Linguistics News

Rosalind Brayfield (’09) will present a paper entitled ‘”I like your ponytail, but I have a ponytail, too!’: The acquisition of the logical properties of because and but‘ at McGill’s Canadian Conference for Linguistics Undergraduates (McCCLU) 2008. McCCLU will be held at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, 28-30 March, 2008.

We are very happy to announce that Catherine Fortin will be joining the Carleton Linguistics Program as a full time member of the faculty, beginning this coming fall term. Professor Fortin earned her undergraduate degree from Tufts University, where she majored in French Language and Literature, with a minor in Economics. She earned a master’s degree in Linguistics, with a Certificate in American Indian Languages, from the University of Pittsburgh. Her Ph.D. is from the University of Michigan, where she worked primarily in the areas of syntax and semantics. Her dissertation is titled Indonesian Sluicing and Verb Phrase Ellipsis: Description and Explanation in a Minimalist Framework.

In addition to her dissertation work on Indonesian, Professor Fortin has also worked on Moroccan Arabic and Minangkabau, a language which is spoken by members of a large matrilineal society in West Sumatra, Indonesia. Last year at the University of Michigan, she was awarded the prestigious Rackham Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor Award.

She will teach two courses in the fall of 2007: Ling 275 Language Acquisition (5a, Ling 110 prerequisite) and the newly opened Ling 115 Introduction to the Theory of Syntax (3a, no prerequisites).

We have added a new section of Linguistics 115: Introduction to the Theory of Syntax for the fall term of 2007. The class will meet MWF 11:10 to 12:20, and will be taught by Professor Fortin. We hope especially to interest students in the classes of 2009 and 2010.

We here in the Linguistics Program are very pleased that Rosalind Brayfield has agreed to be our SDA. In addition to being a great source of information about the program, she is also the primary organizer of events, in addition to being the TA for Ling 110. She’s happy to respond to inquiries of all kinds at brayfier at carleton.edu

The Linguistics Program will be proposing a new Linguistics Concentration this coming fall. It will be evaluated by Education and Curriculum Committee and (we hope) submitted to the entire faculty during the fall term. Watch this space for further developments

We are excited to announce that a (special) major in Linguistics is available for members of all classes currently at Carleton, that is, including the class of 2011.