28 November 2013

Barbara Tomaszewicz receives a grant for a 3-year project

Barbara and researchers from the Center for General and Comparative Linguistics at the University of Wrocław have received a grant from the Polish National Science Center (NCN OPUS 5 - HS2) for their 3 year project "Psycholinguistic investigations into number and quantification in natural language", encompassing 3 projects  (PI: Joanna Błaszczak, Co-PIs: Dorota Klimek-Jankowska, Barbara Tomaszewicz). Barbara is the project leader for "Lexical properties of quantifiers revealed in auditory and visual processing".

Congratulations to Barbara for this impressive achievement, and best of luck in what will undoubtedly be a fruitful project.

23 November 2013

Recent Tea Time Festivities


Many thanks to graduate students Alif Silpachai and Jessica Harmon, department staff Brandon Washington and Frankie Hayduk, and several other dedicated students and staff for carrying on the department's Tea Time tradition! Two recent tea time celebrations are highlighted below:

Tea Time: Halloween Edition
Halloween is a favorite departmental holiday, and this year we enjoyed a multitude of treats, including Jessica's pumpkin cookies, and a box of Halloween sweets from Frankie. In addition, the jack-o-lantern drawing was held, and 4 lucky students each won a $25 gift card to Amazon.com. Congratulations Arunima, Chorong, David, and Peter!

Samantha holds the jack-o-lantern while Frankie draws names

Jessica reads the names of contest winners
Arunima with her Amazon gift card
Chorong with her Amazon gift card

Spooky halloween treats
Tea Time: Cubby Decoration Contest Winners Edition
Our annual cubby decoration contest had several entrants into each of our three categories: Prettiest, Funniest, and Coolest.

Congratulations to our cubby decoration contest winners: Ulli (Coolest), Thomas(Funniest) and Samantha(Prettiest).  Enjoy reigning over tea time for one more year! Pictures follow:

Coolest Cubby, by Ulli
Funniest Cubby, by Thomas
Prettiest Cubby, by Samantha
Cubby Decoration Contest Winners at the coronation ceremony. From L to R: Ulli, Samantha, & Thomas

Thanks to all who've been a part of Tea Time!

14 November 2013

Andrew Simpson gives invited talk

Linguistics Department Chair Andrew Simpson recently gave an invited talk at the International Workshop on Chinese Numeral Classifiers at Zhejiang University on October 17, 2013.

The workshop focused on understanding the semantics, structure, and pragmatics of numeral classifiers as a reflection of mind.

Congratulations to Professor Simpson!

Conference Poster

05 November 2013

A Warm Welcome to Brandon Washington, New Student Advisor

Brandon is the new Student Advisor for USC's Linguistics Department, and we're positively thrilled to have him.

Brandon graduated from USC in 2001 with a degree in English and a focus in American literature. Since then he's tried a few different jobs, like coaching football at Harvard-Westlake and controlling our fates from the USC Admissions department. As a result, the man has some incredible stories--if you haven't talked to him yet, make sure you take five minutes to hear how Ashton Kutcher used his fame to help Brandon's team win football games.

Though he loved his time as a student here, Brandon recognizes that it's not easy to navigate classes, extra-curriculars, and networking. A good education needs good advising, and that's precisely what he intends to give us. If you need help with anything--from registration to networking and job-hunting--he's the guy to talk to.

We're incredibly lucky to have Brandon with us, and we look forward to getting to know him better.

03 November 2013

Fall 2013 Welcome Back Picnic

The traditional 'Welcome/Welcome Back' picnic was hosted by GSIL on September 7, 2013 at Elysian Park. Being a linguist is hard work, but, as these pictures show, we do *occasionally* take some time for fun! Thanks to all who helped by setting up, bringing food and supplies, and cleaning up. We're looking forward to next year's picnic!

Some of the wonderful spread provided by the many talented chefs in the USC Linguistics department

First year grad students Reed and Mai enjoying the picnic

Great turn-out this year!

Grad students (from l-r) Caitlin, Brian, and Jesse chat on the grass

Students, professors, and friends enjoying a game of Apples to Apples

Beautiful scenery in Solano Canyon picnic area

A panoramic shot of the festivities