Segmental, syllabic, and stratal domains of Dominican [s]-hypercorrection

A lecture by
Rafael Núñez-Cedeño
University of Illinois at Chicago
 
Friday, May 1st
1:30 - 3:30 p.m.
105 Folwell Hall

The appearance of [s]/[h] in unexpected contexts (hereafter "Surprise-[s]") - e.g. negativa[s]mente 'negatively', atra[s]co 'robbery'- in speech varieties that we will call "popular Dominican Spanish" (PDS) has been the topic of numerous analyses. Among other claims, Surprise-[s] has been regarded as hypercorrection of the deletion of rhyme /s/ (Henríquez Ureña 1975, Andrade 2009, Terrell 1986, Núñez Cedeño 1988, Harris 2002); it has been held to be subject to constraints on syllable position (Terrell 1986, Núñez Cedeño 1988, Harris 2002, Bradley 2006); it has been thought to obey voicing restrictions across a word boundary and phrase finally  (Morgan 1998, Bullock and Toribio 2010, Bullock et al. 2014). In this presentation we focus our attention on Bullock et al's. (2014) hypotheses that Surprise-[s] is followed predominantly by voiceless stops, and that this alleged distributional restriction is theoretically significant, and further consider its behavior in phrasal contexts. First, we propose that the distribution of Surprise-[s] is not due to any phonological restriction but rather to the lexical frequencies of consonants. Second, we demonstrate the interplay between aspiration or deletion of /s/ and Surprise-[s].  We argue that surprise-[s] resists resyllabification because silent positions (Selkirk 1984), which we contend are still present at the post-lexical stratum, block the process from occurring, while a lexically-derived [s]/[h] can resyllabify because there is not a  physically realized pause intervening between adjoining words; it is a matter of fast speech.

Further information can be found at: z.umn.edu/nunezcedeno

Identity, authority and authenticity in language policy: Reflections from the Peruvian Andes

Lecture by Professor Virginia Zavala
Pontifical Catholic University of Peru

Monday, April 27th
3:00-4:30pm
103 Folwell Hall

This talk will be based on ethnographic research about a language policy favoring Quechua in the Apurímac region of the southern Peruvian Andes, which has developed in the context of the decentralization of the central government since 2000. At least at the level of official policy documents, the region is being imagined as a community of apurimenians unified by the local language, which creates an emotional identification with the region. In this talk, I will analyze the power relationships that are constructed between a community of practice of Quechua "experts" and the rest of Quechua-speaking people from Apurímac. Although the declared wish is to build a regional "us", Quechua experts interpret and negotiate language policy from particular language and literacy ideologies and end up establishing identity divisions between "us" and "them" through tactics of intersubjectivity based on difference, authority and authenticity (Bucholtz 2003). This work follows earlier studies about language ideological battles in relation to Quechua and shows that, after several decades, the former top-down language policies coming from the capital city are now being reproduced within the Quechua-speaking social actors themselves, and the conflict has diversified into new dilemmas.

Further information at: http://z.umn.edu/zavala

Towards a Theory of Situated Languaging

Lecture by Per Linell
Senior Professor in the Department of Education, Communication and Learning at Gothenburg University, Sweden

Friday, April 17, 2015
125 Nicholson Hall
10:30 am-12:00 pm

There is an ongoing perspective shift in the language sciences from unquestionably assuming abstract language systems to be primary with regard to language use, to the opposite assumption with situated languaging (language use) in talk, text events, new media, etc. as the primary phenomenon of language. This shift will move linguistics from structuralism to substantialism (but still with a fair amount of structuralism), and it will require partly new approaches to most domains of language study, as compared to modern linguistics of the 20th century. I argue that these theories of situated languaging should build on a dialogical meta-theory of human sense-making. Such a meta-theory is an antidote to monological theories of individualist information processing in cognition, unidirectional transfer in communication, and code models of language.

In this lecture I will sketch the implications of the meta-theory of dialogical activities for theories of syntax, lexicology/semantics, phonology and pragmatics. Other topics that will be mentioned, and at least minimally discussed, in the lecture are the embodiment of language, the relation of language to non-linguistic semiotic resources, the participatory agency of speakers (and other participants), and the relationship of talk and writing.

Further reading at z.umn.edu/perlinell

Alumni Reunion

Come back to Folwell Hall and spend the morning with us. Learn again from esteemed University scholars, hear from current students about their experiences inside and outside the classroom, and get tips from expert alumni and friends.

Saturday, April 25

9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.

Folwell Hall

Cost $25 ($10 will support students in the department of your choice)

To view the Program and Register go to z.umn.edu/reunion or to register by phone, call 612-624-2345.

THE STATE OF IBEROAMERICAN STUDIES SERIES

XX THE STATE OF IBEROAMERICAN STUDIES SERIES
HUMAN RIGHTS ACROSS THE DISCIPLINES / HUMAN RIGHTS AND THEATER
A TRIBUTE TO REVISTA CONJUNTO: CASA DE LAS AMERICAS 50 + 1

University of Minnesota and College of St. Benedict /St. John's University
March 12-14, 2015

Providing a forum for interdiscursive theoretical discussions and dialogue, The State of Iberoamerican Studies Series, at the Spanish and Portuguese Department, supports a number of critical symposia that bring together not only the monologues of traditional scholarly disciplines, but also the powerful, struggling and often unarticulated voices, postures and assumptions of contemporary non-canonical, grassroots cultural discourses. Organized by Luis Ramos-García, Nelsy Echávez-Solano, and Alberto Justiniano in collaboration with the College of St. Benedict / St. John's University; Teatro del Pueblo; and other interdepartmental, intercollegiate, and international organizations, this symposium on Human Rights as well as Art and Theater festival; celebrating its twentieth version, dedicates its program to the 50 years (+1) anniversary of the Revista Conjunto: Casa de las Américas (La Habana-Cuba), and to the recent release of Una montaña en el horizonte: Los Audaces. Cuarenta y cinco años de teatro arequipeño.
Sponsored by the Imagine Funds; Spanish and Portuguese Studies; Human Rights Program; Global Studies; Department of French and Italian; College of St. Benedict / St. John's University; Teatro del Pueblo; McKnight Foundation; Metropolitan Regional Arts Council, Teatro La Candelaria; Colombian Government; Boynton Health Service & Voice to Vision Project.
Program attached

Unraveling the Secret of Basilio's Code and its Intellectual Consequences

​Center for Early Modern History
Presents
"Unraveling the Secret of Basilio's Code and its Intellectual Consequences"

a lecture by
Luis Anchondo
Visiting Assistant Professor, Spanish & Portuguese Studies

Friday, February 6, 2015
12:15pm
1210 Heller Hall

This talk disentangles the mystery of the secret code of Basil in the Spanish translation of a German edition of Aesop's Fables. Basil's code found in the prologue instructs fledgling Christians how to best profit spiritually by studying the content and meaning of pagan literature. In time, however, Basil's code became the principal source for and the ultimate symbol of the German secret society of the Rose Cross whose members were important precursors of a new scientific method of inquiry in pre-modern Europe. This lecture explores how an early medieval text that inculcates Christian morality through the interpretation of pagan literature was later transformed into a convincing scientific methodology in sixteenth century Germany.

Bearing Witness 70 Years after the Liberation of Auschwitz

Featuring Artist Felix de la Concha's
"Portraits and Conversations with Survivors of the Shoah"
A multi-media art project that delves into the act of bearing witness

5:00p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
Weisman Art Museum
Monday, January 26, 2015

Free and open to the public reservations required!
Please make your reservations by clicking here or calling the event line at 612-424-3624. Parking available in the Weisman Art Museum garage.

The Center for Holocaust & Genocide Studies and its campus and community partners invite you to a special evening of events to mark the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. CHGS will unveil the eight Minnesotan portraits of the forty overall paintings done for the "Portraits & Conversations with Survivors of the Shoah" project we coordinated with artist Felix de la Concha. The evening will also include a reception, remarks from Steve Hunegs, Executive Director, Jewish Community Relations Council, a talk from Auschwitz survivor Dora Zaidenweber, and an interview and Q&A with Felix de la Concha conducted by Professor Leslie Morris, Department of German, Scandinavian and Dutch.
"Portraits & Conversations" was conceived by De la Concha, in 2007 when he began to paint portraits of Holocaust survivors from all over the world. While posing, the survivors talked about their lives and shared their testimonies of survival. These intimate sessions were recorded so we can see the transformation from a blank canvas to a finished piece. In February of 2013 eight Holocaust survivors who reside in Minnesota participated in the project. There are now 40 completed portraits available to view in the virtual museum on the CHGS website. In addition to the paintings, CHGS also has the video and audio recordings of the sessions, which are on our YouTube channel.

This project was made possible in part with the support of Rimon: The Minnesota Jewish Arts Council, an initiative of the Minneapolis Jewish Federation and the Wexler Special Events Fund for Holocaust & Genocide Studies.
University of Minnesota partners: The Institute for Global Studies, the Center for Jewish Studies, the Center for German and European Studies, the Center for Austrian Studies, Department of Art History, the Department of History, the Department of German, Scandinavian & Dutch, the Department of Spanish & Portuguese, Department of Sociology, Department of French & Italian, the Human Rights Program, the European Studies Consortium, Minnesota Hillel.
Community: The Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota and the Dakotas (JCRC), Children of Holocaust Survivors Association in Minnesota (CHAIM), Center for Holocaust & Genocide Education, St. Cloud State University.