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Marc Ettlinger (University of California, Berkeley) Session 7Amy Finn (University of California, Berkeley)Carla Hudson Kam (University of California, Berkeley)The effects of sonority on word segmentationTransitional probability, phonotactics, and stress all have been shown to play a part in the segmentation of speech into words. Weinvestigate whether the sonority hierarchy also plays a role. By pitting transitional probabilities against complex onsets that adherewith varying degree to the sonority sequencing principle (SSP; Jespersen 1904), we found that violations of the SSP led listeners tosegment words differently than they would have using transitional probabilities alone. This suggests that in addition to the learners'existing lexicon (Pitt 1998, Samuel 1986, Moreton 2002), certain critical acoustic universals also effect how a learner perceives andacquires language.Cleveland Kent Evans (Bellevue University) Session 77From Jose Maria to Axel & Alondra: Hispanic popular culture & given names in the United StatesRecent increases in the use of certain names show that Spanish language media have a big impact on what Spanish-speaking parents inthe United States choose to name their children. A good indication of major media impact on a name is the "tsunami curve," where asudden sharp increase peaks after only one or two years and then begins to recede. Statistics on several names popularized bycharacters in telenovellas or by celebrities, such as actresses and athletes, give striking examples of the impact of popular culture onparents' choices of given names in the Hispanic-American community.Cleveland Kent Evans (Bellevue University)From Shelby to Cohen: Seventy years of popular culture influence on American given namesANS Presidential AddressOver the past 70 years the names of popular film and television characters, "reality" program contestants, popular singers or songs,athletes, newscasters, and even murder victims have influenced what American parents name their children. Though it is incorrect toexplain all changes in name popularity by reference to particular media events, especially among the very most common names,names that fit the criteria of "different but not too different" can often have striking increases in use when they are presented tomillions of expectant parents at the same time through the modern mass media.Caleb Everett (University at Buffalo, State University of New York) Session 2The perception of nasality in KaritianaI present experimental data suggesting that in Tupí-Karitiana /b/ and /d/, previously considered allophones of /m/ and /n/, are attainingphonemic status. The data suggest that [b] and [d] exhibit greater perceptual distance, with respect to their homorganic nasalcounterparts, than would be expected if these sounds were merely allophones of the nasals in question. The perception data areconsistent with subtle distribution patterns. This study builds upon related speech perception studies such as Harnsberger 2001 andHuang 2004, which also demonstrate that heightened levels of distributional contrast between sounds correlates with greaterperceptual distance between the sounds.Thórhallur Eythórsson (University of Iceland) Session 33The new passive in Icelandic really is a passiveA syntactic change currently underway in Icelandic involves the so-called new passive, containing an auxiliary be and a nonagreeingpast participle assigning accusative case to a postverbal argument. Contra Maling and Sigurjónsdóttir 2002, I argue that thisconstruction is a passive without NP-movement but with structural accusative case assignment. The absence of structural accusativecase assignment in the canonical passive and its presence in the new passive is attributed to parametric variation in a case feature in afunctional head taking a VP complement. Thus, the difference between the canonical passive and the new passive in Icelandic isminimal.Paul D. Fallon (University of Mary Washington) Session 38Reconstructing glottalized obstruents for Proto-Central Cushitic (Proto-Agaw)Appleyard 2006 claims that "glottalized consonants do not need to be reconstructed for Proto-Agaw" (PA) since glottalization is dueto Ethiopian Semitic languages. Examination of other Cushitic languages reveals data suggesting that glottalized consonants shouldbe part of the inventory of PA. A reconstruction with ejectives also yields more plausible sound changes. A change from velar118