Free download “A Grammar of Modern Indo-European”

Most of us have heard of Proto-Indo-European (PIE), the focus of all Historical Linguistics undergraduate courses, but what about its modern sibling? Modern Indo-European is an international auxiliary language, much like Interlingua or Ido, that was constructed by two students at Extremadura University, Carlos Quiles and María Teresa Batalla. What sets this particular conlang apart is that it is based solely on reconstructed PIE, giving us a unique look at how the language would be used in a modern setting.

The main site for MIE, Dnghu.org gives a comprehensive overview of the language and its international “revival” effort. That particular word is used because, of course, PIE is considered to have ‘died’ out thousands of years ago. Their main goal, while lofty, is admirable—they hope to facilitate “the adoption of Modern Indo-European by the European Union as its main official language”. Not just one of its official languages, the official language. Although Esperanto, the internationally recognized success story of conlangs, has failed to gain such a status even with its purported upwards of 2 million fluent speakers, MIE does have a significant advantage in that it wasn’t just kludged from a random assortment of living languages, it was assembled from the very history of the languages that we all speak in a way that couple produce very little, if any unnatural bias (one of Esperanto’s failures was its inaccessibility to East Asian languages, African languages, etc.); that is, it doesn’t claim to be any more than a language reconstruction of PIE languages, while Esperanto tries to be but can never be truly “international”.

Quiles and Batalla have put out a massive, 800-page grammar to the Modern Indo-European language, that has sold 45 copies within the first month of release, spectacular for such an esoteric subject and even more so for a book that is readily available for free. You can find a PDF download of it at the following link: http://dnghu.org/en/Grammar-Indo-European-Language/

Fall Week 8 GM: Infant Perception

We would like to invite you all to the fourth Fall Quarter meeting of the Bruin Linguists!

This is the last General Meeting of the quarter, so be sure to make it out this time!

Our Speaker: Kristi Hendrickson
Topic: Studying Infant Perception

Kristi is a research coordinator at the Language Acquisition Lab here at UCLA and has previously worked at UC Davis with mentally challenged children. She will be discussing some of the methodologies for testing infants’ speech and visual perception.

When: Wednesday, November 18th, 6pm
Where: Campbell Hall 2122 (Second floor conference room)
Social activity: More BLing T-Shirts!
There were great ideas for this year’s BLing club t-shirts at our last meeting, so come by and tell us what you think about them! We are still taking submissions for designs, so if you couldn’t come to the last meeting, come share your ideas!

Fall Week 6 GM: Study Abroad

We would like to invite you all to the third Fall Quarter meeting of the Bruin Linguists (a.k.a BLing)!

Our Speakers: BLing Officers!
Topic: Studying Abroad

Ever thought about studying abroad?  Currently working on an application?  Don’t know where to look for financial aid?  We will be discussing some of the different study abroad programs and the different resources you can access for scholarships, financial aid, and general tips.  Some of the BLing officers will also be sharing their own study abroad experiences and providing random tips about their program.

When: Wednesday, November 4th
Where: Campbell Hall 2122 (Second floor conference room)
What to expect: Exciting study abroad stories, uber fun social activity, food and drinks, chatting with fellow BLingers, and FUN.

Social activity: T-shirt design.  Lend some of your artistic talents into the making of BLing’s t-shirt for 09-10.  Even if you can’t exactly manage “art” beyond stick figures and a happy face, we would still love for everyone to contribute or just doodle with us.

Fall Week 4 GM: Info on Grad School

We would like to invite you all to the second Fall Quarter meeting of the Bruin Linguists (a.k.a BLing)! For those of you who don’t know us, The Society of Bruin Linguists is a group formed with the intent of providing members with the opportunity to meet and socialize with other ling students, to hear about the research of professors in UCLA’s own department and beyond, and to keep up to date on research opportunities and resources in the department.

Our Speaker: Anoop Mahajan
Topic: Graduate School admissions

Anoop Mahajan is the Chair of the Linguistics Department as well as a professor of syntax. He has taught both graduate and undergraduate classes. If anyone will know about how to get into grad school, it’s him.

When: Wednesday, October 21st, 6-8pm (Tomorrow)
Where: Campbell Hall 2122 (Second floor conference room)
What to expect: A brief social activity, an excellent talk on grad school applications and admissions, food and drink, a chance to talk to your fellow Blingers, and a post-meeting study session. And also FUN.
Social activity: IPA hangman (A BLing favorite!)