Slavic linguists...

[Keith Goeringer]

Sadly, I must agree with Loren's wondering if we _should_ be trained in
linguistics departments...but am glad that the issue is being addressed
in this setting.

In my department, there are already 2 linguists, PhD's in hand, who have
tried unsuccessfully to get tenured positions.  Within the next year or
so, there will be as many as 5 (five!) new PhD's looking for work, and
most likely, Prof Scatton's prediction (of continued shrinkage not only
of available jobs, but of institutions granting degrees in our field)
will come true.  It's rather depressing to those of us "on the cusp,"
as it were, and certainly cannot be terribly uplifting for the grad
students who are, say, about to take their qualifying exams this semester.
Several have wondered aloud (after hearing first-hand accounts of the
state of the market) why they are bothering.  As a result, I think there
might be a tendency for people to prolong their time in school -- why
rush to get out when there's nothing (or precious little) there?

Anyway, I am forwarding Gerberding's address to our graduate assistant,
who will alias-list it to all in our Dept, and maybe people will mobilize
on this issue.  UC's German department *is* right down the hall from us,
and ever since they took one of our offices over, people have been casting
suspicious eyes in their direction...

Keith Goeringer
keg at violet.berkeley.edu