This winter break, a bunch of us MIT linguists (namely, Faith Baca, Peter Grishin, Cora Lesure, Elise Newman, Norvin Richards, and Giovanni Roversi) spent a couple of weeks up in Maine, doing work with Passamaquoddy elders and meeting with language teachers and learners. We learned a lot (about the typology of clausal embedding, the allomorphs of the negative morpheme, conditions on obviative marking into embedded clauses, and the morphological signature of long-distance wh-extraction, among many other things), and we’re eager to go back. If you are a student who’s interested in getting some experience in the field, the Passamaquoddy group is always looking for new members! You can contact any of us for details, especially Norvin (norvin@mit.edu), or Peter (grishin@mit.edu).
(Photo credits to Elise Newman and Giovanni Roversi)