regrets and thoughts

[ROOD DAVID S]

Hi, everyone,
 	My family schedule for at least part of the summer has finally 
settled down, and I regret that it precludes me from attending the SCLC 
again this year.  The earliest I could get to Madison would be 
mid-afternoon on Saturday, hardly the appropriate time for participating 
in the meeting.

 	I am very much interested in what is decided about honoring Bob 
Rankin, however, and in what might be done to make his huge contribution 
to the history of Siouan and the structure of Dhegiah part of a permanent 
record.  I know he has many papers that have never been published, as well 
as many that are published here and there in places we don't always know 
about.  As early as 1984, at the workshop that launched the Comparative 
Dictionary project, I proposed a "collection of papers" volume that would 
be a place for his work (and others), but that has never materialized.
 	Moreover, for the last few years Bob was the major player in the 
evolution of the Comparative Dictionary.  As most of you know, Iren 
Hartmann at the MPI-Leipzig is working on creating a usable digital verson 
of the CSD.  Of the original 5 participants (John Koontz, Wes Jones, Dick 
Carter, Rankin and me) in the project, I guess I'm the only one who is 
still interested and available, so I'm going to work with Iren to see if 
that can't be finalized and formalized.  There is quite a bit of urgency 
here, because as many of you know, the structure of the MPI in Leipzig 
will change dramatically in May of 2015, and they will likely no longer be 
interested in supporting Iren's work.

 	If any of you have any thoughts on how best to move forward with 
either Bob's legacy or the CSD, please discuss them at the meeting and 
keep me informed.  I don't feel like I know Carolyn well enough to 
approach her about any of this; perhaps one of you would be willing to 
help with that.

 	Best wishes to all for a fruitful and fun meeting.

 	David

David S. Rood
Dept. of Linguistics
Univ. of Colorado
295 UCB
Boulder, CO 80309-0295
USA
rood at colorado.edu