Birnbaum's comments on hiring, etc.

[Loren A. Billings]

I surely did not wish to imply that Slavic-linguistics programs should
pack up shop.  I will be the first to say (from an informed perspective,
not as a pot shot) that many generativists have little regard for the
languages themselves, as we language-specific types do.  In the best of all
possible worlds, in my opinion, Slavic and general/theoretical linguists
would drink from the same trough and attend each other's talks.  As a
person who has tried to bridge both fields, I find myself not Slavist
enough for the Slavists and not linguistic enough for the linguists.
(This reminds me of one Bosnian Muslim's comment to a reporter recently:
"We're not Muslim enough the the Islamic world and not European enough to
the Europeans.")  I've heard Keith Goeringer talk and discussed a thing or
two with him and can say that neither of us dislikes the "kinds of questions"
that the Slavic-linguistics field has asked.  Nor are we just syntacticians.
I do syntax AND phonology.  Keith has given papers on phonology.  --Loren