Philip Comeau (York University) speaks at MUSL Brown Bag Talk

Philip Comeau (York University) will be giving a brown bag talk on Wednesday, July 22 at 1:00 pm (SN-3060). His paper is on the distribution of interrogative particles *–ti / –tu* in Canadian French. The abstract follows. Questions in both French and English are encouraged.

Previous accounts of interrogative particles in Quebec French differ not only in terms of the analyses, but also with respect to the distribution of these particles across the person paradigm (e.g., Picard (1992) claims they do not occur with second person subjects while Maury (1990) and Vecchiato (2000) report that they do). Subject-verb inversion, another variant for total interrogation, is reported to occur only with second person subjects (e.g., Auger 1994) or not at all (e.g., Vinet 2000). This paper presents an analysis of the spread of –*ti* across the person paradigm in one variety of Acadian French (Baie Sainte-Marie, Nova Scotia). Following a brief outline of the historical development of –*ti*/–*tu* in French, I present data from a number of varieties of Canadian French (both Acadian and Quebec) while considering a number of structural differences which may account for cross-dialectal differences.

Il existe en français populaire deux particules postverbales (–*ti* et –*tu*) qui marquent l’interrogation totale. Cependant, certains chercheurs ne sont pas d’accord sur la distribution de cette particule (p. ex. Picard (1992) soutient que –*tu* ne se trouve pas à la deuxième personne tandis que Maury (1990) et Vecchiato (2000) confirment la présence de –*tu* à la deuxième personne). Auger (1994) conclut que l’inversion du sujet et du verbe, une autre variante qui sert à marquer l’interrogation, se trouve uniquement à la deuxième personne alors que Vinet (2000) conclut que l’inversion n’existe plus comme option en français québécois. Suivant une analyse s'agissant de la répartition de la particule à travers du paradigme de personne dans le français acadien de la Baie Sainte-Marie (Nouvelle-Écosse), j’examine quelques différences dans les grammaires des variétés du français canadien, ce qui expliquerait les différences entre l'utilisation de la particule dans ces variétés.

Dr. Brittain takes part in Tibetan Education and Language Symposium

In May, Julie Brittain took part in the Tibetan Education and Language Symposium, a week-long event hosted by the Tibet Sustainable Governance Program at the University of Virginia (Charlottesville, Va). Her presentation, "Language under pressure: The Cree Child Language Acquisition Study and its contribution to language maintenance in a bilingual community", fitted with one the principal themes of the gathering - bilingual education. (In the Tibetan context, bilingual education refers to Tibetan and Mandarin Chinese.) This was a unique event as it brought together scholars and practitioners from all over the world, including a number from many different regions of Tibet, as well as from other parts of the people's Republic of China. Julie taught at Tibet University (Lhasa) in 1987-88 and goes back to the region as often as time permits.

MUSL labbies and associates do CVC

This past weekend, presentations by MUSL personnel and associates were well-received at Change and Variation in Canada III. Samantha Parris presented on slit-t and slit-d in Cape Breton ("The reanalysis of a traditional feature in industrial Cape Breton"), Matt Hunt Gardner and Gerard Van Herk looked at intensifiers in online forums about different nations' Idol and Next Top Model programs ("That's so Pinoy! Intensifiers, gender and online Philippine fan forums" and "Idol worshippers and Model citizens: Nationality, choice, and language change" respectively), and Becky Childs discussed a pilot study on Canadian Raising in Petty Harbour ("Diphthongs, speaker orientation, and Newfoundland English: Indicators and explanations for linguistic variation"). More information on these talks can be found on the MUSL website (http://musl.ling.mun.ca)

Announcement: a course on Cayuga, an Iroquoian language, offered in F09

In Fall 09, I am offering a a course on Cayuga, an Iroquoian language. The course is LING 4050/6050 “Linguistic Structure of a Northern American Aboriginal Language — Cayuga”. It will be held in SN3036, during slot 18 (Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10:30-11:45).

The prerequisites for the course are “Linguistics 1103/2103 and 1104/2104, or the permission of the instructor and the Head of the Department.” I am interested in accepting students from other departments who do not meet the prerequisites, as long as they are deeply motivated and have some background in morphological analysis (identifying prefixes and suffixes).

While the course focusses on the structure of Cayuga, I think it would also be of interest to students in Ethnomusicology, Religious Studies, Anthropology, Sociology, Philosophy, or Aboriginal Studies. Students from other departments could, for example, do research on Iroquoian language terms relevant to their discipline. We will be reading original versions of the Thanksgiving Address (an oratory associated with the Longhouse religion), a short story, some conversations, and excerpts from Anne-Marie Shimony’s classic work “Conservatism among the Iroquois at the Six Nations Reserve.”

Please circulate this announcement to students who might be interested in the course, and encourage them to contact me about it. I can be reached at 737-8170 or through e-mail cdyck@mun.ca

Linguistics graduates, May 2009

Congratulations to Meghan Hollett (BA, Linguistics and Russian Majors) and Erin Swain (MA Linguistics), who convocated in May, 2009!

"The Linguists"

The film 'The Linguists' is available in streaming video for free at http://www.babelgum.com/thelinguists

Dr. Bubenik's keynote address

Dr. Vit Bubenik was invited to give a keynote address at the 30th Annual Meeting of the Department of Linguistics, Aristotelian University of Thessaloniki (Greece) on May 2, 2009. His paper was titled ‘Hellenistic Greek in Contact with Latin and Semitic Languages’.