The sisterhood of I and VP

For other than talking

There was a lot going on this day. Clockwise from top left: common note to self; design for dimensions, top surface, and innards of a tap dance floor; marked out stupid puns involving “tap;” phonetic transcription; notes on binding theory.

The thetas don’t lie

Shakira happened to be the subject of most of our examples when discussing A-movement.

…”a position that is not a thematically marked position”…I’m *really* understanding this stuff…

That seems more like it.

Poor Shakira!!

She IS??? I thought we’d only have to listen to her for like the next 3 years, maybe 4 and maybe again in 2017 for the inevitable Comeback Attempt, or something.

Oh, and I thought it was just because she felt the beat rumbling through her bones.

Yyyyeah, we got that already.

Clarity!

I don’t want to know what else goes on up there.

…four days later…

Annnd she’s finally got her theta-role assignment and her Case. Relief at last.

…but if quails can do it, how special IS it?

Look carefully, this one’s askew.

I am not sure if it has to do with gestures or not when quails “do it,” but I know that gestures are at least involved when humans do it. And I should hope it’s not qualitatively the “same thing” but rather a “diff thing.”

Now selling on Busted Tees…

My hardest sound

This refers to the actual difficulty of my articulating the sound (I think I meant either palatal plosives or any implosive), not some weird sound symbolism thing. And those are F1/F2 arrows, PS.

Three pumpkin donuts

I felt guilty and needed validation; having to produce uvular articulations makes me very self-conscious.

Creaky Voice Girl

Response to a classmate saying, “You’re creaky voice girl this morning!” Because it was 8:30, and I was. (Erm, those are supposed to be vocal cords and arytenoid cartilages…)

Handouts are good

Sensitive Discussions

Poor AAVE. We can’t talk about it without going there. (Please note that, actually, I appreciate AAVE making us go there, and part of the reason we talk about AAVE at all is because somebody [Labov?] initially decided to go there. It’s good to go there. We need to go there.)