Seth Cable writes:
Happy New Year! And, with a new year comes a new session of UMAFLAB (the UMass Funny Languages Breakfast)!
What is UMAFLAB, you might ask? Well, the purpose of UMAFLAB is to bring together individuals with a shared interest in puzzling linguistic data, optimally (but not necessarily) from understudied or minority languages.
*Presentations are always informal*. We are *not* looking for polished work or practice talks (though those are welcome). Rather, participants are free to present any puzzles they like. They needn't have any analysis in mind; indeed, part of the fun of the group is hearing other people's thoughts on some difficult problem.
Thus, if all you have is an interesting pattern worth 'boggling at', that's perfect for our group (particularly if it's from an otherwise not-very-much-talked-about language or variety). For example, a run down of all the crazy data obtained during some recent field work (or experimental work, or whatever) would be quite ideal.
As the name suggests, our meetings are typically in the morning, with some breakfast item served. However, the schedule is always flexible, if it turns out that most people can't make it in the morning.
So, if you'd at all be interested in being part of such an endeavor, please let me know! I'd like to begin scheduling soon our first organizational meeting of the semester, so if you could also let me know what days/times would work out best for you, that would greatly appreciated!
