LINGUIST List Special Issue: Advisors' Challenge: Still $4989 and 20 hours to go!

Thu Apr 3 19:10:36 UTC 2008

LINGUIST List Special Issue: Advisors' Challenge: Still $4889 and 19 hours to go!

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

Reviews: Randall Eggert, U of Utah  
         <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: Thu, 03 April 2008 14:15:00
From:  linguist <linguist at linguistlist.org>
Subject: $4889 still needed for the Advisors' Challenge!

Linguists:

You!!  Yeah, you!!  You know who you are; you're the freeloader who
knows that the Linguist List is the first place to go if you're
looking for all things linguistics: books or jobs or conferences or
software or discussions and reviews.  But there's a 97.1% chance that
you've contributed nothing to this worthwhile and necessary service;
that's nothing; nada; rien; zilch; nanimo; nichts.  Do you feel guilty
yet?  No?  Have you been ignoring the messages that tell you what it
takes to give you this service?  Don't!  The messages will stop once
we've reached our goal, so do everyone a favor and contribute.

You people outside the US have a unique opportunity!!!  The US dollar
is so weak that your Euros, yen, yuan, pounds -- heck, even the
Canadian dollar -- will go farther than at almost any time in history.
If you contribute, we'll get what feels like a lot but you will hardly
notice that your purse is lighter.  Come to think of it, if everybody
just gave the equivalent of the amount of change in their pockets or
purses, it would of course drive the credit card companies crazy, but
this drive would be over in a nanosecond.

Convinced yet?  No?  Why not?  Come on, contribute.  If you were
waiting until the last minute, wait no longer; this is the time.  Send
money!!

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

The LINGUIST List Advisors 

------------------------- Message 2 ----------------------------------
Date: Thu, 03 April 2008 14:21:19
From:  linguist <linguist at linguistlist.org>
Subject: Former Crew Member Naomi Fox Tells Us About Her Life After LINGUIST

Dear Linguists,

Today we are featuring another former LL crew member, Naomi Fox. Read
below her letter on what she has done since she has left LINGUIST:

I know what you're thinking: "it's fund drive season - here we go
again..." (or if you're more like me "it's fund drive season again
already?"). I'm at that point where Grad School (with capital letters,
no less) seems to stretch on endlessly before and behind my current
position in time. However, thoughts of fund drive lead me to reflect
on the beginning of my career in linguistics, which is inseparable
from Linguist List.

I remember that first magical moment when it all 'clicked' for me. I
was sitting in the first day of Anthony Aristar's History of English
class, and I thought "This is IT!". I was hooked on linguistics and I
had just realized that some people actually got to do linguistics for
a living. I was fortunate to have entered a program where Linguist
List was housed and began begging for a job.  (I didn't really know
what I was getting into, but that's another story...) I quit my
teaching job, started living on a grad student salary and eating lots
of ramen, and never looked back.

LINGUIST had quite an influence on me. Through my work on the site and
the postings, I gained an awareness of the linguistics community and
familiarity with the field. I found that linguistics is a nice
discipline in many ways. I had interchanges with notable
(just-call-me-SuperStar) linguists, and they acted just like other
normal people, treating me with courtesy even though I was just a
lowly grad student.

Through my work on the E-MELD (Electronic Metastructure for Endangered
Languages Data) and DATA (Dena'ina Archiving, Training, and
Access) projects, I became aware of the issue of language endangerment
and began a track toward my current research: language description,
fieldwork with endangered language communities, and collaboration with
those communities.

I graduated from Wayne State University in 2005 and left LINGUIST to
begin the PhD program at the University of Utah with anticipation
accompanied by a bit of nervousness. But I found my experiences to be
a good preparation for the challenges which I have encountered. Since
I began my studies at the University of Utah I have received the merit
- based Wick Miller scholarship from the Department of Linguistics for
two years (2005/2006), the Helmut Esau Award for best graduate student
paper at the conference of the Linguistics Society of the Southwest
(LASSO 2006), a fellowship to the Linguistic Society of America Summer
Institute (2007), and a grant from the Jacobs Fund (2007) which
allowed me to begin fieldwork on an endangered language of Mexico last
fall. I have presented at several conferences, and I continue to
actively participate in departmental and professional activities. I
have been the chair of the Department of Linguistics graduate student
organization (GSAC) since fall 2006 (co-chair in 2006/7); a member of
the organizing or review committees for 4 conferences, including
student and professional conferences; and a facilitator/organizer for
various language - related activities for Native American communities
including summer language institutes and workshops in language
recording and digitization. I continue to provide ongoing consultation
for local Native groups on language technology and to work toward the
development of language learning materials as a product of
collaborative field research.

The environment at LINGUIST was one of collaboration and cooperative
effort, which was very influential on my early career. The level of
individual talent and initiative was so high among LINGUIST staff, I
found myself challenged to give my best efforts. Being surrounded by
others with diverse research interests led to an interchange of views
and broadening of research interests. I formed lasting relationships
with my coworkers, and in some instances engaged in collaborative
research projects and interchanges which are still continuing.

When you support LINGUIST, you are not only supporting the leading
comprehensive field-specific website in academic circles, you are also
supporting the development of the future of the field of linguistics.
Look at the careers of past and future students - LINGUIST does not
just consist of staff working for a paycheck, but fosters the
development of well-rounded scholars who will be valuable contributors
to our field for many years. I encourage you to consider a donation to
LINGUIST as an investment in the future of linguistics.

Naomi Fox
Center for American Indian Languages
Department of Linguistics
University of Utah 

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This Year the LINGUIST List hopes to raise $60,000. 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 2008 LINGUIST List Circus and join us on our many shows!

http://linguistlist.org/fund-drive/2008/

There are many ways to donate to LINGUIST!

You can donate right now using our secure credit card form at
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For all information on donating and pledging, including information on
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The LINGUIST List is under the umbrella of Eastern Michigan University
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Many companies also offer a gift matching program, such that they will
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Note: the donors' names are appended to every fund drive message sent
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here:
http://linguistlist.org/donation/contributors2008.html

Thank you very much for your support of LINGUIST!

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