Research That Counts—Gnoo Merrill & Kwan T. Ti SpecGram Vol CLXXIX, No 1 Contents Review of New Approaches to Hedging—Ronald Rona-Ramalita

New Children’s Programming from SpecGram TV

Are you worried that the current crop of kids’ TV is leading your progeny towards building, engineering, and driving trains? Are you concerned that there are not enough shows about the wonderful world of data collection? In our latest season, SpecGram TV has just what you have been looking for. Here are some of our newest titles.

The Acoustic CompanyIn this show, a variety of fun sketch comedy acts are used to teach young listeners how to read spectrographs in a fun, low-pressure environment.

Bill Eye the Dialect GuyBill I., bowtie-wearing dialectologist, explores the sociolinguistics of prestige and prescriptivism, and the effects of the dominance of standard varieties of language on less formal (but no less intelligent!) speakers.

Captain CranberryrooJoin the Captain as he leads kids in discovering that cran and roo represent a rare type of morpheme which has limited combinatorial possibilities.

Clifford the Young Red Big Excitable DogThe gigantic dog Clifford and his owner, M.L.E. Elizabeth, explore the royal order of adjectives and try to learn the right order for all the descriptors people want to ascribe to Clifford.

Clipper the DogClipper and his friendsTig, Jaʔ, Arn, and Pig Latinhave slightly exciting adventures at the gym, at the pub, on the phone, and in the fridge, all while wearing their jammies.

Dora the EtymologerKids will love helping Dora uncover etymologies and prevent the nefarious “Swiper” from exporting vocabulary. Say it along with Dora: “Swiper, no borrowing!”

Fred the Funding EngineThrill as Fred carries an entire department on his shoulders every time there is an evaluation.

The Linguistic School BusIn each episode, Ms. Piffle takes her undergraduate class on a magical adventure in her fantastical school bus, and they learn about languages, linguists, and lexicography.

Many-2-1 ContactTeen hosts help teach fieldwork principles and their applications with engaging and rarely fatal attempts to make first contact with lost tribes in South America, Central Africa, and New Guineathough sometimes diseases decimate the indigenous peoples, and sometimes the North Sentinel Islanders get off a good shot.

Mister Rogers’ Phonological NeighborhoodMr. Rogers and friends explore similar sounding wordslodgers, ragers, rockers, raj’s, rogeredand discover how they affect Mr. Roger’s mental representation of his own name.

The Ought to NotsThese brave fellows save endangered parts of speech in every episode, from the English adverb to the word whom.

Sam the SyntacticianCan he parse it? Yes, he can!

Says Me, Straight!So many different ways of saying things! Andeverysingleoneofthemisright!

Sibilant StreetJoin the Sibilant Street squad as they sing, sweep the street, and substitute sibilants for other sounds.

SmuggingtonWhen W, the department chair, tries to train these naughty critters, they always find conferences to attend. But how long can they keep it up?

Veggie TracesIn this dinner-table show, picky young eaters inspect their dinner plates and discover where objectionable vegetables may once have been. Nothing gets by these budding young analystseven if it’s totally invisible.

The Very TubbiesIf your children don’t know what a diet of ramen and buffet food do to a researcher’s waistline, this adorable show will teach them.

Where in the Word is Carmen Sandiego?This fun and exciting game show features pre-teen “newbie philologists” answering linguistic questions to uncover clues that lead them to discover the layer of linguistic abstraction in which the criminal philologist Carmen Sandiego is hiding.

All this and more from SpecGram TVEdutainment from a field that can hardly spell the word. (But we can tell you about its etymology.)

Research That CountsGnoo Merrill & Kwan T. Ti
Review of New Approaches to HedgingRonald Rona-Ramalita
SpecGram Vol CLXXIX, No 1 Contents