Special Issue: Geoff Nathan's challenge to Cognitive Linguists, Marisa

Tue Apr 14 15:29:52 UTC 2009

To: linglite at listserv.linguistlist.org
Subject: Special Issue: Geoff Nathan's challenge to Cognitive Linguists, Marisa
	 Ferrara Boston's letter, CUP Prize to Win!

-------------------------Message 1 ----------------------------------
Date: Tue, 14 Apr 2009 09:59:46
From:  linguist [[log in to unmask]]
Subject: Geoff Nathan is Challenging Cognitive Linguists!

Dear Subscribers,

Thank you, Formalist Syntacticians!
(Now, Cognitive Linguists, it's your turn.)

Yesterday, in response to a challenge by Andrew Carnie,
over ten formalist syntacticians donated $955 to the
LINGUIST Fund Drive during the appointed 5 hours. 
Thank you, Formalists!  And thank you, Andrew, for mounting
the challenge.  What a generous and public-spirited group!

Now, this morning, Geoff Nathan has challenged Cognitive
Linguists to step up and show their support of LINGUIST
List.  Geoff says, "Not to be outdone by the formal
syntacticians, Geoff Nathan has a challenge to Cognitive
linguists.  He'll donate an additional $200, if at least
10 other Cognitivists make enough donations to total $500."

If the Cognitive Linguists meet this challenge, the Fund
Drive total will top $43,500, and we'll be just $16,500
short of our goal.  This is a big boost from last week
when we had collected only $27,000 and feared that we
might have to severely cut services this year. 

Since then, in response to our pleas, many subscribers
have written letters in our behalf, or coordinated a Grad
School Challenge, or requested a matching donation from an
employer; and other subscribers have responded generously
to these efforts. We're certainly not out of  danger yet,
but we are very heartened by the help we've received from
people like Andrew and Geoff who are going the extra mile
to help us raise the funds we need.

So, Cognitive Linguists, please meet the challenge! 
Help us support the LINGUIST student crew and continue to
serve all linguistics sub-disciplines next year!

Donate now at:
https://linguistlist.org/donation/donate/donate1.cfm

The LINGUIST Crew

-------------------------Message 2 ----------------------------------
Date: Tue, 14 Apr 2009 10:09:46
From:  linguist [[log in to unmask]]
Subject: CUP Books Still for Grabs!

Dear Subscribers,

There are still two Cambridge University Press
books to be won by a donor! Would you like to
be the lucky one to get one of the following
titles?

- The Cambridge Handbook of Child Language
- The Cambridge Handbook of Phonology
- The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language
- The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language
- The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language

Then, donate $100 or more now and claim your prize!
https://linguistlist.org/donation/donate/donate1.cfm

The LINGUIST Crew

-------------------------Message 3 ----------------------------------
Date: Tue, 14 Apr 2009 10:45:46
From:  linguist [[log in to unmask]]
Subject: Letter from Marisa Ferrara Boston, Former LINGUIST Crew Member

Dear members,

It has been several years since I left LINGUIST List,
and the LLers requested I give you an update on what
I have been doing since then.  I'm happy to say that
I stayed in the field and decided to pursue a Ph.D in
computational linguistics and cognitive science.  I'm
a 4th year student and have recently transferred to
Cornell University, where I continue to do research
with Dr. John Hale's lab.

My main focus is computational psycholinguistics, and
as part of my work for the lab I created a statistical
dependency parser that can predict human reading
difficulty as measured by eye fixation durations (you
can read about it here:
http://aclweb.org/anthology-new/P/P08/P08-2002.pdf). 
At the moment I'm preparing to defend my dissertation
proposal, and also researching formal issues in
computational linguistics. If you like, you can read
more about my work here:
http://conf.ling.cornell.edu/Marisa/papers.html.

I have to admit that I just love what I do, and I always
remember that I could have never gotten to this point
without LINGUIST List.  It was only through LINGUIST List
that I developed an interest in programming: in fact, I
had never coded a thing before I started writing ColdFusion
and HTML for the website!  And, I would have never been
able to get my Master's Degree without Helen, Tony, and
all of the wonderful LINGUIST List supporters who funded
my assistantship.  Even now, LINGUIST List greets me
every morning with a whole RSS feed full of information
and resources so vital to a student trying to develop her
career.

Although I left in 2005, LINGUIST List continues to be a
part of me and my work.  I would like to thank each of
those supporters who donated in the past. You helped a
young researcher more than you can ever know.  For those
who haven't donated yet, there are many deserving and
capable students who are helping the discipline by working
behind the scenes at LINGUIST List.  Each of them would
love the chance to be able to develop their linguistics
career, but this is only possible with your donation.

Donate at:
https://linguistlist.org/donation/donate/donate1.cfm

Thank you,

Marisa Ferrara Boston

View Marisa's and other former crew members' letters
at: http://linguistlist.org/fund-drive/2009/former-ll-crew/

-------------------------Message 4 ----------------------------------
Date: Tue, 14 Apr 2009 11:15:46
From:  linguist [[log in to unmask]]
Subject: How Lucky I Am to Be in the Middle of All This

Dear Subscribers,

I'm in my third year here at the LINGUIST List, and I'm still
overwhelmed by how lucky I am to be in the middle of all of this
- every day I go to work with some of the smartest, most driven
people I've ever met. The best part of it is that, as disparate
as all of our backgrounds and interests may be, we are united
by a passion for linguistics, and a dedication to the linguistics
community.

You see, in previous years, dear subscribers, I've written about
how a random internet search for 'linguistics' in high school
brought me to the LINGUIST List, about a random acquaintance that
ended up working for the LINGUIST List (who got me thinking about
best practices for the first time). Now I'm in my second year of
a Master's degree, and I'm undertaking a thesis while working on
two active grant projects (LL-MAP and LEGO). There's still a lot
of work to be done on other projects, over here, and since I'm
also in charge of the Tech Team, it's my job to ensure that
everything goes as smoothly as possible.

It's a crazy world out there, full of deadlines that must be
abided by and opportunities that must be grasped. Sometimes we
all feel a bit over our heads, but fortunately for you, there's
LINGUIST List! And, fortunately for us here at the LINGUIST List,
there's you.

Let me clarify; we can help you get feedback on a paper or book
or experiment, we can help you find conferences you're interested
in attending, we can help you organize your own symposium, we can
help you find a room for a night or two, and the LINGUIST List can
even help you find a job - and I think all of us know how hard that
can be.

So in exchange for all that, every year we ask for a little
something back. And every year we are reminded of how amazing
the linguistics community truly is, because by donating even
just $5 or $10 to the LINGUIST List, you show us that you care.
In return, we keep providing you with the information you need
to be a linguist in the 21st century.

Sounds like a pretty good deal, if you ask me! You can make a
donation here:

https://linguistlist.org/donation/donate/donate1.cfm

Sincerely,

Hunter Thompson Lockwood
The LINGUIST List