CALL: LAGB spring meeting

[Dick Hudson]

(Sorry if you receive multiple copies of this announcement via different
lists.)

      LINGUISTICS ASSOCIATION OF GREAT BRITAIN

       Spring Meeting 2000: University College London

        First Circular and Call for Papers

The 2000 Spring Meeting of the LAGB will be held from Thursday 6th to
Saturday 8th April at University College London. The local organiser is
Karen Froud (uclykef at ucl.ac.uk).

NB Arrangements for BOOKING ACCOMMODATION are different from previous
conferences: you are strongly recommended to book accommodation using the
form in THIS CIRCULAR, rather than waiting till the second circular. See
details about booking at 5.

1. Geography                            2. Accommodation
3. Travel                                       4. Events
5. Booking                              6. Call for papers
7. How and when to submit an abstract   8. Format of abstracts
9. Content of abstracts                 10. Conference bursaries
11. Communications                      12. Future meetings
13. The LAGB committee                  14. Separate conference
15. Booking form

1. Geography
Situated in the Bloomsbury area in the centre of London, University College
London is within easy reach of many of London's delights: the British
Museum and some of Bloomsbury's most beautiful squares and gardens, the
bustle and clubs of Soho, the shopping centres at Oxford Street and Regent
Street, the market at Covent Garden, Leicester Square's cinemas and
restaurants, Theatreland on Drury Lane, bookshops on Charing Cross Road,
and many others.
UCL forms an integral part of this busy part of London, and its unique city
centre location means that the range of facilities and entertainments
within a short distance of the university buildings is second to none.

2. Accommodation
The accommodation for conference participants is in two locations, both
within five minutes' walk from the conference location.

+ Accommodation in Ramsay Hall (Maple Street, W1) , one of UCL's halls of
residence, consists of single bedrooms, with hand wash basins and shared
bathroom facilities, offered on a half-board basis (i.e. breakfast and
dinner provided) at the bargain price of £28.00 per person per night. This
can be booked through the local organiser (see 5).

+ Accommodation in the Tavistock Hotel (Tavistock Square, WC1) consists of
either single or twin bedrooms with ensuite facilities, television and
radio, and the price includes full breakfast. The Tavistock also has a
wine-bar and restaurant, and a pay garage is available for guests. Prices
are £65.00 per night for a single room and £83.60 for a twin room. If you
choose to book hotel accommodation, please contact the Tavistock Hotel
directly on  0171 636 8383 (you have to ask for reservations), saying that
you are attending the LAGB conference as they have reserved a certain
number of rooms for us (our contact there is Shauna, who is the
reservations manager).

        Please note that accommodation in Central London in the spring is at a
premium, and the rooms reserved for our conference delegates will be
allocated on a first-come first-served basis: please complete and return
the attached booking form as quickly as possible to be sure of a place. UCL
accommodation must be requested and paid for by February 22nd 2000 at the
latest; accommodation can be requested later than this but without any
guarantee of success.
        Conference presentations will take place in the main building of the
College on Gower Street.

3. Travel
Public transport links to UCL are excellent. It is five to ten minutes'
walk from the British Rail and Underground stations at Euston and King's
Cross. It is also very close to several other stations for the London
Underground: Warren Street (Victoria and Northern lines), Euston Square
(Circle, Metropolitan and Hammersmith & City lines), Goodge Street
(Northern line)
and Russell Square (Picadilly line - a direct link from Heathrow airport)
are all within ten minutes' walk. Buses, including the A2 direct service to
and from Heathrow airport, run to and from nearby Russell Square, King's
Cross and Euston Station. Gatwick and Luton airports are readily accessible
via British Rail links from King's Cross Thameslink, and trains to and from
Stansted airport run from Liverpool Street Station (a short tube journey
from Euston Square). Black cabs are also readily available, though these
can prove expensive. Driving in London is not recommended because of the
high density of traffic and the difficulty and expense of parking. UCL
cannot offer parking facilities to conference delegates, though parking if
required is available (for a fee) at nearby hotels.
        Further travel details, including a map of the London Underground, London
Bus Services map, and a London Connections map, will be sent out with the
booking packs.

4. Events at the conference

+ The Linguistics Association lecture (Thursday evening),  delivered by
Professor Mark Steedman (University of Edinburgh). The title will be "The
Syntactic Process".

+ A workshop (Thursday afternoon) on grammar and intonation, organised
jointly by Jill House and John Maidment (both UCL). The speakers will
include Carlos Gussenhoven (Nijmegen).

+ A language tutorial (Friday) on Bengali by Gillian Ramchand (Oxford).

+ A wine party (Thursday evening).

+ A meeting (Friday afternoon) of the Linguistics At School section on the
subject of the National Literacy Strategy, with a presentation from the
DfEE's NLS team.

        Note that the LAGB conference will be preceded by a short conference in
UCL which will be organised separately but which will use the same
accommodation. See the notice at 14.
        Enquiries about the LAGB meeting should be sent to the Meetings Secretary
(address at 13). Full details of the programme will be included in the
Second Circular, to be sent out in February.

5. Booking
UCL accommodation cannot be guaranteed unless booked before February 22nd
2000, so it is important to book accommodation NOW, rather than waiting
till the second circular. The conference fee and lunches may be paid for
later, but accommodation must be paid for when booked. (Payment cannot be
refunded after 22nd February.) Accommodation in UCL (at the prices quoted)
may still be available after this date, but it cannot be guaranteed. The
second circular will contain another booking form which may also be used
for accommodation as well as for unpaid conference fees and lunches.

6. Call for Papers
Members are invited to offer papers for the Meeting; abstracts are also
accepted from non-members. The LAGB welcomes submissions on any topic in
the field of linguistics; papers are selected on their (perceived) merits,
and not according to their subject matter or assumed theoretical framework.

7. How and when to submit an abstract
Abstracts must be submitted on paper (not by email or by fax). SEVEN
anonymous copies of the abstract, plus ONE with name and affiliation, i.e.
CAMERA-READY, should be submitted, and should be sent in the format
outlined below to the President (address at 13). You must write your
address for correspondence (email or surface) on the BACK of the
camera-ready copy. (Even if several authors are named on the front, there
should be only one name and address for correspondence.)
        Papers for the programme are selected anonymously - only the President
knows the name of the authors.  Where possible, authors should supply an
email address to which the committee's decision may be sent. All decisions
will be made by January 26th, and will be communicated by January 28th, so
please send an email to the President (dick at ling.ucl.ac.uk) if you have not
received your decision by that date.
        Abstracts must arrive by 7th January.  Abstracts may also be submitted now
for the meeting after the next one, but must be clearly marked as such. (In
general the abstract deadlines for the autumn and spring meetings are soon
after 1st June and 1st January respectively, so an abstract sent to reach
the President by that date will always be in time.)

8. Format of abstracts
Abstracts must be presented as follows: The complete abstract (i.e. the one
containing your title and your name) must be no longer than ONE A4 page
(21cm x 29.5cm) with margins of at least 2.5cm  on all sides. You may use
single spacing but type must be no smaller than 12 point. If the paper is
accepted the abstract will be photocopied and inserted directly into the
collection of abstracts sent out to participants, so the presentation
should be clear and clean.
        The following layout should be considered as standard:

        (title)  Optimality and the Klingon vowel shift
        (speaker)  Clark Kent (clark at astro.mars.ac.uk)
        (institution)  Department of Astrology, Eastern Mars University

The normal length for papers delivered at LAGB meetings is 25 minutes (plus
15 minutes discussion). Offers of longer papers (40 minutes) will also be
considered: please explain why your paper requires more time than usual,
and whether you would accept a 25-minute slot if the committee cannot offer
more. If you request 40 minutes, please write this on each of the anonymous
abstracts.
        The committee will plan the programme as soon as it has selected the
successful abstracts, so please indicate on the anonymous abstracts if you
cannot present your paper on either the second or third day of the
conference (7th or 8th April). It is very difficult to reschedule papers
after the programme has been planned.

9. Content of abstracts
The following guidelines may be useful:
+ You should clearly describe the paper's general topic. (The topic may be
a problem of theory or analysis or set of data which have not previously
been analysed.)
+ You should describe your treatment of the topic, and how it relates to
previous work on the same topic. (When referring to previous work, it is
enough to quote "Author (Date)" without giving full bibliographical
details.) It is not acceptable simply to promise ‘a solution'.
+ You should explain how you will justify your treatment, and quote crucial
evidence - you must trust the committee (and other conference attenders)
not to steal your ideas before you have presented them.  If you are taking
a stand on a controversial issue, summarise the arguments which lead you to
take up this position.

10. Conference Bursaries
Up to 10 bursaries are available for 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 the deadline for abstracts. Please state on your application: (a) date
of joining the LAGB (applicants must have been a member at least since the
date of the previous meeting); (b) whether or not you are a 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 who wish
to apply for funding should include all the above details WITH THEIR
ABSTRACT. The bursary normally covers a significant proportion of the
conference expenses and of travel within the UK.

11. Communications with the membership
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.
        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 of changes of address. An institutional address is preferred;
bulk mailing saves postage.

12. Future Meetings

7-9 September 2000              University of Durham.
5-7 April 2001                  University of Leeds.
Autumn 2001                     University of Reading.
Spring 2002 (provisional)                       University of Leicester.

The Meetings Secretary would very much like to receive offers of future
venues, particularly from institutions which the LAGB has not previously
visited.

13. The LAGB committee
President                               Professor Richard Hudson
        Department of Phonetics and Linguistics, University College London, Gower
Street, LONDON WC1E 6BT.  dick at ling.ucl.ac.uk
Honorary Secretary              Professor Anna Siewierska
         Department of Linguistics, University of Lancaster, LANCASTER LA1 4YW
A.Siewierska at lancaster.ac.uk
Membership Secretary            Dr. David Willis
         Dept. of Linguistics, University of Manchester, MANCHESTER M13 9PL.
david.willis at man.ac.uk
Meetings Secretary              Dr. Marjolein Groefsema
         Dept. of Linguistics, University of Hertfordshire, Watford Campus,
ALDENHAM, Herts. WD2 8AT. m.groefsema at herts.ac.uk
Treasurer                       Dr. Paul Rowlett
         Dept. of Modern Languages, University of Salford, SALFORD M5 4WT.
p.a.rowlett at mod-lang.salford.ac.uk
Assistant Secretary             Dr. Gillian Ramchand
        Linacre College, Oxford University, OXFORD OX1 3JA.
gillian.ramchand at linguistics-philology.oxford.ac.uk

14. Separate conference
In addition to the LAGB Spring Meeting, the Department of Phonetics and
Linguistcs at UCL is organising a CONFERENCE ON THE INTERACTION BETWEEN
SYNTAX
AND PRAGMATICS. This conference will concentrate on Topic and Focus, but
abstracts from other areas that bear on the interface between syntax and
pragmatics will also be considered. Invited speakers are Luigi Rizzi and
one other (to be announced).
        The conference is partly supported by the LAGB and UCL. It will be held at
UCL before the LAGB meeting, on 5-6 April. The deadline for submissions is
14 January 1999. Details about submission of abstracts will be given in
separate mailings.
        Further details will be posted shortly. For more information contact:
Syntax/Pragmatics Conference Committee, Department of Phonetics and
Linguistics, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, OR
d.bury at ucl.ac.uk (Dirk Bury).

===================================================================
15. Booking form
Please send this form and your payment to the local organiser, Karen Froud.
You may pay by credit card, so you can use either paper (Department of
Phonetics and Linguistics, UCL, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT) or email
(karen at linguistics.ucl.ac.uk ).


A. Accommodation
This form should be used only for booking UCL accommodation (in Ramsay
Hall). For hotel booking, see 2 above.

Room plus breakfast and dinner, @ £28 per night -  fully refundable up to
22nd February.
                Night of Weds 5th April                         £.........
                Night of Thurs 6th April                        £..........
                Night of Friday 7th April                       £..........
(For other nights, please contact the local organiser.)

B. Meals - must be booked by Friday March 3rd.
                Lunch Thurs 6th April, @ £6             £..........
                Lunch Friday 7th April, @ £6            £..........
                Lunch Saturday 8th April, @ £6          £..........

C. Conference fee - may be paid at any time before the conference, but MUST
be paid by all participants, regardless of whether they use conference
accommodation and meals.
@ £20 (LAGB member), £25 (non-member)                   £..........

D. Total enclosed                                               £.........


E. Your details
Name:
Email address:
Mailing address (if you want conference details on paper):



F. Payment method:
F1. Sterling cheque payable to "University College London"              ........

F2. Credit card: Visa/Mastercard                ........
                Card number:            ........
                Expiry date:            ........
                Name on card:           ........
                Billing address:                ........

                Signature (if by post)

(Please note that we do not have an email secure link for credit-card
details.)


Special requirements

Please contact the local organiser directly for special dietary
requirements or for baby-sitting.

Richard (= Dick) Hudson

Phonetics and Linguistics, University College London,
Gower Street, London WC1E  6BT.
+44(0)171 419 3152; fax +44(0)171 383 4108;
http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/dick/home.htm