Corrigendum—Teaching, a Toad, and the Perils of Linear Precedence—Gobemouche Zounderkite, Ph.D. SpecGram Vol CLXXX, No 2 Contents

The Logic of Teaching Linguistics

Ulfheðnar ber Sarkur

Universally acclaimed, R.I.C.E.* is an intergalactic university that prides itself on its diversity of students, faculty, and curriculum. In the Linguistics department, there are six professors teaching introductory courses this semester: ELIZA, a female artificial intelligence; Fryggyn’, a female mythical being; HAL, a male artificial intelligence; Slagathor, a female human; Θωθ, a male mythical being; and 与乙凡十巨尺, a male human. The courses they teach are Phonetics, Phonology, Morphology, Syntax, Xeno Ling, and Comp Ling, with each professor teaching one course.

The top six linguistics undergrads are taking all six linguistics classes. The students are 01011000, a genderless artificial intelligence; Holger, a male human; Ooòoóooōoȍ, a male cetacean; Waaaããã, a female yeti; Zoë-Chloë, a female human; and ʘ̥̊ᴲβʁᴂŋ, a genderless alien being. Each professor has a favorite student among the top six, and a least favorite among the top six. All students like the class in which they are the favorite. Each student also has a favorite part of speech, one each of: adverbs, ideophones, nouns, prepositions, pronouns, and postpositions. Each student finds one of the following phonemes difficult to pronounce: s’, ǁ, ɴ̥, n, ʛ, or ʁ.

Using the information provided belowand your own vast knowledge of linguisticsyou should be able to deduce for each professor what class they teach, who their most favorite and least favorite students are, their favorite students’ favorite parts of speech, and each favorite student’s most troublesome phoneme. The chart below the clues may help you work out the answers; in the chart, indicates a most favorite student and indicates a least favorite student.

Send your solution to the editors of SpecGram by December 15th, 2017 and you could win a prize. The correct solution and winners, if any, will be announced in the January issue.


The correct order for the rules in last issue’s puzzle, The Phonology Test, is: P, H, O, N, T, E, I, C. Each of the puzzlemeisters below will receive some moderately desirable SpecGram merch:

Bethany AnnalHarrison ChudleighRory Turnbull

In addition, the following puzzlers have achieved the everlasting glory that comes with an honorable mention:

Brennan LongVincent FishMax Bonke



* R.I.C.E. is a recursive acronym that stands for “R.I.C.E. Intergalactic College of Excellence”.

CorrigendumTeaching, a Toad, and the Perils of Linear PrecedenceGobemouche Zounderkite, Ph.D.
SpecGram Vol CLXXX, No 2 Contents