Purdue Linguistics Association: About Our Members

Officers

President: Sunny Park

Nickname: Sun, Sunshine, SP. And my Korean name is actually Sung-Kyung.
Classification: Linguistics
E-mail: skpark@purdue.edu
Links: http://sunnyfood.blogspot.com
Where have you lived in your life? Seoul, Korea; Troy, MI; Ann Arbor, MI; Salamanca, Spain (limited amount of time)
Where else have you gone to college/university? University of Michigan
What were your majors for previous degrees? B.A., Linguistics and Spanish
What is/are your native language(s)? Korean... and English soon after
What other languages have you studied? Spanish, Latin, Italian
What are your current "actual" research interests/projects? Bilingual syntax acquisition
What other aspects of linguistics would you be interested in knowing more about? Discourse analysis, ASL phonology/syntax
What else do you wish you could have studied in school? Biology, Chemistry, Vocal performance, Music composition, Theatre
If you weren't a linguist, what other careers would you consider? Broadway actress, Singer/songwriter, Biologist, Professional chef with my own show on the Food Network
Hobbies: Writing, Singing, Arranging music, Knitting, Cooking, Jogging with my dog Coda
Favourite book(s): The Giver
Favourite movie(s): Can we not? This list would be ridiculous.
Any other fun, random facts you'd like to share?: When I first came to the U.S., I was at a birthday party and I said something like "That is a funny c[r]own" instead of c[l]own because I was still mixing my [l] and [r], and a mean first grader sneered and made fun of me and I cried. Now, if I ever run into that girl again, I can tell her a thing or two about phonemes and allophones. Then I'd beat her up.

Vice President: Alyson Eggleston

Nickname: Aly
Classification: Linguistics
Where have you lived in your life? Ohio, Indiana
Where else have you gone to college/university? Youngstown State University
What were your majors for previous degrees? B.A., English; M.A., English (TESOL and Composition pedagogy concentrations)
What is/are your native language(s)? English
What other languages have you studied? German, Spanish
What are your current "actual" research interests/projects? Space-to-time mappings, Temporal concepts, Constructionist approaches to syntax, Semantics of humor
What other aspects of linguistics would you be interested in knowing more about? The Piraha language, Cognitive linguistics
What else do you wish you could have studied in school? Music theory, Art, Automotive mechanics (!)
If you weren't a linguist, what other careers would you consider? Insurance sales, probably... or farming.
Hobbies: Writing, Singing, Cooking, Walking around
Favourite book(s): Angela's Ashes -- McCourt; Point Counter Point --Huxley; Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates -- Tom Robbins; Residence on Earth --Neruda
Favourite movie(s): High Fidelity, Clerks, Garden State, The Departed
Favourite music: Right now, I'm listening to Ryan Adams, Lucinda Williams, the Decemberists, and the Avett Brothers.
Favourite quote(s): The difference between a brave man and a coward is a coward thinks twice before jumping in the cage with a lion. The brave man doesn't know what a lion is. He just thinks he does. --Charles Bukowski

Webmaster: Ryan Hubble

Nicknames: Rynizzzle, Hubble Telescope
Classification: Linguistics Undergrad
E-mail: rhubble@purdue.edu
Where you have you lived in your life? Indiana
Where else have you gone to college/university? Nowhere (yet)
What is/are your native language(s)? English
What other languages have you studied? Spanish, German, Latin, Japanese, French
What aspects of linguistics interest you the most? Sociolinguistics, Dialectology (specifically how dialects vary syntactically), Historical Linguistics, Syntax
What else do you wish you could have studied in school? Gaelic, Basque, Microbiology, Astronomy, and Geology
If you weren't a linguist, what other careers would you consider? Epidemiologist or virologist
Hobbies: Listening to music, watching movies, going to concerts, hanging with good friends, and occasionally playing video games
Favourite book(s): Nature and art reference books
Favourite movie(s): Fight Club, Walk the Line, Sixteen Candles, Moulin Rouge!, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, A.I.: Artificial Intelligence, Silence of the Lambs, Gremlins, Thelma and Louise, Breakfast Club, Memoirs of a Geisha, El laberinto del fauno, E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, Sin City, V for Vendetta, and tons more.
Favourite music: All over the music spectrum. A few of my favorite bands and artists include: HorrorPops, Epoxies, April March, The Ramones, The Clash, Johnny Cash, The Phenomenauts, The Bouncing Souls, The Briggs, Social Distortion, and so many more.

Secretary: Whitney Vandiver

Name: Whitney Vandiver
Classification: Linguistics Ph.D.
Email: wvandive@purdue.edu
Where you have lived? Oklahoma and Indiana
Where else have you gone to college/university? Redlands Community College, University of Central Oklahoma, Purdue
What were your majors for previous degrees? English
What is/are your native language(s)? English
What other languages have you studied?: Spanish, German
What are your current "actual" research interests/projects?: semantics, ambiguity, context formation, spoken language comprehension
What other aspects of linguistics would you be interested in knowing more about?: syntax/semantics interface, cognitive aspects of language processing
What else do you wish you could have studied in school?: art history, Egyptology, Renaissance humanities
If you weren't a linguist, what other careers would you consider? art historian, humanities professor, guitarist
Hobbies: photography, painting, reading
Favorite book(s): Abundance: A Novel of Marie Antoinette by Naslund, Sweetness in the Belly by Camilla Gibb, all works by Jhumpa Lahiri, most works by Edith Wharton, and far too many others to list...
Favorite movie(s): French Kiss, Ever After, and You've Got Mail
Favorite music: Sarah McLachlan, Alanis Morissette, Pink, The Cranberries..

Treasurer: Katie Watson

Classification: M.A. student Linguistics (2nd year)
Email: klwatson@purdue.edu
Where you have lived? Indiana and Tennessee
Where else have you gone to college/university? Union University, Jackson, Tennessee
What were your majors for previous degrees? B.A. Teaching English as a Second Language
What is/are your native language(s)? English
What other languages have you studied?: Spanish and American Sign Language
What are your current "actual" research interests/projects?: American Sign Language linguistic structure
What other aspects of linguistics would you be interested in knowing more about?: Neuro-processing, Music and Language
If you weren't a linguist, what other careers would you consider? Interior Decorating
Hobbies: Reading, Piano, Cooking, Photography

Students

Engin Arik

Classification: Linguistics
E-mail: earik@purdue.edu, arikengin@hotmail.com
Links: http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~earik, http://www.cla.purdue.edu/linguistics/directory/?personid=225
Where have you lived in your life? Istanbul; Amsterdam; West Lafayette
Where else have you gone to college/university? Koc University, Istanbul; University of Amsterdam
What were your majors for previous degrees? B.A., Psychology; M.A., Linguistics
What is/are your native language(s)? Turkish
What other languages have you studied? Turkish Sign Language, Russian, Uzbek, Tigrinya, Croatian Sign Language
What are your current "actual" research interests/projects? Representations of Space and Time
What other aspects of linguistics would you be interested in knowing more about? Historical linguistics
What else do you wish you could have studied in school? Nanotechnology
If you weren't a linguist, what other careers would you consider? Psychologist
Favourite book(s): The Lord of the Rings
Favourite movie(s): Love Actually
Favourite music: Pink Floyd

Michael H. Covarrubias

Nicknames: Mike, Cove, Cee, Sweetie (but just from my wife)
Classification: English Language and Linguistics
E-mail: mcovarru@purdue.edu
Links: http://wishydig.blogspot.com, http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~mcovarru, http://www.myspace.com/wishydig
Where have you lived in your life? Maryland; Michigan; Ohio; North Dakota; Nebraska; Indiana
Where else have you gone to college/university? University of Michigan; Andrews University
What were your majors for previous degrees? A.B., English; M.A., English literature
What is/are your native language(s)? English (Spanish)
What other languages have you studied? Old English, 2 chapters of Latin, and Horse Latin (known by some as "ibespeak")
What are your current "actual" research interests/projects? Prescriptivism on feature recurrence, generation, and deep structure
What other aspects of linguistics would you be interested in knowing more about? How to make money and influence people by just talking. OR North American aboriginal languages.
What else do you wish you could have studied in school? Music, Photography, Sculpture, Psychology, Medicine, Computers
If you weren't a linguist, what other careers would you consider? See above. Anything but sales.
Favourite book(s): A River Runs Through It
Favourite movie(s): Punch Drunk Love, Il Postino, Avalon
Favourite music: Folk, Classical, and Tenacious D
Favourite quote(s): But what we must have are those books which come upon us like ill-fortune, and distress us deeply, like the death of one we love better than ourselves, like suicide. --Franz Kafka
Any other fun, random facts you'd like to share? I don't like commas.

Denise Knee

Classification: Spanish
E-mail: dknee@purdue.edu
Where have you lived in your life? I grew up in Olathe, KS; Went to undergrad in Bourbonnais, IL; Taught high school Spanish for a year in Coal City, IL; And now I'm here
Where else have you gone to college/university? Olivet Nazarene University
What were your majors for previous degrees? B.A., Spanish education
What is/are your native language(s)? English
What other languages have you studied? Spanish
Hobbies: Reading for fun
Favourite book(s): Enrique's Journey; Blue Like Jazz; Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series
Favourite movie(s): Too many to list
Favourite music: Juanes and anything country
Favourite quote(s): Sometimes you have to watch somebody love something before you can love it yourself. -- Donald Miller (from Blue Like Jazz)
Happiness isn't something that depends on our surroundings. It's something we make inside ourselves. --Corrie ten Boom (from The Hiding Place)

Maria Kondaurova

Classification: Linguistics
E-mail: mkondaur@purdue.edu
Where have you lived in your life? Russia; Great Britain; France; Spain; USA; Germany
Where else have you gone to college/university? Moscow State Linguistic University; University of Wyoming; Ohio State University
What were your majors for previous degrees? Bachelor in Linguistics; Bachelor in Economics; M.A. in Linguistics
What is/are your native language(s)? Russian
What other languages have you studied? English, French
What are your current "actual" research interests/projects? Acoustic phonetics, Second language acquisition
What other aspects of linguistics would you be interested in knowing more about? Psycholinguistics
What else do you wish you could have studied in school? Computer programming
If you weren't a linguist, what other careers would you consider? Anything related to international education
Favourite book(s): Anything by Chekhov, Sholohov, Akunin
Favourite movie(s): Any movie by directors L. Gaidai, E. Ryazanov, N. Michalkov
Favourite music: Russian rock music, Italian music (Cutugno, Chelentano)

Elizabeth Strong

Nickname: Penguin
Classification: Linguistics
E-mail: estrong@purdue.edu
Link: http://www.geocities.com/elizabethastrong, http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~estrong, http://quaintlittlehead.blogspot.com
Where have you lived in your life? Austin, TX; Plano, TX; Richardson, TX; Lafayette, IN
Where else have you gone to college/university? University of Texas at Austin
What were your majors for previous degrees? B.A., French/German/Japanese; M.A., French linguistics
What is/are your native language(s)? English
What other languages have you studied? French, German, Japanese, Swedish, Irish Gaelic, American Sign Language
What are your current "actual" research interests/projects? Conversation analysis, Sociolinguistics
What other aspects of linguistics would you be interested in knowing more about? English dialectology, History of English, Celtic linguistics, Canadian French, Phonology, Language acquisition
What else do you wish you could have studied in school? Comparative religion, English literature, Russian literature, British studies, Irish studies, Canadian studies, Music composition
If you weren't a linguist, what other careers would you consider? Singing, Writing, Editing/Publishing, Speech-Language Pathology, Running a home interiors store
Hobbies: Singing, Reading
Favourite book(s): Crime and Punishment
Favourite movie(s): Monty Python and the Holy Grail, My Fair Lady
Favourite music: Classic/progressive rock (Genesis)
Favourite quote(s): The voice of conscience is the voice of God. --Leo Tolstoy
I don't know how much you know about Europe, but let's just say, part of it is in France. --Thomas Lennon
Any other fun, random facts you'd like to share? I was a music education major my freshman year, but obviously I quit.

Heng Xu

Nickname: Sophia
Classification: Communication
E-mail: xuh@purdue.edu
Links: Find me on MSN or Facebook
Where have you lived in your life? Different parts of China, the US
Where else have you gone to college/university? Nanjing, China
What were your majors for previous degrees? International business
What is/are your native language(s)? Chinese
What other languages have you studied? English, Japanese
What are your current "actual" research interests/projects? A systematic approach for effective crisis management based on the corporate communication model; E-government and risk communication in China; Integration about research and practice in health communication field, etc.
What other aspects of linguistics would you be interested in knowing more about? Stories/background information about the idioms and... the "current" language by young population.
What else do you wish you could have studied in school? Engineering, Two more languages
If you weren't a linguist, what other careers would you consider? Being an artist. To observe, write, paint, perform, and travel.
Hobbies: A lot! I am born to be curious and it�s so easy to get me interested!
Favourite book(s): Novels and beauty magazines
Favourite movie(s): Recently "Happy Feet"
Favourite music: Recently jazz
Favourite quote(s): Angels fly high because they take themselves lightly.
Any other fun, random facts you'd like to share? Baked cookies for my friends... but truly, they are as hard as stone.

Faculty

Diane Brentari

Classification: Professor, Linguistics Program and Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences
E-mail: brentari@purdue.edu
Links: http://www.cla.purdue.edu/slhs/pages/fac_staff/faculty/brentari.html
Where have you lived in your life? Chicago, IL; Florence, Italy; Berlin, Germany; Davis, CA; Pennsylvania (various towns and cities)
Where else have you gone to college/university? University of Chicago; George Washington University; Penn State University
What is/are your native language(s)? English
What other languages have you studied? American Sign Language, Italian Sign Language, Italian, French, German
What are your current "actual" research interests/projects? Sign language phonology and morphology
What other aspects of linguistics would you be interested in knowing more about? Syntax
What else do you wish you could have studied in school? Computer programming, Neuroscience, Medicine
If you weren't a linguist, what other careers would you consider? Art Historian, Jockey, Chef
Hobbies: Art, Film, Cooking, Reading, Sewing
Favourite book(s): Man Without Qualities --Robert Musil
Favourite movie(s): The Conformist, Una Giornata Particolore, Silence of the Lambs
Favourite music: Beatles, Caetano Veloso, Vivaldi, Miles Davis
Favourite quote(s): The unexamined life is not worth living. --Socrates
Success is 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration. --Thomas Edison
You can get a lot done if you don't mind looking like a fool. --Neil Shulman

Alexander L. Francis

Nickname: Alex
Classification: Assistant Professor, Linguistics Program and Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences
E-mail: francisa@purdue.edu
Links: http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~francisa/
Where have you lived in your life? Urbana, IL; Chicago, IL; Los Alamos, NM; Wiesbaden, Germany; Munich, Germany; Hong Kong (SAR), China
Where else have you gone to college/university? University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; University of Chicago; Ludwig-Maximillian's University, Munich; University of Hong Kong (postdoc)
What were your majors for previous degrees? B.A., Linguistics; M.A., Linguistics; Ph.D., Linguistics and Psychology (Dual Ph.D.)
What is/are your native language(s)? English
What other languages have you studied? German, Russian, Hungarian, Georgian, Cantonese
What are your current "actual" research interests/projects? The role of attention in speech perception; Perceptual learning of speech and non-speech sounds
What other aspects of linguistics would you be interested in knowing more about? Typology
What else do you wish you could have studied in school? More statistics, More neuropsychology, Computer science, Neuroscience, Sociobiology
If you weren't a linguist, what other careers would you consider? Entomologist, Linux systems administrator, Personal trainer to the stars
Hobbies: Running, Biking, Swimming, Gardening, Cooking, Reading
Favourite book(s): Alice in Wonderland/Through the Looking Glass --Lewis Carroll; Johnny Got His Gun --Trumbo; The Moon is Down --Steinbeck; Heart of a Dog --Bulgakov; Anything by William Gibson, John le Carré, or Cordwainer Smith
Favourite movie(s): Wizards, The Usual Suspects, Blade Runner
Favourite music: Pink Floyd, Bauhaus, Lucinda Williams, Michelle Shocked
Favourite quote(s): Freiheit ist immer Freiheit der Andersdenkenden. --Rosa Luxemburg
I decline utterly to be impartial as between the fire brigade and the fire. --Winston Churchill
The will to win is not nearly as important as the will to prepare. --Juma Ikangaa
In this place it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. --Lewis Carroll (The Red Queen, to Alice)
Any other fun, random facts you'd like to share? Academia runs in my family: There are 5 other professors or retired professors in my family, and both of my grandfathers were also professors.

Elaine Francis

Classification: Assistant Professor, Linguistics Program and Department of English
Links: http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~ejfranci/ejfrancis.htm
Where have you lived in your life? Chattanooga, TN; Wytheville, VA; Williamsburg, VA; Chicago, IL; Cape Town, South Africa; Hong Kong, China; West Lafayette, IN
Where else have you gone to college/university? B.A., College of William and Mary; M.A., Ph.D., University of Chicago
What were your majors for previous degrees? Linguistics major, psychology minor at William and Mary
What is/are your native language(s)? English
What other languages have you studied? French, Spanish, Georgian, German, Cantonese
What are your current "actual" research interests/projects? Syntax, Semantics, Language processing, Grammatical categories, Autolexical grammar and related parallel-architecture theories, Cantonese, Form and function in linguistic theory
What other aspects of linguistics would you be interested in knowing more about? Language acquisition, Neurolinguistics, Language typology, Prosody, Discourse
What else do you wish you could have studied in school? More languages, More math and statistics, More biology
If you weren't a linguist, what other careers would you consider? Clinical psychology, Medicine, Speech and language pathology, Computer software development
Hobbies: Spending time with my family and friends, Interesting food, Travel, Softball, Tennis
Favourite book(s): Memoirs of interesting people; Humorous essays
Favourite movie(s): Comedy/satire (Amélie, Best in Show, What About Bob?)

Would you like to be added? E-mail your information to Ryan Hubble at rhubble@purdue.edu.

Created by Elizabeth Strong Last updated: Saturday, 20 August 2011, 17:43:53 EDT