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‘Hamilton, he ain’t no president’

In episode 1 of the Wire, the boys discuss American history and exceptive constructions. Video after the flip »

emma :: Jul.18.2008 :: semantics, linguistics, pop-culture :: No Comments »

Exceptive constructions in 1772

John Adams, in a letter to Abigail Adams, wrote:

I wish myself at Braintree. This wandering, itinerating Life grows more and more disagreable to me. I want to see my Wife and Children every Day, I want to see my Grass and Blossoms and Corn, &c. every Day. I want to see my Workmen, nay I almost want to go and see the Bosse Calfs’s almost as often as Charles does. But above all except the Wife and Children I want to see my Books.

I’ve been collecting a bunch of them recently, actually. I’ll post more soon.

emma :: Jul.10.2008 :: semantics, linguistics :: No Comments »

Blaaaaaag

Hello to anyone who still bothers to keep me in his/her feed:

We’re hitting the middle of the summer, and so far I have learned the following:
(1) Human subject research, as simple as it seems it should be, is never that simple. IRB protocols…I think I may stick to theoretical stuff in the future.
(2) If you fold a bed sheet, stick it in the bag, and put the bag in the freezer for 1-2 hours, you can enjoy cool comfort without air conditioning for upwards of 3 minutes.

I guess the newest update is that I am doing human subject research. I’m recording people saying stuff and doing some fairly simple prosodic analysis. That is, I will be doing this once I get the IRB protocol approved.

In the meanwhile, I’ve been reading about exceptives and emphatic reflexives.

emma :: Jul.10.2008 :: linguistics :: No Comments »

FAIL

Wikipedia demonstrates presupposition failure:

emma :: May.08.2008 :: semantics, linguistics, nerdiness :: 1 Comment »

F.Y.I.

From now on, I am going to refer to this restaurant as Kabob and Schönfinkel.

emma :: May.01.2008 :: logic, nerdiness :: 1 Comment »

Ockham’s razor

While searching for images related to Ockham’s razor today, I found this:

emma :: Apr.30.2008 :: nerdiness :: No Comments »

Bonus

Despite the obvious disadvantages of being not only the only theoretical linguistics grad student in department, but also the entire state of Rhode Island, there is the perk of not having to share any resources with anybody else (except for perhaps ambitious undergraduates). This means that you may find yourself in the library on a Wednesday afternoon, searching for a copy of Yoad Winter’s dissertation, and finding a copy of BHP’s Montague Grammar sitting on a top shelf. It’s been checked out a total of seven times: 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1998, 2003 and now 2008.

The Winter dissertation? Checked out for the first time today.

Another library anecdote after the flip »

emma :: Apr.30.2008 :: linguistics :: 2 Comments »