Brown Bag Event 5/3/13 @ SLCC 3233 – Casey Cochran

Casey Cochran will be giving a brown bag lunch presentation this Friday at noon in our open area (SLCC 3233). This presentation is based on her year-long GRP (Guided Research Project) work. Below is the abstract of her presentation.

See you there with your lunch!

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Toward the Surface Area Hypothesis
Casey Cochran (Dept. of Linguistics, Gallaudet University)

The use of two hands in signed languages poses a challenge for studying phonotactics, since, as originally observed by Battison (1978), the two articulators are not always treated or used equally. Battison proposed the Symmetry and Dominance Conditions to account for these interactions. However, most of the research pertaining to the conditions do not explain why these constraints occur, except that there may be physiological reasons behind them. This paper aims to fill that gap by proposing the following Surface Area Hypothesis (SAH): in two-handed signs, when the non-dominant hand is stationary (Type 3), it is restricted to one of several unmarked handshapes (BAS1O5C), because these handshapes provide the most surface area as a focal site for dominant hand contact.

Drawing from two phonetic notation systems, (Brentari, 1998; Liddell & Johnson, 2011), the hypothesis groups locations on the weak hand into three categories according to the availability of surface area: (1) plane, (2) line, and (3) point based on the amount of surface area (points of possible contact) the locations provide. The SAH predicts the frequency of each category on the non-dominant hand and also makes predictions about the interaction between those non-dominant hand focal sites and the dominant hand counterpart using the same surface area categories.

The Surface Area Hypothesis provides a physiological reason for constraints on the non-dominant hand; explains the tendency toward BAS1O5C handshapes, and predicts specific patterns in the relative frequency of each handshape while providing an explanatory account of the distribution of the non-dominant hand in one sign language that can be tested in other sign languages.

Daniel Fisher – 2013 Outstanding Linguistics Undergraduate Student

Dr. Miako Rankin presented the Outstanding Linguistics Undergraduate Student award at today’s Undergraduate Awards Ceremony.

This year’s award winner is Daniel Fisher.

Congratulations, Daniel!

Brown Bag Event 4/26 @ SLCC 2300 A&B

On Friday, April 26th, Dr. Marlon Kuntze and Adam Stone will be doing a brown bag lunch presentation (SLCC 2300A&B). We will be starting around noon. And please bring your lunch to eat during the presentation. See you then!

Topic: Criteria for determining the degree of Iconicity in a Sign

Dr. Marlon Kuntze and Adam Stone, a first-year doctoral student in the Department of Education, are taking a close look at iconicity in ASL vocabulary as a part of Kuntze’s longitudinal study in child ASL acquisition The results of this study will be presented at TISLR this July.

Their working hypothesis is that if iconicity has a role in vocabulary development, we need to look more closely at different types of iconicity such as the lexical items that depict action as opposed to those that represent a perceptual feature of an entity, and the iconicity of classifier constructions. The motivation that Kuntze and Stone have for holding this brown bag lunch is that they want to elicit your feedback on how the degree of iconicity in signs may be determined. They will provide several examples of each level of iconicity in hope that it will promote a discussion among those in attendance.

Brown Bag Event 4/12/13 @ SLCC 3233 aka Open Area

This Friday, April 12, 12-12:50, in our open area,
Deb Chen Pichler, Paul Dudis, and Miako Rankin will be discussing different perspectives on the passive, including those within generative and cognitive linguistic approaches.

See you there with your lunch!

4/29 Student presentations on language variation 12-1 PM

The students in LIN 860 Language Variation will present the findings of their project on Monday, April 29, 12- 1 pm, Linguistics open area- light refreshments will be served. Please bring your lunch and join us!

Research Fellow in Sign Language Linguistics at iSLanDS, Preston UK

Source: http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?A0=SLLING-L (April 1, 2013)
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Date: Mon, 1 Apr 2013 23:11:57 +0000
From: Ulrike Zeshan
Subject: job: Research Fellow in sign language linguistics at iSLanDS, Preston UK

Job title: Research Fellow: Sign Language Linguistics
Application closing date: 06/05/2013
Location: University of Central Lancashire, Preston, UK
Salary: A333,230 – A338,522

Job description:

The International Institute for Sign Languages and Deaf Studies (iSLanDS) is located within the School of Language, Literature and International Studies. The Institute is known for its groundbreaking large-scale projects with the European Science Foundation and the European Research Council, and is a highly diverse and stimulating, mixed deaf and hearing, international environment.

The successful applicant will be expected to develop, undertake and manage research projects and bids for research funding related to sign language linguistics. The Fellow will have considerable flexibility in shaping their own research within the strategic research priorities of the Institute and its international partnership network. We welcome applicants with a sound initial basis of sign language skills to build on as well as those with higher levels of fluency in any sign language(s).

The Fellow will be expected to publish high quality research outputs and to have an existing profile to submit to the Research Excellence Framework 2014. As the Fellowship develops, Fellows will be increasingly expected to undertake research student supervision, contribute to cross-Institute working groups, and undertake a limited amount of teaching if appropriate.

The last Research Assessment Exercise rated 17 areas of our research as world leading or of international significance and, as holders of the prestigious HR Excellence in Research award, we are committed to supporting our research staff to achieve their goals.

More information:
http://www.uclan.ac.uk/jobs (click on ‘vacancies’ – ‘=
academic’ and search)

https://recruitment.uclan.ac.uk/itrentlive_webrecruitment/jobs/REQ000643.pdf

email: uzeshan@uclan.ac.uk

Dissertation Defense April 8 – Jenn Fuller on Assimilation Patterns in Fingerspelling

On Monday, April 8, Jenn Fuller will defend her dissertation entitled “Assimilation Patterns in Fingerspelling”. The defense will be 3-5 pm in the Linguistics open area. You are welcome for Jenn’s presentation ( 35- 40 minutes) and to ask questions during the open question period. After this, Jenn meets with the committee.