Registration and Accommodation for SSILA 2016

Pre-registration for the SSILA Annual Meeting begins today, October 1, via the Linguistic Society of America website.  Pre-registration rates are good through December 18.Regular/Emeritus/Life Members: $220Student Members: $78Under/Unemployed Members: $85Nonmember - Regular: $320Nonmember - Student: $130If you are an LSA member:  Please log in and register.If you are not an LSA member:  Please go to the Linguistic Society of America Annual Meeting page and click on the red “Register for Meeting” button at the top of the page.  To get the LSA member rate, enter one of the following coupon codes prior to checkout:  LSA2016SSREGULAR for regular SSILA members, or LSA2016SSSTUDENT for student SSILA members.AccommodationsSSILA members may take advantage of the sleeping room rate negotiated by the LSA for the Marriott Marquis. The rate is $115 night single or double, $125 triple, $135 quad. Full details, instructions, and links for online hotel room reservation will be available on the Annual Meeting web site as of September 1. SSILA attendees may reserve a room online at a dedicated Marriott Marquis reservations website or by phone.  It is important that SSILA members use the dedicated website if reserving a room online, or mention the Linguistic Society of America rate when reserving by phone, in order to take advantage of the special rate and concessions the LSA has negotiated for attendees.   

Position at University of Virginia: Linguistic Anthropology

U.Va.-linguistic-anthropology-position-announcementThe Department of Anthropology seeks to hire a linguistic anthropologist at the rank of Assistant Professor. We seek a colleague with expertise in the rigorous, fine-grained structural analysis of speech at any level from phonetics to discourse, and who is committed to integrating this with anthropological theory in order to speak to larger questions about the nature of language and social life. We prefer a focus on language use in communities that are under-studied and under-represented in traditional areas of the academy; for example, indigenous languages in post-colonial contexts, or minority language varieties within nation-states. Geographic area and sub-topical specialization within linguistic anthropology are open, but preference will be given to candidates whose research and teaching interests complement those of the Department. This new colleague will join with existing linguistic anthropology faculty in maintaining a vibrant subdisciplinary presence within the Anthropology Department while fostering connections with other areas of the University, centrally including (but not limited to) the interdepartmental Linguistics M.A. program and undergraduate major.Required: Candidates must have an ongoing program of research and publication with a focus on language in its sociocultural context that integrates in-depth analysis of language data with larger theoretical questions. They must also have a commitment to excellence in teaching and be prepared to teach courses that contribute to the interdepartmental Linguistics M.A. program and undergraduate major as well as to the Anthropology graduate and undergraduate programs. The appointment start date is August 25, 2016. Applicants must have defended their PhD dissertation by the time of application and must hold a PhD at the time of appointment.Preferred: Preference will be given to qualified candidates who have an ability to contribute, through their research, teaching and service, to the diversity of the curriculum and the academic community, and who have the organizational and interpersonal skills to work productively with colleagues in other subfields of Anthropology and in other departments.Priority will be given to applications received by October 16 in selecting candidates for preliminary interviews in mid-November. However, the search will remain open until filled.To apply, please submit a Candidate Profile to posting number 0616988 through Jobs@UVA (https://jobs.virginia.edu) and attach the following: CV, cover letter describing qualifications and research trajectory, contact information for three references, and two writing samples: (1) an article-length sample of written work that demonstrates integration of linguistic analysis with anthropological theory (attach to “Writing Sample 1” in Jobs@UVA), and (2) the front matter [table of contents, acknowledgments, and introduction] of your dissertation or, if appropriate, book (attach to “Writing Sample 2” in Jobs@UVA).Questions regarding the application process for Jobs@UVa should be directed to:Mildred DeanOffice ManagerDepartment of AnthropologyUniversity of Virginia434-924-7033mwd2f@virginia.eduFor additional information contact:Lise DobrinChair, Search Committeedobrin@virginia.eduThe University will perform background checks on all new faculty hires prior to making a final offer of employment.The University of Virginia is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer. Women, minorities, veterans and persons with disabilities are encouraged to apply.

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Native Literatures of the Americas (U Nebraska Press)

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The series showcases the rich literary traditions of the Indigenous peoples of the Americas.  Native Literatures of the Americas primarily publishes collected volumes of newly translated oral literatures and indigenous texts, as well as retranslations of classic texts. Each volume is accompanied by expert commentary and interpretive contextualization of Indigenous literatures.View the books in this series here.

PhD Scholarships at the Language and Culture Resource Center, JCU

Applications are invited, from suitably qualified students, to enter the PhD program of the Language and Culture Research Centre at James Cook University Australia.  Supervision will be provided by Professors Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald, R. M. W. Dixon, Dr Valérie Guérin, Dr Elena Mihas and Dr Simon Overall.  The LCRC PhD candidates generally undertake extensive fieldwork on a previously undescribed (or scarcely described) language and write a comprehensive grammar of it for their dissertation.  The flyer includes details, deadlines, and requirements.   PhD.announcement.LCRC.2016

Native American translations sought for Diversity Project

Havard student Ashford King ('15) is working on a project to translate a William Carlos Williams poem into 142 world languages.   He would welcome assistance from anyone interested in contributing translations from Chippewa, Dakota, Lakota, Nakota, Navajo, Omaha, Ponca and Winnebago,K'ichee' or Mam.More information about the project can be found at http://www.radcliffe.harvard.edu/news/in-news/translating-diversity.You may contact him at aking@college.harvard.edu with translations or questions. 

New book, The Complete Seymour, Tony Mattina, ed.

 New book edited by Tony Mattina

The Complete SeymourColville StorytellerPeter J. SeymourCompiled and edited by Anthony MattinaTranslated by Madeline DeSautel and Anthony Mattina Peter J. Seymour was a Salish storyteller. He carried forward earlier tales of elders alongwith his own experiences as fewer and fewer native speakers were sharing the Colville-Okanagan language and oral literature. To thwart the demise of this language, overthe course of a decade he passed along Salish stories not only to his family but also tolinguist Anthony Mattina.The Complete Seymour: Colville Storyteller includes Seymour’s tales collected in thelate 1960s and early 1970s, before his death. It documents Seymour’s rich storytellingand includes detailed morphological analyses and translations of this endangeredlanguage. This collection is an important addition to the canon of Native Americannarratives and literature and an essential volume for anyone studying Salish languagesand linguistics.

Seymour_Flyer link to ordering information from the publisher.
The sound files that accompany the book can be downloaded from the Colville Tribes web site:http://www.colvilletribes.com/mattina.php

 

Expert sought for Native America Calling

The following request was forwarded to SSILA.  Please respond directly to Mr. Ahtone at the number or address provided below.My name is Tristan Ahtone, I'm a producer with the show Native America Calling - a daily, one hour call-in show that focuses on different topics that impact tribal communities around the nation.We are hoping to produce a show that looks at the expressions, phrases, and slang of Indian Country, but are in need of an "expert"who may have studied or documented this area of language. For instance, in parts of Oklahoma if you were to say someone is acting "Au-Day" it would be to describe someone as being snooty. Au-Day translated from Kiowa would mean special, and when used in Kiowa is a very good thing, when used in an English phrase it's sarcastic.I'm hoping that you might have a good lead for a person that could join us for the program. If anyone has a moment, please let me know.I'd be greatly appreciative.TristanExecutive Producer, Native America Calling917-622-4799tahtone@nativeamericacalling.com

2016 Institute on Collaborative Language Research (CoLang), University of Alaska Fairbanks

2016 Institute on Collaborative Language Research (CoLang)
University of Alaska Fairbanks
Call for proposals
Workshops on Language Documentation and Language Continuity
June 20 – July 1, 2016
Deadline for receipt of proposals: June 1, 2015
Notification of acceptance: August 30, 2015
CoLang is soliciting proposals for workshops in language documentation, maintenance and revitalization for the fifth CoLang Institute on Collaborative Language Research. CoLang participants include linguists, Indigenous community members, graduate and undergraduate students in linguistics and anthropology, archival researchers, and language activists. Two weeks of workshops will be followed by 3 weeks of intensive language documentation practica.
CoLang focuses on collaborative language work that connects academic fieldwork to community development and goals. Many participants work with endangered languages around the world. Past participants have gone on to great success, developing documentation and revitalization projects, generating funding, and presenting results at major national and international conferences.
CoLang 2016 will offer courses in linguistic fieldwork, technological training, archival research, interdisciplinary collaborations with the arts and sciences, developing collaborative community language projects, and pedagogical/teaching applications, as well as foundation courses in linguistics.
A list of courses already staffed can be found on the CoLang website. We are especially interested in finding instructors for courses in the following areas:
-- Orthography
-- Database Design
-- Phonetic Analysis with PRAAT
-- R Programming for Linguists
-- Regular Expressions
-- Video Recording for Linguistic Analysis
We are also soliciting proposals for approximately ten new workshops that will complement existing courses and fit with CoLang themes.
CoLang workshops meet four days per week, 1.5 hours per day.
Workshop proposals should be a maximum of 2 pages long and include:
-- Topic
-- Brief description of workshop content, including: general lesson plan, target audience, and beginning, intermediate, or advanced level.
-- How you plan to teach it (balance of theory, examples, hands-on exercises).
-- Your qualifications for teaching this class, including previous courses taught with similar content.
We encourage students and language activists to submit course proposals. For examples of workshop titles and descriptions from a previous institutes, see the CoLang website.
Previous Institutes have been hosted by the University of Texas at Arlington, the University of Kansas, the University of Oregon, and the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Travel and room and board will be covered for instructors. Depending on funding, a modest honorarium may be provided.
Questions should be directed to colang2016@gmail.com
Completed proposals should be submitted as a PDF to colang2016@gmail.com
Sponsored by the Alaska Native Language Center, the Linguistics Society of America, University of Alaska Fairbanks, University of Alaska Southeast, and the Endangered Language Fund.
Co-directors:
Dr. Siri Tuttle, University of Alaska Fairbanks
Dr. Alice Taff, University of Alaska Southeast

Proposed addition to the new publiction section.

Dear SSILA Committtee Members:Please approve of, or comment on the below.Willem_______________________________________________Dear Prof. de Reuse,we recently have published five books on Indigenous languages of America. Could you post the abstracts below in the SSILA newsletter, please.Thank youbest regardsUlrich Lueders, Dr.www.lincom.eu<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<A Grammar of OnondagaMichael BarrieSogang UniversityOnondaga is a member of the Northern branch of the Iroquoian family. It is spoken in Ontario, Canada and New York State in the United States. It is a highly endangered language with only a small handful of speakers, mostly over 60. Like other Iroquoian languages, Onondaga has a small phonemic inventory, but a rich inflectional and derivational morphology. It is a polysynthetic language with noun incorporation, subject and object agreement, and numerous morphological resources expressing both compositional and non-compositional meanings. Word order is rather free, but certain regularities are noted.The grammar aims to be theoretically neutral and draws data as much as possible from naturalistic data as possible. As Northern Iroquoian languages are closely related, comparisons to other Northern Iroquoian languages are made periodically. This grammar is the result of 8 years of fieldwork at Six Nations in Ontario, Canada.ISBN 9783862886005. Languages of the World/Materials 503. 102pp. USD 68.20. 2015.<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<El caribe insular del siglo XVIITratado sobre la lengua y la cultura de los CallínagoDictionnaire caraïbe-françaisRaymond BretonTraducción al españolDuna TroianiCNRS, SeDyL-CELIAEl propósito de esta traducción del Dictionnaire caraïbe-français del Padre Raymond Breton, es dar a conocer un documento antiguo, casi único, sobre la lengua de los Callínago, hablada en las Antillas Menores al iniciar la colonización. Este diccionario es testimonio de la única lengua de las Antillas hablada hasta principios del siglo XX por los "Caribes" de La Dominica y en parte hablada por los Garínagu que viven hoy día a lo largo de la Costa Atlántica, desde Belice hasta Nicaragua, sin olvidar su reciente emigración a Estados Unidos. Aporta su propia luz sobre los contactos de lenguas –caribes y arahuacas– que convivían en las Antillas, entre las cuales también se encuentra la lengua de los Taino.El diccionario del Padre Breton asemeja más bien a un diccionario enciclopédico ya que nos da a conocer, además de la lengua, la fauna, la flora –con el uso específico de cada planta y cada objeto–, las costumbres y la vida de los Callínago en esos tiempos remotos.ISBN 9783862885947. Languages of the World/Dictionaries 55. 278pp. USD 92.20. 2014.<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<Wichi lhomtesEstudio de la gramática y la interacción fonología-morfología-sintaxis-semánticaVerónica NercesianCONICET-UNAF/UBAWichi lhomtes. Estudio de la gramática y la interacción fonología-morfología-sintaxis-semántica consiste en un exhaustivo estudio y descripción de la fonología y la gramática de la lengua wichí (una de las cuatro lenguas de la familia lingüística mataguaya), basado en datos primarios y en el marco de la tipología-funcional y desde una perspectiva que incluye el análisis de la interacción de los niveles lingüísticos.Por un lado, se presenta el estudio gramatical centrado en la morfología y su interacción con la fonología, la sintaxis y la semántica. El mismo incluye el análisis fonológico y fonético del inventario de sonidos, la sílaba y el acento, el análisis de los procesos morfofonológicos y el de la morfología y la sintaxis, esta última hasta la cláusula simple. Por otro lado, a partir de los datos del wichí explorados y de la interacción de los niveles, se incluye una discusión teórica centrada en el concepto de palabra y la morfología como nivel. Asimismo, se analizan las dificultades que encuentran los distintos modelos teóricos para explicar los fenómenos de interfaz, y se propone una explicación para la interacción fonología-morfología-sintaxis-semántica en la palabra.ISBN 9783862885923. LINCOM Studies in Native American Linguistics 74. 524pp. USD 104.20. 2014.<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<Díʔzteo zapoteco de San Agustín Loxicha, Oaxaca, MéxicoEsbozo gramatical acompañado de cuatro cuentos tradicionales con análisis morfológico y traducciónMikko Benjamin SalminenJames Cook UniversityDíʔzte, o zapoteco de San Agustín Loxicha, Oaxaca, México (Esbozo gramatical acompañado de cuatro cuentos tradicionales con análisis morfológico y traducción) is a grammatical description of San Agustín Loxicha Zapotec with four texts including a morpheme analysis and translation as well as links to the corresponding audio files. The description is mostly based on data collected during fieldwork by the author, and was submitted as an MA thesis at Leiden University in 2010.San Agustín Loxicha is a Zapotec variety pertaining to the Miahuatec subdivision of the Southern Zapotec branch spoken in the Coastal region of the Mexican state of Oaxaca. It is a tone language with level and contour tones, suprasegmental glottalization and an intricate verb system which often marks aspect by means of fossilized prefixes or floating tone. The description, cast in the framework of Basic Linguistic Theory, draws frequent comparisons to other Zapotec languages and to Proto-Zapotec reconstructions, and it includes an introductory description of the cultural context within which the language is spoken, also introducing the belief system featuring a 9/13 day calendar system, based on the Mesoamerican ritual calendar, which is still in use in the community to the present day.ISBN 9783862885312. Languages of the World/Materials 498. 126pp. USD 63.40. 2014.<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<Lengua chorote (mataguayo). Estudio fonológico y morfosintácticoJavier CarolUniversidad de Buenos AiresLa lengua chorote (familia mataguaya, tronco macroguaycurú) es hablada por algo menos de 3000 personas en el Chaco argentino y paraguayo. Entre sus rasgos tipológicos salientes se cuentan fenómenos de palatalización y asimilación vocálica entre laríngeas, orden de palabras relativamente libre, intransitividad escindida o marcación activo-inactiva, jerarquía de persona, marcas de TAM sobre nombres y un sistema de demostrativos que codifica movimiento y otros rasgos vinculables con la evidencialidad.El presente estudio, el primero exhaustivo sobre esta lengua, describe su fonología y morfosintaxis y, asimismo, analiza algunos fenómenos relevantes en relación con la teoría lingüística. El enfoque adoptado es formal, aunque se ha seguido un criterio amplio, privilegiando temas de interés comunes a la investigación en la lin¬güística descriptiva sudamericana y especialmente chaqueña. El libro está dividido en diez capítulos, en los cuales se presenta un panorama de la lengua y sus hablantes y se abordan la fonología, la morfosintaxis general (clases de palabras, orden, estructura del predicado, etc.), la indexación de argumentos en el predicado, las construcciones impersonal, antipasiva, causativa y aplicativa, el sistema TAM (incluyendo evidencialidad y miratividad) y el dominio nominal, entre otros. El trabajo es una versión revisada de la tesis doctoral defendida por el autor a comienzos de 2012, y está basado en trabajo de campo realizado entre 2005 y 2011 y en diversos materiales de segunda mano editados con asistencia de hablantes nativos.ISBN 9783862885268. LINCOM Studies in Native American Linguistics 72. 474pp. USD 101.80. 2014.<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<Animales y plantas del pueblo kakataiboDiccionario trilingüe (kakataibo, español, inglés) con identificaciones biológicas, índice alfabético castellano-kakataibo, clasificación semántica, nombres regionales y definiciones etnobiológicasRoberto Zariquiey y David W. FleckPontificia Universidad Católica del PerúCon la colaboración de Alfredo Estrella; Emilio Estrella; Salomón Estrella; Ricardo Odicio y Ricardo PereiraAnimales y plantas del pueblo kakataibo is a trilingual (Kakataibo-Spanish-English) ethnobiological dictionary, which includes biological identifications, Regional Spanish names and ethnobiological definitions produced following an innovative methodology, based on a close collaboration between Kakataibo speakers, linguists and biologists. The dictionary also includes a Spanish-Kakataibo alphabetic index and a semantic classification of all the entries, based on biological taxonomy. The book is the result of two years of collaborative work and, during this time, an interdisciplinar and intercultural research team has documented the ethnobiological knowledge of the Kakataibo people, manifested in different discourse genres (from traditional narratives to medical recipies) and has developed a very detailed lexical database from which this dictionary has been produced. With more than 1250 entries, Animales y plantas del pueblo kakataibo constitutes the most ambicious effort for documenting the ethnobiological lexicon of the Kakataibo language and is perhaps one of the largest ethnobiological dictionaries available for any other Amazonian language.ISBN 9783862885206 (Hardbound). Languages of the World/Dictionaries 52. 266pp. USD 177.60. 2013.

Hans-Jürgen Sasse (1943–2015)

SSILA was sorry to hear of the death of Hans-Jürgen Sasse on Jan 14, 2015.

Sasse studied Linguistics, Indo-European, Semitics and Balkanology in Berlin, Thessaloniki and Munich. He was awarded a Ph.D. in 1970 in Munich by the Department of Semitic Languages for his dissertation Linguistische Analyse des arabischen Dialekts der Mhallamiye in der Provinz Mardin (Südosttürkei). From 1972 to 1977 he was Research Assistant at the Institut für Allgemeine und Indogermanische Sprachwissenschaft (Institute for General and Indo-European Linguistics) in Munich. In 1975, he received his Habilitation with the book Die Morphophonologie des Galab-Verbs and in 1977 he was made a Professor. In 1987 he received a call from University of Cologne as the successor to Hansjakob Seiler as the Chair of General and Comparative Linguistics.  Sasse retired in the Winter Semester 2008/2009 after 21 years as endowed chair at Cologne.

Sasse was cofounder of the "Documentation of Endangered Languages" Initiative of the Volkswagen Foundation , Founding President of the Society for Endangered Languages and (from 2001) a full member of the North Rhine Westphalia Academy of Sciences, Humanities, and the Arts.

Sasse was concerned with grammatical relations and lexical categories, language universals, discourse, and grammar, historical linguistics and reconstruction. He also conducted research on language contact and language death, as well as the lexicon. Among the languages and language families on which he conducted research were languages of the Balkans (especially Modern Greek and Albanian), Afro-Asiatic languages (especially Semitic languages and Cushitic languages), and Native American languages, especially Iroquoian languages.