LINGUIST List 13.1076

Thu Apr 18 2002

Calls: Encyclopedia Authors Sought

Editor for this issue: Renee Galvis <reneelinguistlist.org>

Directory

1. Dennis R. Preston, Encyclopedia of the Midwest

Dear Colleagues,

I am the editor for the "Language" section of the forthcoming
"Encyclopedia of the Midwest." This project, organized by a group of
scholars at The Ohio State University, to be published by Indiana
University Press, has now engaged numerous specialists in many areas.
Its most obvious parent is the Encyclopedia of Southern Culture.
Luckily, I was able to convince the chief editors that one short essay
on language would hardly do justice to the topic, and you can see
below the areas selected and the authors recruited so far for this
endeavor. I have, however, now worn out my ability to track down the
best persons suited to several of the categories below (noted as
"AUTHOR BEING SOUGHT"). Some of these items represent extremely
important language groups in the Midwest, and I cannot imagine this
project being completed without these entries. As you can see, these
entries are very short - 1000 or 500 words, and some may feel that
that is not enough space to give a quick structural description of the
language, its impact on surrounding varieties and their impact on it,
and its historical and current demographic facts - how many speakers,
what sorts of public uses (newspapers, radio, TV) and functions
(schooling, religious uses), and the like. I appeal to you, however,
to try your hand at this; as you can see below, many of your
colleagues have risen to the task, and I consider it an important
contribution from linguists to a more general audience. We often
bemoan our inability to impress nonlinguists with our science and its
findings, but we also often shirk our duties to provide comprehensible
accounts of those very things we have studied. Please help me
complete this venture. Although the Encyclopedia cannot give you
several years to write, a reasonable date can be negotiated, and the
Encyclopedia staff will provide you with technical and editorial
assistance as you develop your entry. The geographical area covered is
South of the US-Canadian border, West of the Pennsylvania-Ohio border,
North of the Ohio River, and Kansas, Nebraska, and the Dakotas to the
West. (We all recognize the arbitrariness of this division; and I
assure you that many of the language entries focus not only on the
diversity within this region but also on the similarity between
varieties in this region with others outside it.) For more information
about the general plan of the Encyclopedia, please visit its website
at www.allmidwest.org. Please let me know by e-mail (prestonmsu.edu)
if you are willing to tackle one of the entries still marked AUTHOR
BEING SOUGHT below (or if, in fact, a language area which has been
ignored in this list should be added). I can only threaten you that,
if you do not identify yourself and take on this small but important
task, I may have to write the entry myself, and it will be difficult
for me to accept criticism later.

Dennis R. Preston

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE MIDWEST
CONTENTS: LANGUAGE

Overview (3000): Dennis R. Preston

Varieties of English:

The Pronunciation of English in the Midwest (2000): Charles Boberg

The Dialect Vocabulary of the Midwest (2000): Luanne von
Schneidemesser

The Dialect Grammar of the Midwest (2000): Timothy Frazer

Language and Society in the Midwest: English and Gender, Social Class,
Profession, Ethnicity, and the Rural/Urban Division (2000): Michael
Linn

African American Language in the Midwest: The Structure of the
Language (1000): Walter Edwards

African American Language in the Midwest: Ways of Talking (1000):
Geneva Smitherman

Midwestern Tales: Language Practices and Norms in English Storytelling
of the Midwest (2000): Barbara Johnstone

Slang, Metaphor, and Turns of Phrase in Midwestern English (2000):
Thomas Murray

The Personal, Geographical, and Institutional Names of the Midwest
(2000): Edward Callary

Native American Languages:
The History and Current Status of Native American Languages of the
Midwest (2000): John Nichols

Other Languages:
Bilingualism and Language Contact in the Midwest (2000): Donald Lance

European Finno-Ugric:
Finnish (and other Finno-Ugric languages of the area, e.g., Estonian)
(500): Pekka Hirvonen
Hungarian (500): Miklos Kontra

Slavic:
East Slavic Languages (500): AUTHOR BEING SOUGHT
South Slavic Languages (500): Brian Joseph
Polish (and other West Slavic languages) (1000): Bartek Plichta

Romance:
French (500): Roger Shuy
Italian (500): AUTHOR BEING SOUGHT
Mexican Spanish (1000): AUTHOR BEING SOUGHT
Puerto Rican Spanish and Other Caribbean Varieties (e.g., Cuban,
Dominican): Michelle Ramos-Pellicia
Other Varieties of Spanish (500): AUTHOR BEING SOUGHT
Other Romance languages (500): AUTHOR BEING SOUGHT
Greek (500): Panayiotis Pappas

Germanic:
Dutch (500): Jaap Van Marle
Immigrant German (1000): Joseph Salmons
Religious Immigrant German (1000): Steven Hartman Keiser
Yiddish (500): Neil Jacobs
Norwegian (1000): Armstein Hjelde
Swedish (500): Staffan Klintborg
Danish (500): AUTHOR BEING SOUGHT

African, Middle Eastern, Asian, and Pacifica
Horn of Africa (500): AUTHOR BEING SOUGHT
Sub-Saharan Africa (500): Deogratias Ngonyani
Pidgin and Creole Varieties (500): AUTHOR BEING SOUGHT
Arabic (1000): Aleya Rouchdy
Armenian (500): John Greppin
Farsi (500): AUTHOR BEING SOUGHT
Chinese (500): AUTHOR BEING SOUGHT
Japanese (500): AUTHOR BEING SOUGHT
Korean (500): AUTHOR BEING SOUGHT
Southeast Asia (500): Martha Ratliff
South Asia (500): AUTHOR BEING SOUGHT
Turkik and Central Asia (500): AUTHOR BEING SOUGHT
Pacifica (500): AUTHOR BEING SOUGHT

Romany (500): William Duna
American Sign Language (500): Charles Gramly and Christine Evenson
- 
Dennis R. Preston
Professor of Linguistics
Department of Linguistics and Languages
740 Wells Hall A
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824-1027 USA
Office - (517) 353-0740
Fax - (517) 432-2736