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HUMnet.UCLA.EDU>Studies in the History of the English Language: SHEL-1 http://www.humnet.ucla.edu/SHEL/ Place: UCLA Date: May 26-28, 2000 First Session: Friday Evening Inauguration Lecture Second and Third Sessions: Saturday Morning and Afternoon Conference Banquet and Second Plenary: Saturday Evening Fourth Session: Sunday Morning Purpose and Objectives: In Europe the biennial conferences known as ICEHL (International Conference on English Historical Linguistics) have served the field of English Language Studies well, giving the field both focus and recognition that it almost certainly would not have achieved otherwise. These conferences have taken place at leading English Language research centers over the past twenty years, each conference organized and managed by the faculty of the conference site: Durham, Odense, Sheffield, Amsterdam, Cambridge, Helsinki, Valencia, Edinburgh, Poznan, Manchester. In North America, despite the presence of many major scholars in the field, Historical English Linguistics -- the History of the English Language told in the light of contemporary linguistic sophistication - has not emerged with the same kind of recognizable personality. Many scholars who do this kind of work are to a significant extent servants also of other fields such as general linguistics, medieval studies, dialectology, applied linguistics, and teacher training. What we hope to do by organizing SHEL is begin to provide the same kind of focus for English Historical Linguistics in North America as the focus achieved in Europe by the ICEHL series, in North America for Germanic Linguistics by GLAC (Germanic Linguistics Annual Conference), for American Dialectology by the American Dialect Society, for Social Dialectology by NWAVE, and of course for General Linguistics by the LSA. We are not in competition with any of these series or organizations; we believe, however, that a weekend meeting dedicated entirely to linguistic issues in the History of English will be an energizing and useful academic experience. We begin modestly: a non-existent budget, no organization, just a conference. Anne Curzan is organizing a pedagogical worshop at SHEL-1, parallel with the research-oriented sessions, and will host SHEL-2 in Seattle. A SHEL-3 offer has already emerged; a brief organizational meeting may be necessary to plan future events. Featured Speakers: Richard Bailey (Michigan), Thomas Cable (Texas), Anthony Kroch (Penn), Elizabeth Traugott (Stanford) Featured Topic: The year 2000 is a good time to take stock: in additional to the general historical English language topics addressed at the meeting, we have asked our featured speakers, and we hereby ask all our participants, to focus on the accomplishments and failures in their areas in the past hundred years, and also to direct their attention toward problems the field has failed to solve and that therefore remain for the 21st century. In that sense, we are convening a "millennium" event in the hope that it will energize and possibly redirect the course of historical English language research in America. Abstract Deadline: December 15, 1999. Our preliminary plan is to allow all participants twenty minutes for presentation, with an additional ten minutes of discussion. Please send one page abstracts in three copies, single-spaced Times Roman, 6-inch lines, one-inch margins top and bottom (these will be included in the conference Handbook) to: Professor Donka Minkova Department of English, UCLA 405 Hilgard Avenue Los Angeles, CA 90095 Advisory Committee: Noriko Akatsuka, Henning Andersen, Anne Curzan, Ed Keenan, Henry Ansgar Kelly, Christopher Stevens Workshop: While we wish to keep the focus of the conference clearly on the research aspects of this field, we recognize that most of the likely participants are engaged professionally in the teaching of courses on the history of English. Anne Curzan is therefore organizing a workshop focused on an area of particular pedagogical concern to the participants. Prospective participants should contact: ACurzanMail to author|Respond to list|Read more issues|LINGUIST home page|Top of issue
polyu.edu.hk>INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON TOPIC AND FOCUS IN CHINESE The Hong Kong Polytechnic University CALL FOR PAPERS We are pleased to announce that 'International Symposium on Topic and Focus in Chinese' will be held at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University in late June or early July 2000. The date will be announced as soon as the details are finalized. The symposium is jointly organized by the Linguistic Society of Hong Kong and Department of Chinese and Bilingual Studies at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Abstracts are invited for 20-minute talks (with 10 minutes for discussion) in all areas of research on topic and focus from any theoretical perspectives with special emphasis on Chinese or Chinese in comparison with other languages. Areas of interest include, but are not limited to, syntax, semantics, phonology, and language acquisition. Papers from interdisciplinary areas are encouraged. Abstracts may be written in Chinese or English and should be no more than one standard size page (A4 or letter size) in length. Abstracts should be in at least 12-point type with margins of at least 1-inch, single-spaced. Please provide four copies of an anonymous abstract and one camera-ready original with the name(s) of author(s) and affiliation. Along with the abstract send a 3" x 5" card listing: (1) title of the paper, (2) name(s) of the author(s), (3) affiliation(s), (4) mailing address, and (5) email address. Submissions are limited to a maximum of one individual and one joint abstract per author. Abstracts should be sent to the following address. Email and fax submissions cannot be accepted. International Symposium on Topic and Focus in Chinese Department of Chinese and Bilingual Studies The Hong Kong Polytechnic University Hung Hom, Kowloon HONG KONG Deadline for receipt of abstracts is December 31, 1999. Notification of acceptance will be sent by email by March 15, 2000. A selection of papers will be considered for publication after the symposium. Inquiries can be addressed to 'ctswtangMail to author|Respond to list|Read more issues|LINGUIST home page|Top of issue