Date: 19-Mar-2007
From: linguist <linguist linguistlist.org>
Subject: Why Do We Need Your Help?
Dear LINGUIST Subscribers,
Each year around this time we do something that all of us at LINGUIST dread: we begin our annual fund drive. We often have fantasies that, one day, a magical creature (a LINGUIST pig?) will arrive at our door-step, and endow the entire operation from the funds derived from the huge wealth her bestselling linguistics book has produced. But we know, sadly, that such individuals are only myths in our field. That means that we can't escape having our annual fund-drive, for the money we get this way is what makes it possible for us to keep LINGUIST List going.
We try as hard as we can to make fund-drive fun, and I hope we've been succeeding in that. The students this year have done an amazing amount of work on it, as you'll be seeing as the days pass. But there's really only one reason we do it: to pay the salaries of the students who keep LINGUIST going. People often say nice things to me and Helen about LINGUIST, and we are always happy to hear them. But the fact is that most of the real work is done by the student members of our team, all of whom are working hard on their degrees at the same time as they work hard on keeping LINGUIST running. And doing this is no small job!
Not only do the students maintain the LINGUIST List website and email list, but they also maintain numerous facilities which were originally developed with external funding. Just to maintain the core functions of LINGUIST takes a lot of hands on the keys. As many of you know, the students read and approve every item that is posted on the LINGUIST List site or in the email list, and they also classify each submission by subject language and linguistic subfield. This means, for example, that you can search the publications area and find every book, journal, or dissertation that is related to your specialty, no matter who the publisher is. They also correspond with users, manage the business functions associated with book and job announcements, keep our extensive technical facilities up and running, as well as overseeing ancillary services like Notice Board and Ask-a-Linguist.
Some of these ancillary services were developed with grant funding, as part of LINGUIST's 10-year effort to build electronic infrastructure for the discipline. It was grant-money which originally funded the development of the linguist's directory, the language search facility, the multi-mailing list search facility, and the OLAC harvester and the search engine, not to mention the E-MELD School of Best Practices in Digital Language Documentation, which is designed to facilitate endangered languages work. And we are extremely grateful to the foundations (chiefly NSF) and the peer reviewers that made it possible for us to build these facilities for the linguistics community.
However, no agency can or will pay for the maintenance of sites and facilities after the funding period is over. So, if you value the infrastructure and services that LINGUIST provides, please support us by donating to the LINGUIST List Fund Drive.
We think we've done a lot with the money you've given us over the years, and for rather a long time. Do you realize that LINGUIST List is one of the oldest institutions on the Internet? Our email list began in 1990, and we also had a tiny website shortly thereafter, thanks to our fascination with an arcane new technology-HTML. In 1993, we received a grant from the National Science Foundation to develop a fully-featured website based on a database. And 1993 also marked the initiation of the "LINGUIST fellowships"-stipends provided to LINGUIST student editors and funded by your donations. Since then, your donations have funded close to 70 student editors through their M.A. degrees. Eastern Michigan University doesn't offer a Ph.D. in linguistics; but the M.A. program-and LINGUIST List-has come to feed topnotch doctoral programs all across the country. Twelve LINGUIST 'alums' have now completed their Ph.D.'s in linguistics, and approximately 15 more are currently enrolled in doctoral programs. Some of you are working with them in your departments right now. Most of our students would not have been able to afford graduate school, had it not been for your support. So for the last 13 years, we've been emphasizing one important fact: the money that you contribute to LINGUIST not only funds current services but also constitutes an investment in the future of the discipline.
We feel that the range of services we offer now has become quite impressive. Of course, this is a judgment you, not we, must make on this issue. But I think you would find it difficult to find another discipline which has anything like LINGUIST. We can't help feeling a little proud of it, even though we are well aware that it could be improved in many ways. But the LINGUIST organization tries to do as much as it can for the discipline, and this is one of the reasons why we have to support so many students. Running a website that is as edited and complex as LINGUIST takes a lot of resources, and a lot of people. LINGUIST is no different from the discipline of which it is a part: we don't have a lot of money to play with, and we need your support.
We'd like to ask you, once again, if you would be so generous as to support LINGUIST again this year. Remember: all the money you give goes exclusively to the people who need it most, the students; and every penny is an investment both in the discipline's present infrastructure, and in its future wellbeing.
Sincerely, Helen Aristar-Dry and Anthony Aristar, Moderators, The LINGUIST List
This Year the LINGUIST List hopes to raise $55,000. This money will go to help keep the
List running by supporting all of our Student Editors for the coming year.
See below for donation instructions, and don't forget to check out our Fund Drive 2007
LINGUIST List Superhero Adventure for some Fund Drive fun!
http://linguistlist.org/donation/fund-drive2007/
There are many ways to donate to LINGUIST!
You can donate right now using our secure credit card form.
Alternatively you can also pledge right now and pay later.
For all information on donating and pledging, including information on how to donate by
check, money order, or wire transfer, please visit:
http://linguistlist.org/donate.html
The LINGUIST List is under the umbrella of Eastern Michigan University and as such can
receive donations through the EMU Foundation, which is a registered 501(c) Non Profit
organization. Our Federal Tax number is 38-6005986. These donations can be offset against
your federal and sometimes your state tax return (U.S. tax payers only). For more
information visit the IRS Web-Site, or contact your financial advisor.
Many companies also offer a gift matching program, such that they will match any gift
you make to a non-profit organization. Normally this entails your contacting your human
resources department and sending us a form that the EMU Foundation fills in and returns
to your employer. This is generally a simple administrative procedure that doubles the
value of your gift to LINGUIST, without costing you an extra penny. Please take a moment
to check if your company operates such a program.
Thank you very much for your support of LINGUIST!
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We would like to thank all of the publishers and subscribers who
donated prizes for this year's Fund Drive games, puzzles, and
competitions.
Publisher Prize Donors:
Cascadilla Press
Continuum
Edinburgh University Press
Hodder Arnold
Mouton de Gruyter
Multilingual Matters
Sage Publications
Subscriber Prize Donors:
Rusudan Amirejibi-Mullen
Paola Attolino
Cristiano Chesi
Greville G. Corbett
Rosa J. Garcia B. Cordova
Gang Gu
Suzette Haden Elgin
Lise Menn
Claus Dieter Pusch
Sandra Thompson
Thorsten Trippel
Tom Zurinskas
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The LINGUIST List Hall of Fame
SUPERHEROES ($1000 and over)
Arnold Zwicky
HEROES ($100 to $1000)
D. Terrence Langendoen
elly van gelderen
Peter Jurgec
Victoria Muehleisen
SUPPORTERS ($50 to $100)
DONORS (Up to $50)
ali
K. David Harrison
Linda Apse
shahid
- Plus one anonymous donor
******************************************************
MAJOR SUPPORTING PUBLISHERS
Cascadilla Press
http://www.cascadilla.com/
Continuum International Publishing Group Ltd
http://www.continuumbooks.com
Edinburgh University Press
http://www.eup.ed.ac.uk/
Georgetown University Press
http://www.press.georgetown.edu
Hodder Arnold
http://www.hoddereducation.co.uk
John Benjamins
http://www.benjamins.com/
http://www.benjamins.nl/
Lincom GmbH
http://www.lincom.eu
www.lincom.eu
Mouton de Gruyter
http://www.mouton-publishers.com
Multilingual Matters
http://www.multilingual-matters.com/
Oxford University Press
http://www.oup.com/us
http://www.oup.co.uk
Pagijong Press
http://pjbook.com
Palgrave Macmillan
http://www.palgrave.com
Peter Lang AG
http://www.peterlang.com
Rodopi
http://www.rodopi.nl/
http://www.rodopi.nl
Springer
http://www.springer.com
OTHER SUPPORTING PUBLISHERS
CSLI Publications
http://cslipublications.stanford.edu/
International Pragmatics Assoc.
http://www.ipra.be
Linguistic Assoc. of Finland
http://www.ling.helsinki.fi/sky/
Netherlands Graduate School of Linguistics / Landelijke - LOT
http://www.lotpublications.nl/
SIL International
http://www.ethnologue.com/bookstore.asp
St. Jerome Publishing Ltd.
http://www.stjerome.co.uk
******************************************************
INSTITUTIONS
BAE Systems
Basis Technology
Basis Technology Corporation
BeVocal, Inc
Boston University
Bridgewater State College
Butler Hill Group
CELI s.r.l.
City University of Hong Kong
Comcast
Concordia University
Darmstadt University of Technology
Dongduk Women's University
English School Sunny Plus
Grove City College
Gyeonggi English Village
Hablamos Juntos - UCSF
Haskins Laboratories
Hokkaido University
Humboldt Universität zu Berlin
Indiana University
Indiana University - Bloomington
Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität Frankfurt/Main
Johns Hopkins University
Kent State University
KNOVA Software, Inc.
La Trobe University
LearnBalance Group
Leibniz Universität Hannover
Lexicon Branding, Inc.
Linguistic Data Consortium, University of Pennsylvania
Louisiana State University
Maher Language Institute (MLI)
McGill University
McNeil Technologies, Inc.
Michigan State University
Monterey Institute of International Studies
National Sun Yat-sen University
National Taiwan Normal University
Nemours/AI duPont Hospital for Children
Nordic CoE in Microcomparative Syntax
Northwestern University
Nuance Communications, Inc.
Q-go Netherlands bv
Radboud University Nijmegen
RiverGlass, Inc.
RPI
RWTH Aachen
San Diego State University
SDL International
Seattle Pacific University
Shenandoah University
Simon Fraser University
SOAS, University of London
Stony Brook University
Systran
SYSTRAN S.A.
SYSTRAN Software, Inc.
The Australian National University
The State University of New York at Buffalo
Tuebingen University
Tufts University
UCSC
University College London
University of Aberdeen
University of Alaska Fairbanks
University of Alberta
University of Arizona
University of British Columbia
University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)
University of California, San Diego
University of California, Santa Barbara
University of Cologne
University of Delaware
University of Edinburgh
University of Geneva
University of Hamburg (Germany)
University of Leeds
University of Mary Washington
University of Maryland
University of Maryland University College
University of Michigan
University of Nottingham, Ningbo, China
University Of Oregon
University of Oxford
University of Pittsburgh
University of Potsdam
University of Texas at San Antonio
University of Trento (Italy)
University of Utah
University of Wales, Bangor
University of Washington
University of Wolverhampton
University of York
Université Laval
Voice Signal Technologies, Inc,
Wake Forest University
Wayne State University
Yuan Ze University
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