LINGUIST List Special Issue: Up, up, & away! Join the Superhero Adventure

Mon Mar 19 17:46:19 UTC 2007

Moderators: Anthony Aristar, Eastern Michigan U <aristar at linguistlist.org>
            Helen Aristar-Dry, Eastern Michigan U <hdry at linguistlist.org>

Reviews: Laura Welcher, Rosetta Project  
       <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: Mon, 19 Mar 2007 09:22:44
From:  linguist < linguist at linguistlist.org >
Subject: Why Do We Need Your Help? 

Dear LINGUIST Subscribers,

Each year around this time we do something that all of us at LINGUIST
dread: we begin our annual fund drive.  We often have fantasies that,
one day, a magical creature (a LINGUIST pig?) will arrive at our
door-step, and endow the entire operation from the funds derived from
the huge wealth her bestselling linguistics book has produced.  But we
know, sadly, that such individuals are only myths in our field.  That
means that we can't escape having our annual fund-drive, for the money
we get this way is what makes it possible for us to keep LINGUIST List
going.

We try as hard as we can to make fund-drive fun, and I hope we've been
succeeding in that.  The students this year have done an amazing
amount of work on it, as you'll be seeing as the days pass.  But
there's really only one reason we do it: to pay the salaries of the
students who keep LINGUIST going.  People often say nice things to me
and Helen about LINGUIST, and we are always happy to hear them.  But
the fact is that most of the real work is done by the student members
of our team, all of whom are working hard on their degrees at the same
time as they work hard on keeping LINGUIST running.  And doing this is
no small job!

Not only do the students maintain the LINGUIST List website and email
list, but they also maintain numerous facilities which were originally
developed with external funding.  Just to maintain the core functions
of LINGUIST takes a lot of hands on the keys.  As many of you know,
the students read and approve every item that is posted on the
LINGUIST List site or in the email list, and they also classify each
submission by subject language and linguistic subfield. This means,
for example, that you can search the publications area and find every
book, journal, or dissertation that is related to your specialty, no
matter who the publisher is.  They also correspond with users, manage
the business functions associated with book and job announcements,
keep our extensive technical facilities up and running, as well as
overseeing ancillary services like Notice Board and Ask-a-Linguist.

Some of these ancillary services were developed with grant funding, as
part of LINGUIST's 10-year effort to build electronic infrastructure
for the discipline.  It was grant-money which originally funded the
development of the linguist's directory, the language search facility,
the multi-mailing list search facility, and the OLAC harvester and the
search engine, not to mention the E-MELD School of Best Practices in
Digital Language Documentation, which is designed to facilitate
endangered languages work.  And we are extremely grateful to the
foundations (chiefly NSF) and the peer reviewers that made it possible
for us to build these facilities for the linguistics community.

However, no agency can or will pay for the maintenance of sites and
facilities after the funding period is over.  So, if you value the
infrastructure and services that LINGUIST provides, please support us
by donating to the LINGUIST List Fund Drive.

We think we've done a lot with the money you've given us over the
years, and for rather a long time.  Do you realize that LINGUIST List
is one of the oldest institutions on the Internet?  Our email list
began in 1990, and we also had a tiny website shortly thereafter,
thanks to our fascination with an arcane new technology-HTML.  In
1993, we received a grant from the National Science Foundation to
develop a fully-featured website based on a database.  And 1993 also
marked the initiation of the "LINGUIST fellowships"-stipends provided
to LINGUIST student editors and funded by your donations.  Since then,
your donations have funded close to 70 student editors through their
M.A. degrees. Eastern Michigan University doesn't offer a Ph.D. in
linguistics; but the M.A. program-and LINGUIST List-has come to feed
topnotch doctoral programs all across the country. Twelve LINGUIST
'alums' have now completed their Ph.D.'s in linguistics, and
approximately 15 more are currently enrolled in doctoral programs.
Some of you are working with them in your departments right now.  Most
of our students would not have been able to afford graduate school,
had it not been for your support.  So for the last 13 years, we've
been emphasizing one important fact: the money that you contribute to
LINGUIST not only funds current services but also constitutes an
investment in the future of the discipline.

We feel that the range of services we offer now has become quite
impressive.  Of course, this is a judgment you, not we, must make on
this issue.  But I think you would find it difficult to find another
discipline which has anything like LINGUIST.  We can't help feeling a
little proud of it, even though we are well aware that it could be
improved in many ways.  But the LINGUIST organization tries to do as
much as it can for the discipline, and this is one of the reasons why
we have to support so many students.  Running a website that is as
edited and complex as LINGUIST takes a lot of resources, and a lot of
people.  LINGUIST is no different from the discipline of which it is a
part: we don't have a lot of money to play with, and we need your
support.

We'd like to ask you, once again, if you would be so generous as to
support LINGUIST again this year.  Remember: all the money you give
goes exclusively to the people who need it most, the students; and
every penny is an investment both in the discipline's present
infrastructure, and in its future wellbeing.

Sincerely,
Helen Aristar-Dry and Anthony Aristar, 
Moderators, 
The LINGUIST List

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This Year the LINGUIST List hopes to raise $55,000. This money will go
to help keep the List running by supporting all of our Student Editors
for the coming year.

See below for donation instructions, and don't forget to check out our
Fund Drive 2007 LINGUIST List Superhero Adventure for some Fund Drive
fun!

http://linguistlist.org/donation/fund-drive2007/ 

There are many ways to donate to LINGUIST!

You can donate right now using our secure credit card form.

Alternatively you can also pledge right now and pay later.

For all information on donating and pledging, including information on
how to donate by check, money order, or wire transfer, please visit:

http://linguistlist.org/donate.html

The LINGUIST List is under the umbrella of Eastern Michigan University
and as such can receive donations through the EMU Foundation, which is
a registered 501(c) Non Profit organization. Our Federal Tax number is
38-6005986. These donations can be offset against your federal and
sometimes your state tax return (U.S. tax payers only). For more
information visit the IRS Web-Site, or contact your financial advisor.

Many companies also offer a gift matching program, such that they will
match any gift you make to a non-profit organization. Normally this
entails your contacting your human resources department and sending us
a form that the EMU Foundation fills in and returns to your
employer. This is generally a simple administrative procedure that
doubles the value of your gift to LINGUIST, without costing you an
extra penny. Please take a moment to check if your company operates
such a program.

Note: the donors' names are appended to every fund drive message sent
to the main list.  You can also see the list of all donors by clicking
here:

http://linguistlist.org/donation/contributors2007.html

Thank you very much for your support of LINGUIST!

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