CONFS: Linguistics Association of Great britain

[billy clark]

LINGUISTICS ASSOCIATION OF GREAT BRITAIN

Spring Meeting 1997: University of Edinburgh

First Circular and Call for Papers

The 1997 Spring Meeting will be held from Monday 7 to Wednesday 9
April at the University of Edinburgh, where the Association will be
the guests of the Department of Linguistics. The Local Organiser is
Alice Turk (turk at ling.ed.ac.uk).

The conference immediately follows the 1997 meeting of GALA
("Generative Approaches to Language Acquisition"), which takes place
at the University of Edinburgh from the 4th to 6th of April (further
information on: http://www.cogsci.ed.ac.uk/gala/).

Edinburgh enjoys a coastal location and a rather mild climate, and
boasts two (extinct) volcanoes and their associated geological
features in the heart of the city. As the capital of Scotland,
Edinburgh is steeped in Scottish history: its medieval castle, the
renaissance buildings of the Old Town, and the elegant Georgian New
Town embody the different eras of the city's past. Edinburgh makes a
perfect base for skiing and outdoor pursuits in the Scottish
mountains. Its clubs, pubs and restaurants also provide varied and
high-quality entertainment day and night.

Travel: Edinburgh is easily accessible by air (Edinburgh airport is
to the north of the city centre with a frequent bus service) train
(inter-city services connect with most other major cities) and
car (roads leading to Edinburgh are the A90 from the North, the A8
from the West, and the A1, A7, A68 and A702 from the South).

Events: The Linguistcs Association 1997 Lecture on the Monday evening
will be delivered by Professor Joan Bresnan (Stanford).

There will be a Workshop on The Role of Morphology in Current
Syntactic Theory organised by Kersti Boerjars and Nigel Vincent
(University of Manchester). In much recent work on syntactic
theory, analyses have made the tacit assumption that morphological
and syntactic elements obey the same principles (e.g. c-command) and
can be expressed in the same notation (i.e. trees). At the same time,
a number of influential morphologists (e.g. Anderson, Aronoff and
Beard) have argued for the separationist hypothesis according to which
morphological constructs obey a set of independent principles which
only partly, or not at all, overlap with the set of syntactic
principles. In this workshop we will explore within a number of
frameworks the consequences of this renewed interest in the
interaction and integration of morphological and syntactic data. We
will look particularly at Lexical-Functional Grammar, Head-driven
Phrase Structure Grammar and the Minimalist Program. There will be
talks by Joan Bresnan (Stanford), Elisabet Engdahl (Gothenburg),
Gillian Ramchand (Oxford) and Greg Stump (Kentucky) and
these will be followed by a general discussion.

The Language Tutorial will be on languages of Central Australia, and
will be given by Jane Simpson (University of Sydney) and, possibly,
Mary Laughren (University of Queensland) and David Nash. Central
Australian languages such as Warumungu, Warlpiri and Warlmanpa  use
agglutinative morphology to show grammatical relations, rather than
word order which is thereby freed up for other functions. However,
there is evidence for underlyingly right-headed phrases. There is
striking convergence of grammars, in contrast with morphemes
and some superficial phonological properties. The latter act as
markers of different languages, while a source for the former may be
the multilingualism of many older speakers.

There will be a Wine Party on the Monday evening, following Professor
Bresnan's lecture, sponsored by the Department of Linguistics.

Enquiries about the LAGB meeting should be sent to the Meetings
Secretary (address below). Full details of the programme and a booking
form will be included in the Second Circular, to be sent out in
January.

Call for Papers:  Members and potential guests are invited to offer
papers for the Meeting; abstracts are also accepted from non-members.
The LAGB welcomes submissions on any linguistics or linguistics-
related topic. Abstracts must arrive by 13 January 1997 and should be
sent in the format outlined below to the following address: Professor
G. Corbett, Linguistic and International Studies, University of
Surrey, Guildford, Surrey, GU2 5XH. Papers for the programme are
selected anonymously - only the President knows the name of the
authors.

Abstracts must be presented as follows: submit SEVEN anonymous copies
of the abstract, plus ONE with name and affiliation, i.e. CAMERA-
READY. The complete abstract containing your title and your name must
be no longer than ONE A4 page (8.27" x 11.69") with margins of at
least 1" on all sides. You may use single spacing (not more than six
lines to the inch) and type must be no smaller than 12 characters per
inch. Type uniformly in black (near-letter quality on a word
processor) and make any additions in black. It is preferable to
print out the abstracts using a laser printer, since if the paper is
accepted the abstract will be photocopied and inserted directly
into the collection of abstracts sent out to participants. WRITE YOUR
NAME AND ADDRESS FOR CORRESPONDENCE ON THE BACK OF THE ABSTRACT WHICH
HAS YOUR NAME ON.

The following layout should be considered as standard:

         (title)  Optimality and the Klingon vowel shift
                      (speaker)  Clark Kent
 (institution)  Department of Astrology, Eastern Mars University

The following guidelines may be useful:

1.   Briefly state the topic of your paper.

2.   If your paper is to involve an analysis of linguistic material,
     give critical examples, along with a brief indication of
     their critical nature.

3.   State the relevance of your ideas to past work or to the future
     development of the field. If you are taking a stand on a
     controversial issue, summarise the arguments which lead
     you to take up this position.

The normal length for papers delivered at LAGB meetings is 25 minutes
(plus 15 minutes discussion). Offers of squibs (10 minutes) or longer
papers (40 minutes) will also be considered: please explain why your
paper requires less or more time than usual.

N.B. ABSTRACTS SUBMISSION DATES: These are always announced in the
First Circular for the Meeting in question. Any member who fears that
they may receive the First Circular too late to be able to submit an
abstract before the deadline specified can be assured that an
abstract received by the President by JANUARY 1 or JUNE 1 will always
be considered for the next meeting.

Conference Bursaries:  There will be a maximum of 10 bursaries
available to unsalaried members of the Association (e.g. PhD students)
with preference given to those who are presenting a paper.
Applications should be sent to the President, and must be
received by  4 June 1996. Please state on your application: (a) date
of joining the LAGB; (b) whether or not you are an undergraduate
or postgraduate student; (c) if a student, whether you receive a
normal grant; (d) if not a student, your employment situation.
STUDENTS WHO ARE SUBMITTING AN ABSTRACT and wish to apply for funding
should include all the above details WITH THEIR ABSTRACT.

For the last (Cardiff) meeting, all ten bursaries were offered:  each
applicant presenting a paper received 50 pounds (half the cost of the
full conference package of meals and accommodation) plus their return
rail fare.  So, if you are thinking of submitting an abstract, are a
student on a normal grant or unwaged, and have been an LAGB member for
at least six months, it is well worth while applying for a bursary
too!

Guests:  Members may invite any number of guests to meetings of the
association, upon payment of a stlg5 guest invitation fee. Members
wishing to invite guests should photocopy the booking form enclosed in
the Second Circular.

Annual General Meeting:  This is to be held on the afternoon of
Tuesday 8 April. Items for the agenda should be sent to the Honorary
Secretary.

Elections of President and Membership Secretary: Nominations are
sought for the position of President, which becomes vacant with the
retirement of Greville Corbett, and for the position of
Membership Secretary, which becomes vacant with the retirement of
Kersti Boerjars. All names should be sent to  the Honorary Secretary by
13 January 1996; nominations should be proposed and seconded, and
proposers should make sure that their nominee is willing to stand for
election.

Nominations for speakers:  Nominations are requested for future guest
speakers; all suggestions should be sent to the Honorary Secretary.

Changes of address:  Members are reminded to notify the Membership
Secretary (address below) of changes of address. An institutional
address is preferred; bulk mailing saves postage.

Committee members:

     President
     Professor Greville Corbett, Linguistic and International
     Studies, University of Surrey, GUILDFORD, Surrey, GU2 5XH.
     e-mail: g.corbett at surrey.ac.uk

     Honorary Secretary
     Dr. David Adger, Dept. of Language and Linguistic Science,
     University of York, Heslington, York YO1 5DD.
     e-mail: da4 at tower.york.ac.uk.

     Membership Secretary
     Dr. Kersti Boerjars, Department of Linguistics, University of
     Manchester, MANCHESTER M13 9PL.
     e-mail: k.e.borjars at manchester.ac.uk

     Meetings Secretary
     Dr. Billy  Clark, Communication Studies, Middlesex University,
     Trent Park, Bramley Road, LONDON N14 4XS.
     e-mail: billy1 at mdx.ac.uk

     Treasurer
     Dr. Paul Rowlett, Dept. of Modern Languages, University of
     Salford, Salford M5 4WT.
     e-mail: p.a.rowlett at mod-lang.salford.ac.uk

     Assistant Secretary
     Dr. April McMahon, Dept. of Linguistics, University of
     Cambridge, Sidgwick Avenue,
     CAMBRIDGE CB3 9DQ. e-mail: AMM11 at hermes.cam.ac.uk

     BLN Editor
     Dr. Siew-Yue Killingley, Grevatt and Grevatt, 9 Rectory Drive,
     NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE NE13 1XT.

British Linguistic Newsletter: Members are reminded that they can
subscribe to BLN (ISBN 0964-6574) by contacting the Editor, Dr. S-Y.
Killingley. Subscriptions for BLN are not to be sent to the LAGB
Treasurer.

Internet home page: The LAGB internet home page is now active at the
following address: http://clwww.essex.ac.uk/LAGB.

Electronic network: Please join the LAGB electronic network which is
used for disseminating LAGB information and for consulting members
quickly. It can be subscribed to by sending the message "add lagb" to:
listserv at postman.essex.ac.uk.

Future Meetings:

9-11 September 1997                      University of Hertfordshire.
14-16 April 1998                            University of Lancaster.
10-12 September 1998 (dates provisional)     University of Luton.
Spring 1999 (provisional)               University of Manchester.
Autumn 1999 (provisional)             University of York.
Spring 2000 (provisional)               University College London.

The Meetings Secretary would very much like to receive offers of
future venues, particularly from institutions which the LAGB has not
previously visited or from places with newly established linguistics
programmes.