UC Berkeley professors share their favorite summer memories
Alexander Hong/Senior Staff
How have UC Berkeley professors spent their favorite summers? Read on to find out what campus faculty have done during their most memorable summers.
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From Shakespeare to ‘sexting’: The dynamic evolution of English
Lacking a pithy term for exchanging explicit instant messages? Fear not; English quickly conjures up “sexting,” and voilà: The new word, equally a noun or verb, neatly synthesizes two existing words and is nigh impossible to misunderstand.
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Where linguistics and copy editing collide
I’ve always been struck by how odd language is — how meaningless combinations of speech sounds can be strung together in meaningful ways to somehow create an infinite possibility of phrases.
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Testing the trappings of tradition
Of all of the problems I expected I would encounter in the present, the “grammar police” have not turned out to be one of them.
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The sum of a band
Subtlety, of course, is the enemy of “rules,” those one-size-fits-all, dictatorial commandments that ensure that all over the country, newspapers are using the same style and process for sharing information. I understand the need for these rules, and most of the time, it saves a lot of confusion.
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What the frick-frack is going on?
Our relationship to language is … complicated. Language still manages to surprise with its inbuilt laws and quirks, obvious or not, that continue to confound and delight us.
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Why I ‘amn’t’ a prescriptivist
Before my first linguistics class, I felt an immense frustration at the smallest of grammatical errors. As I began taking more and more courses in the subject that would end up becoming my major, I saw my relationship to grammar transform.
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Dirks appoints Sharon Inkelas special advisor on sexual violence, harassment
Chancellor Nicholas Dirks announced the appointment of campus linguistics professor Sharon Inkelas to serve as the Special Faculty Advisor to the Chancellor on Sexual Violence/Sexual Harassment in an email sent to campus Friday evening.
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UC Berkeley students’ theses find themselves squarely on the cutting edge
To decide to embark upon the journey of a senior thesis is to test one’s commitment, determination, fortitude and patience.
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‘Arrival’ is not just a science fiction masterpiece but a cinematic one
If aliens landed ships across the world without any explanation, what would be the world’s first step in addressing the situation? Directed by Denis Villeneuve (“Prisoners” and “Sicario”), “Arrival” suggests that it would be language. Not guns or bombs. Blockbusters of today would make one think that “Arrival” would feature
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