Summer office hours

My office hours for the summer of 2012, effective immediately.

Tuesday, 12.00-13.00, 209b


Thursday, 12.00-13.00, 209b

Or by appointment (by email).


Please note I might be a few minutes late sometimes but will always stay until 13.00 (or a full 60 minutes from when I arrive, whichever comes last).

Signatures, points, exams, everything

Okay here are the rules for signatures etc.

Per semester, if you have

- four or fewer absences in a semester then you can get a signature for the minimum number of points.

-  five to seven absences then you have to write one essay.

-  eight or more absences then you have to write two essays.

exam (and signature for one semester) = 2 essays

exam (and signature for two semesters) = 3 essays

Essay topics are by student choice but no student can do more than one essay from a given subject area (unless one has already been done in each subject area.

Alternately a student may do a longer essay on a topic of their own choosing (but related to the subject area of the class, get the subject approved ahead of time).

The essays may be written in English or another language that the instructor understands.

Essay questions: An essay should be between one and two pages in length (1 page = 1800 characters with spaces). The general distribution of ideas should be:

Between one third and one half: Summarize what we have done in class and/or the readings (in your own words).

Between one half and two thirds: Your own opinion and/or ideas. You are allowed to be very speculative here and propose theories of your own. Originality is favorably looked upon.

Other topics may be added up until June 1, 2012.

The actual topics are below the jump (click where it says 'czytaj więcej')

Webography 1.0

Below the jump (click where it says 'czytaj więcej') you'll find the first version of the comprehensive webography of materials. If any links are dead then please let me know

Some more materials may be added, keep watching this space.

First notes on metaphors

Here are first notes on metaphors.

I very much welcome any input on the Polish systemic metaphors that you might have.

Future tense and savings

Here is a link to the article on future tense and future oriented behavior by M. Keith Chen.

Update: Wednesday cancelled, Thursday still on

Update: I'm not feeling very good so I'm cancelling tomorrow's office hours. I am currently still planning on being there Thursday.

Sorry for any inconvenience.

Office hours for the week February 6-10, 2012

My office hours for this week are:

Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday (3 days!)

12.00-13.30 209b (times slightly approximate)

If I'm not in 209b then I'll leave a note on the door about where I am.

Office hours for the week January 30 - Feb 3, 2012

My office hours for this week are:

Wednesday February 1,

17.00-18.00 209b

Thursday February 2

12.00-13.30 209b

If I'm not in 209b then I'm somehwere around the institute and will leave a note on the door of 209b.

Getting a signature

 First, for more info on toki pona, see this site.

Okay here are the rules for signatures etc.

If you have four or fewer absences (through 12.01.26) :

zaliczenie – basic number of points = nothing more

extra 2 points = one essay

exam = 2 essays

If you have five or more absences add one essay to each of the above.

Essays are by student choice but no student can do more than one essay from a subject area.

Essay topics are found below the jump

If you want some materials on Laadan (which I've spoken about in class) then look:


here and here for some information how and why it was created


here for some basic structural information.


More information on the language can be found here.

Here is some basic information on lojban, with more information here.

You can find lots of info on Loglan here.

Grammatical and Cultural Themes (notes)

Here are notes on grammatical and cultural themes.