LINGUIST List Special Issue: Fund Drive - March 2, 2011

[LINGUIST Network]

LINGUIST List Special Issue: Fund Drive 

Moderators: Anthony Aristar, Eastern Michigan U <aristar at linguistlist.org>
            Helen Aristar-Dry, Eastern Michigan U <hdry at linguistlist.org>
 
Reviews: Monica Macaulay, U of Wisconsin-Madison  
	 Rajiv Rao, U of Wisconsin-Madison
	 Joseph Salmons, U of Wisconsin-Madison  
	 Anja Wanner, U of Wisconsin-Madison  
         <reviews at linguistlist.org>  

Homepage: http://linguistlist.org/

The LINGUIST List is funded by Eastern Michigan University, 
and donations from subscribers and publishers.

-------------------------Message 1 ---------------------------------- 
Date: Tue, 03 Mar 2011 09:51:12
From:  linguist [linguist at linguistlist.org]
Subject: Adviser Margaret Winters Letter to Subscribers


It is hard to believe that LINGUIST has been part of my life 
for something like 20 years!  I don.t think I was one of the 
original 78 subscribers, but I know I was there early, excited 
by the potential of this new mode of professional communication.  
During the early years when LINGUIST stood alone as the forum 
for discussions on theory, data, professional development, and 
everything else we could think of, I participated and profited 
from interaction of a kind we had not even thought of earlier.  
Of course the list has evolved and discussions of theory and 
data have largely moved to more specialized lists.  But I still 
count on LinguistList for conference calls for papers and programs, 
queries (and the generous answers from around the world), new 
books and dissertations.  And the entire LINGUIST site has an 
amazing array of linguistic resources for all of us, however 
long we.ve been in the field.

Because I think so highly of these contributions to the entire 
discipline of Linguistics, I feel honored to be an Advisor.  
Working with Helen, Anthony, the LINGUISTcrew, and my fellow 
Advisors is a pleasure, and helping with decision-making makes 
me feel that I am giving back to an organization that has 
contributed so much to all of us.  Who doesn.t like being asked 
for opinions?  As the next paragraph will remind everyone as well, 
I am also a shameless letter-writer for the annual fund drive and 
look forward to continuing that role this year too.

And I can continue right here: there is as obvious way for 
everyone, not just the Advisors, to show gratitude for LINGUIST, 
not just for the discussion listserv, but for the many resources 
and services that have been added over the years.  LINGUIST needs 
your donations, large and small, to keep running.   Now is the 
time to support this mainstay of Linguistics by donating!

Thank you to the LINGUIST crew for making me one of the spokespersons 
for the Advisors this year.  And thank you to everyone for donating 
to LINGUIST!

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

Margaret Winters
LINGUIST Adviser




-------------------------Message 2 ---------------------------------- 
Date: Tue, 03 Mar 2011 10:23:54
From:  linguist [linguist at linguistlist.org]
Subject: Letter from Linguist of the Day Eno-Abasi Urua

Apart from my father who introduced me to the 
beauty and complexities of language in the spoken 
and printed word, one other person who inspired 
me to take an academic interest in language 
structure was my undergraduate lecturer at the 
University of Calabar, Dr. Roland Sodowsky, a USA 
citizen. He had the (mis)fortune of teaching the 
most difficult courses in the Department of English 
where I was taking courses as an Education major 
with English Language as my primary teaching subject. 
One of such courses was the Structure of English. 
Although students dreaded the course, some of us 
persisted because Dr. Sodowsky was such a 
conscientious and dedicated teacher. He never missed 
any class, come rain or shine, quite literally. I 
recall once when he actually arrived the class 
dripping wet after one of those torrential rains 
that characterises the city of Calabar in the south 
of Nigeria.

My curiosity thus piqued, I seized the opportunity 
which presented itself in the form of a two-week 
summer school in linguistics, literature and culture 
organised by a group of linguists and literary scholars 
including professors Monday Abasiattai and Okon Essien, 
and late professors Kay Williamson and Ime Ikiddeh 
during the long vacation period of 1984 to learn more 
about this subject that Dr. Sodowsky was so devoted to.

It turned out to be quite enjoyable as we learnt about 
phonemes, morphemes, aspects of literature, culture and 
translation. At the end of it all, there was a final 
assessment. Based on our performance at that examination, 
three of us were offered temporary appointments as 
teaching assistants with the then University of Cross 
River State which metamorphosed into the University of 
Uyo in 1991.

Obviously, that didn't make me a linguist. I was sent 
for training at Nigeria's premier university, the 
University of Ibadan. That was where my training as a 
linguist began. But my dream of becoming a linguist was 
almost scuttled in Ibadan. It was a nightmare at the 
beginning and I almost packed my things and left but 
for early lessons in perseverance. Because I had very 
little background in Linguistics I had to audit several 
undergraduate linguistics courses while concurrently 
studying for the MA Linguistics programme at the 
University of Ibadan. I arrived Ibadan in the middle 
of the semester and my first introduction to Linguistics 
in Ibadan was a phonology course where 'distinctive 
features' was the day's lesson. It was a third year 
undergraduate class and the lecturer was leading the 
students to fill in the values of the features for 
different segments. I had no clue what was going on in 
the class - all I heard was 'plus', 'plus', 'minus', 
etc. I had never felt so frustrated as a learner in my 
whole life; and to think that these were undergraduate 
students. Fortunately for me, my lecturers were very 
helpful, recommended books and answered questions and 
I was determined to understand the basics of linguistics. 
The good news is that I eventually graduated with a PhD 
in Linguistics (with concentration in Phonology) from 
the University of Ibadan. My teachers in Ibadan included 
distinguished linguists like Professor Ayo Bamgbose, 
Professor Ben Elugbe, Professor Kunle Adeniran, Professor 
Akin Akinlabi, Professor Augusta Omamor, Professor Kola 
Owolabi and not the least Dr. Isaac George Madugu.

I have learned the business of linguistics from wonderful 
mentors like Professor Munzali Jibril, Professor Ben 
Elugbe, Professor Dr. Dafydd Gibbon, Professor Akin 
Akinlabi, Professor Bruce Connell, Dr. Geoff Lindsay, 
Professor Bob Ladd, Professor John Harris, and Professor 
Kay Williamson of blessed memory.

Being a linguist has provided me with innumerable 
opportunities to travel extensively to various parts 
of the world, places I never imagined I'd ever get to. 
These opportunities have been even more rewarding when 
I get to meet with famous linguists I previously had 
met on the pages of their books and articles - linguists 
like Larry Hyman, Helen Aristar-Dry, Anthony Aristar, 
Fiona McLaughlin, James Essegbey, Felix Ameka, Firmin 
Ahoua, Bob Ladd, Steven Bird, Mark Liebermann, and many 
others.

I have enjoyed my work as a linguist, especially on 
fieldtrips. I recall once when we went on a fieldwork 
with a class of third year students and then the heavens 
opened up and we had a deluge. Our vehicles were stuck 
in the mud; our clothes and shoes were all covered with 
mud as we attempted to extricate the vehicles out of the 
mud. Unfortunately, the students couldn't get to the 
destination but we had to find a way to get to the chiefs 
and community leaders because they had been expecting us 
and were waiting expectantly all day! We learned an 
invaluable lesson - taking the weather into consideration, 
especially in our part of the world where torrential rains 
are common, sometimes without much notice! Being a 
linguist is a process really; a linguist is work in 
progress!

Eno-Abasi Urua
University of Uyo
Nigeria 

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

-------------------------Message 3 ---------------------------------- 
Date: Tue, 03 Mar 2011 11:09:37
From:  linguist [linguist at linguistlist.org]
Subject: LINGUIST is Supported by the Collective Contributions 
	of Our Community

Dear LINGUIST List Subscribers,

The ideology behind LINGUIST is that the collective 
contributions of a community in a field such as 
linguistics can accomplish more than any individual 
could alone. This is hardly a novel concept, but 
LINGUIST applies this notion to every submission, 
page and project it develops. We collect submissions 
on jobs, conferences, publication information, 
funding opportunities, and other relevant questions 
or announcements to linguistics, and have found a 
way to make them accessible to everyone through emails 
and our website. Our success is due to the incredible 
number of linguists who share their information with 
the LINGUIST community, and each individual who 
subscribes or uses our site daily.

Every contribution is valuable, and the more people 
who participate in our efforts, the greater a service 
we can provide for everyone. Our Fund Drive follows 
the same principle. It is impossible for one non-profit 
organization to maintain the amount of valuable 
information we host and distribute without the donations 
of others. Even $5 or $10 helps make the work that we 
do possible. Small contributions add up quickly when 
everyone works together- it's that simple. 

Ultimately, we believe that the services we provide 
belong to everyone, regardless of what they can or 
cannot afford to donate. This is why we continue to 
make everything we do available to the public without 
mandatory membership fees. But in order to do this, 
we rely on your support. No matter how 'small' you 
may feel your role is, your donation is a vital part 
of what makes LINGUIST great. 

Please donate today:

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

Best regards,

Elyssa Winzeler
Managing Editor
The LINGUIST List