Whamit!

The May/June issue of Technology Review has an interesting feature on the Wôpanâak Language Reclamation Project, which has the goal of reviving the use of Wampanoag, the Algonquian language once spoken on Cape Cod and Martha’s Vineyard. Our department has been involved with this project since 1996, when Jessie Littledoe Baird came here to work with Ken Hale; Norvin Richards joined the project when he joined the faculty, and continues to work on it.

[Thanks Norvin!]

PS. If you want to know how the project is discussed in the blogosphere, check out this post on Languagehat.

Karlos Arregi, MIT Linguistics PhD 2002, visiting professor at MIT in Fall 2005, will be moving from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign to the University of Chicago, starting next fall. Congratulations, Karlos!

Experience Jay Keyser and The Aardvark Jazz Orchestra in Concert!

Big Band Panorama: Jazz from the 1920s to the 21st Century
Tuesday, March 18, 2008 at 7:30 pm
Bentley College, Koumantzelis Auditorium in Lindsay Hall
175 Forest Street, Waltham, MA
Tickets: $7
Directions: http://www.bentley.edu/directions/

Lush sonorities and a saxophonic blend worthy of Duke’s finest reed sections (Jazz Times)

Awe-inspiring audience fascination (Downbeat)

“the soloists all play with passion and conviction … captivating … highly recommended” (Jazz Improv)

The Aardvark Jazz Orchestra, nominated for best jazz artist in the 2008 Boston Phoenix/FNX Best Music Poll, continues its 35th season with a wide-ranging concert tracing the history of jazz from the 1920s to the present. The band will explore changes in style, sound and substance as the jazz big band evolved, evoking echoes of the Swing Era, Kansas City, New Orleans, and West Coast jazz, while also sampling recent works by Aardvark music director Mark Harvey. Selections will include Scratchin’ in the Gravel, a classic by Mary Lou Williams; Walkin’ Shoes, also a classic, by Gerry Mulligan (for the Stan Kenton Orchestra); Solitude and The Mooche by Duke Ellington; and Sent for You Yesterday, a staple of the Count Basie Orchestra. Mark Harvey’s pieces will include NOLA, a tribute to New Orleans, and Spanish Mood, inspired by Gil Evans’ celebrated Sketches of Spain that featured Miles Davis.

The Aardvark Jazz Orchestra is known for its exhilarating concerts spanning the jazz spectrum, from the music of Ellington and other jazz greats to original works by founder/music director Mark Harvey, to performances with film, dance, and poetry. Winner of the 2000 Independent Music Awards, the band has premiered more than 100 works for jazz orchestra and has released 9 CDs (Leo Records, 9Winds, other labels) to international critical acclaim.

Congratulations to Kai von Fintel, who has been named Associate Dean of the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences. He assumes his new role immediately.

Kai will present joint work with Thony Gillies, “Must … Stay … Strong!” at a mini-workshop at the University of Michigan, this week, March 5—7. Chris Potts (UMass Amherst) and Craige Roberts (Ohio State) are the commentators.

“CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — The evolution of human speech was far more complex than is implied by some recent attempts to link it to a specific gene, says Robert Berwick, professor of computational linguistics at MIT.”

The podcast team from the MIT Libraries interviewed Kai about the new journal Semantics & Pragmatics. The interview is about 11 minutes long. Take a listen!.