(Yeah, I know; I'm responding to my own dead thread. I don't think it means I'm crazy, though.)
Just in case anybody searches up this poor little orphaned thread, the answer to Q1 is, "Yep, evidently." I took a look at Matlab's online help documentation, and found plenty of similar syntax. So the answer to Q2 is "STFW for Matlab's online help doc." 8-O
I'm still wading through FFT / IFFT writen mat'l, but haven't found anything with just the right level of detail while also providing the answers I seek. Probably end up writing my own. Still would appreciate any suggestions, though.