Endorsements for REDPILL

In everyone’s life there are periods that pass without leaving much of a trace, beyond adding one or more years to one’s age.  There are also periods that one does not fail to remember: some, with pleasure; some, alas, with pain.  Among the most pleasant periods in my memory is the early part of the 1980’s.  This was the period when Mohanan was writing his PhD dissertation in our department, and as I was one of his advisors, he and I were then in constant contact.  The best part of this period in my memory were the discussions we had concerning the segmental phonology of English, especially our discussions of the vowel alternations in the strong verbs, that we reported in a joint paper in Linguistic Inquiry 16 (1985).  Although this paper has not been much quoted in the subsequent literature (not even by its authors) I believe that its main topic –  the phonological alternations that a morpheme undergoes in different morphological contexts – is key to an understanding of the knowledge that speakers have of the sound structure of their language.  I am confident that the detailed study of phonological alternations will soon attract more attention than it has in recent years and that the discoveries in this domain will be the basis for further advances in our discipline.  But even if my prognostication does not come true and phonological alternations do not become the central topic in phonology, I shall always be grateful to Mohanan for our many discussions, and I hope that in his life – both past and future – there are many more happy periods like the one that preceded the publication of our joint paper.

The volume is an excellent sampling of linguisitic research at the cutting edge and a fitting tribute to Mohanan, whose work has helped shape the current face of our discipline.

Morris Halle

Institute Professor and Professor of Linguistics (Emeritus), MIT
Author of The Sound Pattern of English

Like its honoree, Reality Exploration and Discovery: Pattern Interaction in Language and Life, edited lovingly and meticulously by Linda Uyechi and Lian-Hee Wee, sparkles like a many faceted diamond. The articles, many by young scholars, others by long recognized leaders in the field of linguistics, parallel the scope of K.P. Mohanan’s own interests from pedagogy to phonology, from morphology to music from syntax to sound. Mohanan has had an influence on the field that belies his modest and self-effacing demeanor. The articles in this collection bespeak that influence as each, in its own creative way, says thank you.

Samuel Jay Keyser

Peter de Florez Emeritus Professor, MIT
Editor of Linguistic Inquiry

The chance that you have to read this book, dear browser, is an invitation to sit and participate in a long dinner that never was, at least not in space and in time, a dinner that would have lasted till dawn the next day, where friends and colleagues of K. P. Mohanan would have shared their thoughts about how his tireless explorations inspired and recharged their own spirits. Chances are you have not met Mohanan: then you should read this book. Please browse through it, and see how his stewardship of ideas (some rooted in linguistics, like contrast, and others seeking an audience with linguists, like complex adaptive system) has energized and informed linguists around him over a distinguished career across two continents. Perhaps the greatest conundrum in linguistics (as in other sciences) is how it can be that real progress is made when no achievement is ever safely protected from the criticisms of later challenges. Each paper in this book, in its way, addresses this question, with creativity and with optimism, and one cannot put it down without gaining a strong sense of Mohanan's inspiring intellectual honesty.

John Goldsmith

Edward Carson Waller Distinguished Service Professor, Univ. of Chicago
Editor of The Phonology Handbook and The Last Phonological Rule

K. P. Mohanan is a gem in the field: at once a deep thinker, inspiring educator and brilliant student who has enriched the lives of so many people who came to know him in one capacity or another—as his teachers, students or colleagues—and who invariably became his friends and admirers.  The articles published here, contributed by a balanced mix of some of the field’s foremost senior scholars and young, rising ones, reflect the breadth of Mohanan’s own research, in all areas of linguistics—from phonetics and phonological theory to syntax, semantics, pragmatics, discourse, linguistic variation and child and sign languages.  They deal with contemporary theoretical issues on a wide range of topics across multiple theoretical models.  The reader will find this collection a valuable companion that helps one keep abreast of important new developments of the field.

C.-T. James Huang
Professor, Harvard University
Editor, Journal of East Asian Linguistics

K.P. Mohanan's thank you message

Friends, I don't know what to say in response to the great feast you have provided in the REDPILL volume (the metaphor is deliberate -- you know I love food). From the moment I heard about the festschrift conspiracy, I had a nagging feeling that it was undeserved. But looking at the volume, combined with being at the teaching linguistics workshop at Konstantz, nudge me to abandon my earlier judgment and accept yours. If my existence has been of value to so many of you, this volume couldn't have been an error of judgment on your part. Thank you, each one of you. And especially Lian Hee, Linda, Miriam, Tracy, and the two fellow conspirators whose names I won't mention.

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