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This seminar/colloquium series is presented by the Department of Linguistics and the Division of Continuing Studies, University of Victoria.
All sessions are free and open to the public: no pre-registration is required.
Colloquia Fall 2014 - Spring 2015
* For further information, please contact Dr. Hossein Nassaji (nassaji@uvic.ca).
Abstract: For a majority of world languages (Dryer, 2012), subject precedes object (i.e., SO order). Nevertheless, the preference for SO order is not simply subject salience (Greenberg, 1963), but base-generated structure used for sentence processing in a majority of languages. In my talk, (1) I will introduce an eye-tracking experiment on Japanese sentence processing (Tamaoka et al., in press) which provides evidence for filler-gap parsing on the foundations of a base-generated structure. (2) I will present a series of experiments using a sentence-correctness decision task (Tamaoka et al., 2005) which examined priority information (thematic roles, particles or grammatical functions) determining which type of structure is canonical order (base-generated structure). (3) I will discuss the results of (2) duplicated in the same series of experiments on Sinhalese sentence processing (Kanduboda and Tamaoka, 2011). (4) I will present a sentence processing experiment (Koizumi et al., under review) conducted on one of the rare OS languages, Maya Kaqchikel, which offers a potential OS-ordered base-generated structure. (5) Finally, if time allows, although straying a bit from the logical flow of my talk from (1) to (4), I will also introduce some second language studies (Tamaoka, 2005; Tamaoka et al., 2010) on Japanese sentence processing by native Chinese speakers learning Japanese.
References:
Dryer, Matthew S. (2012). Order of subject, object and verb. The world atlas of language structures online. Matthew S. Dryer and Martin Haspelmath (eds.), Munich: Max Planck Digital Library. [Online] Retrieved on 21 October 2012 from: http://wals.info/chapter/81.
Greenberg, Joseph H. (1963). Universals of Language: Report of a Conference Held at Dobbs Ferry, New York, April 13–15, 1961. Cambridge: MIT Press.
Kanduboda, Arachchige Prabath Buddhika and Katsuo Tamaoka (2012). Priority information determining the canonical word order of written Sinhalese sentences. Open Journal of Modern Linguistics, 2(1), 26-33.
Abstract: Abstract
Language use on the social network site Facebook shows varying degrees of multilingualism and code-switching. In a qualitative comparison of two groups of ten Facebookers, this talk explores the use of different languages and instances of code-switching as displays of identity construction in status updates (SUs) and responses to status updates (RSUs). The UK-based focus group primarily draws on English, while the Swiss-based focus group makes use of a number of different languages and thus displays a more multilingual identity. While in the Swiss focus group status updates are predominantly written in lingua franca English (targeting the wider Facebook group), interlocutors often draw on the offline established language code when engaging in exchanges for a smaller group of addressees. Code-switches often function as sources for the enactment of culturally-specific genres, to index a particular addressee and connected with this one’s alignment towards him/her, for formulaic discourse purposes, and to mark that the SU or RSU is humorous (cf. Androutsopoulos, in press). By serving these functions, the display of multilingualism can be linked to identity construction in the highly performative practice of writing status updates and responses to them. This research is the result of collaboration with Brook Bolander (University of Zurich, Switzerland). [ c l o s e ]
Language use on the social network site Facebook shows varying degrees of multilingualism and code-switching. In a qualitative comparison of two groups of ten Facebookers, this talk explores the use of different languages and instances of code-switching as displays of identity construction in status updates (SUs) and responses to status updates (RSUs). The UK-based focus group primarily draws on English, while the Swiss-based focus group makes use of a number of different languages and thus displays a more multilingual identity. While in the Swiss focus group status updates are predominantly written in lingua franca English (targeting the wider Facebook group), interlocutors often draw on the offline established language code when engaging in exchanges for a smaller group of addressees. Code-switches often function as sources for the enactment of culturally-specific genres, to index a particular addressee and connected with this one’s alignment towards him/her, for formulaic discourse purposes, and to mark that the SU or RSU is humorous (cf. Androutsopoulos, in press). By serving these functions, the display of multilingualism can be linked to identity construction in the highly performative practice of writing status updates and responses to them. This research is the result of collaboration with Brook Bolander (University of Zurich, Switzerland). [ c l o s e ]
Abstract: In this talk, I present the revitalization-driven research emerging from collaboration with the Chickasaw Language Revitalization Program. This collaboration began two and a half years ago, with a service-learning trip to Ada, Oklahoma, which was perhaps less service and more a 'first date' between two programs (as characterized back then by now-collaborator CLRP Director Joshua Hinson). The Chickasaw Language Revitalization Program is vigorously engaged in many activities to support language use by the remaining 70 or so fluent speakers, and to generate proficient second language learners using Master-Apprentices. Chickasaw, a Muskogean language, is very prosodically complex, with long vowels, geminate consonants, laryngeals, pitch accent, nasalization and rhythmic lengthening, all of which interact with a rich morphology that includes prefixes, suffixes and an elaborate system of internal changes of ablaut known as verb grades. Analyzing the phonology, especially the complex prosody, is essential not only to learning, but to teaching the verb because verb grade formation references prosodic categories such as the 'penultimate syllable' for these internal phonological changes.
Among our long-term goals is to create a learner-oriented publication, with audio, that we conceptualize as '501 Verbs of Chickasaw.' The agglutinative morphology and the complex prosody are challenging for learners. The inflectional patterns of the first verb underway exceed 30 typed pages, but will serve as a model for collecting the next sets of verbs. We are experimenting with a variety of field techniques, and exploring how these can be made more accessible to other indigenous documentation projects. Service-learning continues to be a cornerstone of these projects, and we have also used my expertise in phonology for training activities for Chickasaw second language learners, as well as to give theoretical structure to our documentation goals. Ultimately, training, documentation, revitalization, and outreach all inform each other, with products in one domain feeding into others.
[ c l o s e ]Second language learners often have to acquire L2 segments or sequences which are not licensed by their L1 phonology. It is well-documented that not all segments are equally difficult to acquire (see the plethora of work inspired by Flege's Speech Learning Model or Best's Perceptual Assimilation Model). In this talk, I examine the role of transitional phonetic cues (in the sense of Wright, 2004) in accounting for the empirical data related to the acquisition of L2 segments and consonantal sequences involving laryngeal features. In looking at the L2 acquisition of ejectives (Spanish -> Yucatec), breathy voice (English/French -> Hindi), [h] (French -> English), and homorganic onset clusters (Portuguese -> English), I will argue that the second language learners privilege the processing of certain types of transitional cues (e.g. release burst) over the processing of internal cues (e.g formant structure).
[ c l o s e ]
Psycholinguistic studies on bilingualism generally investigate how linguistic information is shared between a listener's first language (L1) and second language (L2) at the conceptual level and in the lexicon. At the same time speech perception studies examine how social information affects language processing and representation. In this talk I bring these two lines of research together and demonstrate that social information is shared between the two languages of a bilingual listener. In particular, I show that social category activation operates under a shared system across the L1 and L2 during both immediate speech processing and long-term abstract representations. This claim is supported by sensitivity and reaction time results from two auditory primed lexical decision experiments using a novel cross-language / cross-dialect paradigm (based on Sumner & Samuel, 2009) in the New Zealand context. I argue for the existence of social category activation links between the L1 and L2, in addition to lemma activation links at the conceptual level. The strength of these links varies based on the direction of the activation on the one hand, and on the time-course of activation on the other, with the strongest cross-language social category activation being triggered by innovative sociophonetic variables in short-term memory.
[ c l o s e ]
Celeste Rodriguez Louro completed a BA/Honours in English at the Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata, Argentina, an MA in Hispanic Linguistics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a PhD in Linguistics at the University of Melbourne. She is currently Assistant Professor of Linguistics at The University of Western Australia, a position she took up in late January 2011. Celeste’s interests include grammaticalisation; morpho-syntactic and discourse-pragmatic variation and change; quotation; epistemic verbs; tense and aspect systems and attitudes to language. Information on Celeste's current publications, collaboration, research grants and teaching is available on http://www.uwa.edu.au/people/Celeste.rodriguezlouro.
[ c l o s e ]
Dr. Pappas is Associate Professor of Linguistics at Simon Fraser University, where he has been teaching since 2002. His dissertation research examined the placement of weak object pronouns in the popular texts of Later Medieval Greek. Dr Pappas' research interests are mainly in the area of language variation and change, as this pertains to the history and diversification of the Greek language. He is currently working on Cypriot Greek (clitic placement, and the pronunciation of palatal laterals), the effect of frequency on lexical change in Greek, as well as language variation in BC English.
[ c l o s e ]
Title: Rise of the vernacular: a look at the status of Cypriot Greek koiné from the perspective of lateral vs. fricative palatal variation
Even though the official language in Cyprus is Standard Modern Greek (along with Turkish), and the use of dialect in government, education and other major institutions is proscribed to a great extent, Cypriot Greek is the most robust Greek regional variety, and perhaps the only one with a chance to survive. Recently, researchers (e.g. Terkourafi 2005) have made the case that a Cypriot koiné has emerged over the past four decades which has reshaped the relationship of the local variety to the standard. In this talk, I will discuss the major historical and political events that have shaped the current sociolinguistic situation, and at the same time describe the tensions and challenges that speakers of that community face. I will then present the results of an investigation into the variation between the palatal lateral (ʎ) and the palatal fricative (ʝ) in the koiné and discuss the implications of these findings for the current status of Cypriot Greek and its future. [ c l o s e ]
Even though the official language in Cyprus is Standard Modern Greek (along with Turkish), and the use of dialect in government, education and other major institutions is proscribed to a great extent, Cypriot Greek is the most robust Greek regional variety, and perhaps the only one with a chance to survive. Recently, researchers (e.g. Terkourafi 2005) have made the case that a Cypriot koiné has emerged over the past four decades which has reshaped the relationship of the local variety to the standard. In this talk, I will discuss the major historical and political events that have shaped the current sociolinguistic situation, and at the same time describe the tensions and challenges that speakers of that community face. I will then present the results of an investigation into the variation between the palatal lateral (ʎ) and the palatal fricative (ʝ) in the koiné and discuss the implications of these findings for the current status of Cypriot Greek and its future. [ c l o s e ]
Abstract: Abstract
“Language is like food”: language revitalization and maintenance in relation to Indigenous wellbeing
For many years we have sensed that the retention and revitalization of Australian languages can lead to health benefits for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, but it is only rather recently that more concrete demonstrations of these views have begun to emerge. For instance, the Australian Human Rights Commission’s Social Justice Report 2009 observes, ‘A ten-year study of Indigenous Australians in Central Australia found that “connectedness to culture, family and land, and opportunities for self-determination” assist in significantly lower morbidity and mortality rates in Homeland residents’ [http://www.hreoc.gov.au/social_justice/sj_report/sjreport09/chap3.html]. Elsewhere we find instances of collaborations between language revitalisation efforts and those involved in health delivery. Such collaborations can be mutually beneficial as language documentation provides a clearer vision of cultural considerations for health workers. This paper will survey the growing interest in the link between language retention and revitalization, and, Indigenous wellbeing not just in Australia but other parts of the world, including British Columbia. [ c l o s e ]
“Language is like food”: language revitalization and maintenance in relation to Indigenous wellbeing
For many years we have sensed that the retention and revitalization of Australian languages can lead to health benefits for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, but it is only rather recently that more concrete demonstrations of these views have begun to emerge. For instance, the Australian Human Rights Commission’s Social Justice Report 2009 observes, ‘A ten-year study of Indigenous Australians in Central Australia found that “connectedness to culture, family and land, and opportunities for self-determination” assist in significantly lower morbidity and mortality rates in Homeland residents’ [http://www.hreoc.gov.au/social_justice/sj_report/sjreport09/chap3.html]. Elsewhere we find instances of collaborations between language revitalisation efforts and those involved in health delivery. Such collaborations can be mutually beneficial as language documentation provides a clearer vision of cultural considerations for health workers. This paper will survey the growing interest in the link between language retention and revitalization, and, Indigenous wellbeing not just in Australia but other parts of the world, including British Columbia. [ c l o s e ]
Abstract: Abstract
Rhotics are widely acknowledged to be special in some sense and are still poorly understood phonetically or phonologically. It is not even clear that there is a class of rhotics, and if there is, what unites them. Cross-linguistically, rhotics, despite different phonetic realizations, display a variety of interesting and often surprisingly similar behaviors (e.g. they are prone to deletion in codas, in a variety of languages). Though rhotics have been studied extensively in distinct domains (phonology, phonetics, L1 & L2 acquisition, disordered speech, etc.), there have been few attempts to integrate findings across languages and domains. The goal of my research has been to study the behavior of rhotics from a broad perspective and to integrate findings. This talk will present my findings to date, bearing specifically on the several puzzling and often seemingly contradictory characteristics of rhotics, findings vis à vis their cross-linguistic acquisition, and the strength of the phonological evidence for a class of rhotics. [ c l o s e ]
Rhotics are widely acknowledged to be special in some sense and are still poorly understood phonetically or phonologically. It is not even clear that there is a class of rhotics, and if there is, what unites them. Cross-linguistically, rhotics, despite different phonetic realizations, display a variety of interesting and often surprisingly similar behaviors (e.g. they are prone to deletion in codas, in a variety of languages). Though rhotics have been studied extensively in distinct domains (phonology, phonetics, L1 & L2 acquisition, disordered speech, etc.), there have been few attempts to integrate findings across languages and domains. The goal of my research has been to study the behavior of rhotics from a broad perspective and to integrate findings. This talk will present my findings to date, bearing specifically on the several puzzling and often seemingly contradictory characteristics of rhotics, findings vis à vis their cross-linguistic acquisition, and the strength of the phonological evidence for a class of rhotics. [ c l o s e ]
Abstract: Abstract
Ending a sentence with Eh?, (as in What a great game, eh?) is often taken to be a hallmark of Canadian identity. Though, Eh?is also used in other dialects of English, it is used in subtly different ways and contexts, and generally (though not always) more restricted than Canadian usage. Interestingly however, for dialects which make less use of Eh? there are typically other forms which are used instead (such as huh, okay, right, innit, yeah, etc.). With the use of these words, a speaker wishes to confirm that the hearer agrees with him/her. Therefore, we refer to these words as CONFIRMATIONALS. Preliminary investigations have shown that CONFIMRATIONALS are ubiquitous across the languages of the world. Speakers have subtle judgments about the proper context of use of CONFIRMATIONALS. This combined with the fact that the share some core syntactic properties across the different languages (e.g., they are typically a sentence-peripheral root-phenomenon, etc.) suggests that confirmationals are part of core grammar and come with a grammar of their own. In this talk we report on our ongoing project which seeks to i) describe the grammar of CONFIRMATIONALS across different dialects and languages ii) develop a formal analysis that captures the core properties CONFIRMATIONALS share along with the range of variation we observe iii) develop a formal typology for CONFIRMATIONALS which will serve as a tool for discovery and comparison Based on our findings so far, we will draw some conclusions about the syntax-discourse interface. [ c l o s e ]
Ending a sentence with Eh?, (as in What a great game, eh?) is often taken to be a hallmark of Canadian identity. Though, Eh?is also used in other dialects of English, it is used in subtly different ways and contexts, and generally (though not always) more restricted than Canadian usage. Interestingly however, for dialects which make less use of Eh? there are typically other forms which are used instead (such as huh, okay, right, innit, yeah, etc.). With the use of these words, a speaker wishes to confirm that the hearer agrees with him/her. Therefore, we refer to these words as CONFIRMATIONALS. Preliminary investigations have shown that CONFIMRATIONALS are ubiquitous across the languages of the world. Speakers have subtle judgments about the proper context of use of CONFIRMATIONALS. This combined with the fact that the share some core syntactic properties across the different languages (e.g., they are typically a sentence-peripheral root-phenomenon, etc.) suggests that confirmationals are part of core grammar and come with a grammar of their own. In this talk we report on our ongoing project which seeks to i) describe the grammar of CONFIRMATIONALS across different dialects and languages ii) develop a formal analysis that captures the core properties CONFIRMATIONALS share along with the range of variation we observe iii) develop a formal typology for CONFIRMATIONALS which will serve as a tool for discovery and comparison Based on our findings so far, we will draw some conclusions about the syntax-discourse interface. [ c l o s e ]