction partiellement schématique qui ressemble plutôt à une construction “toute faite”. Reviews / Comptes Rendus Dialects of English: Newfoundland and Labrador English (review) pp. 459-461 | DOI: 10.1353/cjl.2012.0034 Gordon Alley-Young Event representation in language and cognition (review) pp. 461-464 | DOI: 10.1353/cjl.2012.0036 Engin Arik Dictionary of American Regional English (review) pp. 464-467 | DOI: 10.1353/cjl.2012.0038 J.K. Chambers Cyclical change (review) pp. 467-470 | DOI: 10.1353/cjl.2012.0041 Ailís Cournane Parametric variation: Null subject in Minimalist Theory (review) pp. 470-473 | DOI: 10.1353/cjl.2012.0043 Gréte Dalmi The handbook of phonetic sciences (review) pp. 474-477 | DOI: 10.1353/cjl.2012.0045 Zahir Mumin Language, usage and cognition (review) pp. 477-480 | DOI: 10.1353/cjl.2012.0047 Mohammad Rasekh Mahand Second dialect acquisition (review) pp. 480-483 | DOI: 10.1353/cjl.2012.0035 Karim Sadeghi ________________________________ Books Received / Livres reçus pp. 491-493 | DOI: 10.1353/cjl.2012.0037 Thanks to Reviewers Remerciements aux évaluateurs p. 494 | DOI: 10.1353/cjl.2012.0040 The Canadian Journal of Linguistics publishes articles of original research in linguistics in both English and French. The articles deal with linguistic theory, linguistic description of English, French and a variety of other natural languages, phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, historical linguistics, sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics, first and second language acquisition, and other areas of interest to linguists. About Project MUSE Project MUSE is a unique collaboration between libraries and publishers, providing 100% full-text, affordable and user-friendly online access to a comprehensive selection of prestigious humanities and social sciencesjournals. MUSE's online journal collections support a diverse array of research needs at academic, public, special and school libraries worldwide. 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In-Reply-To: <50A90568.2000507@ucl.ac.uk> Message-ID: Hi Funknetters, For anyone interested, I'm attaching below a follow-up conversation between Stefan Frank and me on his paper in PsychScience, suggesting that there is no hierarchical structure that is accessed during sentence processing. I removed all parts that weren't crucial to the discussion. Florian ------------------------------------------------------------------- First, Stefan's reply to my post: Hi Florian, Thanks for cc-ing me (and for not being as harsh on us as some linguistic bloggers). I just wanted to correct you on one details: In the PsychSci paper, we use echo-state networks (ESNs), not SRNs. The difference matters because claims about hierarchical processing by SRNs always relied on the internal representations learned by the networks. But ESNs do not learn any internal representations (their recurrent weights remain untrained) so the results we found cannot be due to the ESNs learning to deal with hierarchical structure. All the best, Stefan [...] ESNs and SRNs have the same architecture (at least, they do when I use them) but are trained differently. Crucially, an ESN's input and recurrent connection weights are not adapted to the training data. Simply put, each input to an ESN is "randomly" mapped to a point in a very high-dimensional space (the network's hidden units). The output connection weights are then trained on these hidden vectors using linear regression. This is not to say that there is no useful structure in the hidden-unit space: Čerňanský et al. (Neural Networks, 2007) showed that untrained recurrent neural nets have a Markovian bias (more specifically, they correspond to Variable Length Markov Models). [...] ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Stefan Frank Date: Sun, Nov 18, 2012 at 10:57 AM Subject: Re: Fwd: How hierarchical is language use? To: "T. Florian Jaeger" [...] From this article, it seems to me that ESNs still have latent > structure. I think I see what you mean by saying that it's not 'useful' > latent structure, though I'd say that it is, it's just not readily > interpretable. > Actually, what I wrote was quite the opposite, but I admit that my double-negation construction ("This is not to say that there is no useful structure") was confusing. So, yes, there is structure, and it is useful. I assume that ESNs are great as long as a) the number N > of units in the reservoir is great enough or b) the number of instances > of the ESN over which we marginalize is large (did you do that in your > paper -- average across ESNs, each of them being a simulated > 'comprehender'?) or c) the statistical process that underlies the random > output variable is sufficient simple in its structure. Is that a correct > characterization? > Yes, I'd agree with that. In our paper, we did not marginalize over many ESNs. Instead, we trained three ESNs of each size and presented results for the one with median performance. I merely mean that ESNs > can presumably do a good job at modeling random variables generated by a > hierarchical generative process because they after all have a way to > capture that latent structure by driving the states of a sufficiently > large reservoir (which, if I get this right, is a set of computing units > with all-to-all connections that have weights that are initialized > randomly and never changed by training?). I assume that if that > reservoir wouldn't be sufficiently large the constraint that input to > reservoir and reservoir to output connections are linear would not allow > the model to learn much. so this model essentially does by breadth what > other models do by depths. is that roughly correct? > Indeed, that is roughly correct. However, the structure imposed by the random recurrent network has properties similar to a variable length markov model (see Čerňanský et al., 2007), that is, it does not reflect the input's hierarchical structure. A standard Elman network can (at least in theory) adapt its input and recurrent connection weights to hierarchical structure in the input but in an ESN these weights remain random. So the only way it could make use of hierarchical structure is if it gets encoded in the (learned) transformation from the hidden-unit space to the output space, but since this is a linear mapping I don't see how that would work (which, admittedly, does not mean it cannot work). [...] Cheers, Stefan From macw at cmu.edu Thu Nov 22 23:17:26 2012 From: macw at cmu.edu (Brian MacWhinney) Date: Thu, 22 Nov 2012 18:17:26 -0500 Subject: How hierarchical is language use? In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Dear Florian and Stefan, It is interesting to see you and Stefan discussing whether SRNs and/or ESNs can represent hierarchy internally. As I see it, the attempt to capture hierarchy inside an exclusively syntactic network, be it SRN, ESN, ATN is wide of the mark. The discussions of structural dependency (and the logical problem) assume that embedded clauses are processed by the same algorithmic machine that processes the rest of syntax. In practice, Elman, Chomsky, and others all make this same assumption. In fact, relative clauses and other embedded structures often convey frozen old information that is then slotted on the fly into the new information of the main clause. This was the point of Ross's work decades ago on freezing. If one views syntactic constructions as methods for combining information from diverse neural processing circuits, then it makes sense to view chunks as slotted into a basically linear mechanism. It is the process of slotting in the chunks that produces the emergent hierarchical structure, because the material being slotted in has a structure created during earlier processing. Slotting is not the only process that produces hierarchy. Enumeration and pairing in mental model space can have the same effect. I think that all of the phenomena at the heart of this debate -- crossed dependencies, raising constraints, deletions during coordination, "long-distance" phenomena, "respectively", and the like all arise from the fact that syntax is unifying information from other neurocognitive resources. Trying to analyze syntax as if it is doing all of this in a single syntactic network without memory for previous strings, chunking, enumeration, anaphora, and deixis is not going to come up with a veridical account of language processing. But maybe this was somehow implicit in Stefan's article and I just missed it. --Brian MacWhinney On Nov 22, 2012, at 4:59 PM, T. Florian Jaeger wrote: > Hi Funknetters, > > For anyone interested, I'm attaching below a follow-up conversation between > Stefan Frank and me on his paper in PsychScience, suggesting that there is > no hierarchical structure that is accessed during sentence processing. I > removed all parts that weren't crucial to the discussion. > > Florian > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------- > > First, Stefan's reply to my post: > > Hi Florian, > > Thanks for cc-ing me (and for not being as harsh on us as some linguistic > bloggers). I just wanted to correct you on one details: In the PsychSci > paper, we use echo-state networks (ESNs), not SRNs. The difference matters > because claims about hierarchical processing by SRNs always relied on the > internal representations learned by the networks. But ESNs do not learn any > internal representations (their recurrent weights remain untrained) so the > results we found cannot be due to the ESNs learning to deal with > hierarchical structure. > > > All the best, > > Stefan > > [...] > > ESNs and SRNs have the same architecture (at least, they do when I use > them) but are trained differently. Crucially, an ESN's input and recurrent > connection weights are not adapted to the training data. Simply put, each > input to an ESN is "randomly" mapped to a point in a very high-dimensional > space (the network's hidden units). The output connection weights are then > trained on these hidden vectors using linear regression. > > This is not to say that there is no useful structure in the hidden-unit > space: Čerňanský et al. (Neural Networks, 2007) showed that untrained > recurrent neural nets have a Markovian bias (more specifically, they > correspond to Variable Length Markov Models). > > [...] > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: Stefan Frank > Date: Sun, Nov 18, 2012 at 10:57 AM > Subject: Re: Fwd: How hierarchical is language use? > To: "T. Florian Jaeger" > > [...] > > > From this article, it seems to me that ESNs still have latent >> structure. I think I see what you mean by saying that it's not 'useful' >> latent structure, though I'd say that it is, it's just not readily >> interpretable. >> > > Actually, what I wrote was quite the opposite, but I admit that my > double-negation construction ("This is not to say that there is no useful > structure") was confusing. So, yes, there is structure, and it is useful. > > > I assume that ESNs are great as long as a) the number N >> of units in the reservoir is great enough or b) the number of instances >> of the ESN over which we marginalize is large (did you do that in your >> paper -- average across ESNs, each of them being a simulated >> 'comprehender'?) or c) the statistical process that underlies the random >> output variable is sufficient simple in its structure. Is that a correct >> characterization? >> > > Yes, I'd agree with that. In our paper, we did not marginalize over many > ESNs. Instead, we trained three ESNs of each size and presented results for > the one with median performance. > > > I merely mean that ESNs >> can presumably do a good job at modeling random variables generated by a >> hierarchical generative process because they after all have a way to >> capture that latent structure by driving the states of a sufficiently >> large reservoir (which, if I get this right, is a set of computing units >> with all-to-all connections that have weights that are initialized >> randomly and never changed by training?). I assume that if that >> reservoir wouldn't be sufficiently large the constraint that input to >> reservoir and reservoir to output connections are linear would not allow >> the model to learn much. so this model essentially does by breadth what >> other models do by depths. is that roughly correct? >> > > Indeed, that is roughly correct. However, the structure imposed by the > random recurrent network has properties similar to a variable length markov > model (see Čerňanský et al., 2007), that is, it does not reflect the > input's hierarchical structure. A standard Elman network can (at least in > theory) adapt its input and recurrent connection weights to hierarchical > structure in the input but in an ESN these weights remain random. So the > only way it could make use of hierarchical structure is if it gets encoded > in the (learned) transformation from the hidden-unit space to the output > space, but since this is a linear mapping I don't see how that would work > (which, admittedly, does not mean it cannot work). > > [...] > > > Cheers, > > Stefan > From tiflo at csli.stanford.edu Thu Nov 22 23:56:57 2012 From: tiflo at csli.stanford.edu (T. Florian Jaeger) Date: Thu, 22 Nov 2012 18:56:57 -0500 Subject: How hierarchical is language use? In-Reply-To: <05869C54-608B-4D3A-983A-7C6A0F26BCBD@cmu.edu> Message-ID: Hi Brian, I let Stefan speak for himself. My point was orthogonal to the issues you're raising. All current models of syntax (including the one that you seem to have in mind) assume that we are able to learn latent structure. What type of latent structure we're learning is what many discussions seem to center around. Stefan was reacting to my claim that the models used in his article (echo state networks) still implicitly capture latent structure and that this would stand in conflict with the conclusion that his results argue against latent structure. As you can see from his response, the situation turns out to be somewhat more complicated. I think that the points you're raising do not affect the point of my question, but they might independently be of interest in interpreting Stefan's findings. Florian On Thu, Nov 22, 2012 at 6:17 PM, Brian MacWhinney wrote: > Dear Florian and Stefan, > > It is interesting to see you and Stefan discussing whether SRNs and/or > ESNs can > represent hierarchy internally. As I see it, the attempt to capture > hierarchy inside an exclusively > syntactic network, be it SRN, ESN, ATN is wide of the mark. The > discussions of structural > dependency (and the logical problem) assume that embedded > clauses are processed by the same algorithmic machine that processes the > rest of > syntax. In practice, Elman, Chomsky, and others all make this same > assumption. > In fact, relative clauses and other embedded structures often convey > frozen old information > that is then slotted on the fly into the new information > of the main clause. This was the point of Ross's work decades ago on > freezing. If one views syntactic constructions as methods for combining > information from diverse neural processing circuits, then it makes sense to > view chunks > as slotted into a basically linear mechanism. It is the process of > slotting in the chunks that produces > the emergent hierarchical structure, because the material being slotted in > has a structure > created during earlier processing. Slotting is not the only process that > produces hierarchy. > Enumeration and pairing in mental model space can have the same effect. I > think that all of the phenomena at the heart of this debate -- crossed > dependencies, raising constraints, deletions during coordination, > "long-distance" phenomena, > "respectively", and the like all arise from the > fact that syntax is unifying information from other neurocognitive > resources. Trying to > analyze syntax as if it is doing all of this in a single syntactic network > without memory for previous strings, chunking, enumeration, anaphora, and > deixis is not > going to come up with a veridical account of language processing. But > maybe this was somehow > implicit in Stefan's article and I just missed it. > > --Brian MacWhinney > > On Nov 22, 2012, at 4:59 PM, T. Florian Jaeger > wrote: > > > Hi Funknetters, > > > > For anyone interested, I'm attaching below a follow-up conversation > between > > Stefan Frank and me on his paper in PsychScience, suggesting that there > is > > no hierarchical structure that is accessed during sentence processing. I > > removed all parts that weren't crucial to the discussion. > > > > Florian > > > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------- > > > > First, Stefan's reply to my post: > > > > Hi Florian, > > > > Thanks for cc-ing me (and for not being as harsh on us as some > linguistic > > bloggers). I just wanted to correct you on one details: In the PsychSci > > paper, we use echo-state networks (ESNs), not SRNs. The difference > matters > > because claims about hierarchical processing by SRNs always relied on the > > internal representations learned by the networks. But ESNs do not learn > any > > internal representations (their recurrent weights remain untrained) so > the > > results we found cannot be due to the ESNs learning to deal with > > hierarchical structure. > > > > > > All the best, > > > > Stefan > > > > [...] > > > > ESNs and SRNs have the same architecture (at least, they do when I use > > them) but are trained differently. Crucially, an ESN's input and > recurrent > > connection weights are not adapted to the training data. Simply put, each > > input to an ESN is "randomly" mapped to a point in a very > high-dimensional > > space (the network's hidden units). The output connection weights are > then > > trained on these hidden vectors using linear regression. > > > > This is not to say that there is no useful structure in the hidden-unit > > space: Čerňanský et al. (Neural Networks, 2007) showed that untrained > > recurrent neural nets have a Markovian bias (more specifically, they > > correspond to Variable Length Markov Models). > > > > [...] > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > > From: Stefan Frank > > Date: Sun, Nov 18, 2012 at 10:57 AM > > Subject: Re: Fwd: How hierarchical is language use? > > To: "T. Florian Jaeger" > > > > [...] > > > > > > From this article, it seems to me that ESNs still have latent > >> structure. I think I see what you mean by saying that it's not 'useful' > >> latent structure, though I'd say that it is, it's just not readily > >> interpretable. > >> > > > > Actually, what I wrote was quite the opposite, but I admit that my > > double-negation construction ("This is not to say that there is no useful > > structure") was confusing. So, yes, there is structure, and it is useful. > > > > > > I assume that ESNs are great as long as a) the number N > >> of units in the reservoir is great enough or b) the number of instances > >> of the ESN over which we marginalize is large (did you do that in your > >> paper -- average across ESNs, each of them being a simulated > >> 'comprehender'?) or c) the statistical process that underlies the random > >> output variable is sufficient simple in its structure. Is that a correct > >> characterization? > >> > > > > Yes, I'd agree with that. In our paper, we did not marginalize over many > > ESNs. Instead, we trained three ESNs of each size and presented results > for > > the one with median performance. > > > > > > I merely mean that ESNs > >> can presumably do a good job at modeling random variables generated by a > >> hierarchical generative process because they after all have a way to > >> capture that latent structure by driving the states of a sufficiently > >> large reservoir (which, if I get this right, is a set of computing units > >> with all-to-all connections that have weights that are initialized > >> randomly and never changed by training?). I assume that if that > >> reservoir wouldn't be sufficiently large the constraint that input to > >> reservoir and reservoir to output connections are linear would not allow > >> the model to learn much. so this model essentially does by breadth what > >> other models do by depths. is that roughly correct? > >> > > > > Indeed, that is roughly correct. However, the structure imposed by the > > random recurrent network has properties similar to a variable length > markov > > model (see Čerňanský et al., 2007), that is, it does not reflect the > > input's hierarchical structure. A standard Elman network can (at least in > > theory) adapt its input and recurrent connection weights to hierarchical > > structure in the input but in an ESN these weights remain random. So the > > only way it could make use of hierarchical structure is if it gets > encoded > > in the (learned) transformation from the hidden-unit space to the output > > space, but since this is a linear mapping I don't see how that would work > > (which, admittedly, does not mean it cannot work). > > > > [...] > > > > > > Cheers, > > > > Stefan > > > > From v.evans at bangor.ac.uk Mon Nov 26 20:21:43 2012 From: v.evans at bangor.ac.uk (Vyv Evans) Date: Mon, 26 Nov 2012 20:21:43 +0000 Subject: Cognitive Linguistics Summer School, 2013: Registration now open Message-ID: Dear colleagues, We are very pleased to announce that registration for the Summer School in Cognitive Linguistics is now open. The Summer School takes place between July 21-26, 2013, hosted at Bangor University, UK, and will bring to Bangor a stellar cast of keynote speakers and teaching faculty. There will also be a poster session during which participants can present their work and obtain feedback. Keynote speakers: - Gilles Fauconnier (UCSD) - Adele Goldberg (Princeton) - James Pustejovsky (Brandeis) - Vyvyan Evans (Bangor) Teaching faculty: - Benjamin Bergen (UCSD) - Silke Brandt (Lancaster) - Alan Cienki (Amsterdam) - Ewa Dabrowska (Northumbria) - Christopher Hart (Northumbria) - Willem Hollmann (Lancaster) - June Luchjenbroers (Bangor) - Laura Michaelis (Colorado) - Aliyah Morgenstern (Paris) - Patrick Rebuschat (Bangor) - Martin Rohrmeier (Berlin) - Gabriella Rundblad (London) - Christopher Shank (Bangor) - Remi van Trijp (Paris) - Luc Steels (Brussels) - Thora Tenbrink (Bangor) - Alan Wallington (Bangor) This event provides a unique opportunity for students and researchers to get a snapshot of the exciting work done in cognitive linguistics and to discuss their research. It is also a wonderful opportunity to visit North Wales and to enjoy some of the most beautiful landscapes and historical sites in the United Kingdom. Registration closes in June 2013. Early-bird rates are available for participants who register by April 15, 2013: - Early-bird fee with accommodation: £475* - Early-bird fee without accommodation: £375 *includes transfer to/from Manchester airport Please note that the Summer School takes place in the week before the annual of the Cognitive Science Society in Berlin. For more information, please consult the Summer School website (www.bangor.ac.uk/cogling-summerschool) or email p.rebuschat at bangor.ac.uk. -- Professor/Yr Athro Vyv Evans Professor of Linguistics/Athro mewn Ieithyddiaeth www.vyvevans.net Deputy Head of College (Research)/ Dirprwy Bennaeth y Coleg (Ymchwil) College of Arts and Humanities/ Coleg y Celfyddydau a’r Dyniaethau Bangor University/Prifysgol Bangor General Editor of 'Language & Cognition' A Mouton de Gruyter journal www.languageandcognition.net -- Rhif Elusen Gofrestredig / Registered Charity No. 1141565 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 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 john at research.haifa.ac.il Fri Nov 2 15:02:55 2012 From: john at research.haifa.ac.il (john) Date: Fri, 2 Nov 2012 17:02:55 +0200 Subject: Looking for linguists working on Oromo In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Dear Funknetters, Could any of your refer me to any linguists who've been working on Oromo (Cushitic, in Ethiopia). For a language with 25 million speakers, it seems to be incredibly difficult to get in touch with anyone who's worked on it. Thanks, john From maarten.lemmens at univ-lille3.fr Fri Nov 2 17:22:25 2012 From: maarten.lemmens at univ-lille3.fr (Maarten Lemmens) Date: Fri, 2 Nov 2012 18:22:25 +0100 Subject: Last Call: Empirical Aproaches to Multi-modality and to Language Variation (AFLiCo 5, Lille, France, 15-17 May 2013) Message-ID: LAST CALL FOR PAPERS - AFLiCo 5 *SUBMISSION DEADLINE: 15 November 2012* ?Empirical Approaches to Multi-modality and to Language Variation? Fifth International Conference of the Association Fran?aise de Linguistique Cognitive (AFLiCo 5) University of Lille 3, Lille, France May 15-17, 2013 http://aflico5.sciencesconf.org/ PLENARY SPEAKERS (titles and abstracts on conference web site) Dagmar Divjak (University of Sheffield) Colette Grinevald (University of Lyon 2) Irene Mittelberg (RWTH Aachen University) Gary Morgan (City University London) Fran?ois Rastier (CNRS and INALCO Paris) Luc Steels (ICREA (IBE-UPF-CSIC) BARCELONA & SONY CSL PARIS) OBJECTIVES This conference chiefly aims at consolidating and strengthening the network of cognitive linguists working in France and abroad by providing a forum for discussion and collaboration in the tradition of the preceding AFLiCo conferences in Bordeaux (2005), Lille (2007), Nanterre (2009) and Lyon (2011) and the ?JET? workshops in Bordeaux (2010) and Paris (2012). THEMATIC SESSIONS This conference will be the fifth international conference of the Association Fran?aise de Linguistique Cognitive (AFLiCo; www.aflico.fr). The conference?s major foci are in line with the direction the previous AFLiCo conferences were headed in: multi-modality (in particular, co-verbal gestures and signed languages viewed as multi-channel communication systems) and linguistic variation (typology as well as intra-language variation). However, the conference seeks to add an important dimension to this direction, viz. empirical methods in (cognitive) linguistics, which have recently been attracting growing interest. With this emphasis on empirical approaches, the conference meets a real need of the linguistic community (cognitive or otherwise), given that the field of linguistics is shifting ever more rapidly towards interdisciplinary approaches, using various advanced empirical methods, ranging from psycholinguistic experiments to sophisticated analyses based on (large) corpora. The study of multi-modality recognizes the frequent simultaneous presence of multiple communication channels. In the visual domain, co-verbal gestures underscore the embodied nature of language proposed by cognitive linguistics. In the aural domain, para-verbal aspects of utterances (pitch, intonation, voice quality, etc.) beg the question of how to isolate stable correspondences between these ?forms? and semantic (particularly attitudinal) values. As was the case for the 2007 AFLiCo conference held in Lille, we explicitly welcome proposals for papers on signed languages, which by their very nature are multi-modal communication systems, as the signed utterance is brought about not just by means of hand gestures but also through posture and movements of, inter alia, the upper body, the head, the mouth and the eyebrows. Signed languages provide a window to the human mind and its capacity to represent abstract concepts in concrete, material forms; cognitive linguistics offers a well-suited model to account for iconicity, metaphor and metonymy, which are central to the study of the world?s signed languages. The topic of signed languages ties in with the LSF (langue des signes fran?aise) Interpreter training at the University of Lille 3. Cross-linguistic variation has been the object of typological and comparative cognitive studies which address the issue of universal grammar and linguistic relativity. With regard to intra-language variation, recent years have witnessed the emergence of a cognitive sociolinguistics. Language variation is also a key ingredient in explaining language change and grammaticalization. GENERAL SESSIONS The conference will not be limited to thematic sessions devoted to the main foci described above. The organisers also encourage researchers to submit proposals within other areas of cognitive linguistics, to be presented in the general parallel sessions. Possible topics include (but are not restricted to): - (cognitive) construction grammar - conceptual metaphors - image schemata - frame semantics - coercion and the tension between productivity and convention in language - computer modelling based on empirical data - problems and solutions in empirical methods: corpus studies, acceptability ratings, response time measurements, event-related potential experiments, eye tracking studies, etc. The organisers further encourage young researchers to submit an abstract. NOTE: for organisational reasons, the thematic sessions on signed languages will be grouped on the first day of the conference (15 May). SUBMISSION PROCEDURE Abstracts will be submitted to a double, blind review. They should be fully anonymous and not exceed 500 words (references excluded). Submission is to be done via a login on the conference website (http://aflico5.sciencesconf.org/). Researchers who have a login on the HAL-SHS website can use that instead of creating a new one. IMPORTANT DATES Submission deadline: November 15, 2012 Notification of acceptance: January 15, 2013 Workshop ?Empirical methods in Usage-Based Linguistics?: May 13 and 14, 2013 Conference dates: May 15-17, 2013 (TBC: registration & welcome reception: May 14, from 17:00) REGISTRATION Details about the registration procedure and registration deadlines will be posted on the conference website as soon as they become available. There will be reduced registration fee for AFLiCo members and students as well as early bird reduction. CONFERENCE LANGUAGES English (preferred), French, LSF (please notify the organisers in advance) CONFERENCE WEBSITE http://aflico5.sciencesconf.org/ SPRING SCHOOL To enhance the success of the empirical dimension, we will organise, pending funding, a Spring School on ?Empirical methods in Usage-Based Linguistics? on the two days preceding the conference (i.e. on May 13 and 14) with 5 parallel workshops on different empirical approaches, each presenting a specific methodology or tool: (1) corpus linguistics: principles and general methods (Dagmar Divjak, University of Sheffield, UK); (2) statistics in corpus linguistics with R (Dylan Glynn, Lund University, Sweden); (3) annotating and analysing multi-modal data in ELAN (Mark Tutton, University of Nantes, France); (4) transcribing and analysing oral data in CLAN (Christophe Parisse, University of Paris 10, France); (5) methods in psycholinguistic experiments ([to be confirmed]). Further details will be posted on the conference website. ORGANISING COMMITTEE: Maarten Lemmens, UMR 8163 STL (CNRS and Universities of Lille 3 and Lille 1) Annie Risler, UMR 8163 STL (CNRS and Universities of Lille 3 and Lille 1) Bert Cappelle, UMR 8163 STL (CNRS and Universities of Lille 3 and Lille 1) Dany Amiot, UMR 8163 STL (CNRS and Universities of Lille 3 and Lille 1) SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE Florence Chenu, University of Lyon 2, France Marion Blondel, University of Paris 8, France Jana Bressem, University of Frankfurt an der Oder, Germany Georgette Dal, University of Lille 3, France Nicole Delbecque, University of Leuven, Belgium Walter Demulder, University of Antwerp, Belgium Guillaume Desagulier, University of Paris 8 Elisabeth Engberg-Pedersen, University of Copenhagen, Denmark Sonja Erlenkamp, University of Trondheim, Norway Jean-Michel Fortis, University of Paris 7, France Craig Hamilton, University of Mulhouse, France Dylan Glynn, University of Lund, Sweden Maya Hickmann, University of Paris 5, France Harriet Jisa, University of Lyon 2, France Annetta Kopecka, University of Lyon 2, France Silva Ladewig, University of Frankfort an der Oder, Germany Jean-R?mi Lapaire, University of Bordeaux 3, France Diana Lewis, University Provence, France Aliyah Morgenstern, University of Paris 3, France Caroline Rossi, University of Lyon 2, France St?phane Robert, F?d?ration TUL - FR 2559, France Paul Sambre, Lessius Hogeschool, Antwerp, Belgium Mark Tutton, University de Nantes, France Kristel van Goethem, University of Louvain, Belgium Myriam Vermeerbergen, University of Leuven, Belgium Bencie Woll, University College London, U.K. Sherman Wilcox, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA From v.evans at bangor.ac.uk Sun Nov 4 21:55:45 2012 From: v.evans at bangor.ac.uk (Vyv Evans) Date: Sun, 4 Nov 2012 21:55:45 +0000 Subject: 3rd CFP: Cognitive Futures of the Humanities, 4-6th April 2013, Bangor University Message-ID: COGNITIVE FUTURES OF THE HUMANITIES International Conference 4-6th April 2013, School of Linguistics & English Language, Bangor University, UK WEBSITE: www.bangor.ac.uk/cognitive-humanities/ CONTACT: cognitivehumanities at bangor.ac.uk ORGANIZER: Prof. Vyv Evans (www.vyvevans.net) Deadline for abstract submissions: 30th Nov 2012 We invite 20-minute paper submissions and poster submissions for a major international conference organized on the Cognitive Futures in the Humanities. The conference will take place on 4-6 April 2013, and will be hosted by Bangor University. Confirmed plenary speakers include the following distinguished scholars: Peter Stockwell (University of Nottingham) Ellen Spolsky (Bar Ilan University ) Shaun Gallagher (University of Memphis) Lisa Zunshine (University of Kentucky) Mark Turner (Case Western Reserve University) Elena Semino (Lancaster University) The conference is associated with an international research network on the ?Cognitive Futures in the Humanities?, which is supported by the UK?s Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), awarded to Dr. Peter Garrett (Northumbria, UK), and Prof. Vyv Evans (Bangor, UK). The project manager is Dr. Matt Hayler (Exeter, UK). RATIONALE AND CONTEXT This first major conference provides a forum in order to bring together researchers from different humanities disciplines, whose work relates to, informs, or is informed by aspects of the cognitive, brain and behavioural sciences. It aims to address, in various ways, the following questions: what is the ?cognitive humanities?? In what ways is knowledge from the cognitive sciences changing approaches to language, literature, aesthetics, historiography and creative culture? How have practices in the arts and humanities influenced the cognitive sciences, and how might they do so in the future? This conference will facilitate the exchange of new, innovative research at the intersection of established disciplines, such as philosophy, linguistics, literary studies, art history and cultural studies. The ?cognitive revolution? has begun to make an impact on how humanists think about language, identity, embodiment and culture, in fields such as cognitive poetics, narratology, phenomenology and literary theory. This conference will assess the state of the field now and ask what new directions lie open for cognitive humanities research. If the cognitive sciences ask fundamental questions about the very nature of the ?human' that underpins the humanities, what new forms of knowledge and research practice might be produced in an emerging area called the ?cognitive humanities?? How can the field be mapped? What methodological opportunities exist, and what value do cognitive paradigms add to traditional modes of inquiry? How may interests particular to the humanities, such as fiction and the imagination, influence the development of research in the cognitive sciences? In addressing these questions, the conference will generate exciting new communication across disciplines and help define an emerging international research community. As part of this initiative, two postgraduate fee-waiver bursaries are being advertised (see details below). CONFERENCE STRUCTURES In addition to six plenary talks, the conference will feature a series of special themed panel sessions with leading researchers serving as discussants, including Alan Richardson (Boston College), Michael Wheeler (Stirling University), Vyv Evans (Bangor University) and Patricia Waugh (Durham University). Proposals may indicate if they wish to be considered for inclusion in one of these sessions (see below). We invite abstracts for 20-minute papers on topics such as: Cognitive neuroscience and the arts Language, meaning and cognitive processing Embodiment Phenomenology of technologies Cognitive poetics and interpretation Reading, immersion and memory Theory of mind Cognition beyond the skin Applied conceptual blending Empirical aesthetics Modularity and creativity Cognition and race, gender and sexuality Cognitive approaches to theatrical performance Literature and affect Literary history and mental science Historicizing cognitive science SUBMISSION DETAILS Please send 250-word abstracts to cognitivehumanities at bangor.ac.uk by the closing date of 30 November 2012. Abstracts should be included as Word file attachments, and be anonymized. Please indicate clearly in your email whether your abstract is to be considered for a paper, or poster, along with the name of presenter(s), university affiliation(s) and email address(es). Proposers can expect to hear if their abstract has been accepted by January 2013, when registration will open. If you wish your abstract to be considered for one of the special themed sessions, please also state which of the following sessions it might contribute to: Metaphor and Mind; Extended and Embodied Cognition; Cognitive Historicism; The Minds of Others; and Cognitive Approaches to Art, Visual Culture and Performance. If you are a postgraduate student who wishes to apply for one of the two fee-waiver bursaries, please also append a 100-word statement to your attached abstract explaining how your research relates to the conference theme of the ?cognitive humanities?, and include contact details for your principal supervisor. In addition, there will be a satellite event involving a special seminar delivered by Prof. Bernard Spolsky (Bar-Ilan University, Israel) relating to language policy and bilingualism: "What can endangered language activists learn from the ?revival? of Hebrew?" Full conference details are available from the conference website: www.bangor.ac.uk/cognitive-humanities/ -- Professor/Yr Athro Vyv Evans Professor of Linguistics/Athro mewn Ieithyddiaeth www.vyvevans.net Deputy Head of College (Research)/ Dirprwy Bennaeth y Coleg (Ymchwil) College of Arts and Humanities/ Coleg y Celfyddydau a?r Dyniaethau Bangor University/Prifysgol Bangor General Editor of 'Language & Cognition' A Mouton de Gruyter journal www.languageandcognition.net -- Rhif Elusen Gofrestredig / Registered Charity No. 1141565 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 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 abergs at uos.de Mon Nov 5 13:34:22 2012 From: abergs at uos.de (Alexander Bergs) Date: Mon, 5 Nov 2012 14:34:22 +0100 Subject: Cognition and Poetics - Second Call for Papers Message-ID: *CaP-12: Cognition and Poetics* *International Conference 25-27th April 2013* *Universit?t Osnabr?ck, Germany* ** www.blogs.uos.de/cap12 cap at uni-osnabrueck.de** ** *SECOND CALL FOR PAPERS* Over the past 30 years we have seen a growing body of research devoted to the cognitive underpinnings of literature and the arts in general, especially with regard to the linguistics of literature. This first international conference on cognition and poetics (CaP) aims at bringing together scholars from a wide range of disciplines, including, but not limited to, literature, culture, aesthetics, semiotics, linguistics, cognitive science, neuroscience, philosophy, history, and psychology in order to illuminate the possibilities (and limitations) of taking a fresh look at literature and other poetic artifacts (such as film, music, art, drama) from a cognitive perspective. On the one hand, we need to take stock of what has already been done in this field over the past 30 years or more, on the other hand, some ideas and methods will have to be critically evaluated in the light of new research, and there are also many new pathways to be discovered and developed. In particular, a cognitive approach to literature raises questions about the basic nature of aesthetic experience and whether there are specific constraints and features (differentia specifica, as Jakobson termed them) that characterize the individual art forms, their production, and their reception. Eventually, we hope to arrive at a fruitful collaboration and symbiosis between the different disciplines. The conference will take place from the 25-27 April 2013 at the Institute of English and American Studies of the University of Osnabr?ck, Germany. Invited plenary speakers include: Mark Bruhn (Regis University, Denver) Wallace Chafe (University of California, Santa Barbara) Barbara Dancygier (University of British Columbia, Vancouver) Suzanne Nalbantian, Long Island University, New York In addition, the conference will also host a roundtable discussion on "Cognition and Poetics: Past, Present, Future". Discussants are Reuven Tsur, Margaret Freeman, Patrick Colm Hogan, Raymond Gibbs, Gerhard Lauer, Ralph M?ller, Alan Palmer, Frank Kelleter, and Mark Turner. The conference is part of the UOS Research Cluster on Cognition and Poetics. The Research Cluster on Cognition and Poetics offers fifteen (15) stipends covering conference fee and accommodation for the best student/graduate/ post-graduate abstracts. *SUBMISSION DETAILS* Deadline for submission of 250-word abstracts is November 30, 2012. Abstracts should be sent as word or pdf attachments to cap at uni-osnabrueck.de You need to specify in your email text - your name, - affiliation, - email address, - title of the talk Please see www.blogs.uni-osnabrueck.de/cap12 for more details. +++++++++++++ Univ.-Prof. Dr. Alexander Bergs, M.A. Chair of English Language and Linguistics Institut f?r Anglistik und Amerikanistik (IfAA) Fachbereich 7 -Universitaet Osnabrueck Neuer Graben 40 D-49069 Osnabrueck Germany Tel: +49 541 969 4255 Tel: +49 541 969 6041 (secy) Fax: +49 541 969 4738 http:/www.ifaa.uni-osnabrueck.de/bergs From dlpayne at uoregon.edu Tue Nov 6 01:26:30 2012 From: dlpayne at uoregon.edu (dlpayne) Date: Mon, 5 Nov 2012 17:26:30 -0800 Subject: Extension of date: Aspect and Discourse in African Languages, SLE 2013 Message-ID: Dear Colleagues: We invite you to submit an abstract for a workshop on "Aspect and Discourse in African Languages" (see description below), for the 46th SLE (Societas Linguistica Europaea) 2013 conference, to be held September 18-21, 2013, in Split, Croatia. We are extending the date for initial (300-word) abstracts to November 10. Please send your 300-word abstract as both PDF and either Word or Open Office documents, to shahars at uoregon.edu. Please state ?SLE 2013? in the subject line. Workshops at the SLE are usually composed of from 8 to 13 papers, selected by the workshop organizers, and by the SLE organizing committee. The deadline for the full workshop proposal plus short (300-word) abstracts is November 15, 2012. Thank you for your collaboration! Please forward this to anyone you think may be interested. Also feel free to discuss your ideas with us, if you are uncertain about scope. Workshop Organizers: Shahar Shirtz (shahars at uoregon.edu), Doris Payne (dlpayne at uoregon.edu), Lutz Marten (lm5 at soas.ac.uk), and Stephane Robert (robert at vjf.cnrs.fr). ________________ Proposed SLE 2013 Workshop on? Aspect and Discourse in African Languages The correlation between discourse / narrative function and aspect has been noted in many studies (e.g., Fleischmann 1990 for Romance, Sawicki 2008 for Polish). Roughly, a correlation is found between perfective forms and main story line (or foreground) clauses and imperfective forms and non-main story line or background clauses (Labov & Waletzky 1967, Bybee, Perkins & Pagliuca 1994, inter alia). In many African languages one finds constructions (either clausal constructions or specialized verb forms) which are used primarily (but almost never solely) to convey events on the main narrative / plot line. Such constructions are found in West African languages (Robert 1991, 2012, Carlson 1992), Nilotic (Tucker & Mpaayei 1955, Dimmendaal 1983, K?nig 1993) Afro-Asiatic (e.g., Jaggar 2006) and Bantu (Doke 1954, Hopper 1979, Nurse 2008) among other phyla and groups of African languages. Such constructions differ in the degree to which they are ?dedicated? to narrative usage and the other usages they are found in, the morphosyntax of the constructions, their pragmatic implications, their diachronic sources and many other parameters. They may also vary in the degree in which the ?narrative? form is an aspect or even TAM form. Thus, the typological and genealogical variety of African languages, together with the frequency of so called ?narrative? forms, raise ample questions and problems of analysis and description. In turn, these forms provide opportunities for many lines of research including the diachrony of these forms or their grammaticalization pathways (e.g., Bybee, Perkins & Pagliuca 1994), the functional range of these forms in different discourse types (e.g., Robert 2012) their morpho-syntactic and functional typology, and the potential genesis of aspect categories under discourse pressures, among many others. This workshop is aimed at bringing together scholars interested in the different linguistic phyla and areas of Africa in order to address questions of aspect and discourse and narrative usage. The topics and questions we wish to address include, but are by no means limited to, the following: 1. Many African languages have been claimed to have specialized ?narrative? constructions. However these constructions may also be used in non-narrative texts or in non-plot / non-main event line contexts. What is the functional range or distribution of these so called ?narrative? forms? 2. What is the relation between aspect and ?narrative? forms? Are ?narrative? forms always perfective? If no, are there other signals of perfectivity in the clausal construction for? 3. Do forms used to advance the main even line carry special implicatures? Do they carry an implicature of a finished event? An implicature that the preceding event has finished? Is there an implication / implicature of telicity in ?narrative? forms 4. What are the attested diachronic sources and pathways of the so called ?narrative forms?? 5. What types of changes in Tense Aspect Mood (TAM) marking are found when shifting between main plot line to other discourse modes (e.g., description, explanation)? Or when shifting from one episode to another (i.e., from one narrative sequence to another)? 6. How clear is the relation between imperfectivity and background / non main event line clauses? What types of imperfectivity are found in such clauses? Do certain functions attract certain types of imperfectivity? 7. Perfectivity is seldom divided into subtypes (Comrie 1976). Can one, given the central role of perfectivity in discourse (Fleischmann 1990), identify distinct semantic (sub-)types of the perfective in African languages? 8. Some African languages have subtypes of perfects, or of ?anteriors? (cf. Drolc 1992, 2000). Via what different diachronic paths might these have arisen? What roles do they play in discourse; e.g., is there a relation between perfect and background / non main event line clauses? Do certain discourse functions attract certain types of perfect (cf. Comrie 1976:56-65)? 9. Besides perfects or anteriors (Nurse 2008), are there other aspects or aspect-like categories or constructions which refer to two time points, e.g. situative (?while?), persistive (?still?), alterative (?now but not before?)? How are these used in narrative discourse? 10. Contrastive focus and information focus constructions are thought of as incompatible with main event line function(s) (but see Jagger 2006). Is there a relation between contrastive / information focus constructions and particular aspects? REFERENCES Bybee, J., R. Perkins, & W. Pagliuca. 1994. The evolution of grammar: tense, aspect and modality in the languages of the world. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press. Carlson, Robert. 1992. Narrative, subjunctive and finiteness. Journal ofAfrican Languages and Linguistics. 13: 59-85 Comrie, B. 1976. Aspect. Cambridge? Cambridge University Press. Doke, C.M. 1954. The Southern Bantu languages. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Drolc, U. 1992. On the perfect in Swahili. Afrikanistische Arbeitspapiere 29: 63-87. Drolc, U. 2000. Zur Typologie des Perfekts (am Beispiel des Swahili). W. Breu (ed.), Probleme der interaktion von Lexik und Aspekt (ILA). 91-112. Tu?bingen: Max Niemeyer. Fleischmann, S. 1990. Tense and narrativity? From medieval performance to modern fiction. Austin? University of Texas Press. Hopper, P. 1979. Aspect and foregrounding in discourse. T. Giv?n (ed.), Syntax and Semantics, 12? Discourse and Syntax. 213-241. New York, Academic Press. Jaggar, P.H, 2006, The Hausa perfective tense-aspect used in WH-/Focus constructions and historical narratives: A unified account. In: Hyman, Larry M. and Newman, Paul, (eds.), West African Linguistics: Descriptive, Comparative, and Historical Studies in Honor of Russell G. Schuh. 100-133. Studies in African Linguistics. K?nig, C. 1993. Aspekt im Maa. K?ln: Institu?t fu?r Afrikanistik, Universitat zu Ko?ln. Labov, W. & J. Waletzky. 1967. Narrative analysis? oral versions of personal experience. J. Helm (ed.), Essays on the verbal and visual arts, 12-42. (Proceedings of the 1966 Annual Spring Meeting of the American Ethnological Society.) Seattle? University of Washington Press. Newman, P. 2000. The Hausa language: An encyclopedic reference grammar. New-Haven and London: Yale University Press. Nurse, D. 2008. Tense and aspect in Bantu. Oxford? Oxford University Press. Robert, S. 1991. Approche e?nonciative du syste?me verbal? le cas du Wolof. Paris? E?ditions du CNRS. Robert, S. 2012. From temporal vagueness to syntactic and pragmatic dependency? the case of null tense (or aorist). Paper presented at the SLE 45th meeting, Stockholm. Sawicki, L. 2008. Towards a narrative grammar of Polish. Warsaw: Warsaw University Press. Tucker, A. N. & J. Ole-Mpaayei. 1955. Maasai grammar, with vocabulary. London? Longman, Green & Co. -- _____________________ Doris L. Payne Professor of Linguistics & Associate Head of Linguistics for AEI matters University of Oregon Eugene, OR 97403 541-346-3894 From mpentrel at uos.de Tue Nov 6 08:23:43 2012 From: mpentrel at uos.de (Meike Pentrel) Date: Tue, 6 Nov 2012 09:23:43 +0100 Subject: CfP: Workshop "Music, Poetics and Cognition" (Cognition and Poetics Conference) In-Reply-To: <5098C89A.7080405@uos.de> Message-ID: *Workshop "Music, Poetics and Cognition" *Call for Papers** We invite 20-minute paper submissions for the workshop on *Music, Poetics and Cognition* which will be part of the first international conference on Cognition and Poetics (CaP-12) held at the University of Osnabrueck. The conference will take place from the 25 -- 27 April 2013 at the Institute of English and American Studies of the University of Osnabrueck, Germany. The conference is part of the UOS Research Cluster on Cognition and Poetics. Topics for papers dealing with music, poetics and cognition may include but are not limited to: ?Aesthetics of musicalized fiction ?From sentence to movement: musical grammar ?Universals and specifics in cognition and musical (reading and listening) experience ?Musical semantics ?Literature and musical experience ?Musical text types / genres from a cognitive perspective ?The evolution of music and language ?Musical semiotics and communication ?Cognitive approaches to a musicalization of fiction ?Music in text: translation, transfer, alienation Abstracts (250 words) should be sent as anonymized attachments in MS-Word or PDF format to workshop organizer Nadja Hekal (nhekal at uni-osnabrueck.de ) by 15 December 2012. In your email text you need to specify: ?your name, ?affiliation ?email address ?title of workshop ?title of your talk Acceptance of papers will be sent out by 31 January 2013. *STIPENDS & WAIVERS* Graduate students and PhD Candidates are particularly invited to send paper and workshop proposals. The conference as a whole offers fifteen (15) grants for graduate students which cover the conference fee and accommodation. These grants will be awarded for the fifteen best proposals. General information about the conference, registration and the venue can be found here: http://www.blogs.uni-osnabrueck.de/cap12/. For further details about the conference please contact Professor Alexander Bergs (abergs at uos.de), Professor Peter Schneck (pschneck at uos.de), or Ms Meike Pentrel, who is in charge of organizing the conference (mpentrel at uos.de). Workshop details are available from Nadja Hekal (nhekal at uos.de). ________________________________________ Meike Pentrel English Linguistics Universit?t Osnabr?ck Institut f?r Anglistik und Amerikanistik Neuer Graben 40 49069 Osnabr?ck phone: +49-(0)541-969-4446 From danibrancalhao at hotmail.com Tue Nov 6 23:58:34 2012 From: danibrancalhao at hotmail.com (dani brancalhao) Date: Tue, 6 Nov 2012 21:58:34 -0200 Subject: events Message-ID: Good Evening! Please i?d like to know about any events in Europe which I can participate as listener I?m in Dublin until March, 2013 and on this period I?d like enjoying learning more about Linguistics Thanks From jordan.zlatev at ling.lu.se Wed Nov 7 20:03:44 2012 From: jordan.zlatev at ling.lu.se (Jordan Zlatev) Date: Wed, 7 Nov 2012 20:03:44 +0000 Subject: CfP, Scandianvian Association for Language and Cognition IV, 2013 Message-ID: With apologies for multiple postings ******************************************************************** SALC IV, 2013 University of Eastern Finland - Joensuu FIRST CALL FOR PAPERS The Fourth Conference of the Scandinavian Association for Language and Cognition The Fourth Conference of the Scandinavian Association for Language and Cognition (SALC IV) will take place on the Joensuu campus of the University of Eastern Finland (UEF), June 12 - 14, 2013. The conference will be organized by the Scandinavian Association for Language and Cognition (SALC), the Finnish Cognitive Linguistics Association (FiCLA) and the UEF language departments. Keynote speakers: Elisabeth Engberg-Pedersen University of Copenhagen Raymond Gibbs University of California, Santa Cruz Irene Mittelberg RWTH Aachen University Anatol Stefanowitsch Universit?t Hamburg Emile van der Zee Lincoln University The conference is aimed at covering all areas of linguistics with a cognitive flavour, including, for instance, * Cognitive impairment and language use * Language acquisition and cognition * Language and cognitive development and evolution * Language and consciousness * Language and gesture * Language change and cognition * Language structure and cognition * Language use and cognition * Linguistic relativity * Linguistic typology and cognition * Multicultural communication and cognition * Psycholinguistic approaches to language and cognition * Translation and cognition We now invite submissions of abstracts for paper, workshop and poster presentations. The deadline for abstract submission is January 1, 2013. Section papers will be allocated 20 minutes plus 10 minutes for discussion. Organizers of workshops should submit a one-page general abstract of their workshop as well as enclose one (one-page) abstract for each workshop presentation. The language of the conference is English. The abstracts should be sent by email as a Word, rtf or Open/Libre Office attachment to salc4 at uef.fi (format of message title and attachment name: SALC2013Abstract: author last name(s)). The document should contain author information (including author name(s), affiliation and contact email address), presentation title, abstract and your preference for oral or poster presentation (if applicable). Notification of acceptance will be communicated by February 1, 2013. By September 15 2013 the conference web page https://www.uef.fi/salc2013 will contain information about conference fees, accommodation, travel and other details about the infrastructure and activities associated with SALC IV. Conference email address: salc4 at uef.fi For SALC, see: http://www.salc-sssk.org/ For FiCLA, see: http://www.protsv.fi/ficla/index_english.html Jussi Niemi, PhD Professor, Linguistics University of Eastern Finland at Joensuu POB 111 (street address: Yliopistokatu 4) FIN-80101 Joensuu Finland Phone: +358 50 303 4337, or +358 2944 52141 (UEF internally: 52 141) jussi.niemi at uef.fi http://www.uef.fi/filtdk/yleinen-kielitiede/henkilosto *************************************** Jordan Zlatev Professor of General Linguistics Lund University Centre for Languages and Literature Box 201 221 00 Lund, Sweden From bherrma1 at gwdg.de Mon Nov 12 12:05:57 2012 From: bherrma1 at gwdg.de (Berenike Herrmann) Date: Mon, 12 Nov 2012 12:05:57 +0000 Subject: FUNKNET Digest, Vol 110, Issue 6 In-Reply-To: Message-ID: I'm out of office until 29 October and will reply to your e-mail as soon as possible upon my return. Ich bin bis zum 29. Oktober nicht im Hause und werde nach meiner Rueckkehr so schnell als moeglich auf Deine/Ihre Nachricht zurueckkommen. With kind regards, Mit freundlichen Gruessen, Berenike Herrmann From heine39 at gmail.com Tue Nov 13 05:31:54 2012 From: heine39 at gmail.com (Bernd Heine) Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2012 06:31:54 +0100 Subject: Proverbs Message-ID: Looking through a range of grammars of languages across the world I am surprised that proverbs are largely or entirely ignored in grammatical descriptions. They appear occasionally in the exemplification of structures but are essentially never discussed, e.g., as a discourse type, or as illustrating a special kind of morphosyntactic structure or relationship between form and meaning. To be sure, I could think of a number of reasons for that, but I find none of them entirely convincing. Why should proverbs not have a place in a (comprehensive) reference grammar? After all, they appear to occur in all languages that have been appropriately documented, and they are part of the knowledge speakers have about their language. Please advise. Bernd From mwmbombay at gmail.com Tue Nov 13 06:25:34 2012 From: mwmbombay at gmail.com (Mike Morgan) Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2012 12:10:34 +0545 Subject: Proverbs In-Reply-To: <50A1DB4A.6060702@uni-koeln.de> Message-ID: Bernd, I totally agree. Should but aren't. Like you I too can think of a number of reasons for that, but I too am not entirely convinced. But I will make the reasons I can think of explicit 1) The fact that even where Reference Grammars do discuss discourse at all (which is probably a minority of the time), they rarely do it deeply enough to discuss different TYPEs of discourse (i.e. genres). Reference Grammars with appended text samples SOMETIMES contain a variety of genres, but not always, and rarely are there comments anywhere in the grammar which addresses any of the difference between the genres. 2) The feeling that proverbs contain 'irregular" and "incomplete" grammar ... proverbs like "Once Bitten, twice shy", "Neither borrower nor lender be", etc. Poetry is also excluded for a similar reason. And, of course, some theoretical traditions are more inclined to ignore (sweep under the rug with an *?) anything they see as abnormal. 3) Proverbs often contain elements of diachronicity, and we have ALL been taught not to confuse synchronic language description with historical linguistics, and the best way to do that is by excluding anything that smacks (or might smack) of a languages history. Proverbs are used all the time in L2 instruction, and most language learners LOVE them. Language learners are usually just as interested in the cultures and in the languages, and proverbs supposedly give us great insight into cultures. Maybe that leads to a (4)th reason: Proverbs and such are felt to be MORE a part of culture than anything else (and hence extra-linguistic) And, to the category of neglected genres which SHOULD be considered for I will add : RIDDLES. Analysis and discssion of these might be less abnormal (i.e. interesting) structurally, but certainly would contribute a lot to any treatment of of semantics. -- mwm || *U*C> || mike || ???? || ???? || ??? (aka Dr Michael W Morgan) sign language linguist / linguistic typologist academic adviser, Nepal Sign Language Training and Research NDFN, Kathmandu, Nepal From benjamin.lyngfelt at svenska.gu.se Tue Nov 13 07:18:48 2012 From: benjamin.lyngfelt at svenska.gu.se (Benjamin Lyngfelt) Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2012 07:18:48 +0000 Subject: Proverbs In-Reply-To: <50A1DB4A.6060702@uni-koeln.de> Message-ID: To some extent, proverbs are included in better dictionaries. Only to some extent, though, and I have no idea how many languages have dictionaries with that kind of information. Also, the proverbs aren't always easy to find, since they have to sort under specific word entries. E-dictionaries and constructicons offer other possibilities, but they are'nt very well developed yet ? and exist for even fewer languages, I would guess. It's not always self evident which kinds of linguistic information should be covered where:?reference grammars or dictionaries. Preferably, there should be some overlap, but many kinds of linguistic phenomena are considered peripheral from both perspectives ? and, hence, have tended to be neglected. For a few languages, there are now constructicons being developed, resources focusing on linguistic patterns that are too specific to be considered general rules but too general to be tied to specific words. However, proverbs aren't covered in those either, at least not yet. In any case, in order to deal with the problem of achieving better coverage ??of proverbs and lots of other stuff ? grammarians and lexicographers should talk more to each other. /Ben ________________________________________ Fr?n: funknet-bounces at mailman.rice.edu [funknet-bounces at mailman.rice.edu] för Bernd Heine [heine39 at gmail.com] Skickat: den 13 november 2012 06:31 Till: funknet at mailman.rice.edu ?mne: [FUNKNET] Proverbs Looking through a range of grammars of languages across the world I am surprised that proverbs are largely or entirely ignored in grammatical descriptions. They appear occasionally in the exemplification of structures but are essentially never discussed, e.g., as a discourse type, or as illustrating a special kind of morphosyntactic structure or relationship between form and meaning. To be sure, I could think of a number of reasons for that, but I find none of them entirely convincing. Why should proverbs not have a place in a (comprehensive) reference grammar? After all, they appear to occur in all languages that have been appropriately documented, and they are part of the knowledge speakers have about their language. Please advise. Bernd From golla at humboldt.edu Tue Nov 13 10:43:56 2012 From: golla at humboldt.edu (Victor Golla) Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2012 02:43:56 -0800 Subject: Proverbs In-Reply-To: <50A1DB4A.6060702@uni-koeln.de> Message-ID: On Mon, Nov 12, 2012 at 9:31 PM, Bernd Heine wrote: > Why should proverbs not have a place in a > (comprehensive) reference grammar? After all, they appear to occur in all > languages that have been appropriately documented, and they are part of the > knowledge speakers have about their language. Proverbs are far from universal. They are notably rare in North American Indian languages, where riddles, too, are virtually unattested, except for a few post-contact borrowings from English or French. I don't think that the absence of these genres across an entire continent can be written off as due to the lack of appropriate documentation. Rather, it's a matter of metaphorical speech in general being little used in aboriginal North American cultures for reasons that are ultimately historical and distributional. I'm not sure what this says about speakers' knowledge of their languages in North America, but it at least suggests that certain elements of cognitive style can co-vary with differences in discourse=level patterns of encoding. This is apparently what Whorf meant when he wrote in "The Relation of Habitual Thought and Behavior to Language" (in Carroll, ed., Language, Thought and Reality, p. 146) that Hopi does not have metaphor "built into it" in the same way that European languages do. --Victor Golla From geoffnathan at wayne.edu Tue Nov 13 10:46:46 2012 From: geoffnathan at wayne.edu (Geoffrey Steven Nathan) Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2012 05:46:46 -0500 Subject: Proverbs In-Reply-To: <50A1DB4A.6060702@uni-koeln.de> Message-ID: My colleague Ljiljana Progovac led a research group here at Wayne State that spent considerable time looking at (and taking seriously the syntax of) non-sententials, including proverbs. The result of their study (which I did not take part in, other than to attend the conference at the end) was the following volume: Progovac, L. & et al. (eds) 2006. The Syntax of Nonsententials: Multidisciplinary Perspectives (Linguistik aktuell = 93). Amsterdam ; Philadelphia: J. Benjamins. There might be some useful information therein. Geoffrey S. Nathan Faculty Liaison, C&IT and Professor, Linguistics Program http://blogs.wayne.edu/proftech/ +1 (313) 577-1259 (C&IT) ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Bernd Heine" > To: funknet at mailman.rice.edu > Sent: Tuesday, November 13, 2012 12:31:54 AM > Subject: [FUNKNET] Proverbs > Looking through a range of grammars of languages across the world I > am > surprised that proverbs are largely or entirely ignored in > grammatical > descriptions. They appear occasionally in the exemplification of > structures but are essentially never discussed, e.g., as a discourse > type, or as illustrating a special kind of morphosyntactic structure > or > relationship between form and meaning. > To be sure, I could think of a number of reasons for that, but I find > none of them entirely convincing. Why should proverbs not have a > place > in a (comprehensive) reference grammar? After all, they appear to > occur > in all languages that have been appropriately documented, and they > are > part of the knowledge speakers have about their language. Please > advise. > Bernd From maarten.lemmens at univ-lille3.fr Tue Nov 13 14:51:57 2012 From: maarten.lemmens at univ-lille3.fr (Maarten Lemmens) Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2012 15:51:57 +0100 Subject: DEADLINE EXTENSION: "Empirical approaches to Multi-Modality and Language variation" (AFLiCo 5, Lille, France) Message-ID: [apologies for multiple postings] VERY LAST CALL FOR PAPERS - AFLiCo 5 *EXTENDED SUBMISSION DEADLINE: 25 November 2012* ?Empirical Approaches to Multi-modality and to Language Variation? Fifth International Conference of the Association Fran?aise de Linguistique Cognitive (AFLiCo 5) University of Lille 3, Lille, France May 15-17, 2013 http://aflico5.sciencesconf.org/ PLENARY SPEAKERS (titles and abstracts on conference web site) Dagmar Divjak (University of Sheffield) Colette Grinevald (University of Lyon 2) Irene Mittelberg (RWTH Aachen University) Gary Morgan (City University London) Fran?ois Rastier (CNRS and INALCO Paris) Luc Steels (ICREA (IBE-UPF-CSIC) BARCELONA & SONY CSL PARIS) OBJECTIVES This conference chiefly aims at consolidating and strengthening the network of cognitive linguists working in France and abroad by providing a forum for discussion and collaboration in the tradition of the preceding AFLiCo conferences in Bordeaux (2005), Lille (2007), Nanterre (2009) and Lyon (2011) and the ?JET? workshops in Bordeaux (2010) and Paris (2012). THEMATIC SESSIONS This conference will be the fifth international conference of the Association Fran?aise de Linguistique Cognitive (AFLiCo; www.aflico.fr). The conference?s major foci are in line with the direction the previous AFLiCo conferences were headed in: multi-modality (in particular, co-verbal gestures and signed languages viewed as multi-channel communication systems) and linguistic variation (typology as well as intra-language variation). However, the conference seeks to add an important dimension to this direction, viz. empirical methods in (cognitive) linguistics, which have recently been attracting growing interest. With this emphasis on empirical approaches, the conference meets a real need of the linguistic community (cognitive or otherwise), given that the field of linguistics is shifting ever more rapidly towards interdisciplinary approaches, using various advanced empirical methods, ranging from psycholinguistic experiments to sophisticated analyses based on (large) corpora. The study of multi-modality recognizes the frequent simultaneous presence of multiple communication channels. In the visual domain, co-verbal gestures underscore the embodied nature of language proposed by cognitive linguistics. In the aural domain, para-verbal aspects of utterances (pitch, intonation, voice quality, etc.) beg the question of how to isolate stable correspondences between these ?forms? and semantic (particularly attitudinal) values. As was the case for the 2007 AFLiCo conference held in Lille, we explicitly welcome proposals for papers on signed languages, which by their very nature are multi-modal communication systems, as the signed utterance is brought about not just by means of hand gestures but also through posture and movements of, inter alia, the upper body, the head, the mouth and the eyebrows. Signed languages provide a window to the human mind and its capacity to represent abstract concepts in concrete, material forms; cognitive linguistics offers a well-suited model to account for iconicity, metaphor and metonymy, which are central to the study of the world?s signed languages. The topic of signed languages ties in with the LSF (langue des signes fran?aise) Interpreter training at the University of Lille 3. Cross-linguistic variation has been the object of typological and comparative cognitive studies which address the issue of universal grammar and linguistic relativity. With regard to intra-language variation, recent years have witnessed the emergence of a cognitive sociolinguistics. Language variation is also a key ingredient in explaining language change and grammaticalization. GENERAL SESSIONS The conference will not be limited to thematic sessions devoted to the main foci described above. The organisers also encourage researchers to submit proposals within other areas of cognitive linguistics, to be presented in the general parallel sessions. Possible topics include (but are not restricted to): - (cognitive) construction grammar - conceptual metaphors - image schemata - frame semantics - coercion and the tension between productivity and convention in language - computer modelling based on empirical data - problems and solutions in empirical methods: corpus studies, acceptability ratings, response time measurements, event-related potential experiments, eye tracking studies, etc. The organisers further encourage young researchers to submit an abstract. NOTE: for organisational reasons, the thematic sessions on signed languages will be grouped on the first day of the conference (15 May). SUBMISSION PROCEDURE Abstracts will be submitted to a double, blind review. They should be fully anonymous and not exceed 500 words (references excluded). Submission is to be done via a login on the conference website (http://aflico5.sciencesconf.org/). Researchers who have a login on the HAL-SHS website can use that instead of creating a new one. IMPORTANT DATES Submission deadline: November 25, 2012 Notification of acceptance: January 15, 2013 Workshop ?Empirical methods in Usage-Based Linguistics?: May 13 and 14, 2013 Conference dates: May 15-17, 2013 (TBC: registration & welcome reception: May 14, from 17:00) REGISTRATION Details about the registration procedure and registration deadlines will be posted on the conference website as soon as they become available. There will be reduced registration fee for AFLiCo members and students as well as early bird reduction. CONFERENCE LANGUAGES English (preferred), French, LSF (please notify the organisers in advance) CONFERENCE WEBSITE http://aflico5.sciencesconf.org/ SPRING SCHOOL To enhance the success of the empirical dimension, we will organise, pending funding, a Spring School on ?Empirical methods in Usage-Based Linguistics? on the two days preceding the conference (i.e. on May 13 and 14) with 5 parallel workshops on different empirical approaches, each presenting a specific methodology or tool: (1) corpus linguistics: principles and general methods (Dagmar Divjak, University of Sheffield, UK); (2) statistics in corpus linguistics with R (Dylan Glynn, Lund University, Sweden); (3) annotating and analysing multi-modal data in ELAN (Mark Tutton, University of Nantes, France); (4) transcribing and analysing oral data in CLAN (Christophe Parisse, University of Paris 10, France); (5) methods in psycholinguistic experiments ([to be confirmed]). Further details will be posted on the conference website. ORGANISING COMMITTEE: Maarten Lemmens, UMR 8163 STL (CNRS and Universities of Lille 3 and Lille 1) Annie Risler, UMR 8163 STL (CNRS and Universities of Lille 3 and Lille 1) Bert Cappelle, UMR 8163 STL (CNRS and Universities of Lille 3 and Lille 1) Dany Amiot, UMR 8163 STL (CNRS and Universities of Lille 3 and Lille 1) SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE Florence Chenu, University of Lyon 2, France Marion Blondel, University of Paris 8, France Jana Bressem, University of Frankfurt an der Oder, Germany Georgette Dal, University of Lille 3, France Nicole Delbecque, University of Leuven, Belgium Walter Demulder, University of Antwerp, Belgium Guillaume Desagulier, University of Paris 8 Elisabeth Engberg-Pedersen, University of Copenhagen, Denmark Sonja Erlenkamp, University of Trondheim, Norway Jean-Michel Fortis, University of Paris 7, France Craig Hamilton, University of Mulhouse, France Dylan Glynn, University of Lund, Sweden Maya Hickmann, University of Paris 5, France Harriet Jisa, University of Lyon 2, France Annetta Kopecka, University of Lyon 2, France Silva Ladewig, University of Frankfort an der Oder, Germany Jean-R?mi Lapaire, University of Bordeaux 3, France Diana Lewis, University Provence, France Aliyah Morgenstern, University of Paris 3, France Caroline Rossi, University of Lyon 2, France St?phane Robert, F?d?ration TUL - FR 2559, France Paul Sambre, Lessius Hogeschool, Antwerp, Belgium Mark Tutton, University de Nantes, France Kristel van Goethem, University of Louvain, Belgium Myriam Vermeerbergen, University of Leuven, Belgium Bencie Woll, University College London, U.K. Sherman Wilcox, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA From munro at ucla.edu Tue Nov 13 15:31:53 2012 From: munro at ucla.edu (Pamela Munro) Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2012 07:31:53 -0800 Subject: Proverbs In-Reply-To: Message-ID: I second what Victor says here. I have never seen anything like a proverb in the North American languages I've studied. Pam On 11/13/12 2:43 AM, Victor Golla wrote: > On Mon, Nov 12, 2012 at 9:31 PM, Bernd Heine wrote: > >> Why should proverbs not have a place in a >> (comprehensive) reference grammar? After all, they appear to occur in all >> languages that have been appropriately documented, and they are part of the >> knowledge speakers have about their language. > Proverbs are far from universal. They are notably rare in North American > Indian languages, where riddles, too, are virtually unattested, except for a > few post-contact borrowings from English or French. > > I don't think that the absence of these genres across an entire continent can > be written off as due to the lack of appropriate documentation. Rather, it's > a matter of metaphorical speech in general being little used in aboriginal > North American cultures for reasons that are ultimately historical and > distributional. > > I'm not sure what this says about speakers' knowledge of their languages > in North America, but it at least suggests that certain elements of cognitive > style can co-vary with differences in discourse=level patterns of encoding. > This is apparently what Whorf meant when he wrote in "The Relation of > Habitual Thought and Behavior to Language" (in Carroll, ed., Language, > Thought and Reality, p. 146) that Hopi does not have metaphor "built into it" > in the same way that European languages do. > > --Victor Golla > -- Pamela Munro, Distinguished Professor, Linguistics, UCLA UCLA Box 951543 Los Angeles, CA 90095-1543 http://www.linguistics.ucla.edu/people/munro/munro.htm From mithun at linguistics.ucsb.edu Tue Nov 13 16:40:21 2012 From: mithun at linguistics.ucsb.edu (Marianne Mithun) Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2012 08:40:21 -0800 Subject: Proverbs In-Reply-To: <50A267E9.5030303@ucla.edu> Message-ID: And I was just going to chime in with the same thing. I think Victor put it exactly right. Marianne Mithun --On Tuesday, November 13, 2012 7:31 AM -0800 Pamela Munro wrote: > I second what Victor says here. I have never seen anything like a proverb > in the North American languages I've studied. > > Pam > > On 11/13/12 2:43 AM, Victor Golla wrote: >> On Mon, Nov 12, 2012 at 9:31 PM, Bernd Heine wrote: >> >>> Why should proverbs not >>> have a place in a >>> (comprehensive) reference grammar? After all, they appear to occur in >>> all languages that have been appropriately documented, and they are >>> part of the knowledge speakers have about their language. >> Proverbs are far from universal. They are notably rare in North American >> Indian languages, where riddles, too, are virtually unattested, except >> for a few post-contact borrowings from English or French. >> >> I don't think that the absence of these genres across an entire >> continent can be written off as due to the lack of appropriate >> documentation. Rather, it's a matter of metaphorical speech in general >> being little used in aboriginal North American cultures for reasons that >> are ultimately historical and distributional. >> >> I'm not sure what this says about speakers' knowledge of their languages >> in North America, but it at least suggests that certain elements of >> cognitive style can co-vary with differences in discourse=level patterns >> of encoding. This is apparently what Whorf meant when he wrote in "The >> Relation of Habitual Thought and Behavior to Language" (in Carroll, ed., >> Language, Thought and Reality, p. 146) that Hopi does not have metaphor >> "built into it" in the same way that European languages do. >> >> --Victor Golla >> > > -- > Pamela Munro, > Distinguished Professor, Linguistics, UCLA > UCLA Box 951543 > Los Angeles, CA 90095-1543 > http://www.linguistics.ucla.edu/people/munro/munro.htm > From emriddle at bsu.edu Tue Nov 13 16:49:14 2012 From: emriddle at bsu.edu (Riddle, Elizabeth) Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2012 16:49:14 +0000 Subject: Proverbs In-Reply-To: <1A87A03540A39AD1A6671553@host-199-30.ucsb.edu> Message-ID: In the North American languages referenced, does some other form of communication, such as story telling, serve any purpose similar to the use of proverbs in other languages and cultures? Thanks, Liz Elizabeth M. Riddle Professor and Chair Department of English Ball State University Muncie, IN 47306 USA emriddle at bsu.edu Tel: 765-285-8584 ________________________________________ From: funknet-bounces at mailman.rice.edu [funknet-bounces at mailman.rice.edu] on behalf of Marianne Mithun [mithun at linguistics.ucsb.edu] Sent: Tuesday, November 13, 2012 11:40 AM To: Pamela Munro; Victor Golla Cc: Bernd Heine; funknet at mailman.rice.edu Subject: Re: [FUNKNET] Proverbs And I was just going to chime in with the same thing. I think Victor put it exactly right. Marianne Mithun --On Tuesday, November 13, 2012 7:31 AM -0800 Pamela Munro wrote: > I second what Victor says here. I have never seen anything like a proverb > in the North American languages I've studied. > > Pam > > On 11/13/12 2:43 AM, Victor Golla wrote: >> On Mon, Nov 12, 2012 at 9:31 PM, Bernd Heine wrote: >> >>> Why should proverbs not >>> have a place in a >>> (comprehensive) reference grammar? After all, they appear to occur in >>> all languages that have been appropriately documented, and they are >>> part of the knowledge speakers have about their language. >> Proverbs are far from universal. They are notably rare in North American >> Indian languages, where riddles, too, are virtually unattested, except >> for a few post-contact borrowings from English or French. >> >> I don't think that the absence of these genres across an entire >> continent can be written off as due to the lack of appropriate >> documentation. Rather, it's a matter of metaphorical speech in general >> being little used in aboriginal North American cultures for reasons that >> are ultimately historical and distributional. >> >> I'm not sure what this says about speakers' knowledge of their languages >> in North America, but it at least suggests that certain elements of >> cognitive style can co-vary with differences in discourse=level patterns >> of encoding. This is apparently what Whorf meant when he wrote in "The >> Relation of Habitual Thought and Behavior to Language" (in Carroll, ed., >> Language, Thought and Reality, p. 146) that Hopi does not have metaphor >> "built into it" in the same way that European languages do. >> >> --Victor Golla >> > > -- > Pamela Munro, > Distinguished Professor, Linguistics, UCLA > UCLA Box 951543 > Los Angeles, CA 90095-1543 > http://www.linguistics.ucla.edu/people/munro/munro.htm > From mithun at linguistics.ucsb.edu Tue Nov 13 16:53:59 2012 From: mithun at linguistics.ucsb.edu (Marianne Mithun) Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2012 08:53:59 -0800 Subject: Proverbs In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Sure, in a sense. But, one could say, stories also serve many other functions, and much more elaborately. Marianne --On Tuesday, November 13, 2012 4:49 PM +0000 "Riddle, Elizabeth" wrote: > In the North American languages referenced, does some other form of > communication, such as story telling, serve any purpose similar to the > use of proverbs in other languages and cultures? > > Thanks, > > Liz > > Elizabeth M. Riddle > Professor and Chair > Department of English > Ball State University > Muncie, IN 47306 USA > emriddle at bsu.edu > Tel: 765-285-8584 > ________________________________________ > From: funknet-bounces at mailman.rice.edu [funknet-bounces at mailman.rice.edu] > on behalf of Marianne Mithun [mithun at linguistics.ucsb.edu] Sent: Tuesday, > November 13, 2012 11:40 AM > To: Pamela Munro; Victor Golla > Cc: Bernd Heine; funknet at mailman.rice.edu > Subject: Re: [FUNKNET] Proverbs > > And I was just going to chime in with the same thing. I think Victor put > it exactly right. > > Marianne Mithun > > > --On Tuesday, November 13, 2012 7:31 AM -0800 Pamela Munro > wrote: > >> I second what Victor says here. I have never seen anything like a proverb >> in the North American languages I've studied. >> >> Pam >> >> On 11/13/12 2:43 AM, Victor Golla wrote: >>> On Mon, Nov 12, 2012 at 9:31 PM, Bernd Heine wrote: >>> >>>> Why should proverbs not >>>> have a place in a >>>> (comprehensive) reference grammar? After all, they appear to occur in >>>> all languages that have been appropriately documented, and they are >>>> part of the knowledge speakers have about their language. >>> Proverbs are far from universal. They are notably rare in North >>> American Indian languages, where riddles, too, are virtually >>> unattested, except for a few post-contact borrowings from English or >>> French. >>> >>> I don't think that the absence of these genres across an entire >>> continent can be written off as due to the lack of appropriate >>> documentation. Rather, it's a matter of metaphorical speech in general >>> being little used in aboriginal North American cultures for reasons that >>> are ultimately historical and distributional. >>> >>> I'm not sure what this says about speakers' knowledge of their languages >>> in North America, but it at least suggests that certain elements of >>> cognitive style can co-vary with differences in discourse=level patterns >>> of encoding. This is apparently what Whorf meant when he wrote in "The >>> Relation of Habitual Thought and Behavior to Language" (in Carroll, ed., >>> Language, Thought and Reality, p. 146) that Hopi does not have metaphor >>> "built into it" in the same way that European languages do. >>> >>> --Victor Golla >>> >> >> -- >> Pamela Munro, >> Distinguished Professor, Linguistics, UCLA >> UCLA Box 951543 >> Los Angeles, CA 90095-1543 >> http://www.linguistics.ucla.edu/people/munro/munro.htm >> From macw at cmu.edu Tue Nov 13 17:02:58 2012 From: macw at cmu.edu (Brian MacWhinney) Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2012 12:02:58 -0500 Subject: Proverbs In-Reply-To: <1A87A03540A39AD1A6671553@host-199-30.ucsb.edu> Message-ID: Dear FunkNet, To someone unfamiliar with the data, Viktor's claim that metaphorical speech in general is little used in North American cultures is quite fascinating. It goes way beyond the idea that proverbs might be missing, and touches on issues right at the core of basic assumptions being made by psychologists and anthropologists about human cognition, mental models, and belief. Before accepting Victor's observations, I was hoping for a bit more input from others on FunkNet about the generality of the claim. I had earlier learned just a little bit of Navajo and been impressed by the way in which the parts of the car were mapped metaphorically onto the human body image, much as suggested by the role of the BODY as source metaphor in Conceptual Metaphor Theory. It had never occurred to me that all the other types of metaphors that we find so regularly in languages like English, Chinese, and Japanese would actually be missing in North America. So, I took a look at what Whorf wrote on this subject about Hopi on p. 146 and it seems that the focus there is on the absence of the shape metaphors for extent, because of the high level of availability of built-in quantifiers or "tensors". Whorf also claims that the "conduit" metaphor for communication is completely missing in Hopi, along with the metaphor of KNOWING IS SEEING. In the most extreme case, one could interpret what Whorf is writing as saying that Hopi's do not develop mental models of either their own thoughts or the thoughts of others. How this avoidance of metaphor and mental models could square with the intense religious experiences in North America is something that puzzles me. Perhaps Whorf is not saying this. Perhaps I have misunderstood what Victor and Marianne and Pamela are saying. Perhaps this is all JUST about proverbs and not really about metaphor. Elizabeth's question about alternatives to proverbs led me to think of the rich tradition of folk tales in North America, which could easily be understood as expanded proverbs, much as Aesop's Fables ca be compressed into proverbs. Marianne notes that stories serve other functions. However, I wonder whether one can refer to acts of protagonists in stories and thereby effectively avoid a frozen proverb. -- Brian MacWhinney On Nov 13, 2012, at 11:40 AM, Marianne Mithun wrote: > And I was just going to chime in with the same thing. I think Victor put it exactly right. > > Marianne Mithun > > > --On Tuesday, November 13, 2012 7:31 AM -0800 Pamela Munro wrote: > >> I second what Victor says here. I have never seen anything like a proverb >> in the North American languages I've studied. >> >> Pam >> >> On 11/13/12 2:43 AM, Victor Golla wrote: >>> On Mon, Nov 12, 2012 at 9:31 PM, Bernd Heine wrote: >>> >>>> Why should proverbs not >>>> have a place in a >>>> (comprehensive) reference grammar? After all, they appear to occur in >>>> all languages that have been appropriately documented, and they are >>>> part of the knowledge speakers have about their language. >>> Proverbs are far from universal. They are notably rare in North American >>> Indian languages, where riddles, too, are virtually unattested, except >>> for a few post-contact borrowings from English or French. >>> >>> I don't think that the absence of these genres across an entire >>> continent can be written off as due to the lack of appropriate >>> documentation. Rather, it's a matter of metaphorical speech in general >>> being little used in aboriginal North American cultures for reasons that >>> are ultimately historical and distributional. >>> >>> I'm not sure what this says about speakers' knowledge of their languages >>> in North America, but it at least suggests that certain elements of >>> cognitive style can co-vary with differences in discourse=level patterns >>> of encoding. This is apparently what Whorf meant when he wrote in "The >>> Relation of Habitual Thought and Behavior to Language" (in Carroll, ed., >>> Language, Thought and Reality, p. 146) that Hopi does not have metaphor >>> "built into it" in the same way that European languages do. >>> >>> --Victor Golla >>> >> >> -- >> Pamela Munro, >> Distinguished Professor, Linguistics, UCLA >> UCLA Box 951543 >> Los Angeles, CA 90095-1543 >> http://www.linguistics.ucla.edu/people/munro/munro.htm >> > > > > > From mithun at linguistics.ucsb.edu Tue Nov 13 17:11:56 2012 From: mithun at linguistics.ucsb.edu (Marianne Mithun) Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2012 09:11:56 -0800 Subject: Proverbs In-Reply-To: <9045DD3D-A1B5-4851-A4AD-D8DEAA682EC8@cmu.edu> Message-ID: Sorry, you're right, Brian. Actually, I think the use of metaphor in North America is more culture-specific. Iroquoian languages raise metaphor to great, dazzling heights. It was surely there before contact, and is something that has long been prized, cultivated, and enjoyed. It infuses the whole of language. And I've seen constant use of metaphor in Navajo too, like you have. But not at all, really, in some other languages I've worked with. Marianne --On Tuesday, November 13, 2012 12:02 PM -0500 Brian MacWhinney wrote: > Dear FunkNet, > > To someone unfamiliar with the data, Viktor's claim that metaphorical > speech in general is little used in North American cultures is quite > fascinating. It goes way beyond the idea that proverbs might be missing, > and touches on issues right at the core of basic assumptions being made > by psychologists and anthropologists about human cognition, mental > models, and belief. Before accepting Victor's observations, I was hoping > for a bit more input from others on FunkNet about the generality of the > claim. > > I had earlier learned just a little bit of Navajo and been impressed by > the way in which the parts of the car were mapped metaphorically onto > the human body image, much as suggested by the role of the BODY as source > metaphor in Conceptual Metaphor Theory. It had never occurred to me that > all the other types of metaphors that we find so regularly in languages > like English, Chinese, and Japanese would actually be missing in North > America. > > So, I took a look at what Whorf wrote on this subject about Hopi on p. > 146 and it seems that the focus there is on the absence of the shape > metaphors for extent, because of the high level of availability of > built-in quantifiers or "tensors". Whorf also claims that the "conduit" > metaphor for communication is completely missing in Hopi, along with the > metaphor of KNOWING IS SEEING. In the most extreme case, one could > interpret what Whorf is writing as saying that Hopi's do not develop > mental models of either their own thoughts or the thoughts of others. How > this avoidance of metaphor and mental models could square with the > intense religious experiences in North America is something that puzzles > me. > > Perhaps Whorf is not saying this. Perhaps I have misunderstood what > Victor and Marianne and Pamela are saying. Perhaps this is all JUST > about proverbs and not really about metaphor. > > Elizabeth's question about alternatives to proverbs led me to think of > the rich tradition of folk tales in North America, which could easily be > understood as expanded proverbs, much as Aesop's Fables ca be compressed > into proverbs. Marianne notes that stories serve other functions. > However, I wonder whether one can refer to acts of protagonists in > stories and thereby effectively avoid a frozen proverb. > > -- Brian MacWhinney > > On Nov 13, 2012, at 11:40 AM, Marianne Mithun > wrote: > >> And I was just going to chime in with the same thing. I think Victor put >> it exactly right. >> >> Marianne Mithun >> >> >> --On Tuesday, November 13, 2012 7:31 AM -0800 Pamela Munro >> wrote: >> >>> I second what Victor says here. I have never seen anything like a >>> proverb in the North American languages I've studied. >>> >>> Pam >>> >>> On 11/13/12 2:43 AM, Victor Golla wrote: >>>> On Mon, Nov 12, 2012 at 9:31 PM, Bernd Heine wrote: >>>> >>>>> Why should proverbs not >>>>> have a place in a >>>>> (comprehensive) reference grammar? After all, they appear to occur in >>>>> all languages that have been appropriately documented, and they are >>>>> part of the knowledge speakers have about their language. >>>> Proverbs are far from universal. They are notably rare in North >>>> American Indian languages, where riddles, too, are virtually >>>> unattested, except for a few post-contact borrowings from English or >>>> French. >>>> >>>> I don't think that the absence of these genres across an entire >>>> continent can be written off as due to the lack of appropriate >>>> documentation. Rather, it's a matter of metaphorical speech in >>>> general being little used in aboriginal North American cultures for >>>> reasons that are ultimately historical and distributional. >>>> >>>> I'm not sure what this says about speakers' knowledge of their >>>> languages in North America, but it at least suggests that certain >>>> elements of cognitive style can co-vary with differences in >>>> discourse=level patterns of encoding. This is apparently what Whorf >>>> meant when he wrote in "The Relation of Habitual Thought and Behavior >>>> to Language" (in Carroll, ed., Language, Thought and Reality, p. 146) >>>> that Hopi does not have metaphor "built into it" in the same way that >>>> European languages do. >>>> >>>> --Victor Golla >>>> >>> >>> -- >>> Pamela Munro, >>> Distinguished Professor, Linguistics, UCLA >>> UCLA Box 951543 >>> Los Angeles, CA 90095-1543 >>> http://www.linguistics.ucla.edu/people/munro/munro.htm >>> >> >> >> >> >> > From kemmer at rice.edu Tue Nov 13 17:34:50 2012 From: kemmer at rice.edu (Suzanne Kemmer) Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2012 11:34:50 -0600 Subject: Proverbs In-Reply-To: Message-ID: I thought that the idea that North American languages lack metaphor was something that used to be said back when metaphor was understood as a rarified and special process. Once metaphor was understood as an ordinary process of conceptual mapping and incremental semantic extension, people recognized the prevalence of metaphor in these languages. (I thought.) Grammaticalization processes that involve metaphorical extensions seem to me (non-specialist in the languages but a grammar-reader) to be as widespread there as anywhere - the grammar of space is one place, but also in aspectual systems (e.g. the grammaticalization of verbs meaning 'sit', 'stand', and 'lie' into aspectuals in lgs of the southwest). Don't know how this relates to proverbs. Suzanne On Nov 13, 2012, at 11:11 AM, Marianne Mithun wrote: > Sorry, you're right, Brian. > > Actually, I think the use of metaphor in North America is more culture-specific. Iroquoian languages raise metaphor to great, dazzling heights. It was surely there before contact, and is something that has long been prized, cultivated, and enjoyed. It infuses the whole of language. And I've seen constant use of metaphor in Navajo too, like you have. But not at all, really, in some other languages I've worked with. > > Marianne > > --On Tuesday, November 13, 2012 12:02 PM -0500 Brian MacWhinney wrote: > >> Dear FunkNet, >> >> To someone unfamiliar with the data, Viktor's claim that metaphorical >> speech in general is little used in North American cultures is quite >> fascinating. It goes way beyond the idea that proverbs might be missing, >> and touches on issues right at the core of basic assumptions being made >> by psychologists and anthropologists about human cognition, mental >> models, and belief. Before accepting Victor's observations, I was hoping >> for a bit more input from others on FunkNet about the generality of the >> claim. >> >> I had earlier learned just a little bit of Navajo and been impressed by >> the way in which the parts of the car were mapped metaphorically onto >> the human body image, much as suggested by the role of the BODY as source >> metaphor in Conceptual Metaphor Theory. It had never occurred to me that >> all the other types of metaphors that we find so regularly in languages >> like English, Chinese, and Japanese would actually be missing in North >> America. >> >> So, I took a look at what Whorf wrote on this subject about Hopi on p. >> 146 and it seems that the focus there is on the absence of the shape >> metaphors for extent, because of the high level of availability of >> built-in quantifiers or "tensors". Whorf also claims that the "conduit" >> metaphor for communication is completely missing in Hopi, along with the >> metaphor of KNOWING IS SEEING. In the most extreme case, one could >> interpret what Whorf is writing as saying that Hopi's do not develop >> mental models of either their own thoughts or the thoughts of others. How >> this avoidance of metaphor and mental models could square with the >> intense religious experiences in North America is something that puzzles >> me. >> >> Perhaps Whorf is not saying this. Perhaps I have misunderstood what >> Victor and Marianne and Pamela are saying. Perhaps this is all JUST >> about proverbs and not really about metaphor. >> >> Elizabeth's question about alternatives to proverbs led me to think of >> the rich tradition of folk tales in North America, which could easily be >> understood as expanded proverbs, much as Aesop's Fables ca be compressed >> into proverbs. Marianne notes that stories serve other functions. >> However, I wonder whether one can refer to acts of protagonists in >> stories and thereby effectively avoid a frozen proverb. >> >> -- Brian MacWhinney >> >> On Nov 13, 2012, at 11:40 AM, Marianne Mithun >> wrote: >> >>> And I was just going to chime in with the same thing. I think Victor put >>> it exactly right. >>> >>> Marianne Mithun >>> >>> >>> --On Tuesday, November 13, 2012 7:31 AM -0800 Pamela Munro >>> wrote: >>> >>>> I second what Victor says here. I have never seen anything like a >>>> proverb in the North American languages I've studied. >>>> >>>> Pam >>>> >>>> On 11/13/12 2:43 AM, Victor Golla wrote: >>>>> On Mon, Nov 12, 2012 at 9:31 PM, Bernd Heine wrote: >>>>> >>>>>> Why should proverbs not >>>>>> have a place in a >>>>>> (comprehensive) reference grammar? After all, they appear to occur in >>>>>> all languages that have been appropriately documented, and they are >>>>>> part of the knowledge speakers have about their language. >>>>> Proverbs are far from universal. They are notably rare in North >>>>> American Indian languages, where riddles, too, are virtually >>>>> unattested, except for a few post-contact borrowings from English or >>>>> French. >>>>> >>>>> I don't think that the absence of these genres across an entire >>>>> continent can be written off as due to the lack of appropriate >>>>> documentation. Rather, it's a matter of metaphorical speech in >>>>> general being little used in aboriginal North American cultures for >>>>> reasons that are ultimately historical and distributional. >>>>> >>>>> I'm not sure what this says about speakers' knowledge of their >>>>> languages in North America, but it at least suggests that certain >>>>> elements of cognitive style can co-vary with differences in >>>>> discourse=level patterns of encoding. This is apparently what Whorf >>>>> meant when he wrote in "The Relation of Habitual Thought and Behavior >>>>> to Language" (in Carroll, ed., Language, Thought and Reality, p. 146) >>>>> that Hopi does not have metaphor "built into it" in the same way that >>>>> European languages do. >>>>> >>>>> --Victor Golla >>>>> >>>> >>>> -- >>>> Pamela Munro, >>>> Distinguished Professor, Linguistics, UCLA >>>> UCLA Box 951543 >>>> Los Angeles, CA 90095-1543 >>>> http://www.linguistics.ucla.edu/people/munro/munro.htm >>>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >> > > > > > From dan at daneverett.org Tue Nov 13 17:42:37 2012 From: dan at daneverett.org (Daniel Everett) Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2012 12:42:37 -0500 Subject: Proverbs In-Reply-To: <9045DD3D-A1B5-4851-A4AD-D8DEAA682EC8@cmu.edu> Message-ID: This is funny. I have been reading this as "pro-verbs" and wondering what people had in mind (verbs like English "do", etc). My response is roughly the same, though, whichever is in mind. If we believe that language fulfills functions, then there is no reason to think that the same function will be fulfilled in the same way in every language, nor that every culture will have the same range of functions for language. Careful, "thick" descriptions of discourse are needed, but so are comparative anthropological studies and attempts to advance the agenda of Dell Hymes (and to a lesser degree one that I have advocated) - finding out where each language fits in the system of values of a people and how and where this is expressed in the language and society. Dan On Nov 13, 2012, at 12:02 PM, Brian MacWhinney wrote: > Dear FunkNet, > > To someone unfamiliar with the data, Viktor's claim that metaphorical speech in general > is little used in North American cultures is quite fascinating. It goes way beyond the > idea that proverbs might be missing, and touches on issues right at the core of basic assumptions > being made by psychologists and anthropologists about human cognition, mental models, and belief. > Before accepting Victor's observations, I was hoping for a bit more input from others on > FunkNet about the generality of the claim. > > I had earlier learned just a little bit of Navajo and been impressed by the way in which the parts of the car were > mapped metaphorically onto the human body image, much as suggested by the role of the BODY as > source metaphor in Conceptual Metaphor Theory. It had never occurred to me that > all the other types of metaphors that we find so regularly in languages like English, Chinese, and > Japanese would actually be missing in North America. > > So, I took a look at what Whorf wrote on this subject about Hopi on p. 146 and it seems that the > focus there is on the absence of the shape metaphors for extent, because of the high > level of availability of built-in quantifiers or "tensors". Whorf also claims that the "conduit" > metaphor for communication is completely missing in Hopi, along with the metaphor of KNOWING IS > SEEING. In the most extreme case, one could interpret what Whorf is writing as saying that > Hopi's do not develop mental models of either their own thoughts or the thoughts of others. > How this avoidance of metaphor and mental models could square with the intense religious experiences > in North America is something that puzzles me. > > Perhaps Whorf is not saying this. Perhaps I have misunderstood what Victor and Marianne and Pamela > are saying. Perhaps this is all JUST about proverbs and not really about metaphor. > > Elizabeth's question about alternatives to proverbs led me to think of the rich tradition of folk tales in > North America, which could easily be understood as expanded proverbs, much as Aesop's Fables ca > be compressed into proverbs. Marianne notes that stories serve other functions. However, I wonder > whether one can refer to acts of protagonists in stories and thereby effectively avoid a frozen proverb. > > -- Brian MacWhinney > > On Nov 13, 2012, at 11:40 AM, Marianne Mithun wrote: > >> And I was just going to chime in with the same thing. I think Victor put it exactly right. >> >> Marianne Mithun >> >> >> --On Tuesday, November 13, 2012 7:31 AM -0800 Pamela Munro wrote: >> >>> I second what Victor says here. I have never seen anything like a proverb >>> in the North American languages I've studied. >>> >>> Pam >>> >>> On 11/13/12 2:43 AM, Victor Golla wrote: >>>> On Mon, Nov 12, 2012 at 9:31 PM, Bernd Heine wrote: >>>> >>>>> Why should proverbs not >>>>> have a place in a >>>>> (comprehensive) reference grammar? After all, they appear to occur in >>>>> all languages that have been appropriately documented, and they are >>>>> part of the knowledge speakers have about their language. >>>> Proverbs are far from universal. They are notably rare in North American >>>> Indian languages, where riddles, too, are virtually unattested, except >>>> for a few post-contact borrowings from English or French. >>>> >>>> I don't think that the absence of these genres across an entire >>>> continent can be written off as due to the lack of appropriate >>>> documentation. Rather, it's a matter of metaphorical speech in general >>>> being little used in aboriginal North American cultures for reasons that >>>> are ultimately historical and distributional. >>>> >>>> I'm not sure what this says about speakers' knowledge of their languages >>>> in North America, but it at least suggests that certain elements of >>>> cognitive style can co-vary with differences in discourse=level patterns >>>> of encoding. This is apparently what Whorf meant when he wrote in "The >>>> Relation of Habitual Thought and Behavior to Language" (in Carroll, ed., >>>> Language, Thought and Reality, p. 146) that Hopi does not have metaphor >>>> "built into it" in the same way that European languages do. >>>> >>>> --Victor Golla >>>> >>> >>> -- >>> Pamela Munro, >>> Distinguished Professor, Linguistics, UCLA >>> UCLA Box 951543 >>> Los Angeles, CA 90095-1543 >>> http://www.linguistics.ucla.edu/people/munro/munro.htm >>> >> >> >> >> >> > From emriddle at bsu.edu Tue Nov 13 17:51:09 2012 From: emriddle at bsu.edu (Riddle, Elizabeth) Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2012 17:51:09 +0000 Subject: Proverbs In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Following up the points about story telling, I'm thinking of times when English speakers say things like "Remember the boy who cried 'wolf'" as an admonishment to a child. This utterance is not a proverb in and of itself, has normal sentence structure, and is not really metaphorical in the sense that saying "that's sour grapes" might be, but seems to serve a similar communicative purpose to that of a proverb in such a situation. I'm wondering if such references regularly occur in the discourse of various native North American languages. Thanks, Liz Elizabeth M. Riddle Professor and Chair Department of English Ball State University Muncie, IN 47306 USA emriddle at bsu.edu Tel: 765-285-8584 ________________________________________ From: funknet-bounces at mailman.rice.edu [funknet-bounces at mailman.rice.edu] on behalf of Marianne Mithun [mithun at linguistics.ucsb.edu] Sent: Tuesday, November 13, 2012 12:11 PM To: Brian MacWhinney; Funknet Subject: Re: [FUNKNET] Proverbs Sorry, you're right, Brian. Actually, I think the use of metaphor in North America is more culture-specific. Iroquoian languages raise metaphor to great, dazzling heights. It was surely there before contact, and is something that has long been prized, cultivated, and enjoyed. It infuses the whole of language. And I've seen constant use of metaphor in Navajo too, like you have. But not at all, really, in some other languages I've worked with. Marianne --On Tuesday, November 13, 2012 12:02 PM -0500 Brian MacWhinney wrote: > Dear FunkNet, > > To someone unfamiliar with the data, Viktor's claim that metaphorical > speech in general is little used in North American cultures is quite > fascinating. It goes way beyond the idea that proverbs might be missing, > and touches on issues right at the core of basic assumptions being made > by psychologists and anthropologists about human cognition, mental > models, and belief. Before accepting Victor's observations, I was hoping > for a bit more input from others on FunkNet about the generality of the > claim. > > I had earlier learned just a little bit of Navajo and been impressed by > the way in which the parts of the car were mapped metaphorically onto > the human body image, much as suggested by the role of the BODY as source > metaphor in Conceptual Metaphor Theory. It had never occurred to me that > all the other types of metaphors that we find so regularly in languages > like English, Chinese, and Japanese would actually be missing in North > America. > > So, I took a look at what Whorf wrote on this subject about Hopi on p. > 146 and it seems that the focus there is on the absence of the shape > metaphors for extent, because of the high level of availability of > built-in quantifiers or "tensors". Whorf also claims that the "conduit" > metaphor for communication is completely missing in Hopi, along with the > metaphor of KNOWING IS SEEING. In the most extreme case, one could > interpret what Whorf is writing as saying that Hopi's do not develop > mental models of either their own thoughts or the thoughts of others. How > this avoidance of metaphor and mental models could square with the > intense religious experiences in North America is something that puzzles > me. > > Perhaps Whorf is not saying this. Perhaps I have misunderstood what > Victor and Marianne and Pamela are saying. Perhaps this is all JUST > about proverbs and not really about metaphor. > > Elizabeth's question about alternatives to proverbs led me to think of > the rich tradition of folk tales in North America, which could easily be > understood as expanded proverbs, much as Aesop's Fables ca be compressed > into proverbs. Marianne notes that stories serve other functions. > However, I wonder whether one can refer to acts of protagonists in > stories and thereby effectively avoid a frozen proverb. > > -- Brian MacWhinney > > On Nov 13, 2012, at 11:40 AM, Marianne Mithun > wrote: > >> And I was just going to chime in with the same thing. I think Victor put >> it exactly right. >> >> Marianne Mithun >> >> >> --On Tuesday, November 13, 2012 7:31 AM -0800 Pamela Munro >> wrote: >> >>> I second what Victor says here. I have never seen anything like a >>> proverb in the North American languages I've studied. >>> >>> Pam >>> >>> On 11/13/12 2:43 AM, Victor Golla wrote: >>>> On Mon, Nov 12, 2012 at 9:31 PM, Bernd Heine wrote: >>>> >>>>> Why should proverbs not >>>>> have a place in a >>>>> (comprehensive) reference grammar? After all, they appear to occur in >>>>> all languages that have been appropriately documented, and they are >>>>> part of the knowledge speakers have about their language. >>>> Proverbs are far from universal. They are notably rare in North >>>> American Indian languages, where riddles, too, are virtually >>>> unattested, except for a few post-contact borrowings from English or >>>> French. >>>> >>>> I don't think that the absence of these genres across an entire >>>> continent can be written off as due to the lack of appropriate >>>> documentation. Rather, it's a matter of metaphorical speech in >>>> general being little used in aboriginal North American cultures for >>>> reasons that are ultimately historical and distributional. >>>> >>>> I'm not sure what this says about speakers' knowledge of their >>>> languages in North America, but it at least suggests that certain >>>> elements of cognitive style can co-vary with differences in >>>> discourse=level patterns of encoding. This is apparently what Whorf >>>> meant when he wrote in "The Relation of Habitual Thought and Behavior >>>> to Language" (in Carroll, ed., Language, Thought and Reality, p. 146) >>>> that Hopi does not have metaphor "built into it" in the same way that >>>> European languages do. >>>> >>>> --Victor Golla >>>> >>> >>> -- >>> Pamela Munro, >>> Distinguished Professor, Linguistics, UCLA >>> UCLA Box 951543 >>> Los Angeles, CA 90095-1543 >>> http://www.linguistics.ucla.edu/people/munro/munro.htm >>> >> >> >> >> >> > From pyoung at uoregon.edu Tue Nov 13 18:08:47 2012 From: pyoung at uoregon.edu (Phil Young) Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2012 10:08:47 -0800 Subject: Proverbs In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Elizabeth, What you say about communicative purpose reminded me of Keith Basso's work with the Western Apache, in particular _Wisdom Sits in Places_. Cheers, Phil Young, Professor Emeritus Department of Anthropology 1218 University of Oregon Eugene, OR 97403 Office phone: (541) 346-5117 Office fax: (541) 346-0668 pyoung at uoregon.edu From dryer at buffalo.edu Tue Nov 13 18:16:16 2012 From: dryer at buffalo.edu (Matthew Dryer) Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2012 13:16:16 -0500 Subject: Proverbs In-Reply-To: <50A1DB4A.6060702@uni-koeln.de> Message-ID: My impression based on examples involving proverbs in grammars is that there are clear geographical patterns in the frequency or importance of proverbs.In particular, they seem far more common in Africa than elsewhere in the world, though I recall seeing examples in languages of southeast Asia. With regard to metaphor, I might point out the following recent volume *Endangered Metaphors* *Edited by Anna Idstr?m and Elisabeth Piirainen* University of Helsinki / Steinfurt, Germany *In cooperation with Tiber F.M. Falzett* [Cognitive Linguistic Studies in Cultural Contexts , 2] 2012. vi, 376 pp. contains the following chapters dealing with languages of the Americas: "Our language is very literal": Figurative expression in Dene Su;?in? [Athapaskan] /Sally Rice/ 21 -- 76 "My heart falls out": Conceptualizations of body parts and emotion expressions in Beaver Athabascan /Carolina Pasamonik/ 77 -- 102 Walking like a porcupine, talking like a raven: Figurative language in Upper Tanana Athabascan /Olga Lovick/ 103 -- 122 Are Nahuatl riddles endangered conceptualizations? /Mercedes Montes de Oca Vega/ 123 -- 144 Bodily-based conceptual metaphors in Ash?ninka Peren? myths and folk stories /Elena Mihas/ 145 -- 160 Matthew On 11/13/12 12:31 AM, Bernd Heine wrote: > Looking through a range of grammars of languages across the world I am > surprised that proverbs are largely or entirely ignored in grammatical > descriptions. They appear occasionally in the exemplification of > structures but are essentially never discussed, e.g., as a discourse > type, or as illustrating a special kind of morphosyntactic structure > or relationship between form and meaning. > To be sure, I could think of a number of reasons for that, but I find > none of them entirely convincing. Why should proverbs not have a place > in a (comprehensive) reference grammar? After all, they appear to > occur in all languages that have been appropriately documented, and > they are part of the knowledge speakers have about their language. > Please advise. > Bernd > > From emriddle at bsu.edu Tue Nov 13 18:15:03 2012 From: emriddle at bsu.edu (Riddle, Elizabeth) Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2012 18:15:03 +0000 Subject: Proverbs In-Reply-To: <17483446.20121113100847@uoregon.edu> Message-ID: Thanks for the reference, Phil! Liz Elizabeth M. Riddle Professor and Chair Department of English Ball State University Muncie, IN 47306 USA emriddle at bsu.edu Tel: 765-285-8584 ________________________________________ From: funknet-bounces at mailman.rice.edu [funknet-bounces at mailman.rice.edu] on behalf of Phil Young [pyoung at uoregon.edu] Sent: Tuesday, November 13, 2012 1:08 PM To: Riddle, Elizabeth Cc: Funknet; Brian MacWhinney; Marianne Mithun Subject: Re: [FUNKNET] Proverbs Elizabeth, What you say about communicative purpose reminded me of Keith Basso's work with the Western Apache, in particular _Wisdom Sits in Places_. Cheers, Phil Young, Professor Emeritus Department of Anthropology 1218 University of Oregon Eugene, OR 97403 Office phone: (541) 346-5117 Office fax: (541) 346-0668 pyoung at uoregon.edu From wsmith at csusb.edu Tue Nov 13 18:21:31 2012 From: wsmith at csusb.edu (Wendy Smith) Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2012 10:21:31 -0800 Subject: Proverbs In-Reply-To: <50A28E70.6030407@buffalo.edu> Message-ID: They are *extremely common* in the language I work with, Ladino (or Djudeo-espanyol). They are so common, in fact, that there are several books written about them and all Ladino speakers and their descendents can quote them with ease. They are an integral part of the culture, as is narrative. On Nov 13, 2012, at 10:16 AM, Matthew Dryer wrote: > My impression based on examples involving proverbs in grammars is that there are clear geographical patterns in the frequency or importance of proverbs.In particular, they seem far more common in Africa than elsewhere in the world, though I recall seeing examples in languages of southeast Asia. > > With regard to metaphor, I might point out the following recent volume > > *Endangered Metaphors* > > *Edited by Anna Idstr?m and Elisabeth Piirainen* > > University of Helsinki / Steinfurt, Germany > > *In cooperation with Tiber F.M. Falzett* > > [Cognitive Linguistic Studies in Cultural Contexts , 2] 2012. vi, 376 pp. > > contains the following chapters dealing with languages of the Americas: > > "Our language is very literal": Figurative expression in Dene Su;?in? [Athapaskan] > > /Sally Rice/ > > > > 21 -- 76 > > "My heart falls out": Conceptualizations of body parts and emotion expressions in Beaver Athabascan > > /Carolina Pasamonik/ > > > > 77 -- 102 > > Walking like a porcupine, talking like a raven: Figurative language in Upper Tanana Athabascan > > /Olga Lovick/ > > > > 103 -- 122 > > Are Nahuatl riddles endangered conceptualizations? > > /Mercedes Montes de Oca Vega/ > > > > 123 -- 144 > > Bodily-based conceptual metaphors in Ash?ninka Peren? myths and folk stories > > /Elena Mihas/ > > > > 145 -- 160 > > > > Matthew > > On 11/13/12 12:31 AM, Bernd Heine wrote: >> Looking through a range of grammars of languages across the world I am surprised that proverbs are largely or entirely ignored in grammatical descriptions. They appear occasionally in the exemplification of structures but are essentially never discussed, e.g., as a discourse type, or as illustrating a special kind of morphosyntactic structure or relationship between form and meaning. >> To be sure, I could think of a number of reasons for that, but I find none of them entirely convincing. Why should proverbs not have a place in a (comprehensive) reference grammar? After all, they appear to occur in all languages that have been appropriately documented, and they are part of the knowledge speakers have about their language. Please advise. >> Bernd >> >> > From chafe at linguistics.ucsb.edu Tue Nov 13 18:26:06 2012 From: chafe at linguistics.ucsb.edu (Wallace Chafe) Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2012 10:26:06 -0800 Subject: Proverbs In-Reply-To: <17483446.20121113100847@uoregon.edu> Message-ID: We seem to have strayed pretty far from Bernd's question. Just a couple more miscellaneous remarks. A long long time ago I started to write a grammar of Armenian in collaboration with Hasmig Seropian. For various reasons we never finished it, but I remember that we were in fact going to include a chapter on proverbs, with which Armenian is rife. I seem to remember that others had written about Armenian proverbs, but my memory could be faulty. Marianne is certainly right about the prevalence of metaphor in Iroquois languages. One I especially like captures the idea of being amused or entertained, which is expressed as "stirring one's mind." Often it's in the context of telling stories. Reference to "crying wolf" reminded me of coyote stories, but I don't know that coyote is ever cited as a model for how one should behave. Sometimes he wins and sometimes he loses, so imitating him could get one into big trouble. Nobody mentioned puns, in which I have a special interest because of my broader interest in humor. If you're interested yourself, look at Polysynthetic Puns in UCPL 131 (1998). Wally From grvsmth at panix.com Wed Nov 14 02:45:13 2012 From: grvsmth at panix.com (Angus Grieve-Smith) Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2012 21:45:13 -0500 Subject: Proverbs In-Reply-To: Message-ID: On 11/13/2012 12:51 PM, Riddle, Elizabeth wrote: > Following up the points about story telling, I'm thinking of times when English speakers say things like "Remember the boy who cried 'wolf'" as an admonishment to a child. This utterance is not a proverb in and of itself, has normal sentence structure, and is not really metaphorical in the sense that saying "that's sour grapes" might be, but seems to serve a similar communicative purpose to that of a proverb in such a situation. I'm wondering if such references regularly occur in the discourse of various native North American languages. It's not just explicit allusions like that, but implicit quotations like "Once more into the breach, my friends!" or in French, "revenons ? ces moutons..." At this point I have to mention the Star Trek episode "Darmok," which imagined a culture that communicated entirely in those kinds of allusions to old stories: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darmok The "Universal Translator" technology was unable to cope with it, passing the allusions on literally without supplying either the stories themselves or any interpretation as to their relevance. -- -Angus B. Grieve-Smith grvsmth at panix.com From sweetser at berkeley.edu Wed Nov 14 02:56:20 2012 From: sweetser at berkeley.edu (Eve Sweetser) Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2012 18:56:20 -0800 Subject: Proverbs In-Reply-To: <50A305B9.5010907@panix.com> Message-ID: Karen Sullivan and I have a paper about the metaphoric and metonymic relationships in proverbs which I think applies quite well to these cases: 2009. Karen Sullivan and Eve Sweetser. 2009. Is "Generic is Specific" a Metaphor?" in Fey Parrill, Vera Tobin and Mark Turner (eds.), /Meaning, Form and Body/. (Selected papers from the 2008 CSDL meeting). Stanford CA: CSLI Publications. On 11/13/12 6:45 PM, Angus Grieve-Smith wrote: > On 11/13/2012 12:51 PM, Riddle, Elizabeth wrote: >> Following up the points about story telling, I'm thinking of times >> when English speakers say things like "Remember the boy who cried >> 'wolf'" as an admonishment to a child. This utterance is not a >> proverb in and of itself, has normal sentence structure, and is not >> really metaphorical in the sense that saying "that's sour grapes" >> might be, but seems to serve a similar communicative purpose to that >> of a proverb in such a situation. I'm wondering if such references >> regularly occur in the discourse of various native North American >> languages. > > It's not just explicit allusions like that, but implicit > quotations like "Once more into the breach, my friends!" or in French, > "revenons ? ces moutons..." > > At this point I have to mention the Star Trek episode "Darmok," > which imagined a culture that communicated entirely in those kinds of > allusions to old stories: > > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darmok > > The "Universal Translator" technology was unable to cope with it, > passing the allusions on literally without supplying either the > stories themselves or any interpretation as to their relevance. > From timthornes at boisestate.edu Wed Nov 14 05:15:10 2012 From: timthornes at boisestate.edu (Tim Thornes) Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2012 23:15:10 -0600 Subject: Proverbs In-Reply-To: <50A30854.5030604@berkeley.edu> Message-ID: I don't know that my original reply to all was delivered to funknet, as my recent change of email address appeared to have shut me out momentarily as a discussant. My comment regarded the apparent lack of proverbs as a distinct discourse genre in Native North American languages, as per Victor's reply. I was responding in part to Elizabeth's comment and to Marianne's and Wally's insights: "I was struck with the same idea regarding the invocation of a well known story in Native America as serving the same "wise saying" function of a proverb. I was thinking, too, of Coyote stories and how the simple mention of one (of the stories) serves as a reminder not to be vain, greedy, garrulous, disobedient, disrespectful, or lascivious. Perhaps it is the invocation itself that serves (a proverbial role), since, as Marianne points out, storytelling carries a broader range of functions. Cheers, Tim On 11/13/12, Eve Sweetser wrote: > Karen Sullivan and I have a paper about the metaphoric and metonymic > relationships in proverbs which I think applies quite well to these cases: > > 2009. Karen Sullivan and Eve Sweetser. 2009. Is "Generic is Specific" a > Metaphor?" in Fey Parrill, Vera Tobin and Mark Turner (eds.), /Meaning, > Form and Body/. (Selected papers from the 2008 CSDL meeting). Stanford > CA: CSLI Publications. > > > > On 11/13/12 6:45 PM, Angus Grieve-Smith wrote: >> On 11/13/2012 12:51 PM, Riddle, Elizabeth wrote: >>> Following up the points about story telling, I'm thinking of times >>> when English speakers say things like "Remember the boy who cried >>> 'wolf'" as an admonishment to a child. This utterance is not a >>> proverb in and of itself, has normal sentence structure, and is not >>> really metaphorical in the sense that saying "that's sour grapes" >>> might be, but seems to serve a similar communicative purpose to that >>> of a proverb in such a situation. I'm wondering if such references >>> regularly occur in the discourse of various native North American >>> languages. >> >> It's not just explicit allusions like that, but implicit >> quotations like "Once more into the breach, my friends!" or in French, >> "revenons ? ces moutons..." >> >> At this point I have to mention the Star Trek episode "Darmok," >> which imagined a culture that communicated entirely in those kinds of >> allusions to old stories: >> >> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darmok >> >> The "Universal Translator" technology was unable to cope with it, >> passing the allusions on literally without supplying either the >> stories themselves or any interpretation as to their relevance. >> > > -- TimThornes Assistant Professor of Linguistics English Department Boise State University SMITC 218A (208) 426-4267 From wllu at ntu.edu.tw Wed Nov 14 11:35:49 2012 From: wllu at ntu.edu.tw (Louis Wei-lun Lu) Date: Wed, 14 Nov 2012 19:35:49 +0800 Subject: Proverbs In-Reply-To: <50A28E70.6030407@buffalo.edu> Message-ID: I agree with Matthew's observation that there exists variation in terms of the frequency and importance of proverbs. And I can't help but suspect that genre may also play a role in the usage variation of proverbs: Proverbs in Mandarin Chinese seem to me more frequent in written language but less so in conversation. Now back to Bernd's question, if my above hunch turns out correct, then the fact that most reference grammars (for lgs with a writing tradition) are based on written lg should partially explain why proverbs are left out. Louis Wei-lun Lu ?? Matthew Dryer : > My impression based on examples involving proverbs in grammars is > that there are clear geographical patterns in the frequency or > importance of proverbs.In particular, they seem far more common in > Africa than elsewhere in the world, though I recall seeing examples > in languages of southeast Asia. > > With regard to metaphor, I might point out the following recent volume > > *Endangered Metaphors* > > *Edited by Anna Idstr"om and Elisabeth Piirainen* > > University of Helsinki / Steinfurt, Germany > > *In cooperation with Tiber F.M. Falzett* > > [Cognitive Linguistic Studies in Cultural Contexts > , 2] 2012. vi, 376 pp. > > contains the following chapters dealing with languages of the Americas: > > "Our language is very literal": Figurative expression in Dene > Su;?in'e [Athapaskan] > > > /Sally Rice/ > > > > 21 -- 76 > > "My heart falls out": Conceptualizations of body parts and emotion > expressions in Beaver Athabascan > > > /Carolina Pasamonik/ > > > > 77 -- 102 > > Walking like a porcupine, talking like a raven: Figurative language > in Upper Tanana Athabascan > > > /Olga Lovick/ > > > > 103 -- 122 > > Are Nahuatl riddles endangered conceptualizations? > > > /Mercedes Montes de Oca Vega/ > > > > 123 -- 144 > > Bodily-based conceptual metaphors in Ash'eninka Peren'e myths and > folk stories > > /Elena Mihas/ > > > > 145 -- 160 > > > > Matthew > > On 11/13/12 12:31 AM, Bernd Heine wrote: >> Looking through a range of grammars of languages across the world I >> am surprised that proverbs are largely or entirely ignored in >> grammatical descriptions. They appear occasionally in the >> exemplification of structures but are essentially never discussed, >> e.g., as a discourse type, or as illustrating a special kind of >> morphosyntactic structure or relationship between form and meaning. >> To be sure, I could think of a number of reasons for that, but I >> find none of them entirely convincing. Why should proverbs not have >> a place in a (comprehensive) reference grammar? After all, they >> appear to occur in all languages that have been appropriately >> documented, and they are part of the knowledge speakers have about >> their language. Please advise. >> Bernd >> >> > > -- Louis Wei-lun Lu (???) Graduate Institute of Linguistics National Taiwan University From dan at daneverett.org Mon Nov 19 15:24:39 2012 From: dan at daneverett.org (Daniel Everett) Date: Mon, 19 Nov 2012 10:24:39 -0500 Subject: Documentary Message-ID: http://www.smithsonianchannel.com/site/sn/show.do?show=141519 In case anyone is interested in a documentary about the Pirahas, the Smithsonian Channel has just placed the entire program on the internet. Dan Everett From dan at daneverett.org Mon Nov 19 17:04:39 2012 From: dan at daneverett.org (Daniel Everett) Date: Mon, 19 Nov 2012 12:04:39 -0500 Subject: Documentary In-Reply-To: <1EAC95B2-3E8E-4EB8-AF97-DA242A81334F@daneverett.org> Message-ID: Several said that they couldn't watch the movie outside the US. Someone has sent this link to youtube, on which apparently folks outside the US can also watch the documentary. Dan The Grammar of Happiness (2012 Documentary) http://youtu.be/2nlPgSovUow On Nov 19, 2012, at 10:24 AM, Daniel Everett wrote: > http://www.smithsonianchannel.com/site/sn/show.do?show=141519 > > In case anyone is interested in a documentary about the Pirahas, the Smithsonian Channel has just placed the entire program on the internet. > > Dan Everett From jrubba at calpoly.edu Mon Nov 19 17:16:49 2012 From: jrubba at calpoly.edu (Johanna Rubba) Date: Mon, 19 Nov 2012 09:16:49 -0800 Subject: Documentary In-Reply-To: <1EAC95B2-3E8E-4EB8-AF97-DA242A81334F@daneverett.org> Message-ID: Dan, The YouTube doesn't work. It's been taken down by Smithsonian. I had no trouble getting the original, though. Jo Dr. Johanna Rubba, Professor, Linguistics Linguistics Minor Advisor English Department Cal Poly State University, San Luis Obispo Tel. 805.756.2184 Dept. Tel 805.756.2596 E-mail: jrubba at calpoly.edu URL: http://cla.calpoly.edu/~jrubba ******************************************* "Justice is what love looks like in public." - Cornel West On Nov 19, 2012, at 7:24 AM, Daniel Everett wrote: > http://www.smithsonianchannel.com/site/sn/show.do?show=141519 > > In case anyone is interested in a documentary about the Pirahas, the Smithsonian Channel has just placed the entire program on the internet. > > Dan Everett From lachlan_mackenzie at hotmail.com Mon Nov 19 17:25:14 2012 From: lachlan_mackenzie at hotmail.com (Lachlan Mackenzie) Date: Mon, 19 Nov 2012 17:25:14 +0000 Subject: Documentary In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Hi, the YouTube works just fine here in Spain. Looking forward to watching it. Best wishes, Lachlan > From: jrubba at calpoly.edu> Date: Mon, 19 Nov 2012 09:16:49 -0800 > To: dan at daneverett.org > CC: funknet at mailman.rice.edu > Subject: Re: [FUNKNET] Documentary > > Dan, > > The YouTube doesn't work. It's been taken down by Smithsonian. I had no trouble getting the original, though. > > Jo > > Dr. Johanna Rubba, Professor, Linguistics > Linguistics Minor Advisor > English Department > Cal Poly State University, San Luis Obispo > Tel. 805.756.2184 > Dept. Tel 805.756.2596 > E-mail: jrubba at calpoly.edu > URL: http://cla.calpoly.edu/~jrubba > ******************************************* > "Justice is what love looks like in public." > - Cornel West > > > > On Nov 19, 2012, at 7:24 AM, Daniel Everett wrote: > > > http://www.smithsonianchannel.com/site/sn/show.do?show=141519 > > > > In case anyone is interested in a documentary about the Pirahas, the Smithsonian Channel has just placed the entire program on the internet. > > > > Dan Everett > From deseretian at gmail.com Mon Nov 19 18:05:56 2012 From: deseretian at gmail.com (Alex Walker) Date: Mon, 19 Nov 2012 10:05:56 -0800 Subject: Documentary In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Wonderful piece. I'll be playing it for my students tomorrow. Thanks for the link! On Mon, Nov 19, 2012 at 9:25 AM, Lachlan Mackenzie < lachlan_mackenzie at hotmail.com> wrote: > > Hi, the YouTube works just fine here in Spain. Looking forward to watching > it. > Best wishes, > Lachlan > > > From: jrubba at calpoly.edu> Date: Mon, 19 Nov 2012 09:16:49 -0800 > > To: dan at daneverett.org > > CC: funknet at mailman.rice.edu > > Subject: Re: [FUNKNET] Documentary > > > > Dan, > > > > The YouTube doesn't work. It's been taken down by Smithsonian. I had no > trouble getting the original, though. > > > > Jo > > > > Dr. Johanna Rubba, Professor, Linguistics > > Linguistics Minor Advisor > > English Department > > Cal Poly State University, San Luis Obispo > > Tel. 805.756.2184 > > Dept. Tel 805.756.2596 > > E-mail: jrubba at calpoly.edu > > URL: http://cla.calpoly.edu/~jrubba > > ******************************************* > > "Justice is what love looks like in public." > > - Cornel West > > > > > > > > On Nov 19, 2012, at 7:24 AM, Daniel Everett wrote: > > > > > http://www.smithsonianchannel.com/site/sn/show.do?show=141519 > > > > > > In case anyone is interested in a documentary about the Pirahas, the > Smithsonian Channel has just placed the entire program on the internet. > > > > > > Dan Everett > > > > From v.evans at bangor.ac.uk Mon Nov 19 23:22:52 2012 From: v.evans at bangor.ac.uk (Vyv Evans) Date: Mon, 19 Nov 2012 23:22:52 +0000 Subject: Final CfP: Cognitive Futures of the Humanities, 4-6 April 2013 Message-ID: COGNITIVE FUTURES OF THE HUMANITIES International Conference 4-6th April 2013, School of Linguistics & English Language, Bangor University, UK WEBSITE: www.bangor.ac.uk/cognitive-humanities/ CONTACT: cognitivehumanities at bangor.ac.uk ORGANIZER: Prof. Vyv Evans (www.vyvevans.net) Deadline for abstract submissions: 30th Nov 2012 We invite 20-minute paper submissions and poster submissions for a major international conference organized on the Cognitive Futures in the Humanities. The conference will take place on 4-6 April 2013, and will be hosted by Bangor University. Confirmed plenary speakers include the following distinguished scholars: Peter Stockwell (University of Nottingham) Ellen Spolsky (Bar Ilan University ) Shaun Gallagher (University of Memphis) Lisa Zunshine (University of Kentucky) Mark Turner (Case Western Reserve University) Elena Semino (Lancaster University) The conference is associated with an international research network on the ?Cognitive Futures in the Humanities?, which is supported by the UK?s Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), awarded to Dr. Peter Garrett (Northumbria, UK), and Prof. Vyv Evans (Bangor, UK). The project manager is Dr. Matt Hayler (Exeter, UK). RATIONALE AND CONTEXT This first major conference provides a forum in order to bring together researchers from different humanities disciplines, whose work relates to, informs, or is informed by aspects of the cognitive, brain and behavioural sciences. It aims to address, in various ways, the following questions: what is the ?cognitive humanities?? In what ways is knowledge from the cognitive sciences changing approaches to language, literature, aesthetics, historiography and creative culture? How have practices in the arts and humanities influenced the cognitive sciences, and how might they do so in the future? This conference will facilitate the exchange of new, innovative research at the intersection of established disciplines, such as philosophy, linguistics, literary studies, art history and cultural studies. The ?cognitive revolution? has begun to make an impact on how humanists think about language, identity, embodiment and culture, in fields such as cognitive poetics, narratology, phenomenology and literary theory. This conference will assess the state of the field now and ask what new directions lie open for cognitive humanities research. If the cognitive sciences ask fundamental questions about the very nature of the ?human' that underpins the humanities, what new forms of knowledge and research practice might be produced in an emerging area called the ?cognitive humanities?? How can the field be mapped? What methodological opportunities exist, and what value do cognitive paradigms add to traditional modes of inquiry? How may interests particular to the humanities, such as fiction and the imagination, influence the development of research in the cognitive sciences? In addressing these questions, the conference will generate exciting new communication across disciplines and help define an emerging international research community. As part of this initiative, two postgraduate fee-waiver bursaries are being advertised (see details below). CONFERENCE STRUCTURES In addition to six plenary talks, the conference will feature a series of special themed panel sessions with leading researchers serving as discussants, including Alan Richardson (Boston College), Michael Wheeler (Stirling University), Vyv Evans (Bangor University) and Patricia Waugh (Durham University). Proposals may indicate if they wish to be considered for inclusion in one of these sessions (see below). We invite abstracts for 20-minute papers on topics such as: Cognitive neuroscience and the arts Language, meaning and cognitive processing Embodiment Phenomenology of technologies Cognitive poetics and interpretation Reading, immersion and memory Theory of mind Cognition beyond the skin Applied conceptual blending Empirical aesthetics Modularity and creativity Cognition and race, gender and sexuality Cognitive approaches to theatrical performance Literature and affect Literary history and mental science Historicizing cognitive science SUBMISSION DETAILS Please send 250-word abstracts to cognitivehumanities at bangor.ac.uk by the closing date of 30 November 2012. Abstracts should be included as Word file attachments, and be anonymized. Please indicate clearly in your email whether your abstract is to be considered for a paper, or poster, along with the name of presenter(s), university affiliation(s) and email address(es). Proposers can expect to hear if their abstract has been accepted by January 2013, when registration will open. If you wish your abstract to be considered for one of the special themed sessions, please also state which of the following sessions it might contribute to: Metaphor and Mind; Extended and Embodied Cognition; Cognitive Historicism; The Minds of Others; and Cognitive Approaches to Art, Visual Culture and Performance. If you are a postgraduate student who wishes to apply for one of the two fee-waiver bursaries, please also append a 100-word statement to your attached abstract explaining how your research relates to the conference theme of the ?cognitive humanities?, and include contact details for your principal supervisor. In addition, there will be a satellite event involving a special seminar delivered by Prof. Bernard Spolsky (Bar-Ilan University, Israel) relating to language policy and bilingualism: "What can endangered language activists learn from the ?revival? of Hebrew?" Full conference details are available from the conference website: www.bangor.ac.uk/cognitive-humanities/ -- Professor/Yr Athro Vyv Evans Professor of Linguistics/Athro mewn Ieithyddiaeth www.vyvevans.net Deputy Head of College (Research)/ Dirprwy Bennaeth y Coleg (Ymchwil) College of Arts and Humanities/ Coleg y Celfyddydau a?r Dyniaethau Bangor University/Prifysgol Bangor General Editor of 'Language & Cognition' A Mouton de Gruyter journal www.languageandcognition.net -- Rhif Elusen Gofrestredig / Registered Charity No. 1141565 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 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 jordan.zlatev at ling.lu.se Tue Nov 20 14:47:50 2012 From: jordan.zlatev at ling.lu.se (Jordan Zlatev) Date: Tue, 20 Nov 2012 14:47:50 +0000 Subject: Documentary In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Hi, It DID in the morning in Sweden and France - but not anymore! And Dan does not know what is going on... Does anyone? Best, Jordan *************************************** Jordan Zlatev Professor of General Linguistics Lund University Centre for Languages and Literature Box 201 221 00 Lund, Sweden Deputy research director of Centre for Cognitive Semiotics (CCS) http://project.sol.lu.se/en/ccs/ -----Ursprungligt meddelande----- Fr?n: funknet-bounces at mailman.rice.edu [mailto:funknet-bounces at mailman.rice.edu] F?r Lachlan Mackenzie Skickat: den 19 november 2012 18:25 Till: jrubba at calpoly.edu; dan at daneverett.org Kopia: Funknet List ?mne: Re: [FUNKNET] Documentary Hi, the YouTube works just fine here in Spain. Looking forward to watching it. Best wishes, Lachlan > From: jrubba at calpoly.edu> Date: Mon, 19 Nov 2012 09:16:49 -0800 > To: dan at daneverett.org > CC: funknet at mailman.rice.edu > Subject: Re: [FUNKNET] Documentary > > Dan, > > The YouTube doesn't work. It's been taken down by Smithsonian. I had no trouble getting the original, though. > > Jo > > Dr. Johanna Rubba, Professor, Linguistics > Linguistics Minor Advisor > English Department > Cal Poly State University, San Luis Obispo Tel. 805.756.2184 Dept. Tel > 805.756.2596 > E-mail: jrubba at calpoly.edu > URL: http://cla.calpoly.edu/~jrubba > ******************************************* > "Justice is what love looks like in public." > - Cornel West > > > > On Nov 19, 2012, at 7:24 AM, Daniel Everett wrote: > > > http://www.smithsonianchannel.com/site/sn/show.do?show=141519 > > > > In case anyone is interested in a documentary about the Pirahas, the Smithsonian Channel has just placed the entire program on the internet. > > > > Dan Everett > From mwmbombay at gmail.com Tue Nov 20 14:48:26 2012 From: mwmbombay at gmail.com (Mike Morgan) Date: Tue, 20 Nov 2012 20:33:26 +0545 Subject: Documentary In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Yes, was able to download the youtube posted video even here in Nepal with our turtle-slow download speeds ;-) Haven't had time to watch it all yet, but watched segments throughout to see that it all downlaoded okay... looks to be a very good piece. On 11/19/12, Alex Walker wrote: > Wonderful piece. I'll be playing it for my students tomorrow. Thanks for > the link! > > On Mon, Nov 19, 2012 at 9:25 AM, Lachlan Mackenzie < > lachlan_mackenzie at hotmail.com> wrote: > >> >> Hi, the YouTube works just fine here in Spain. Looking forward to >> watching >> it. >> Best wishes, >> Lachlan >> >> > From: jrubba at calpoly.edu> Date: Mon, 19 Nov 2012 09:16:49 -0800 >> > To: dan at daneverett.org >> > CC: funknet at mailman.rice.edu >> > Subject: Re: [FUNKNET] Documentary >> > >> > Dan, >> > >> > The YouTube doesn't work. It's been taken down by Smithsonian. I had no >> trouble getting the original, though. >> > >> > Jo >> > >> > Dr. Johanna Rubba, Professor, Linguistics >> > Linguistics Minor Advisor >> > English Department >> > Cal Poly State University, San Luis Obispo >> > Tel. 805.756.2184 >> > Dept. Tel 805.756.2596 >> > E-mail: jrubba at calpoly.edu >> > URL: http://cla.calpoly.edu/~jrubba >> > ******************************************* >> > "Justice is what love looks like in public." >> > - Cornel West >> > >> > >> > >> > On Nov 19, 2012, at 7:24 AM, Daniel Everett wrote: >> > >> > > http://www.smithsonianchannel.com/site/sn/show.do?show=141519 >> > > >> > > In case anyone is interested in a documentary about the Pirahas, the >> Smithsonian Channel has just placed the entire program on the internet. >> > > >> > > Dan Everett >> > >> >> > -- mwm || *U*C> || mike || ???? || ???? || ??? (aka Dr Michael W Morgan) sign language linguist / linguistic typologist academic adviser, Nepal Sign Language Training and Research NDFN, Kathmandu, Nepal From amnfn at well.com Tue Nov 20 14:57:50 2012 From: amnfn at well.com (A. Katz) Date: Tue, 20 Nov 2012 06:57:50 -0800 Subject: Documentary In-Reply-To: Message-ID: I watched it yesterday, and I shared it on FB and on my blog in many places. It is a very profound piece, as it not only highlights the academic conflict over turf, but the way that local governments want to erase the evidence of the lack of numeracy by enforcing education and modern living on a people who do not want these things. There are many, many conflicting points of view being represented in this one documentary. I initially watched it with Bow, a chimpanzee, and he was upset by something completely different: http://notesfromthepens.blogspot.com/2012/11/different-points-of-view-grammar-of.html --Aya ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mike Morgan" To: "Funknet List" Cc: dan at daneverett.org Sent: Tuesday, November 20, 2012 8:48:26 AM Subject: Re: [FUNKNET] Documentary Yes, was able to download the youtube posted video even here in Nepal with our turtle-slow download speeds ;-) Haven't had time to watch it all yet, but watched segments throughout to see that it all downlaoded okay... looks to be a very good piece. On 11/19/12, Alex Walker wrote: > Wonderful piece. I'll be playing it for my students tomorrow. Thanks for > the link! > > On Mon, Nov 19, 2012 at 9:25 AM, Lachlan Mackenzie < > lachlan_mackenzie at hotmail.com> wrote: > >> >> Hi, the YouTube works just fine here in Spain. Looking forward to >> watching >> it. >> Best wishes, >> Lachlan >> >> > From: jrubba at calpoly.edu> Date: Mon, 19 Nov 2012 09:16:49 -0800 >> > To: dan at daneverett.org >> > CC: funknet at mailman.rice.edu >> > Subject: Re: [FUNKNET] Documentary >> > >> > Dan, >> > >> > The YouTube doesn't work. It's been taken down by Smithsonian. I had no >> trouble getting the original, though. >> > >> > Jo >> > >> > Dr. Johanna Rubba, Professor, Linguistics >> > Linguistics Minor Advisor >> > English Department >> > Cal Poly State University, San Luis Obispo >> > Tel. 805.756.2184 >> > Dept. Tel 805.756.2596 >> > E-mail: jrubba at calpoly.edu >> > URL: http://cla.calpoly.edu/~jrubba >> > ******************************************* >> > "Justice is what love looks like in public." >> > - Cornel West >> > >> > >> > >> > On Nov 19, 2012, at 7:24 AM, Daniel Everett wrote: >> > >> > > http://www.smithsonianchannel.com/site/sn/show.do?show=141519 >> > > >> > > In case anyone is interested in a documentary about the Pirahas, the >> Smithsonian Channel has just placed the entire program on the internet. >> > > >> > > Dan Everett >> > >> >> > -- mwm || *U*C> || mike || ???? || ???? || ??? (aka Dr Michael W Morgan) sign language linguist / linguistic typologist academic adviser, Nepal Sign Language Training and Research NDFN, Kathmandu, Nepal From dan at daneverett.org Tue Nov 20 15:05:22 2012 From: dan at daneverett.org (Daniel Everett) Date: Tue, 20 Nov 2012 10:05:22 -0500 Subject: Documentary In-Reply-To: <766689007.665.1353423470674.JavaMail.root@zimbra.well.com> Message-ID: The documentary won the Jackson Hole Film Festival Award for the best human science film of 2012. It just won the Gold 'Australian Cinematographers Society' Award at the ACS awards ceremony and the final award of the night - the prestigious 2012 Judges Award for Best Cinematography. It has won several other awards. It was a finalist at the Paris Science Film Festival. It premiers on Arte France/Germany and on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in December. (GOH was produced and originated completely by Essential Media and I had zero to do with the process, except to answer hours of questions.) -- Dan On Nov 20, 2012, at 9:57 AM, A. Katz wrote: > I watched it yesterday, and I shared it on FB and on my blog in many places. > > It is a very profound piece, as it not only highlights the academic conflict over turf, but the way that local governments want to erase the evidence of the lack of numeracy by enforcing education and modern living on a people who do not want these things. > > There are many, many conflicting points of view being represented in this one documentary. I initially watched it with Bow, a chimpanzee, and he was upset by something completely different: > > http://notesfromthepens.blogspot.com/2012/11/different-points-of-view-grammar-of.html > > --Aya > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Mike Morgan" > To: "Funknet List" > Cc: dan at daneverett.org > Sent: Tuesday, November 20, 2012 8:48:26 AM > Subject: Re: [FUNKNET] Documentary > > Yes, was able to download the youtube posted video even here in Nepal > with our turtle-slow download speeds ;-) > > Haven't had time to watch it all yet, but watched segments throughout > to see that it all downlaoded okay... looks to be a very good piece. > > > > On 11/19/12, Alex Walker wrote: >> Wonderful piece. I'll be playing it for my students tomorrow. Thanks for >> the link! >> >> On Mon, Nov 19, 2012 at 9:25 AM, Lachlan Mackenzie < >> lachlan_mackenzie at hotmail.com> wrote: >> >>> >>> Hi, the YouTube works just fine here in Spain. Looking forward to >>> watching >>> it. >>> Best wishes, >>> Lachlan >>> >>>> From: jrubba at calpoly.edu> Date: Mon, 19 Nov 2012 09:16:49 -0800 >>>> To: dan at daneverett.org >>>> CC: funknet at mailman.rice.edu >>>> Subject: Re: [FUNKNET] Documentary >>>> >>>> Dan, >>>> >>>> The YouTube doesn't work. It's been taken down by Smithsonian. I had no >>> trouble getting the original, though. >>>> >>>> Jo >>>> >>>> Dr. Johanna Rubba, Professor, Linguistics >>>> Linguistics Minor Advisor >>>> English Department >>>> Cal Poly State University, San Luis Obispo >>>> Tel. 805.756.2184 >>>> Dept. Tel 805.756.2596 >>>> E-mail: jrubba at calpoly.edu >>>> URL: http://cla.calpoly.edu/~jrubba >>>> ******************************************* >>>> "Justice is what love looks like in public." >>>> - Cornel West >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> On Nov 19, 2012, at 7:24 AM, Daniel Everett wrote: >>>> >>>>> http://www.smithsonianchannel.com/site/sn/show.do?show=141519 >>>>> >>>>> In case anyone is interested in a documentary about the Pirahas, the >>> Smithsonian Channel has just placed the entire program on the internet. >>>>> >>>>> Dan Everett >>>> >>> >>> >> > > > -- > mwm || *U*C> || mike || ???? || ???? || ??? (aka Dr Michael W Morgan) > sign language linguist / linguistic typologist > academic adviser, Nepal Sign Language Training and Research > NDFN, Kathmandu, Nepal From michel.launey at ird.fr Tue Nov 20 17:50:39 2012 From: michel.launey at ird.fr (Michel LAUNEY) Date: Tue, 20 Nov 2012 18:50:39 +0100 Subject: Documentary In-Reply-To: <20121119170451.B05BE2F3E68E@fx804.security-mail.net> Message-ID: I was able to watch the movie yesterday from the link below (with You-Tube) However, today when I tried a new access, entry was denied ("Cette vid?o est priv?e") This world is full of mysteries Best Michel Launey On Mon, 19 Nov 2012 12:04:39 -0500 Daniel Everett wrote: > Several said that they couldn't watch the movie outside the US. >Someone has sent this link to youtube, on which apparently folks >outside the US can also watch the documentary. > > Dan > > > The Grammar of Happiness (2012 Documentary) > http://youtu.be/2nlPgSovUow > > > > On Nov 19, 2012, at 10:24 AM, Daniel Everett wrote: > >> http://www.smithsonianchannel.com/site/sn/show.do?show=141519 >> >> In case anyone is interested in a documentary about the Pirahas, the >>Smithsonian Channel has just placed the entire program on the >>internet. >> >> Dan Everett > From twood at uwc.ac.za Wed Nov 21 07:12:24 2012 From: twood at uwc.ac.za (Tahir Wood) Date: Wed, 21 Nov 2012 09:12:24 +0200 Subject: Final CfP: Cognitive Futures of the Humanities, 4-6 April 2013 In-Reply-To: <50AABF4C.1090003@bangor.ac.uk> Message-ID: Dear Prof Evans Forgive me for contacting you on this list, but I think you should know that I am unable to access the Bangor server and so I cannot get my abstract to you for this conference. Our IT people here tested the connection and said the problem is on your side. I couldn't get through to the conference address nor to your personal e-mail address. So I hope you can help me because the time remaining for submissions is short. Please advise. Yours sincerely Tahir Wood >>> Vyv Evans 11/20/2012 1:22 am >>> COGNITIVE FUTURES OF THE HUMANITIES International Conference 4-6th April 2013, School of Linguistics & English Language, Bangor University, UK WEBSITE: www.bangor.ac.uk/cognitive-humanities/ CONTACT: cognitivehumanities at bangor.ac.uk ORGANIZER: Prof. Vyv Evans (www.vyvevans.net) Deadline for abstract submissions: 30th Nov 2012 We invite 20-minute paper submissions and poster submissions for a major international conference organized on the Cognitive Futures in the Humanities. The conference will take place on 4-6 April 2013, and will be hosted by Bangor University. Confirmed plenary speakers include the following distinguished scholars: Peter Stockwell (University of Nottingham) Ellen Spolsky (Bar Ilan University ) Shaun Gallagher (University of Memphis) Lisa Zunshine (University of Kentucky) Mark Turner (Case Western Reserve University) Elena Semino (Lancaster University) The conference is associated with an international research network on the ?Cognitive Futures in the Humanities?, which is supported by the UK?s Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), awarded to Dr. Peter Garrett (Northumbria, UK), and Prof. Vyv Evans (Bangor, UK). The project manager is Dr. Matt Hayler (Exeter, UK). RATIONALE AND CONTEXT This first major conference provides a forum in order to bring together researchers from different humanities disciplines, whose work relates to, informs, or is informed by aspects of the cognitive, brain and behavioural sciences. It aims to address, in various ways, the following questions: what is the ?cognitive humanities?? In what ways is knowledge from the cognitive sciences changing approaches to language, literature, aesthetics, historiography and creative culture? How have practices in the arts and humanities influenced the cognitive sciences, and how might they do so in the future? This conference will facilitate the exchange of new, innovative research at the intersection of established disciplines, such as philosophy, linguistics, literary studies, art history and cultural studies. The ?cognitive revolution? has begun to make an impact on how humanists think about language, identity, embodiment and culture, in fields such as cognitive poetics, narratology, phenomenology and literary theory. This conference will assess the state of the field now and ask what new directions lie open for cognitive humanities research. If the cognitive sciences ask fundamental questions about the very nature of the ?human' that underpins the humanities, what new forms of knowledge and research practice might be produced in an emerging area called the ?cognitive humanities?? How can the field be mapped? What methodological opportunities exist, and what value do cognitive paradigms add to traditional modes of inquiry? How may interests particular to the humanities, such as fiction and the imagination, influence the development of research in the cognitive sciences? In addressing these questions, the conference will generate exciting new communication across disciplines and help define an emerging international research community. As part of this initiative, two postgraduate fee-waiver bursaries are being advertised (see details below). CONFERENCE STRUCTURES In addition to six plenary talks, the conference will feature a series of special themed panel sessions with leading researchers serving as discussants, including Alan Richardson (Boston College), Michael Wheeler (Stirling University), Vyv Evans (Bangor University) and Patricia Waugh (Durham University). Proposals may indicate if they wish to be considered for inclusion in one of these sessions (see below). We invite abstracts for 20-minute papers on topics such as: Cognitive neuroscience and the arts Language, meaning and cognitive processing Embodiment Phenomenology of technologies Cognitive poetics and interpretation Reading, immersion and memory Theory of mind Cognition beyond the skin Applied conceptual blending Empirical aesthetics Modularity and creativity Cognition and race, gender and sexuality Cognitive approaches to theatrical performance Literature and affect Literary history and mental science Historicizing cognitive science SUBMISSION DETAILS Please send 250-word abstracts to cognitivehumanities at bangor.ac.uk by the closing date of 30 November 2012. Abstracts should be included as Word file attachments, and be anonymized. Please indicate clearly in your email whether your abstract is to be considered for a paper, or poster, along with the name of presenter(s), university affiliation(s) and email address(es). Proposers can expect to hear if their abstract has been accepted by January 2013, when registration will open. If you wish your abstract to be considered for one of the special themed sessions, please also state which of the following sessions it might contribute to: Metaphor and Mind; Extended and Embodied Cognition; Cognitive Historicism; The Minds of Others; and Cognitive Approaches to Art, Visual Culture and Performance. If you are a postgraduate student who wishes to apply for one of the two fee-waiver bursaries, please also append a 100-word statement to your attached abstract explaining how your research relates to the conference theme of the ?cognitive humanities?, and include contact details for your principal supervisor. In addition, there will be a satellite event involving a special seminar delivered by Prof. Bernard Spolsky (Bar-Ilan University, Israel) relating to language policy and bilingualism: "What can endangered language activists learn from the ?revival? of Hebrew?" Full conference details are available from the conference website: www.bangor.ac.uk/cognitive-humanities/ -- Professor/Yr Athro Vyv Evans Professor of Linguistics/Athro mewn Ieithyddiaeth www.vyvevans.net Deputy Head of College (Research)/ Dirprwy Bennaeth y Coleg (Ymchwil) College of Arts and Humanities/ Coleg y Celfyddydau a?r Dyniaethau Bangor University/Prifysgol Bangor General Editor of 'Language & Cognition' A Mouton de Gruyter journal www.languageandcognition.net -- Rhif Elusen Gofrestredig / Registered Charity No. 1141565 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 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 filtchenko at policy.hu Wed Nov 21 14:17:02 2012 From: filtchenko at policy.hu (Andrey Filchenko) Date: Wed, 21 Nov 2012 15:17:02 +0100 Subject: Documentary In-Reply-To: <20121120175040.6757111A79C7@fx805.security-mail.net> Message-ID: The original video was unavailble for Germany based IP addresses, but was accessible via youtube (address provided by Daniel). As of yesterday it is no longer available on youtube as well (the sign says limited access has to do with privacy issues). Although it is interesting that one can find various trailers and shorter versions of the film edited with various points emphasized: - http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=kYtBR2vfgzU - http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=endscreen&v=lS1Dno_d2yA - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsZlY43jI2I Andrey ??????? Michel LAUNEY : > I was able to watch the movie yesterday from the link below (with You-Tube) > However, today when I tried a new access, entry was denied ("Cette > vid?o est priv?e") > This world is full of mysteries > Best > Michel Launey > > > On Mon, 19 Nov 2012 12:04:39 -0500 > Daniel Everett wrote: >> Several said that they couldn't watch the movie outside the US. >> Someone has sent this link to youtube, on which apparently folks >> outside the US can also watch the documentary. >> >> Dan >> >> >> The Grammar of Happiness (2012 Documentary) >> http://youtu.be/2nlPgSovUow >> >> >> >> On Nov 19, 2012, at 10:24 AM, Daniel Everett wrote: >> >>> http://www.smithsonianchannel.com/site/sn/show.do?show=141519 >>> >>> In case anyone is interested in a documentary about the Pirahas, >>> the Smithsonian Channel has just placed the entire program on the >>> internet. >>> >>> Dan Everett >> > > ~-~ From dan at daneverett.org Wed Nov 21 14:22:33 2012 From: dan at daneverett.org (Daniel Everett) Date: Wed, 21 Nov 2012 09:22:33 -0500 Subject: Documentary In-Reply-To: <20121121151702.63443wgsw0wws4kc@mail.policy.hu> Message-ID: Very sorry about the problems for those outside the US in viewing the film. It will be available in several additional countries over the next couple of months, I am told. Watching the film piecemeal is not the way to watch it. It tells a cohesive story about the Pirahas and cannot really be fully appreciated without seeing it in its entirety. The film can be ordered from this site: http://justnow.com.au/evg/search.php?mode=search&page=1 Smithsonian Channel only owns the US rights (and they have to follow the dictates of Comcast). Dan On Nov 21, 2012, at 9:17 AM, filtchenko at policy.hu wrote: > The original video was unavailble for Germany based IP addresses, but was accessible via youtube (address provided by Daniel). As of yesterday it is no longer available on youtube as well (the sign says limited access has to do with privacy issues). Although it is interesting that one can find various trailers and shorter versions of the film edited with various points emphasized: > - http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=kYtBR2vfgzU > - http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=endscreen&v=lS1Dno_d2yA > - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsZlY43jI2I > Andrey > > > > ??????? Michel LAUNEY : > >> I was able to watch the movie yesterday from the link below (with You-Tube) >> However, today when I tried a new access, entry was denied ("Cette vid?o est priv?e") >> This world is full of mysteries >> Best >> Michel Launey >> >> >> On Mon, 19 Nov 2012 12:04:39 -0500 >> Daniel Everett wrote: >>> Several said that they couldn't watch the movie outside the US. Someone has sent this link to youtube, on which apparently folks outside the US can also watch the documentary. >>> >>> Dan >>> >>> >>> The Grammar of Happiness (2012 Documentary) >>> http://youtu.be/2nlPgSovUow >>> >>> >>> >>> On Nov 19, 2012, at 10:24 AM, Daniel Everett wrote: >>> >>>> http://www.smithsonianchannel.com/site/sn/show.do?show=141519 >>>> >>>> In case anyone is interested in a documentary about the Pirahas, the Smithsonian Channel has just placed the entire program on the internet. >>>> >>>> Dan Everett >>> >> >> > > > ~-~ > > From agreenwood at utpress.utoronto.ca Wed Nov 21 20:31:33 2012 From: agreenwood at utpress.utoronto.ca (Greenwood, Audrey) Date: Wed, 21 Nov 2012 20:31:33 +0000 Subject: New Issue Alert - The Canadian Journal of Linguistics 57:3, November 2012 Message-ID: Now available on Project MUSE The Canadian Journal of Linguistics 57(3), November/novembre 2012 This issue contains: Copular sentences expressing Kimian states in Irish and Russian pp. 341-358 | DOI: 10.1353/cjl.2012.0039 Gr?te Dalmi Abstract: The central claim of this article is that the D(avidsonian)-state vs. K(imian)-state distinction established for German and Spanish by Maienborn is of wider crosslinguistic relevance. Stage-level and individual-level secondary predicates are both viewed here as K-states as they contain only a Kimian temporal variable but no Davidsonian event variable. Secondary predicates expressing a K-state may acquire the temporary/ actual property interpretation when an alternative state entailment is added to them. In such cases the functional layer of the be-predicate contains a syntactic operator (OPalt) that can bind the Kimian temporal variable in accessible worlds. If no such entailment is added, the same temporal variable is bound by the T0 functional head of the BE-predicate in the actual world. The auxiliary t?/bh? ?be? in Irish imposes the semantic restriction that its secondary predicate must contain the alternative state entailment. The copula is/ba ?be?, on the other hand, is used in the absence of such an entailment. Case obviation on the secondary predicate head in Russian copular sentences signals alternative state entailment, while case agreement on the secondary predicate appears in the absence of this entailment. R?sum?: Cet article propose que la distinction entre l??tat-D(avidsonien) et l??tat-K(imien) ?tablie pour l?allemand et l?espagnol par Maienborn est pertinente pour d?autres langues. Les pr?dicats secondaires d?individu ou ?pisodiques sont tous les deux consid?r?s comme des ?tats-K puisqu?ils ne contiennent qu?une variable temporelle kimienne mais aucune variable d??v?nement davidsonienne. Les pr?dicats secondaires qui expriment un ?tat-K peuvent acqu?rir l?interpr?tation de propri?t? temporelle/ r?elle d?s qu?une cons?quence n?cessaire d??tat alternatif s?y ajoute. Dans de tels cas, le niveau fonctionnel du pr?dicat ?tre contient un op?rateur syntaxique (OPalt) qui peut lier la variable temporelle kimienne dans des mondes accessibles. Lorsqu?une telle cons?quence ne s?ajoute pas, la m?me variable temporelle est li?e par la t?te fonctionnelle T0 du pr?dicat ?tre dans le monde r?el. L?auxiliaire t?/bh? ??tre? en irlandais impose la restriction s?mantique selon laquelle son pr?dicat secondaire doit contenir la cons?quence d??tat alternatif. La copule is/ba ??tre?, par contre, est utilis?e en l?absence d?une telle cons?quence. L?obviation du cas sur la t?te du pr?dicat secondaire dans des phrases copulatives en russe signale une cons?quence d??tat alternatif, alors que l?accord de cas sur le pr?dicat secondaire appara?t en l?absence de cette cons?quence. Teneteh?ra: A predicate-fronting language pp. 359-386 | DOI: 10.1353/cjl.2012.0042 F?bio Bonfim Duarte Abstract: This article investigates whether Teneteh?ra is a predicate-raising language. The purpose is to determine whether VSO order results from verb movement to the heads T0 or C0 only, or whether Teneteh?ra exhibits VP remnant movement, similarly to languages like Niuean, Chol, Malagasy, and Seediq. The analysis concludes that Teneteh?ra does allow predicate movement, to Spec-CP or Spec-TP. Either option depends on particles related to tense and complementation, in sentence-final position. Additionally, assuming Kayne?s antisymmetry theory, in which all movement occurs to the left, and the predicate-raising hypothesis, it is proposed that final tense particle orders are derived from the basic word order [Tense [SVO] ]. To derive the fact that T0 can be head-final, the analysis holds that the predicate, represented by the v- VP complex, must move to the specifier position of TP. Finally, it is proposed that the syntactic trigger for predicate-raising is the presence of a [+PRED] feature both in the head C0 and in the head T0, a fact that explains why Teneteh?ra grammar systematically strands tense and complementizer particles in clause-final position. R?sum?: Cet article tente de d?terminer si la langue teneteh?ra est une langue ? pr?dicat ? mont?e. Le but de l??tude est de v?rifier si l?ordre VSO r?sulte du mouvement du verbe vers les t?tes T0 ou C0, ou s?il s?agit du mouvement d?un constituant vestige, comme en niu?en, chol, malgache et seediq. L?analyse conclut que le teneteh?ra autorise le mouvement du pr?dicat aussi bien vers Sp?c-CP que vers Sp?c-TP. Ces options d?pendent de particules en position finale de phrase et qui se rapportent au temps ou ? la compl?mentation. En outre, compte tenu de la th?orie antisym?trique de Kayne selon laquelle tout mouvement se r?alise vers la gauche, et de l?hypoth?se du pr?dicat ? mont?e, on propose que l?ordre final des particules de temps r?sulte de l?ordre fondamental [Temps [SVO] ]. Ainsi, pour conclure que T0 peut ?tre t?te finale en teneteh?ra, l?analyse pr?sume que le pr?dicat, repr?sent? par le complexe v- VP, doit se d?placer vers la position de sp?cifieur du TP. L?article propose enfin que le d?clencheur syntaxique qui force le pr?dicat ? monter est la pr?sence d?un trait [+PRED] aussi bien dans la t?te de C0 que dans celle de T0, ce qui explique pourquoi les particules du temps et du compl?menteur se retrouvent syst?matiquement dans la position finale de la phrase. The T-Extension Condition pp. 387-426 | DOI: 10.1353/cjl.2012.0044 Ivona Ku?erov? Abstract: This article presents a case study of Czech that opens the possibility of unifying various second-position phenomena as instances of an interface condition on head extension. The condition requires a head to undergo at least two instances of merge within its phase. The core of the article explores properties of T0. It is shown that any merge (external or internal, merge of a head or a phrase) yields a well-formed structure. Since it does not matter to the requirement what category merges to T0, the condition must be stated as a general requirement on what category may be the root. R?sum?: Cet article pr?sente une ?tude de cas du tch?que qui rend possible une analyse unifi?e de divers ph?nom?nes de deuxi?me position selon laquelle ils sont tous le r?sultat d?une condition d?interface sur l?extension d?une t?te. La condition exige qu?une t?te doit subir au moins deux occurrences de fusion ? l?int?rieur de sa phase. La partie centrale de l?article ?tudie les propri?t?s de T0. Il est d?montr? que n?importe quelle occurrence de fusion (externe ou interne, fusion d?une t?te ou d?un syntagme) cr?e une structure bien form?e. Puisque la cat?gorie de l??l?ment qui fusionne ? T0 n?est pas importante, la condition doit ?tre formul?e comme une exigence g?n?rale sur la cat?gorie de la racine. Transitive be perfect: An experimental study of Canadian English pp. 427-457 | DOI: 10.1353/cjl.2012.0046 Yuri Yerastov Abstract: This article investigates exemplars of the transitive be perfect in Canadian English, such as I am done dinner and I am finished my homework. I report on an experimental study of acceptability judgments of this construction, given by speakers of Canadian English primarily recruited from the Calgary area. I claim that the construction [be done NP] is characterized by preference for the animacy of the subject, preference for definiteness of the direct object, open-endedness of the direct object slot, and limited variability of the participle. I conclude that [be done NP] is a partially schematic construction that is close to a ?prefab?. R?sum?: Cet article ?tudie des exemples du parfait transitif avec l?auxiliaire be en anglais canadien, comme dans I am done dinner et I am finished my homework. L?article rend compte d?une ?tude exp?rimentale dans laquelle ?taient sollicit?s des jugements d?acceptabilit? portant sur des exemples de cette construction fournis par des locuteurs d?anglais canadien recrut?s surtout dans la r?gion de Calgary. Sur la base de cette ?tude, j?affirme que la construction [be done SN] est caract?ris?e par une pr?f?rence pour un sujet anim?, une pr?f?rence pour la d?finitude du compl?ment d?objet direct, le caract?re ouvert du compl?ment d?objet direct et la variabilit? limit?e du participe. Je tire la conclusion que [be done SN] est une construction partiellement sch?matique qui ressemble plut?t ? une construction ?toute faite?. Reviews / Comptes Rendus Dialects of English: Newfoundland and Labrador English (review) pp. 459-461 | DOI: 10.1353/cjl.2012.0034 Gordon Alley-Young Event representation in language and cognition (review) pp. 461-464 | DOI: 10.1353/cjl.2012.0036 Engin Arik Dictionary of American Regional English (review) pp. 464-467 | DOI: 10.1353/cjl.2012.0038 J.K. Chambers Cyclical change (review) pp. 467-470 | DOI: 10.1353/cjl.2012.0041 Ail?s Cournane Parametric variation: Null subject in Minimalist Theory (review) pp. 470-473 | DOI: 10.1353/cjl.2012.0043 Gr?te Dalmi The handbook of phonetic sciences (review) pp. 474-477 | DOI: 10.1353/cjl.2012.0045 Zahir Mumin Language, usage and cognition (review) pp. 477-480 | DOI: 10.1353/cjl.2012.0047 Mohammad Rasekh Mahand Second dialect acquisition (review) pp. 480-483 | DOI: 10.1353/cjl.2012.0035 Karim Sadeghi ________________________________ Books Received / Livres re?us pp. 491-493 | DOI: 10.1353/cjl.2012.0037 Thanks to Reviewers Remerciements aux ?valuateurs p. 494 | DOI: 10.1353/cjl.2012.0040 The Canadian Journal of Linguistics publishes articles of original research in linguistics in both English and French. The articles deal with linguistic theory, linguistic description of English, French and a variety of other natural languages, phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, historical linguistics, sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics, first and second language acquisition, and other areas of interest to linguists. About Project MUSE Project MUSE is a unique collaboration between libraries and publishers, providing 100% full-text, affordable and user-friendly online access to a comprehensive selection of prestigious humanities and social sciencesjournals. MUSE's online journal collections support a diverse array of research needs at academic, public, special and school libraries worldwide. For more information about the Canadian Journal of Linguistics or for submissions information, please contact: University of Toronto Press - Journals Division 5201 Dufferin St. Toronto, ON M3H 5T8 Tel: (416) 667-7810 Fax: (416) 667-7881 E-mail: journals at utpress.utoronto.ca www.utpjournals.com/cjl Join us on Facebook www.facebook.com/utpjournals Join us for advance notice of tables of contents of forthcoming issues, author and editor commentaries and insights, calls for papers and advice on publishing in our journals. Become a fan and receive free access to articles weekly through UTPJournals focus. From tiflo at csli.stanford.edu Thu Nov 22 21:59:35 2012 From: tiflo at csli.stanford.edu (T. Florian Jaeger) Date: Thu, 22 Nov 2012 16:59:35 -0500 Subject: Fwd: Fwd: How hierarchical is language use? In-Reply-To: <50A90568.2000507@ucl.ac.uk> Message-ID: Hi Funknetters, For anyone interested, I'm attaching below a follow-up conversation between Stefan Frank and me on his paper in PsychScience, suggesting that there is no hierarchical structure that is accessed during sentence processing. I removed all parts that weren't crucial to the discussion. Florian ------------------------------------------------------------------- First, Stefan's reply to my post: Hi Florian, Thanks for cc-ing me (and for not being as harsh on us as some linguistic bloggers). I just wanted to correct you on one details: In the PsychSci paper, we use echo-state networks (ESNs), not SRNs. The difference matters because claims about hierarchical processing by SRNs always relied on the internal representations learned by the networks. But ESNs do not learn any internal representations (their recurrent weights remain untrained) so the results we found cannot be due to the ESNs learning to deal with hierarchical structure. All the best, Stefan [...] ESNs and SRNs have the same architecture (at least, they do when I use them) but are trained differently. Crucially, an ESN's input and recurrent connection weights are not adapted to the training data. Simply put, each input to an ESN is "randomly" mapped to a point in a very high-dimensional space (the network's hidden units). The output connection weights are then trained on these hidden vectors using linear regression. This is not to say that there is no useful structure in the hidden-unit space: ?er?ansk? et al. (Neural Networks, 2007) showed that untrained recurrent neural nets have a Markovian bias (more specifically, they correspond to Variable Length Markov Models). [...] ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Stefan Frank Date: Sun, Nov 18, 2012 at 10:57 AM Subject: Re: Fwd: How hierarchical is language use? To: "T. Florian Jaeger" [...] From this article, it seems to me that ESNs still have latent > structure. I think I see what you mean by saying that it's not 'useful' > latent structure, though I'd say that it is, it's just not readily > interpretable. > Actually, what I wrote was quite the opposite, but I admit that my double-negation construction ("This is not to say that there is no useful structure") was confusing. So, yes, there is structure, and it is useful. I assume that ESNs are great as long as a) the number N > of units in the reservoir is great enough or b) the number of instances > of the ESN over which we marginalize is large (did you do that in your > paper -- average across ESNs, each of them being a simulated > 'comprehender'?) or c) the statistical process that underlies the random > output variable is sufficient simple in its structure. Is that a correct > characterization? > Yes, I'd agree with that. In our paper, we did not marginalize over many ESNs. Instead, we trained three ESNs of each size and presented results for the one with median performance. I merely mean that ESNs > can presumably do a good job at modeling random variables generated by a > hierarchical generative process because they after all have a way to > capture that latent structure by driving the states of a sufficiently > large reservoir (which, if I get this right, is a set of computing units > with all-to-all connections that have weights that are initialized > randomly and never changed by training?). I assume that if that > reservoir wouldn't be sufficiently large the constraint that input to > reservoir and reservoir to output connections are linear would not allow > the model to learn much. so this model essentially does by breadth what > other models do by depths. is that roughly correct? > Indeed, that is roughly correct. However, the structure imposed by the random recurrent network has properties similar to a variable length markov model (see ?er?ansk? et al., 2007), that is, it does not reflect the input's hierarchical structure. A standard Elman network can (at least in theory) adapt its input and recurrent connection weights to hierarchical structure in the input but in an ESN these weights remain random. So the only way it could make use of hierarchical structure is if it gets encoded in the (learned) transformation from the hidden-unit space to the output space, but since this is a linear mapping I don't see how that would work (which, admittedly, does not mean it cannot work). [...] Cheers, Stefan From macw at cmu.edu Thu Nov 22 23:17:26 2012 From: macw at cmu.edu (Brian MacWhinney) Date: Thu, 22 Nov 2012 18:17:26 -0500 Subject: How hierarchical is language use? In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Dear Florian and Stefan, It is interesting to see you and Stefan discussing whether SRNs and/or ESNs can represent hierarchy internally. As I see it, the attempt to capture hierarchy inside an exclusively syntactic network, be it SRN, ESN, ATN is wide of the mark. The discussions of structural dependency (and the logical problem) assume that embedded clauses are processed by the same algorithmic machine that processes the rest of syntax. In practice, Elman, Chomsky, and others all make this same assumption. In fact, relative clauses and other embedded structures often convey frozen old information that is then slotted on the fly into the new information of the main clause. This was the point of Ross's work decades ago on freezing. If one views syntactic constructions as methods for combining information from diverse neural processing circuits, then it makes sense to view chunks as slotted into a basically linear mechanism. It is the process of slotting in the chunks that produces the emergent hierarchical structure, because the material being slotted in has a structure created during earlier processing. Slotting is not the only process that produces hierarchy. Enumeration and pairing in mental model space can have the same effect. I think that all of the phenomena at the heart of this debate -- crossed dependencies, raising constraints, deletions during coordination, "long-distance" phenomena, "respectively", and the like all arise from the fact that syntax is unifying information from other neurocognitive resources. Trying to analyze syntax as if it is doing all of this in a single syntactic network without memory for previous strings, chunking, enumeration, anaphora, and deixis is not going to come up with a veridical account of language processing. But maybe this was somehow implicit in Stefan's article and I just missed it. --Brian MacWhinney On Nov 22, 2012, at 4:59 PM, T. Florian Jaeger wrote: > Hi Funknetters, > > For anyone interested, I'm attaching below a follow-up conversation between > Stefan Frank and me on his paper in PsychScience, suggesting that there is > no hierarchical structure that is accessed during sentence processing. I > removed all parts that weren't crucial to the discussion. > > Florian > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------- > > First, Stefan's reply to my post: > > Hi Florian, > > Thanks for cc-ing me (and for not being as harsh on us as some linguistic > bloggers). I just wanted to correct you on one details: In the PsychSci > paper, we use echo-state networks (ESNs), not SRNs. The difference matters > because claims about hierarchical processing by SRNs always relied on the > internal representations learned by the networks. But ESNs do not learn any > internal representations (their recurrent weights remain untrained) so the > results we found cannot be due to the ESNs learning to deal with > hierarchical structure. > > > All the best, > > Stefan > > [...] > > ESNs and SRNs have the same architecture (at least, they do when I use > them) but are trained differently. Crucially, an ESN's input and recurrent > connection weights are not adapted to the training data. Simply put, each > input to an ESN is "randomly" mapped to a point in a very high-dimensional > space (the network's hidden units). The output connection weights are then > trained on these hidden vectors using linear regression. > > This is not to say that there is no useful structure in the hidden-unit > space: ?er?ansk? et al. (Neural Networks, 2007) showed that untrained > recurrent neural nets have a Markovian bias (more specifically, they > correspond to Variable Length Markov Models). > > [...] > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: Stefan Frank > Date: Sun, Nov 18, 2012 at 10:57 AM > Subject: Re: Fwd: How hierarchical is language use? > To: "T. Florian Jaeger" > > [...] > > > From this article, it seems to me that ESNs still have latent >> structure. I think I see what you mean by saying that it's not 'useful' >> latent structure, though I'd say that it is, it's just not readily >> interpretable. >> > > Actually, what I wrote was quite the opposite, but I admit that my > double-negation construction ("This is not to say that there is no useful > structure") was confusing. So, yes, there is structure, and it is useful. > > > I assume that ESNs are great as long as a) the number N >> of units in the reservoir is great enough or b) the number of instances >> of the ESN over which we marginalize is large (did you do that in your >> paper -- average across ESNs, each of them being a simulated >> 'comprehender'?) or c) the statistical process that underlies the random >> output variable is sufficient simple in its structure. Is that a correct >> characterization? >> > > Yes, I'd agree with that. In our paper, we did not marginalize over many > ESNs. Instead, we trained three ESNs of each size and presented results for > the one with median performance. > > > I merely mean that ESNs >> can presumably do a good job at modeling random variables generated by a >> hierarchical generative process because they after all have a way to >> capture that latent structure by driving the states of a sufficiently >> large reservoir (which, if I get this right, is a set of computing units >> with all-to-all connections that have weights that are initialized >> randomly and never changed by training?). I assume that if that >> reservoir wouldn't be sufficiently large the constraint that input to >> reservoir and reservoir to output connections are linear would not allow >> the model to learn much. so this model essentially does by breadth what >> other models do by depths. is that roughly correct? >> > > Indeed, that is roughly correct. However, the structure imposed by the > random recurrent network has properties similar to a variable length markov > model (see ?er?ansk? et al., 2007), that is, it does not reflect the > input's hierarchical structure. A standard Elman network can (at least in > theory) adapt its input and recurrent connection weights to hierarchical > structure in the input but in an ESN these weights remain random. So the > only way it could make use of hierarchical structure is if it gets encoded > in the (learned) transformation from the hidden-unit space to the output > space, but since this is a linear mapping I don't see how that would work > (which, admittedly, does not mean it cannot work). > > [...] > > > Cheers, > > Stefan > From tiflo at csli.stanford.edu Thu Nov 22 23:56:57 2012 From: tiflo at csli.stanford.edu (T. Florian Jaeger) Date: Thu, 22 Nov 2012 18:56:57 -0500 Subject: How hierarchical is language use? In-Reply-To: <05869C54-608B-4D3A-983A-7C6A0F26BCBD@cmu.edu> Message-ID: Hi Brian, I let Stefan speak for himself. My point was orthogonal to the issues you're raising. All current models of syntax (including the one that you seem to have in mind) assume that we are able to learn latent structure. What type of latent structure we're learning is what many discussions seem to center around. Stefan was reacting to my claim that the models used in his article (echo state networks) still implicitly capture latent structure and that this would stand in conflict with the conclusion that his results argue against latent structure. As you can see from his response, the situation turns out to be somewhat more complicated. I think that the points you're raising do not affect the point of my question, but they might independently be of interest in interpreting Stefan's findings. Florian On Thu, Nov 22, 2012 at 6:17 PM, Brian MacWhinney wrote: > Dear Florian and Stefan, > > It is interesting to see you and Stefan discussing whether SRNs and/or > ESNs can > represent hierarchy internally. As I see it, the attempt to capture > hierarchy inside an exclusively > syntactic network, be it SRN, ESN, ATN is wide of the mark. The > discussions of structural > dependency (and the logical problem) assume that embedded > clauses are processed by the same algorithmic machine that processes the > rest of > syntax. In practice, Elman, Chomsky, and others all make this same > assumption. > In fact, relative clauses and other embedded structures often convey > frozen old information > that is then slotted on the fly into the new information > of the main clause. This was the point of Ross's work decades ago on > freezing. If one views syntactic constructions as methods for combining > information from diverse neural processing circuits, then it makes sense to > view chunks > as slotted into a basically linear mechanism. It is the process of > slotting in the chunks that produces > the emergent hierarchical structure, because the material being slotted in > has a structure > created during earlier processing. Slotting is not the only process that > produces hierarchy. > Enumeration and pairing in mental model space can have the same effect. I > think that all of the phenomena at the heart of this debate -- crossed > dependencies, raising constraints, deletions during coordination, > "long-distance" phenomena, > "respectively", and the like all arise from the > fact that syntax is unifying information from other neurocognitive > resources. Trying to > analyze syntax as if it is doing all of this in a single syntactic network > without memory for previous strings, chunking, enumeration, anaphora, and > deixis is not > going to come up with a veridical account of language processing. But > maybe this was somehow > implicit in Stefan's article and I just missed it. > > --Brian MacWhinney > > On Nov 22, 2012, at 4:59 PM, T. Florian Jaeger > wrote: > > > Hi Funknetters, > > > > For anyone interested, I'm attaching below a follow-up conversation > between > > Stefan Frank and me on his paper in PsychScience, suggesting that there > is > > no hierarchical structure that is accessed during sentence processing. I > > removed all parts that weren't crucial to the discussion. > > > > Florian > > > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------- > > > > First, Stefan's reply to my post: > > > > Hi Florian, > > > > Thanks for cc-ing me (and for not being as harsh on us as some > linguistic > > bloggers). I just wanted to correct you on one details: In the PsychSci > > paper, we use echo-state networks (ESNs), not SRNs. The difference > matters > > because claims about hierarchical processing by SRNs always relied on the > > internal representations learned by the networks. But ESNs do not learn > any > > internal representations (their recurrent weights remain untrained) so > the > > results we found cannot be due to the ESNs learning to deal with > > hierarchical structure. > > > > > > All the best, > > > > Stefan > > > > [...] > > > > ESNs and SRNs have the same architecture (at least, they do when I use > > them) but are trained differently. Crucially, an ESN's input and > recurrent > > connection weights are not adapted to the training data. Simply put, each > > input to an ESN is "randomly" mapped to a point in a very > high-dimensional > > space (the network's hidden units). The output connection weights are > then > > trained on these hidden vectors using linear regression. > > > > This is not to say that there is no useful structure in the hidden-unit > > space: ?er?ansk? et al. (Neural Networks, 2007) showed that untrained > > recurrent neural nets have a Markovian bias (more specifically, they > > correspond to Variable Length Markov Models). > > > > [...] > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > > From: Stefan Frank > > Date: Sun, Nov 18, 2012 at 10:57 AM > > Subject: Re: Fwd: How hierarchical is language use? > > To: "T. Florian Jaeger" > > > > [...] > > > > > > From this article, it seems to me that ESNs still have latent > >> structure. I think I see what you mean by saying that it's not 'useful' > >> latent structure, though I'd say that it is, it's just not readily > >> interpretable. > >> > > > > Actually, what I wrote was quite the opposite, but I admit that my > > double-negation construction ("This is not to say that there is no useful > > structure") was confusing. So, yes, there is structure, and it is useful. > > > > > > I assume that ESNs are great as long as a) the number N > >> of units in the reservoir is great enough or b) the number of instances > >> of the ESN over which we marginalize is large (did you do that in your > >> paper -- average across ESNs, each of them being a simulated > >> 'comprehender'?) or c) the statistical process that underlies the random > >> output variable is sufficient simple in its structure. Is that a correct > >> characterization? > >> > > > > Yes, I'd agree with that. In our paper, we did not marginalize over many > > ESNs. Instead, we trained three ESNs of each size and presented results > for > > the one with median performance. > > > > > > I merely mean that ESNs > >> can presumably do a good job at modeling random variables generated by a > >> hierarchical generative process because they after all have a way to > >> capture that latent structure by driving the states of a sufficiently > >> large reservoir (which, if I get this right, is a set of computing units > >> with all-to-all connections that have weights that are initialized > >> randomly and never changed by training?). I assume that if that > >> reservoir wouldn't be sufficiently large the constraint that input to > >> reservoir and reservoir to output connections are linear would not allow > >> the model to learn much. so this model essentially does by breadth what > >> other models do by depths. is that roughly correct? > >> > > > > Indeed, that is roughly correct. However, the structure imposed by the > > random recurrent network has properties similar to a variable length > markov > > model (see ?er?ansk? et al., 2007), that is, it does not reflect the > > input's hierarchical structure. A standard Elman network can (at least in > > theory) adapt its input and recurrent connection weights to hierarchical > > structure in the input but in an ESN these weights remain random. So the > > only way it could make use of hierarchical structure is if it gets > encoded > > in the (learned) transformation from the hidden-unit space to the output > > space, but since this is a linear mapping I don't see how that would work > > (which, admittedly, does not mean it cannot work). > > > > [...] > > > > > > Cheers, > > > > Stefan > > > > From v.evans at bangor.ac.uk Mon Nov 26 20:21:43 2012 From: v.evans at bangor.ac.uk (Vyv Evans) Date: Mon, 26 Nov 2012 20:21:43 +0000 Subject: Cognitive Linguistics Summer School, 2013: Registration now open Message-ID: Dear colleagues, We are very pleased to announce that registration for the Summer School in Cognitive Linguistics is now open. The Summer School takes place between July 21-26, 2013, hosted at Bangor University, UK, and will bring to Bangor a stellar cast of keynote speakers and teaching faculty. There will also be a poster session during which participants can present their work and obtain feedback. Keynote speakers: - Gilles Fauconnier (UCSD) - Adele Goldberg (Princeton) - James Pustejovsky (Brandeis) - Vyvyan Evans (Bangor) Teaching faculty: - Benjamin Bergen (UCSD) - Silke Brandt (Lancaster) - Alan Cienki (Amsterdam) - Ewa Dabrowska (Northumbria) - Christopher Hart (Northumbria) - Willem Hollmann (Lancaster) - June Luchjenbroers (Bangor) - Laura Michaelis (Colorado) - Aliyah Morgenstern (Paris) - Patrick Rebuschat (Bangor) - Martin Rohrmeier (Berlin) - Gabriella Rundblad (London) - Christopher Shank (Bangor) - Remi van Trijp (Paris) - Luc Steels (Brussels) - Thora Tenbrink (Bangor) - Alan Wallington (Bangor) This event provides a unique opportunity for students and researchers to get a snapshot of the exciting work done in cognitive linguistics and to discuss their research. It is also a wonderful opportunity to visit North Wales and to enjoy some of the most beautiful landscapes and historical sites in the United Kingdom. Registration closes in June 2013. Early-bird rates are available for participants who register by April 15, 2013: - Early-bird fee with accommodation: ?475* - Early-bird fee without accommodation: ?375 *includes transfer to/from Manchester airport Please note that the Summer School takes place in the week before the annual of the Cognitive Science Society in Berlin. For more information, please consult the Summer School website (www.bangor.ac.uk/cogling-summerschool) or email p.rebuschat at bangor.ac.uk. -- Professor/Yr Athro Vyv Evans Professor of Linguistics/Athro mewn Ieithyddiaeth www.vyvevans.net Deputy Head of College (Research)/ Dirprwy Bennaeth y Coleg (Ymchwil) College of Arts and Humanities/ Coleg y Celfyddydau a?r Dyniaethau Bangor University/Prifysgol Bangor General Editor of 'Language & Cognition' A Mouton de Gruyter journal www.languageandcognition.net -- Rhif Elusen Gofrestredig / Registered Charity No. 1141565 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. 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