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Editor for this issue: Michael Appleby <michaellinguistlist.org>
linguistlist.org>Dear Subscribers, Over the last few years, readers of the LINGUIST list have seen our organization change from simply a mailing list, to a site whose focus is more and more on research. Two years ago we began collecting the archives of almost all the mailing lists in linguistics. We were aware that there's very little of linguistic importance which isn't discussed on one or the other of these lists, and it seemed to us that they'd be very useful if they were all available in one place, with a simple, effective search facility. It took us a lot of work, but you can see the result in operation at the URL below: http://listserv.linguistlist.org:8080/mls/html/ We like to think, however, that this was just the beginning of much bigger changes at LINGUIST. In the next year we began to build what we felt would be the most useful thing we could imagine: a database tailored specifically for linguists. Language is obviously at the center of everything linguists do, and so one of the more important things our site needed to do is categorize everything against a database of languages. The Summer Institute of Linguistics was very generous to us: they provided LINGUIST with their complete set of Ethnologue language codes and alternate language-name tables, and a commitment to update them at regular intervals. We then supplemented this with a set of over 300 additional codes for those ancient languages which Ethnologue was never intended to cover. The result is what we believe is the most complete set of language codes in existence. If you go to the URL below, you can search this database by language name, subgroup name, or language code. You'll see: it's very complete: http://saussure.linguistlist.org/cfdocs/pub/ The database that resulted from all this work lets us categorize any data to any language. But it allows us to do much more than that. Since each of these languages "knows" its place in a family tree, we intend - if we find enough money to pay our students in summer! - to put together search facilities which will do what no other search facility can do: find people, sites, dissertations, books and articles - whatever you wish to find - which are related to one another not because they are about the same language, but because they are all about languages in the same subgroup. The next stage of this project is to build a system that will accept linguists' input about such subgrouping, and allow us to show you conflicting subgroupings, so you can make your own choice about what subgrouping to use. What all this means is that the new LINGUIST site can categorize material in a multitude of ways. Each one of our pages has buttons and links that let you search by language, or linguistic subfield. If you like, you can ignore the buttons and just type in some text for the system to match. If you just want to see what's in our database, you can browse any category you like, sorted in a number of ways. You can find a book by the name of the author, or by a keyword, or the languages it treats. If you want to find mailing lists that deal with a linguistic subfield like syntax, our mailing list page will show you which they are. If you want specialists in Nuristani languages, the personal page search facility will show you who they are. If you want a book that deals with 16th century Dutch in pre-modern Japan - yes, we have one - our site will show you where it is. We think - we hope - that our site will make your professional life easier, and more efficient. We've done almost two years of work to bring things to where they now are. And we think you'll feel it was worth it. The sad fact is that all this work costs a great deal, not just in terms of money but in terms of time. We're proud of what we've done so far. But we think we can do even more, if you'll help us. We are a week and a half into our fund drive now, and have received $17,492 of our target of $48,000. We sincerely thank everyone listed at the bottom of this message, who haev helped us get this far. But we still have a long way to go. So if you have not donated yet, please go to http://linguistlist.org/donate.html to send us your pledge. From there you have the choice of donating straight away by credit card using our secure form, or you can send us a cheque later. If you do send a cheque, please make it payable in US dollars; we get charged about $50 a time to convert currency (no such problems with a credit card). Alternatively, you can hit "Reply" to this message and send us your pledge right now by email, prior to sending your cheque. Then we will be able to list you immediately as one of our donors; and we may be able to reach our goal (and halt these Fund Drive messages) a bit earlier. The address to send cheques is as follows: The LINGUIST Editorial Support Fund c/o Helen Aristar-Dry Dept. of English Eastern Michigan University Ypsilanti, MI USA 48197 As a 501(c)3 organization, LINGUIST qualifies for corporate donation-matching programs; and, of course, your donation is tax deductible. Don't forget that in return for a donation of $25 or more, we would like to send you a gift. This year, we introduced LINGUIST List tote bags, which are proving popular thanks to their style, space and sturdy construction. If you don't have anything to put in them, why not get a LINGUIST List T-shirt too? Please visit http://linguistlist.org/premiums.html to see what we have to offer. Do let us know in your pledge what you would like. Remember to include your postal address and what size and style you need. We at LINGUIST really do appreciate your support. We could not continue without you. With our sincere thanks, The LINGUIST Crew: Anthony, Helen, Andrew, Karen, Naomi, Heather, James, Michael, Zhen-Wei, Richard, Karolina, Dina, Renee, Steve, Marie, Gayathri, John, Ljuba, Terry, Simin, Tomoko. * LINGUIST Contributors ANGELS ($1000 and over) Blackwell Publishers John Benjamins W.V.U. Research Corporation Linguistic Society of America Richard Sproat and Chilin Shih MAINSTAYS ($100 to $1000) Monica Macaulay and Joe Salmons Anthea Fraser Gupta Dr Catherine Walter Elizabeth D. Liddy Kevin R. Gregg Margaret Winters and Geoff Nathan Ronnie B. Wilbur CaroLyn Green Hartnett Adam Werle, University of Massachusetts at Amherst Barbara H. Partee Bruce Fraser Cathy Wissink Ernest McCarus James J. Jenkins Julie Auger Kathy Jolowicz Language Learning Center at Michigan State University Larisa Zlatic Margaret Winters and Geoff Nathan Margit Waas Marianna Pool Masahide Ishihara Ms Catherine Fields Ms Denise Boyd Paul Chapin Rebecca Larche Moreton Robb Watt Sharon Obeidallah Suzanne Boyce Theo Vennemann Donna Christian E. Wayles Browne, Cornell University Frances Trix Mary Bucholtz Michael Swan Shanley Allen - Plus 5 anonymous donors SUPPORTERS ($50 to $100) Robert Englebretson Andy Kehler Antonella Sorace, University of Edinburgh Dan Slobin Wi-vun Taiffalo Chiung Andy Kehler Linda L. Thornburg, Klaus-Uwe Panther Mary Grenham Anne Bezuidenhout Baden Hughes Barbara Olson Herrarte Betty J. Birner Carolyn Sobel Greg Kochanski Ingo Thonhauser Julia S. Falk Kathleen Doty Kathleen Ward Laurel Watkins Laurie Bauer Loraine K. Obler, Ph.D. Maite Taboada Melanie Green Mr Baden Hughes Mr Laurent Proulx Paul Boersma Pius ten Hacken Ray Hudson Roderick A. Jacobs Ruth Kempson Scott McGinnis Sherri Condon Susan Fischer Thomas L. Cornell Vicky Bergvall Andreas Schramm Carol W. Pfaff Cornelia Tschichold Dr. MJ Hardman Francisco Dubert Gail Stygall Ingo Plag Judy Fuller Laura Callahan Regina Oakeshott Sharon Peperkamp Syracuse University Tom Wasow Tomoko Yasutake U. of Nijmegen, dept. of English Veronika Koller - Plus 8 anonymous donors DONORS (Up to $50) Dr. Sherida Altehenger-Smith Jenifer Larson-Hall Job M. van Zuijlen Joseph Eska Albert Ortmann Amy Isard Anastasia Bonch-Osmolovskaja Ash Asudeh Bernd Moebius Carol A. Klee D. Eric Holt Dave Schneider Dr Anne Reboul Earl Hofer Feride Erku Fernanda Ferreira Glenn Ayres Jeffrey T. Runner Joana Rossell Kevin Bretonnel Cohen M.J. Schreuder Meredith Doran Miwa Nishimura Nancy Niedzielski Niladri Sekhar Dash Rene J. Valdes Robert Bayley Stenstrom, Anna-Brita Susan Burt Theresa Biberauer Alana I. Thorpe, PhD Andrew Koontz-Garboden Anthony M. Lewis Camilla Wide Carol Myers Scotton Chang S. Lee Clare Stroud Claus D. Pusch Cynthia Edmiston Dave Robertson David Gaatone Donald F. Reindl Gerhardt Cornelia James Sneddon Joachim Grabowski Judith M.S. Pine, George A. Pine Lynn Santelmann Mickey Swart Pierre Larrivee Reiko Hayashi Sebastian Ross-Hagebaum Stanley Dubinsky Stuart Stewart Suzanne K. Hilgendorf Will Fitzgerald Yi Yuan anja wanner D.B. den Ouden Jila Ghomeshi Benavides, Carlos Mayrene Bentley Tor A. Afarli Uri Strauss Dr John te Velde Julie Bruch Mary C Gruber Nancy Wiegand Ute Smit Caren Brinckmann Frank Domahs Lecarme Stefan Th. Gries Adam Przepiorkowski Adrienne Bruyn Hortensia Curell Jean-Marc Dewaele Max Wheeler Roser Morante Simone Mueller, Benjamin J. Miller James Sneddon Richard Page Ans van Kemenade Donn Bayard Ora Matushansky Vincent A. De Rooij - Plus 18 anonymous donors MAJOR SUPPORTING PUBLISHERS Academic Press http://www.academicpress.com/ Arnold Publishers http://www.arnoldpublishers.com/ Athelstan Publications http://www.athel.com/ Blackwell Publishers http://www.blackwellpublishers.co.uk/ Cambridge University Press http://www.cup.org Continuum International Publishing Group Ltd http://www.continuumbooks.com Distribution Fides Elsevier Science Ltd. http://www.elsevier.nl/locate/linguistics John Benjamins http://www.benjamins.com/ http://www.benjamins.nl/ Kluwer Academic Publishers http://www.wkap.nl/ Lincom Europa http://home.t-online.de/home/LINCOM.EUROPA/ MIT Press http://mitpress.mit.edu/ Mouton de Gruyter http://www.degruyter.de/hling.html Multilingual Matters http://www.multilingual-matters.com/ Oxford UP http://www.oup-usa.org/ Pearson Education http://www.pearsoneduc.com/catalog.html Rodopi http://www.rodopi.nl/ Routledge http://www.routledge.com/ Springer-Verlag http://www.springer.de/ OTHER SUPPORTING PUBLISHERS Anthropological Linguistics http://www.indiana.edu/~anthling/ CSLI Publications http://csli-publications.stanford.edu/ Cascadilla Press http://www.cascadilla.com/ Finno-Ugrian Society http://www.helsinki.fi/jarj/sus/ Graduate Linguistic Students' Assoc., Umass http://server102.hypermart.net/glsa/index.htm International Pragmatics Assoc. http://ipra-www.uia.ac.be/ipra/ Kingston Press Ltd http://www.kingstonpress.com/ Linguistic Assoc. of Finland http://www.ling.helsinki.fi/sky/ MIT Working Papers in Linguistics http://web.mit.edu/mitwpl/ Pacific Linguistics http://pacling.anu.edu.au/ Pacini Editore Spa http://www.pacinieditore.it/index_dinamico.htm St. Jerome Publishers http://www.stjerome.co.uk/ Summer Institute of Linguistics http://www.sil.org/ Utrecht Institute of Linguistics http://www-uilots.let.uu.nl/ Virittaja Aikakauslehti http://www.helsinki.fi/jarj/kks/virittaja.html INSTITUTIONS Carleton University Gallaudet University Indiana University Massachusetts Institute of Technology National University of Singapore Universita Degli Studi di Trento University of British Columbia University of Cambridge University of Canterbury University of Chicago University of Cyprus University of Maryland Dental School University of Nevada, Las Vegas University of Nijmegen University of Ottawa University of Pittsburgh University of Rochester University of Zurich W.V.U. 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