🚀 go-pugleaf

The news of Jim McCawley's death is very sad for people who knew him. 
McCawley was a remarkable human being and linguist -- gentle, caring,
generous, encyclopedic, humane, moral, responsible, and of a deep
political conscience.  McCawley was my teacher in a course on English
syntax at the Linguistic Institute in Tucson, Arizona in the summer of
1989.  I ran into him many times afterwards at linguistic conferences in
Chicago and elsewhere, and everytime I loved him and admired him a little
more.  In celebration of his memory I enclose a collection of jokes that
he himself created many years ago, and which have become a classic
circular in our field in the month of May. I am sending this a couple of
weeks earlier than usual.  --Maher

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     DATES IN THE MONTH OF MAY THAT ARE OF INTEREST TO LINGUISTS
			By Jim McCawley

 
May 2, 1919.  Baudouin de Courtenay concedes defeat in his bid for the
              presidency of Poland.
 
May 3, 1955.  Mouton & Co. discover how American libraries order books
              and scheme to cash in by starting several series of books
              on limericks.  The person given charge of this project
              mishears and starts several series of books on
              linguistics.  No one ever notices the mistake.
 
May 5, 1403.  The Great English Vowel Shift begins.  Giles of Tottenham
              calls for ale at his favorite pub and is perplexed when
              the barmaid tells him that the fishmonger is next door.
 
May 6, 1939.  The University of Chicago trades Leonard Bloomfield to
              Yale University for two janitors and an undisclosed
              number of concrete gargoyles.
 
May 7, 1966.  r-less pronunciation is observed in eight kindergarten
              pupils in Secaucus, N.J.  The governor of New Jersey
              stations national guardsmen along the banks of the Hudson.
 
May 9, 1917.  N. Ja. Marr discovers ROSH, the missing link for Japhetic unity.
 
May 11, 1032. Holy Roman Emperor Conrad II orders isoglosses erected
              across northern Germany as defense against Viking intruders.
 
May 12, 1965. Sydney Lamb announces discovery of the hypersememic
              stratum, setting off a wave of selling on the NYSE.
 
May 13.  Vowel Day.  (Public holiday in Kabardian Autonomous Region).
              The ceremonial vowel is pronounced by all Kabardians as a
              symbol of brotherhood with all speakers of human languages.
 
May 14, 519 B.C.  Birth of Panini.
 
May 15, 1964. J. Katz and J. Fodor are separated in 5-hour surgery
              from which neither recovers.
 
May 17, 1966. J. R. Ross tells a clean joke.
 
May 18, 1941. Quang Phuc Dong is captured by the Japanese and interned
              for the duration of hostilities.
 
May 19.       Diphthong Day.  (Public holiday in Australia)
 
May 20, 473 B.C.  Publisher returns to Panini a manuscript entitled
              _Saptadhyayi_ with a note requesting the addition of a
              chapter on phonology.  Panini begins struggling to meet
              the publisher's deadline.
 
May 21, 1962. First mention of the _Sound_Pattern_of_English as
              `in press'.
 
May 23, 38,471 B.C.  God creates language.
 
May 26, 1945. Zellig Harris applies his newly formulated discovery
              procedures and discovers [t].
 
May 27, 1969. George Lakoff discovers the global rule.  Supermarkets
              in Cambridge, Mass. are struck by frenzied buying of
              canned goods.
 
May 29, 1962. Angular brackets are discovered.  Classes at M.I.T. are
              dismissed and much Latvian plum brandy is consumed.
 
May 30, 1939. Charles F. Hockett finishes composing the music for the
              Linguistic Society of America's anthem, `Can You Hear
              the Difference?'
 
May 31, 1951. Chomsky discovers Affix-hopping and is reprimanded by
              his father for discovering rules on shabas.
 
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