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Newsletter of the University of South Carolina Linguistics Program
Vol. 2 No. 1
Fall 1997

Check out our previous issues in Babble Archives

New Semester brings new faces
Activities

Resources

Check out the WebPage at: www.cla.sc.edu/LING/index.html

and the Program Directory at:

www.cla.sc.edu/LING/students.html.

The program brochure has been updated and a program poster, based on the program brochure has been created. Both the brochure and the poster are available from the program office for anyone interested in applying to the program.

This Fall 16 students joined the Linguistics Program. Four of these rookie linguists are international students: Miriam Chitiga (Zimbabwe), Jiraporn Dhanarattigannon and Butsakorn Yodkamlue (both from Thailand, and Karen Fang Liu(People’s Republic of China. Also joining the program are: Meg Campbell, Cynthia Davis, Kathy Groves, Elizabeth Hasty, Rachel Hayes, Jennifer Hyland, Larry LaFond, CeCe Mikell, Sara Millus, Jerome Rothermund, Ami Westphal, and Barbara Wilder. Welcome to all of you!!

Awards and Honors

We welcome Dr. Donald Cooper associate professor in the Department of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology at U.S.C. as the newest member of the Linguistics Program Core Faculty. Trained primarily as a Slavist, speech pathologist, and historical linguist, Dr. Cooper’s current interests and specializations include: experimental and biological approaches to language, and muscle activity in speech production, and physiology of the larynx.

Dr. Laura M. Ahearn has joined the Linguistics Program as a member of the consulting faculty. She is a recent Ph.D. recipient (anthropology) from the University of Michigan. She is an assistant professor in the Department of Anthropology at USC. Dr. Ahearn’s background and interests include fieldwork in Nepal, semiotics, gender studies, and language and culture. In the Spring semester she is teaching Gender and Language Use-ANTH 512 and will be teaching various discourse-related courses..

Carol Myers-Scotton received an All-University Venture Fund Grant to conduct research on grammaticality judgments about what is possible in codeswitching compared with what actually has occurred in natural codeswitching data. The grant ($9,000) runs from May to December 1997 and employs Ph.D. student Agnes Bolonyai.

Visiting Faculty

Rakesh Bhatt is an Assistant Professor at the University of Tennessee—Knoxville. He is with us for the first semester as a stand-in for Stan Dubinsky, who is on sabbatical leave for the year. Dr. Bhatt is teaching Survey of Linguistics-LING 600 and Introduction to Syntax-LING 720.

Charles DeBose is a Professor at California State University—Hayward and is here for the semester on his sabbatical leave. Dr. DeBose is here to work with Carol Myers-Scotton on applying her MLF Model to his data on Caribbean Creoles and African-American English. While here, he is teaching a Seminar in Language Variation on Pidgins and Creoles-LING 840 as well as doing research.

Grace Song, a 1997 graduate of the Ph.D. program in linguistics from Northwestern University, is a visiting assistant professor in the English Department for the entire year. She is filling the one-year position in ESL. Dr. Song is teaching Introduction to Language Sciences-LING 300 and Second Language Acquisition-LING 790.

Colloquia Series

This semester the Linguistics Program hosted, or co-hosted, six presentations. There were four presentations by visiting faculty from the University of Tennessee and California State University while two were given by USC faculty members.

September 5, Dr. Donald Cooper

‘L. V. Shcherba and the Concept of Linguistic Experimental Phonetics.’

September 19, Dr. Charles DeBose ‘The Revitalization of English in Samaná, Dominican Republic.’

October 3, Dr. Grace Song

‘Learning to Talk about Motion in a Second Language.’

November 5, Dr. Charles DeBose ‘Ebonics 101: Frequently Asked Questions.’

November 7, Dr. Rakesh Bhatt ‘Optimal Expressions in the Grammar of Indian English.’

November 21, Dr. Ilona Leki of the University of Tennessee— Knoxville ’Literary Experiences by International Speakers: Resisting and Accommodating.’

Presentations

Students

Agnes Bolonyai. ‘"What are you talking about?": Framing misunderstandings in cross-cultural bilingualism.’ Second Language Research Forum.

Steven Gross. ‘Reduplicative variation in four Gbe dialects: Conjoined constraint interactions.’ Mid-American Linguistics Conference.

Rick Hallett and Megan Melançon. ‘If God had a name: Address terms in Southern English.’ Southeastern Regional TESOL Conference.

Larry LaFond. ‘Basboll [sic] scores with the Greeks.’ SAMLA/SECOL.

Karen Stanley. ‘Improving Part-Time Employment Conditions’. Southeastern Regional TESOL Conference.

Faculty

Barbara Hancin-Bhatt. ‘Extended Full Transfer/Full Access in L2 Sound Patterns.’ New Sounds ‘97.

--- and Rakesh Bhatt. ‘Optimality Theory and L2 Syllables Revisited.’ New Sounds ‘97.

Rakesh Bhatt and Barbara Hancin-Bhatt. ‘Structural Minimality, CP, and the Initial State in Adult L2 Acquisition.’ Second Language Research Forum.

Barbara Hancin-Bhatt. ’A Model of L2 Sound Patterns: Issues and Implications.’ Southeastern Regional TESOL Conference.

Carol Myers-Scotton and Janice L. Jake. ‘Categorizing morphemes: an election-based classification explains what you get.’ Second Language Research Forum.

Bruce L. Pearson. Reported at the Iroquoian Research Conference on his analysis of a Wyandotte narrative, ‘The Pumpkin and the Rabbit..’

--- and Roy Wright. Reported at a linguistics session of the Iroquoian Research Conference on current work being done to preserve the Huron language in Quebec and the closely related Wyandotte language in Oklahoma.

Publications

Students

Karen Stanley. ‘Part-Time Employment: Where do we go from here and how do we get there?’ TESOL Placement Bulletin. Nov 1997. Arlington, VA: Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages.

Faculty

Anne Bezuidenhout. ‘The communication of De Re thoughts.’ Noûs. Vol XXXI(2), June 1997, pp. 197-225.

---. ‘Pragmatics, semantic underdetermination and the referential/attributive distinction.’ Mind. 106(423). July 1997, pp. 375-409.

Donald S. Cooper. ‘Richard Luchsinger (1900-1993): An appreciation.’ Journal of Voice. 11(3), 1997, pp. 249-53.

Barbara Hancin-Bhatt and Rakesh Bhatt. ‘Optimal L2 syllables: Interactions of transfer and developmental effects.’ Studies in Second Language Acquisition. 19, 1997, pp. 331-78.

Kurt Goblirsch, Martha Mayou, Marvin Taylor, eds. 1997. Germanic Studies in Honor of Anatoly Liberman, Vol 31/32 of North-Western European Language Evolution. Odense: Odense University Press.

Kurt Goblirsch. ‘Notker’s Law and Consonant Strength.’ in Goblirsch, Mayou, and Marvin (eds). 1997. Germanic Studies in Honor of Anatoly Liberman, Vol 31/32 of North-Western European Language Evolution. Odense: Odense U P.

Carol Myers-Scotton and Janice L. Jake. ‘Relating interlanguage to codeswitching: The Composite Matrix Language.’ in Papers from the 1996 Boston University Conference on Language Development. 1997.

Carol Myers-Scotton and Sara Slabbert. ‘The structure of Tsotsitaal and Iscamtho: codeswitching and in-group identity in South African townships." Linguistics. 34, 1997, pp. 317-42.

Alumni Corner

We continue to seek information on program graduates for a mailing list database and a file of professional activities, including employment, presentations, and publications for inclusion in future newsletters. Graduates, please send us your vital statistics.

Graduates! You are urged to donate to the Linguistics Program through the USC Educational Development Fund. This fund helps to defray student travel costs to conferences. Through presenting papers at conferences, students gain valuable experience in sharing their research and help promote our program, attracting new students and resources. Donations should be made to ‘USC Educational Development Fund’ and can be earmarked for the Linguistics Program with the reference number 1A3142. Also, donations should be sent to: USC Educational Development Fund, USC, Columbia, SC 29208. A number of graduates have made generous donations this year; donations in any amount are appreciated. Thank you.

Linguistics Program, USC

Columbia, SC 29208

phone: (803) 777-2063

fax: (803) 777-9064

E-mail: linguistics@sc.edu