Laura J. Downing
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Laura J. Downing
Laura J. Downing (born 15 June 1954, Mitchel AFB, New York) is an American linguist, specializing in the phonology of African languages. Education and career Downing earned her B.S. in linguistics from Georgetown University in 1977, and her PhD in linguistics from the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign in 1990. Her dissertation, ''The tonal phonology of Jita'', was published by Lincom Europa in 1996. After receiving her PhD, she held several positions in North America before moving to Europe in 2001. She was a senior researcher at the ZAS (Center for General Linguistics) in Berlin from 2001 to 2012, and was professor of African Languages at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, from 2012 until her retirement in 2021. Research Downing's research centers on the formal analysis of the prosody of Bantu languages, including prosodic morphology, lexical and grammatical tone systems, information structure and phrasal prosody. Her research has contributed to a better und ...
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Mitchel Air Force Base
Mitchel Air Force Base also known as Mitchel Field, was a United States Air Force base located on the Hempstead Plains of Long Island, New York, United States. Established in 1918 as Hazelhurst Aviation Field #2, the facility was renamed later that year as Mitchel Field in honor of former New York City Mayor John Purroy Mitchel, who was killed while training for the Air Service in Louisiana. Decommissioned in 1961, Mitchel Field became a multi-use complex that is home to the Cradle of Aviation Museum, Nassau Coliseum, Mitchel Athletic Complex, Nassau Community College, Hofstra University, and Lockheed. In 2018 the surviving buildings and facilities were recognized as a historic district and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. History Origins During the American Revolutionary War it was known as the Hempstead Plains and used as an Army enlistment center. In the War of 1812 and in the Mexican War, it was a training center for Infantry units. During the America ...
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Lisa Cheng (linguist)
Lisa Cheng (Lisa Lai-Shen Cheng, 鄭禮珊 in traditional Chinese characters, 郑礼珊 in simplified Chinese characters) (born 1962) is a linguist with specialisation in theoretical syntax. She is a Chair Professor of Linguistics and Language at the Department of Linguistics, Leiden University, and one of the founding members of the Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition. Academic life After completing her BA and MA degree at the University of Toronto, Cheng obtained her PhD at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1991, where she studied with Noam Chomsky. From 1991 to 2000, she held a position at the University of California, Irvine, first as an assistant professor, then as an associate professor (with tenure), before moving to Leiden University. In 2012, she was nominated for the Regional Chair at the University of Nantes (France), where she was appointed for two years and lectured on East Asian Linguistics . Cheng has done extensive work on theoretical syntax, mostl ...
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Royal Society Of Arts And Sciences In Gothenburg
The Royal Society of Arts and Sciences in Gothenburg ( sv, Kungliga Vetenskaps- och Vitterhets-Samhället i Göteborg, abbreviated KVVS and often known simply as ''Samhället'') is a Swedish Royal Academy. Its predecessor was founded in Gothenburg in 1773 and the academy took its present name in 1778. The same year, Gustav III of Sweden gave it Royal Charter. See also * Vega expedition Sciences, Society Letters 18th century in Gothenburg {{Sweden-org-stub ...
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Linguistic Society Of America
The Linguistic Society of America (LSA) is a learned society for the field of linguistics. Founded in New York City in 1924, the LSA works to promote the scientific study of language. The society publishes three scholarly journals: ''Language'', the open access journal ''Semantics and Pragmatics'', and the open access journal Phonological Data & Analysis. Its annual meetings, held every winter, foster discussion amongst its members through the presentation of peer-reviewed research, as well as conducting official business of the society. Since 1928, the LSA has offered training to linguists through courses held at its biennial Linguistic Institutes held in the summer. The LSA and its 3,600 members work to raise awareness of linguistic issues with the public and contribute to policy debates on issues including bilingual education and the preservation of endangered languages. History The Linguistic Society of America (LSA) was founded on 28 December 1924, when about 75 linguists ...
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Somali Language
Somali (Latin script: ; Wadaad writing, Wadaad: ; Osmanya: 𐒖𐒍 𐒈𐒝𐒑𐒛𐒐𐒘 ) is an Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language belonging to the Cushitic languages, Cushitic branch. It is spoken as a mother tongue by Somalis in Greater Somalia and the Somali diaspora. Somali is an official language in Somalia and Ethiopia, and a national language in Djibouti as well as in northeastern Kenya. The Somali language is written officially with the Somali Latin alphabet, Latin alphabet although the Arabic alphabet and several Somali scripts like Osmanya script, Osmanya, Kaddare script, Kaddare and the Gadabuursi Somali Script, Borama script are informally used.Lewis, I.M. (1958)The Gadabuursi Somali Script ''Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies'', University of London, Vol. 21, pp. 134–156. Classification Somali is classified within the Cushitic branch of the Afroasiatic family, specifically, Lowland East Cushitic languages, Lowland East Cushitic in ...
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Vetenskapsradet
The Swedish Research Council ( sv, Vetenskapsrådet) is a Government agency in Sweden established in 2001, with the responsibility to support and develop basic scientific research. Its objective is for Sweden to be a leading nation in scientific research. The agency has three main functions: *To distribute government funding for basic research *To advise the government on issues related to scientific research *To communicate science and scientific research to the general public See also * Open access in Sweden References External linksSwedish Research Council- Official site Research Council Research funding is a term generally covering any funding for scientific research, in the areas of natural science, technology, and social science. Different methods can be used to disburse funding, but the term often connotes funding obtained thr ... Government research Research and development in Sweden Research councils Research funding agencies {{Sweden-gov-stub ...
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Leiden University
Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; nl, Universiteit Leiden) is a Public university, public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. The university was founded as a Protestant university in 1575 by William the Silent, William, Prince of Orange, as a reward to the city of Leiden for its Siege of Leiden, defence against Spanish attacks during the Eighty Years' War. As the oldest institution of higher education in the Netherlands, it enjoys a reputation across Europe and the world. Known for its historic foundations and emphasis on the social sciences, the university came into particular prominence during the Dutch Golden Age, when scholars from around Europe were attracted to the Dutch Republic due to its climate of intellectual tolerance and Leiden's international reputation. During this time, Leiden became the home to individuals such as René Descartes, Rembrandt, Christiaan Huygens, Hugo Grotius, Baruch Spinoza and Baron d'Holbach. The university has seven academic f ...
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Annie Rialland
Annie Rialland (born March 17, 1948 in Jans, near Nantes, France) is a French linguist who is Director of Research emerita of the CNRS Laboratory of Phonetics and Phonology (Paris). Her main domains of expertise are phonetics, phonology, prosody, and African languages. Education and research In 1978 Rialland defended her doctoral thesis, “Une langue à tons en terrasses, le gulmancema" at the University of Paris 5. In 1988 she defended her thèse d’état, “Systèmes prosodiques africains ou fondements empiriques pour un modèle multilinéaire," at the University of Nice. From the beginning, her scientific approach combined phonetic and phonological perspectives (autosegmental phonology, in particular). Over the years, her work investigated a broad range of languages, mainly African (from various language families: Gur, Mandé, Atlantic, Bantu), but also French and the whistled language of La Gomera. She has also supervised doctoral theses on the phonetics and pho ...
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Chewa Language
Chewa (also known as Nyanja, ) is a Bantu language spoken in much of Southern, Southeast and East Africa, namely the countries of Malawi , where it is an official language, and Mozambique and Zambia. The noun class prefix ''chi-'' is used for languages, so the language is usually called and (spelled in Portuguese). In Malawi, the name was officially changed from Chinyanja to Chichewa in 1968 at the insistence of President Hastings Kamuzu Banda (himself of the Chewa people), and this is still the name most commonly used in Malawi today. In Zambia, the language is generally known as Nyanja or '(language) of the lake' (referring to Lake Malawi). Chewa belongs to the same language group ( Guthrie Zone N) as Tumbuka, Sena and Nsenga. Distribution Chewa is the most widely known language of Malawi, spoken mostly in the Central and Southern Regions of that country. "It is also one of the seven official African languages of Zambia, where it is spoken mostly in the Eastern P ...
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Al Mtenje
Alfred (“Al”) D. Mtenje (born 17 September 1953 in Ntcheu district, Malawi) is a professor of Linguistics at the University of Malawi. He is known for his work on the prosody of Malawian Bantu languages, as well as for his work in support of language policies promoting the native languages of Malawi. Education and career Mtenje completed his M.A. in 1980 at Southern Illinois University with a thesis titled ''Aspects of Chichewa derivational phonology and syllable structure''. He went on to obtain his PhD in linguistics in 1986 at the University College London. His PhD thesis, which was supervised by Neil Smith, was titled ''Issues in the Non-linear Phonology of Chichewa''. Mtenje joined the University of Malawi as a Lecturer in 1980 and rose to the rank of a Full Professor of African languages and Linguistics in 2000. Mtenje has held a number of administrative positions in the University of Malawi, including: Director of the Consultancy Bureau (2009-2012); Pro Vice-Chancell ...
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Malawi
Malawi (; or aláwi Tumbuka: ''Malaŵi''), officially the Republic of Malawi, is a landlocked country in Southeastern Africa that was formerly known as Nyasaland. It is bordered by Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the north and northeast, and Mozambique to the east, south and southwest. Malawi spans over and has an estimated population of 19,431,566 (as of January 2021). Malawi's capital (and largest city) is Lilongwe. Its second-largest is Blantyre, its third-largest is Mzuzu and its fourth-largest is its former capital, Zomba. The name ''Malawi'' comes from the Maravi, an old name for the Chewa people who inhabit the area. The country is nicknamed "The Warm Heart of Africa" because of the friendliness of its people. The part of Africa now known as Malawi was settled around the 10th century by migrating Bantu groups . Centuries later, in 1891, the area was colonised by the British and became a protectorate of the United Kingdom known as Nyasaland. In 1953, it became ...
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Field Research
Field research, field studies, or fieldwork is the collection of raw data outside a laboratory, library, or workplace setting. The approaches and methods used in field research vary across disciplines. For example, biologists who conduct field research may simply observe animals interacting with their environments, whereas social scientists conducting field research may interview or observe people in their natural environments to learn their languages, folklore, and social structures. Field research involves a range of well-defined, although variable, methods: informal interviews, direct observation, participation in the life of the group, collective discussions, analyses of personal documents produced within the group, self-analysis, results from activities undertaken off- or on-line, and life-histories. Although the method generally is characterized as qualitative research, it may (and often does) include quantitative dimensions. History Field research has a long history. ...
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