Child Language Research Forum #33 will be held during the LSA Linguistic Institute at UC Berkeley next summer (July 10-12, 2009). Anyone interested in joining the organizing committee, please contact Eve Clark (eclark at stanford dot edu) or Inbal Arnon (inbalar at stanford dot edu).

OK. So most of you have already met her, but just in case you haven't, welcome Alyssa Ferree, who is our new student services officer. This is what she looks like, in case you've been off doing fieldwork, away conferencing, or happen to be a distant alum....

The best law schools in the country are apparently fighting over our distinguished alumnus (Linguistics PhD 1992) Henry Smith, who Sesquipedireporter Andrew Koontz-Garboden (a distinguished alum himself), characterizes as 'an ueber scholarly property-lawyer badass'... [NB: Dr K-G speaks a rare, inimitable argot, comprehensible only to an elite clique of former grad students, most of whom reside in the state of Texas ...] Check out the Smith story here.

Cathryn Donohue and Pablo Saz Parkinson are thrilled to announce the arrival of Thomas John Saz Donohue! Tom was born on Wednesday, June 18 at 8:20am, weighing in at 8lb 10oz (3.9kg) and 21.5in (55cm) long. Everyone was doing very well on July 21 (and we hope they still are....).

This is how genetics research would proceed if it used only `introspective' data of the sort that was central to 20th century linguistics: This picture, taken this summer at an undisclosed location, shows 4 children, each of whom has a Stanford Linguistics Department alum as a parent. Can you identify the parents? Hint: there are siblings among the kids. Email your answers to: sesquip at gmail dot com.

Attention phonophiles! The Sesquipedalian is delighted to welcome the return of Meghan's Mystery Name Game. We will feature a spectogram of some department member's name each week. To claim this week's prize (it is edible and yummy, Meghan assures us), be the first to send a correct guess to: sumner at stanford dot edu. In addition, the Sesquipedilector who wins the most MMNGs this quarter will receive an `I love phonetics' bumper sticker. And there's more! The person who wins the most MMNGs this academic year will receive a box of magnetic phonetics! Here's the first name:

Punster alert.. again....

• The roundest knight at King Arthur's round table was Sir Cumference. He acquired his size from too much pi.
• I thought I saw an eye doctor on an Alaskan island, but it turned out to be an optical Aleutian.
• She was only a whisky maker, but he loved her still.
• A rubber band pistol was confiscated from algebra class because it was a weapon of math disruption.
• The butcher backed into the meat grinder and got a little behind in his work.
• No matter how much you push the envelope, it'll still be stationery.
• A dog gave birth to puppies near the road and was cited for littering.
• A grenade thrown into a kitchen in France would result in Linoleum Blownapart.
• Two silk worms had a race. They ended up in a tie.
• Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.
• A hole has been found in the nudist camp wall. The police are looking into it.
• Atheism is a non-prophet organization.

For events farther in the future consult the Upcoming Events Page.

THURSDAY, 2 OCTOBER

• UC Berkeley CIS Seminar

  Eugene Charniak (Brown University)
  "Statistical Parsing Fifteen Years Later"
  
  4:00 PM in Soda Hall 310 (UC Berkeley)

FRIDAY, 3 OCTOBER

• Department Social

  Gourmet delights by the Social Committee
  
  4:00pm, in the Department Kitchen

• UCSC Linguistics Colloquium

  Donka Farkas (UCSC)
  "Assertions, Polar Questions and Polarity Particles"
  
  4:00pm, Humanities One Building, Room 210, UCSC

SATURDAY, 4 OCTOBER

• Berkeley Workshop on Affix Ordering

  9 AM - 6:20 PM, in 371 Dwinelle Hall, UC Berkeley

SUNDAY, 5 OCTOBER

• Berkeley Workshop on Affix Ordering

  9 AM - 11:10 AM, in 371 Dwinelle Hall, UC Berkeley

MONDAY, 6 OCTOBER

• Berkeley Linguistics Colloquium

  Ivan Sag
  "Processing Factors in the Study of Island Effects"
  
  4:00pm, 182 Dwinelle, UC Berkeley

TUESDAY, 7 OCTOBER

• Acquisition Lab Meeting

  4:00pm in Bldg. 460, Room 127b (the `Chair's office')

WEDNESDAY, 8 OCTOBER

• Berkeley Linguistics Colloquium

  Ilya Yakubovich (U Chicago)
  "Luvians and Greeks: Linguistic Diversity in Pre-Classical Anatolia"
  
  5:00pm - 6:30pm, location TBA, UC Berkeley

FRIDAY, 10 OCTOBER

• Berkeley Institute of Cognitive and Brain Seminar

  Susanne Gahl (UC Berkeley)
  "Pronunciation variation as a tool for psycholinguistic research"
  
  11:00am, Tolman 5101, UC Berkeley

• Speech Lunch

  Organizational Meeting
  
  Jordan Hall, Room 065 (Linguistics Lab)

• Semantics and Pragmatics Workshop/
  Department Colloquium

  Mira Ariel (Tel Aviv)
  "Or Constructions: Meaning and Use"
  
  Jordan Hall, Room 065 (Linguistics Lab)

• Department Social

  Gourmet delights by the Social Committee
  
  5:00pm, in the Department Kitchen

UPCOMING EVENTS (always under construction)

LINGUISTIC DEPARTMENT EVENTS PAGE

Got broader interests? The New Sesquipedalian recommends reading or even subscribing to the CSLI Calendar, available HERE.

WHAT'S HAPPENING AT UC SANTA CRUZ?

WHAT'S GOING ON AT UC BERKELEY?

The Stanford Blood Center is reporting a shortage of types O, A, B, and AB+. For an appointment, visit http://bloodcenter.stanford.edu/ or call 650-723-7831. It only takes an hour of your time and you get free cookies. The Blood Center is also raising money for a new bloodmobile.

Want to contribute information? Want to be a reporter? Want to see something appear here regularly? Want to be a regular columnist? Want to take over running the entire operation? Write directly to sesquip@gmail.com.