Elaine - Bio

Four out of five historians agree that October 30th, 1950 was one of the most important dates of the twentieth century. The fifth historian doesn't know what he's talking about. On this day Elaine Mary Zuker was born. Her proud parents, Saul and Lila, and her older sister, Sharon, could only dream that one day she might become as accomplished, super duper famous, and well loved by her public (on Walmer Road and beyond) as she is now. Growing up in a little house on the corner of Viewmount and another street, Elaine spent her time playing in the field, walking home with her friend Fagie, attending Bialik after school where she met Tommy the janitor, and taking ballet lessons. Elaine recently attended a reunion of her local high school, Bathurst Heights, where her youthful good looks and exuberance made it easy for her old teacher to recognise her on sight. Her science-stream class in high school was dominated by boys, but this didn't stop Elaine from achieving high marks (and super nerd status? just kidding, mom). This trend continued when Elaine went on to study chemistry at the university of Toronto. *Elaine didn't wear pants downtown until after high school. Before this, she didn't wear nothing, she wore skirts.* Anyway, Elaine's academic interests ranged widely. She was also interested in a young man named Peter Gold, whom she met at the student medical clinic. They had a date at the Ex, because Elaine was pretty and smart and Peter was smitten, and in 1973, they were married. The two of them went crazy and moved up where it was very cold and very beautiful. This began a period of Elaine's life when she moved a lot and held many interesting jobs, such as a gallery curator, a radio announcer, a reporter, and the manager of a dance company or two (see CV for more elaboration). In 1977, Danny was born in Regina. In 1979, Aaron was born in Winnipeg. In 1984, Leah was born in Toronto. In 1987, Naomi was born, also in the Toronto. These are all of Elaine's children. In 1998, Elaine completed her PHD at the University of Toronto. She managed to complete her thesis on the Yiddish language while raising four semi-functional children- Elaine is obviously capable of anything and everything. Even crazy things. like math, and riddles, and making people feel better when they cry, and planning bar/bat mitzvahs.

Publications

2000. 'Aspect Phrase and Yiddish: Weighing The Evidence'. In Jensen, John T. and Gerard Van Herk, eds. 2000. Proceedings of the 2000 Annual Conference of the Canadian Linguistic Association. University d'Ottawa, Ottawa. 97-110.

1998. 'Structural Differences: The Yiddish Pluperfect and Future Perfect'. Monatshefte. 90-2, 227-236. (refereed)

1998. 'Yiddish and Hebrew: Borrowing Through Oral Language Contact'. In Monika S. Schmid, Jennifer R. Austin and Dieter Stein, eds. Selected Papers from the 13th International Conference on Historical Linguistics, Duesseldorf, 10-17 August 1997, 135-148. John Benjamins, Amsterdam. (refereed)

1997. 'The Yin/Yang of Yiddish Tense and Aspect'. In Blair, L., C. Burns and L. Rowsell, eds. Proceedings of the 1997 Annual Conference of the Canadian Linguistic Association. University of Calgary, Calgary. 107-118.

1994. 'The Hebrew Component in Yiddish - Borrowing through Oral Language Competence'.In P. Koskinen, ed. 1994. Proceedings of the 1994 Annual Conference of the Canadian Linguistic Association. University of Toronto, Toronto. 224-234.

1993. 'Adjunction and the Yiddish Stem Construction'. In C. Dyck, ed. 1993. Proceedings of the 1993 Annual Conference of the Canadian Linguistic Association. University of Toronto, Toronto. 279-294.

Presentations

2002 'English Shmenglish: Yiddish Borrowings into Canadian English.'. Annual Conference of the Canadian Linguistics Association, Toronto, Canada.

1999. 'Slavic Verbal Prefixes and Yiddish Aspect', International Conference of Historical Linguistics, Vancouver, Canada.

1999. 'Aspect Phrase and Yiddish: Weighing The Evidence', Annual Conference of the Canadian Linguistic Association, University of Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Quebec. (this was published in CLA proceedings - make entry)

1998. 'The Stem Construction and Yiddish Aspect', Ashkenaz: Theory and Nation, Jagiellonian University, Krakow.

1997. 'Yiddish and Hebrew: Borrowing Through Oral Language Contact', International Conference of Historical Linguistics, Duesseldorf, Germany.

1997. panel member. Workshop on Contract Teaching. Annual Conference of the Canadian Linguistic Association, St. John's Nfld.

1997. 'The Yin/Yang of Yiddish Tense and Aspect', Annual Conference of the Canadian Linguistic Association, St. John's Nfld.

1997. panel member. Workshop on Multiple Frameworks in Linguistics: Diachrony, Synchrony and Adequacy of Explanation. University of Toronto, Toronto. 1996. 'The Syntactic Structures of the Yiddish Pluperfect and Future Perfect', Yiddish Studies Conference, University of Wisconsin, Madison.

1994. 'The Hebrew Component in Yiddish - Borrowing through Oral Language Competence', Annual Conference of the Canadian Linguistic Association, University of Calgary, Calgary.

1993. 'Adjunction and the Yiddish Stem Construction', Annual Conference of the Canadian Linguistic Association, Carlton University, Ottawa.

Professional Activities

2000- Co-Editor, Strathy Undergraduate Working Papers on Canadian English.

Queen's University, Kingston.

University Administrative Work

2002- Co-Chair, Friends of Linguistics at the University of Toronto

1997-99 Status of Women in Linguistics Committee, Canadian Linguistic Association

1996 Department Chair Search Committee, Linguistics, University of Toronto

1995-99 Curriculum Committee, Linguistics, University of Toronto

1994-95 Newsletter Co-editor, Canadian Linguistic Association

1994-95 SSHRC Research Grant Committee, Linguistics, University of Toronto

1993-95 President, Linguistics Graduate Course Union, University of Toronto

Other Employment

1999 Researcher, History of Toronto Synagogues, York University

1993-97 Student Researcher, Syntax Research Project, University of Toronto

1982-96 Teacher, Folk Dancing, Downtown Jewish Community School, Toronto

1985-89 Consultant, Dance Office, Ontario Arts Council, Toronto

1986 Co-author. Dance Manager's Handbook. Dance in Canada Assoc. Toronto

1982-83 Manager, Peggy McCann and Dancers, Toronto

1980-81 Manager, Toronto Independent Dance Enterprise, Toronto

1978-80 Assistant to Curator, Inuit Art Dept., Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg

1978-79 Teacher, Grade 1, Temple Shalom Sunday School, Winnipeg

1975-76 Assistant to Manager, Regina Modern Dance Works, Regina

1974-75 Teacher, Adult Upgrading, Saskatchewan Hospital, North Battleford

1974-75 Teacher, Introductory Hebrew, North Battleford

1973-74 Freelance Reporter, Taiga Times, Churchill, Manitoba

1973-74 Radio Announcer-Operator, CHFC (CBC), Churchill, Manitoba

1973-74 Assistant to Curator, Eskimo Museum, Churchill, Manitoba