Minimalism triumphed without ever becoming popular.
---Peter Schjeldahl. Bare minimal. The New Yorker, May 3, 2004 (p. )

Last week, WHISC deputy assistant secretary Chris Potts wondered aloud about the appropriate connective for the following context:

Here is the abstract in PDF ___ plain-text.

and or or or both (either)?

We got two helpful replies to Chris's query!

Francesca Foppolo:

In this case, I would use or to suggest that you have a choice between two copies that are interchangable (identical in content but different in extension). Using and might suggest that you have two different --- incomplete --- pieces of the abstract (one piece in plain text, the other in PDF) and that if you want have the complete version you should download both.

The communicative intent of the instruction is to inform the reader that he has a choice. This intent is indicated by or. The fact that there are two different versions available is irrelevant in this context. Using and, which does not suggest any choice, may invite the inference that the information that two versions are available is in fact relevant, thus suggesting that both should be downloaded.

????does this make sense????

Francesca

Barbara Partee:

Note! No class May 13 or May 20!

And when I was announcing it out loud, I saw some students in the front row doing something to mark up their handouts, and I thought I must have made some typo, and I asked them. And they said they were changing "or" to "and"! The way they read it (which may mean reading English with Russian native speaker intuitions about things one tends to assume are universal -- I know I sometimes misunderstand things in Russian for similar reasons), I wasn't yet sure which class would be canceled!^*

So in yesterday's handout I very carefully repeated the notice as "No class May 13, no class May 20!". They assured me they all understand that we will see each other next at the last class on May 27.^**

Barbara

* If Barbara had been unsure about which class she was cancelling, she would probably have used the same form: Note! No class May 13 or May 20!, but perhaps with an epistemic rider (not sure which yet!). ---The Editors.

** Barbara's classes were cancelled because she is an invited speaker at this year's SALT. ---The Editors.

Each speaker is entitled to 12 minutes of discussion time following their presentation, regardless of the length of their presentation.

There are two sessions, with fixed beginnings and endings, but within each session, timing might be quite flexible, as long as every speaker's rights to their allotted time is preserved.

Session 1: 12:30-3:15 (includes a total of 60 minutes of discussion)

Coffee Break in South College: 3:15 to 4:00 (Surprise Refreshments!)

Session 2: 4:00-6:45 (includes a total of 60 minutes of discussion)

Dinner at Bertucci's

We have a graduating senior, Daniel Mash, to add to last week's list. Here's the full group:

We hope to see you at the end of semester luncheon, which is tomorrow, 12:30, Floor 16 of the Graduate Research Center

[Thanks to UG guru Angelika Kratzer for this item.]

The UMass-UConn-Smith Language Acquisition Workshop (UUSLAW), meeting this spring for about the tenth time, took place in the new student center at Smith College on May 1, with a wall of windows and modern electronics all around. As usual, topics ranged from syntax to semantics, and from African-American English to autism. Uri Strauss, Anna Verbuk, Liane Jeschull from UMass presented papers on maximality, implicatures, and aspect.

UConn students and faculty from both linguistics and communication disorders discussed topics ranging from autism to how definiteness is comprehended to issues in scrambling.

Jill deVilliers and Tom Roeper combined Smith and UMass to present some ideas on how to approach Point of View both theoretically and experimentally.

A Smith student presented an interesting study of the DELV test and the comprehension of relative claues.

The latest meeting was enriched by five visitors from MIT and Maryland who discussed isomorphism and pragmatics and the venerable topic of how only is acquired.

In addition, variation in formats allowed for shorter, medium, and longer presentations with a number of experiments in planning being tested. This gave people a real chance to benefit from broad commentary before finalizing an experimental approach. No papers discussed time, so naturally we lost track of it. As in the past, the schedule got stretched out by a full hour as there was plenty to discuss. This fact provides concrete evidence that the goal of an informal and uninhibited exchange of ideas was achieved.

The deVilliers graciously provided dinner for everyone at their old Victorian home afterwards.

Jonah Katz (piano); Paul Lutts (bass); Nate Kupel (drums); Jon Bean (saxophone)

Jonah Katz and Paul Lutt's last performance ever in the Amherst area!
Friday, May 14, 2004, 8:30-11:00 pm, The Loose Goose, in the Carriage Shops, Amherst Center
$5 at the door

Ji-yung Kim has accepted the position of Visiting Assistant Professor in the Georgetown Linguistics Department.

It's official: when the trustees met on May 5, they awarded tenure to Joe Pater. Congratulations also to Jonathan Schaffer, who was awarded tenure at the same meeing.

An announcement appeared in the Hampshire Gazette on May 10.

[Thanks to Barbara Partee for this item]

Junko Shimoyama (2001 UMass PhD) was offered a one year position in syntax at the University of Texas at Austin.

[Thanks to Angelika Kratzer for this item]