ALT News 9
Johan.VanDerAuwera
auwera at uia.ua.ac.be
Wed Oct 18 19:53:35 UTC 1995
October 17, 1995
Dear Frans,
Here it is again. In accordance with my rumination of last night
I changed section 7.3 plus the appendix. The original membership
breakdown is back - for ASCII reaons - but the original table
does stick to the traditional division in continents, I am
afraid.=20
Johan
--------------------
ALT News No. 9
October 1995
Contents:
1. ALT's Future: A Personal View (Bernard Comrie)
2. ALT's Recent Past: ALT 1
3. Membership: Present and Future
4. Directory
5. Finances
6. Charter Cosmetics
7. Management Structure and Nominations of Officers
8. Journal
9. ALT 2, 3, ...
10. For the Benefit of Future Programme Committees (Edith
Moravcsik et al.)
11. Possible ALT Workshops
12. Prizes
13. Logo
Appendix: Poll
Membership Form, again
1. ALT's Future: A Personal View (by Bernard Comrie)
The aims of ALT, which will determine its direction, are
admirably set out in the Charter. What I wish to do in these few
paragraphs is rather to emphasize three of the practical issues
that I see confronting typologists over the next few years, and
how ALT might contribute to the solution of these problems. By
making myself available as nominee for the ALT Presidency, I am
of course agreeing to make myself available, if elected, to
participate in the most active way possible in this process.
The first is the visibility of language typology in the broader
linguistic community. An active ALT organization can do much not
only to correct the misinterpretations that surround typology in
the eyes of many linguists of other persuasions, but more
importantly to bring to the attention of such linguists the solid
achievements of typology that constitute major contributions to
our overall understanding of language.
Let me give an example from my personal experience. I was
recently at a conference where the question of word order
correlations cropped up. A non-typologist participating in the
conference said that the fact that adjective order does not
necessarily seem to follow general head-initial versus head-final
patterns poses serious problems for typology. A misunderstanding
to be corrected: Typology has moved forward in the decades since
the early overgeneralizations about such correlations (and their
incorporation into generative grammar). And an achievement to be
noted: Thanks to the typological work of Matthew Dryer we now
have a clear picture of the areal typological distribution of
adjective order and a generalization which, when corrected for
one areal aberration, provides a good account of adjective order,
which turns out to be largely independent of other word order
parameters. The moral: Typology makes a central contribution to
our overall understanding of language, and non-typologists
neglect work in typology at their peril.
The second is to try and ensure that funding can be secured at
a reasonable level for typological research. Some substantial
progress has been made in recent years. The EUROTYP project on
language typology provided an administrative framework within
which typologists from Europe, and not a few from elsewhere, were
able to carry out collaborative research, including facilitating
the search for research funding from national science
foundations. More recently, the German national science
foundation has initiated a major research emphasis on language
typology. But the news is not so favourable from many other parts
of the world, perhaps especially as cutbacks in research funding
lead to increased competition for what funds are available. I
would see as an initial task of ALT the documentation of
availability of funds: what is available, where, to whom, and for
what? On the basis of such information it would be possible to
develop plausible strategies for enhancing the funding of
typological research, commensurate with the contribution it has
made and will continue to make to general linguistics.
As typologists, we are dependent on the availability of good
language descriptions, and I would therefore see a third
practical issue as ALT's collaboration with organizations that
are working to document endangered and other poorly described
languages, including projects whose aim is to work out the best
methods of documenting such languages. While I recognize the need
for an administrative infrastructure to oversee the documentation
of endangered languages, I think it is important that we should
not spend so much time on discussing language endangerment that
we devote too little time to actual language description. Because
as typologists, we are also in a unique position to advise on the
documentation of endangered languages and to participate in their
description.
No doubt there are other issues that will occur to other members,
but some of the others that occur to me seem already to be well
taken care of. The proposed journal is in good hands. The basic
structure of ALT is solid, thanks to the efforts of the acting
officers. ALT provides typologists with a unique opportunity. Let
us ensure that we make the best of this opportunity. I very much
hope that I will be able to play a leading role in this effort.
2. ALT's Recent Past: ALT 1
There was some apprehension among those in registered attendance
lest the Inaugural Meeting at Vitoria-Gasteiz on 7-10 September
1995 might not augur well for the future, for ALT 1 / K[oldo]
Mitxelena I. Ihardunaldiak had one fatal flaw for a starter: it
will be a very hard act to follow. The lion's share of the blame
for this falls on Miren Lourdes Onederra. The hospitality and
enthusiasm of ALT 1's hosts were only matched by their
efficiency. Would those seeking advice on how to run conferences
in style, ALT and other, please contact Miren, her colleagues and
students, and her institution, town, region, and country.
Homing in on the capital city of Euskadi proved child's play to
the experienced academic traveller. Once there, s/he found ALT
1 signposted all over the place, on both sides of the tracks.=20
Upon registration, those in good standing were not charged a
hundred dollars for a plastic cup of coffee, three assorted
biscuits equally long past the sell-by date, illegible
photocopies of a few abstracts stapled together in random order,
and an off-key keynote speaker. Both venues--modern Filologia
eta Geografi-Historia Fakultatea of the UPV/EHU and ancient
Palacio de Villa Suso--are real architectural gems; and the
whole town is eminently inhabitable by humans. Admittedly, with
the autumnal rain drop or two, the weather was not quite what you
can usually reckon with on the Costa del Sol (aka Geriatrica);=20
but then Siberia-Gasteiz is near the Gulf of Biscay and the
Pyrenees and has a fierce reputation to live up to. A unique
artistic delight was the evening of Basque poetry and music that
Mikel Laboa, Bernardo Atxaga, Ruper Ordorika, Marianne Mithun &
Co treated us to. Needless to add, food and drink and fun were
as the connoisseurs had been expecting. The same, incidentally,
goes for the well-balanced menu of papers, served up on the
recommendation of a commendably accountable body of a committee
(see below, =A710). Casualties always received the warmest of
welcomes at the municipal medical services at any time of day or
night.
To conclude these melancholy reminiscences with a toast: Bizi
dadin Euskara, orai eta beti! (morpheme-by-morpheme gloss and
translation into Labourdin or Souletin supplied upon request) --
in Euskal Herria,Argentina, California, Nevada, and (who knows?)
Newfoundland, on whalers roaming the Atlantic Ocean (intermingled
with Icelandic if need be) as well as in typological circles.
Of the hundred or so men and women counted at ALT 1 (ordered in=20
accordance with Behaghel's Second Law), a remarkable 34 made it
into the lists, or at any rate those we have been able to
recover, documenting the attendance at the Business Meeting.=20
They will be able to confirm that much of what follows in this
News ensues from that occasion. Nijmegen's Michael Cysouw
assisted in the recording.
3. Membership: Present and Future
On 30 September 1995 ALT had 168 members in good standing--i.e.
members who have paid their 1995 dues, who have tried to but
whose cheque proved too expensive to cash, or who have asked for
a waiver (for currency reasons) and got it. Another 130
linguists have at least shown so much interest in ALT as to
subscribe to the ALT List, and are therefore counted as potential
members.
Anybody in doubt as to whether (s)he is in good standing should
contact Johan van der Auwera. (In the future ALT may have to
rethink on the services it can provide to those not in good
standing.)
A break-down of the current membership by continent and country
is shown in the table below.
Continent Country Members in Potential members
good standing =20
AFRICA Israel 2
Morocco 1
South Africa 1
TOTAL 1 3
AMERICA Canada 1 3
Jamaica 1
United States 29 33
TOTAL 30 37
ASIA Hong Kong 2 1=20
Japan 3 3
Indonesia 1
Singapore 1
Taiwan 1
Thailand 1
TOTAL 8 5
EUROPE Austria 5 3
Azerbaijan 1
Belgium 3 2
Croatia 1 1
Czech Republic 1
Denmark 4 1
Finland 2
France 6 2
Georgia 1
Germany 29 21
Hungary 1=20
Ireland 1
Italy 7 4
Netherlands 11 2
Norway 1 3
Poland 1
Russia 6 13
Slovenia 1
Spain 30 4
Sweden 2 5
Switzerland 3 2
Ukraine 2
United Kingdom 10 10 =20
TOTAL 122 80
OCEANIA Australia 6 5
New Zealand 1 1
TOTAL 7 6
GRAND TOTAL 168 130
=20
The good-standing numbers include:
Reduced membership fees for unsalaried members: 28
Waivers: 11
One can learn from this that ALT is especially popular in Greater
Europe, of all continents. One may also suspect some correlation
between good membership and the availability of the Eurocheque
or of the US personal cheque, the services offered by post
offices, and the availability of hard currency.
From=201996 onwards the default mode of payment will be by credit
card. It will be administered by Mouton de Gruyter (Berlin), and
the (salaried) membership fee, including the subscription to the
journal, will amount to some DM 100. Details about prices and
technicalities will be available soon.
The new fees will create even more problems especially for
soft-currency colleagues. Here are some ideas that were aired
to alleviate them:
- By asking salaried members from hard-currency countries for=20
a slightly higher membership fee than would be absolutely=20
necessary. Thus ALT could finance a limited number of memberships
for soft-currency countries.
- Donations could be earmarked for the same purpose.
- The spare copies of the journal that ALT will have at its
disposal owing to arrangements with the publisher (and those
getting published in the journal and receiving a complimentary
copy of the issue) can be given to members who can only pay a
reduced membership fee.
- There may be ways and means for soft-currency colleagues to
earn a membership at a reduced or symbolic fee by doing
typological consultancy work for ALT or by providing fieldwork
opportunities for ALT members.
- ALT could organize personal partnerships based on exchanges of
books or periodicals for an ALT membership including the journal.
- Maybe it should be made possible for colleagues from designated
areas to become reduced-price members without the journal.
There is clearly some thinking and work urgently to be done here
by the Executive Committee.
In general, in order to boost our numbers, members are asked to
continue to spread the word, for word of mouth would still seem
the most effective means to this end. Also, there will soon be
a revised flyer available for advertising purposes.
4. Directory
The ALT Directory is now available, and most of you should
already have your (hard) copies, provided you are in good
standing. The remainders will be snailmailed asap.
The Directory reflects the membership as of mid-August, but it
is continually updated, and, with much-appreciatted technical
assistance from Peter Kahrel (Lancaster), it will soon become
available on-line either on the ALT List or on the WWW or on
both. Meanwhile send any corrections to Johan van der Auwera.
Particular attention is drawn to such potentially very useful
information in the Directory as the language expertise and
research interests of ALT members.
5. Finances
as of 15 September 1995:
Income: membership fees 66.896 BEF + 541 US$
Expenses: Directory 8.131 BEF
ALT 1 2.300 BEF
Balance: 56.465 BEF + 541 US$
6. Charter Cosmetics
Although there have been no indications that the major points in
the original 1994 version of the ALT Charter have become
obsolete, a formal overhaul is in order because some of the
things that had once been included really belong in the statutes
or in the editorial of the journal. These cosmetics are also
left for the Executive Committee to busy itself with as soon as
it is elected.
7. Management Structure and Nominations of Officers
7.1. =20
The frugal management structure suggested in the Charter and in
previous News and discussed at the Business Meeting is as
follows:
- President (to serve for 2 years or more, as to be determined
in the Statutes);
--Secretary-Treasurer (to serve for 5 years, and if willing and
re-elected longer);
--Executive Committee (4 or 5 members, plus President,
Secretary-Treasurer, and Editor-in-Chief as ex officio members;
to serve for 5 years, with staggered replacements);
--Editorial Board (6 or 7 members, including Editor-in-Chief; to
serve for 5 years, with staggered replacements);
--Editor(s) of ALT News.
Evidently, the first task of the Executive Committee will be to
draw up statutes defining the structure and the responsibilities
of the management, provided the present structural suggestions
are in principle approved of by the membership. What still needs
to be determined is who is to take care of nominating and
programming.
It is planned to establish ad hoc committees whenever there is
a need for them (e.g. for projects such as the The Good Grammar
Guide). Also, it is becoming increasingly obvious that good use
could be made of the services of a "Cyberspace" Officer; and
this is why such a nomination has been added by the acting
officers to those made by the Business Meeting.
7.2. =20
Serving as a provisional Nominating Committee, the Business
Meeting at Vitoria-Gasteiz has unanimously nominated the
following slate of officers (with the exception of the ALT
Cyberspace Man--see above), and all colleagues proposed have
meanwhile accepted the nomination:
--President:Bernard Comrie (Los Angeles & Nijmegen)
--Secretary-Treasurer: Johan van der Auwera (Antwerpen)
--Executive Committee: Matthew Dryer (Buffalo), Gilbert Lazard
Paris), Elena Maslova (St. Peterburg), Miren Lourdes Onederra=20
(Vitoria-Gasteiz), Paolo Ramat (Pavia), President,
Secretary-Treasurer, Editor-in-Chief
--Editorial Board: Nick Evans (Melbourne), Aleksandr Kibrik
(Moskva), Marianne Mithun (Santa Barbara), Edith Moravcsik
(Milwaukee), Frans Plank (Konstanz, Editor-in-Chief), Anna
Siewierska (Lancaster), Leon Stassen (Nijmegen), Johan van der
Auwera (Antwerpen)
--Editors of ALT News: President, Secretary, Editor-in-Chief
--Cyberspace Officer: Peter Kahrel (Lancaster)
7.3. =20
What the entire ALT membership in good standing is now asked is
to express its confidence in the proposals made at the Business=20
Meeting, in particular, (a) to approve of the management
structure suggested by the Business Meeting (=A77.1), and (b) to
vote on the slate of officers nominated (=A77.2). Please use the
page that you will find in the Appendix for this purpose, to be
returned to Johan van der Auwera (by e or snail mail) by 19
November 1995. The proposals will be taken to be accepted unless a=20
substantial minority or even majority of the members in good=20
standing disapprove of them.=20
This is clearly an ad hoc election procedure, and the Executive
Committee has to come up with a vastly improved one to be
followed in the future. Presently there are only the two acting
officers to implement this first general election.
8. Journal
Owing to the joint efforts of the provisional Editorial Board and
Anke Beck and her colleagues at Mouton de Gruyter, LINGUISTIC
TYPOLOGY (LT) is ready for takeoff.
The first issue (of about 200 pages) is scheduled for the early
autumn of 1996, and the same-sized second is to follow hard on
its heels. In subsequent years the rhythm will be one issue in
the spring and another in the autumn.
There is still a real chance of your contributions making it into
the first volume, but don't be too disappointed if it will be the
second.
Here is some advice on how to accomplish this feat.
Submit 3 (hard) copies to the provisional Editor-in-Chief (Frans
Plank, Sprachwissenschaft, Universitaet Konstanz, Postfach 5560,
D-78434 Konstanz, Germany), and reckon with two months or less
of (cruel but fair) refereeing.
Follow the Instructions for Contributors which are available upon
request from the Editor-in-Chief, in format-saving hard copy
only. (In future they will be included in the journal, at least
occasionally.)
Mind the title of the journal, and submit your non-typological
output elsewhere. Just in case you are doubtful, typology is to
do with the diversity of languages and the patterns underlying
it, often taking the form of implications.
If you are reasonably confident that what you have in mind or on
paper is typological, adapt it if necessary to suit the range of
possible content elements of LT:
(a) articles with peer commentary, complementary articles, other=20
interactive formats;
(b) ordinary lone articles;
(c) The Implications Register, documenting the implications on
record, with known exceptions and all;
(d) Language Profiles and Family Portraits;
(e) basic topical bibliographies;
(f) The Present Perfect, featuring highlights from typology as
done in the past but persisting into the present (hence the
enigmatic title);
(g) reviews, multiple reviews, book notices, literature surveys.
If in a critical mood, ask for a review copy, and LT will attempt
to procure one. Also, until we are regularly provided, ask your
publishers to send LT (at the Editor-in-Chief's address) review
copies of relevant publications, for the benefit of other
critical spirits.
If reviewing a descriptive grammar, apart from commenting on the
quality of the description, always ask yourself (and if you have
got an answer tell prospective readers) what language X, as
described in the grammar under review, contributes to our
knowledge about crosslinguistic diversity.
There are various joint ventures under the provisional Editorial
Board's consideration for the first volumes, and you are welcome
to participate in them in one way or another; contact the
relevant provisional Editors for details:
(a) the category of number, especially in relation to that of
association -- Edith Moravcsik (edith at csd.uwm.edu);
(b) holistic typology, with special reference to phonological and=20
morphological/syntactic co-variation -- Frans Plank
(frans.plank at uni-konstanz.de);
(c) sampling methodology -- Anna Siewierska=20
(a.siewierska at lancaster.ac.uk) and Johan van der Auwera
(auwera at uia.ua.ac.be);
(d) persona non grata: Paul Forchheimer's The Category of Person
in Language (1953) then and now -- Frans Plank (frans.plank at uni-=20
konstanz.de).
If you'd also like to see typological work done and published
interactively, get in touch with the Editor-in-Chief, and we will
make such plans public in the ALT News. In general, one future
role of the ALT News will be to air ideas and initiate and
prepare projects destined for the journal upon maturation.=20
=20
Library subscriptions will be crucial for success of LT, economic
and other. Therefore, alert your libraries to the indispensable
journal coming soon, and make good use of the publisher's
prospectus, including an ordering form, that will be distributed
in due course. One desideratum is to get LT to libraries in
countries whose currencies wouldn't normally buy them such goods;=20
tell us if you know of foundations or other institutions that ALT
could approach for support of the circulation of LT.
9. ALT 2, 3, ...
At the Business Meeting and after, several venues have been
proposed as successors of Vitoria-Gasteiz, by prospective local
organizers and others:
--Milwaukee, 1996 or after (Edith Moravcsik et al.)
--Prague, on or close to August 20-22 1996 (in conjunction with
the 3rd Linguistics and Phonetics Conference at Prague
University; suggested by the organizers,although none of them
is a real or even near member of ALT)
--Riau or elsewhere in Indonesia, 1996 or after (David Gil)
--Lancaster, 1996 or after (Anna Siewierska)
--Abu Dhabi, 1996 or after, pending local funding (Edith
Moravcsik et al.)
--Paris or environs, 1997, right before or after the
International Congress of Linguists
--Moskva, 1997 or after (Aleksandr Kibrik)
--Alice Springs, 1998 or after (Nick Evans)
--Santa Barbara, 1998 or after (Marianne Mithun)
In the discussion at the Business Meeting attention was drawn
again to the conditions an ALT venue should ideally be able to
meet (with Vitoria-Gasteiz as a shining example), and the issue
of which continents to grace with our presence next was
controversially debated. The straw vote on the 1996 continent
produced a clear victory for "outside Europe" (21) over "Europe"
(2), with 11 "no opinions"; and as the preferred non-European
venue "Indonesia" (14) narrowly beat "Milwaukee" (10) and "no
opinion" (10) into joint second place. For 1997, opinions were
strongly in favour of associating with the next International
Congress of Linguists at Paris (as yet unaware of the exorbitant
registration fee to be charged there, designed to severely reduce
the attendance): 24 in favour, 1 against, 9 couldn't care less.=20
Taking into account the latest developments in the scramble for
the honour of becoming an ALT venue, the Executive Committee will
have the final say in this. But to assist the executives in
reaching their eagerly awaited decision, you are asked to express
your own preferences in the matter of venues (and obviously, the
expression of a local preference implies an intention to attend),
and also to fill in the second part of the Appendix.
Among those at ALT 1 there was a consensus that late September
would be the best date for future meetings. Those absent may
well disagree, especially if they couldn't make it this time
because of the date. Another opinion poll then; turn to Part
2 of the Appendix!
The question has sometimes been raised whether meetings should
be annual (as stipulated in the Charter) or biannual. The
strongest argument in favour of a biannual rhythm is the need to
replenish stocks, moneywise and in respect of reportable research
(with us being at a regrettable disadvantage insofar as doing
typology takes time). Also indicate in the Appendix whether your
desire to see one another at shorter intervals outweighs these
practical considerations.
10. For the Benefit of Future Programme Committees, and
Potentially Us All
FROM THE PROGRAM COMMITTEE OF ALT 1, by Edith Moravcsik et al.
Here is a report and some recommendations from the Program
Committee (PC) of the inaugural meeting of ALT, held September
7-10 l995 in Vitoria-Gasteiz.
A. MEMBERS OF THE COMMITTEE
The PC consisted of the following seven members:
Pier Marco Bertinetto (Pisa)
Greville Corbett (Surrey)
Nick Evans (Melbourne)
Aleksandr Kibrik (Moscow)
Gilbert Lazard (Paris)
Edith Moravcsik (Milwaukee) /Chair/
Miren Lourdes Onederra (Vitoria-Gasteiz)
In addition, ALT officers Frans Plank and Johan van der Auwera
were consulted during the whole process.
B. SCHEDULE OF ACTIVITIES
The deadline for abstracts was May 31 l995. By shortly after that
date, 55 abstracts were received by the chair of the PC involving
62 (co-)authors. The abstracts were copied and sent out
anonymously to PC members by early June along with a score sheet.
The score sheet listed the abstracts by number and offered three
scores: 3 -- accept by all means; 2 -- may be accepted; 1 --
reject by all means. Some PC members chose to use fraction
scores. PC members were asked to send their rankings to the Chair
by June 19. The Chair then compiled all scores (including her own
even though those were arrived at non-anonymously), came up with
an overall ranking, and transmitted these materials to the
members. Based on the rankings, she then proposed a division of
abstract writers into three groups: those accepted, those
rejected, and those chosen as alternates, and sent a draft
program to members. Through the benefit of comments by PC members
and ALT officers, the draft was subsequently revised and
finalized by about the end of June. Of the 55 papers submitted,
35 were selected for inclusion. Acceptees and rejectees were
notified immediately. Alternates were not directly apprised of
their status: instead, after a few of the acceptees reported back
saying they could not come to the meeting, some alternates were
sent regular letters of acceptance. Once the entire program was
finalized, the remaining alternates were told of their status and
asked if they would be willing to stand by in case of last-minute
cancellations. Only one alternate ended up being called upon to
fill in for a late cancellation and there was only one
late-cancelled paper whose slot, because of the shortness of
time, could not be filled.) The program was thematically
structured, with two-to-four-hour sessions devoted to each
specific topic featured as the session's title. The sequence of
the topical units was more or less random and so was the order
of the papers within units.
C. MODE OF COMMUNICATION WITHIN THE COMMITTEE
Except for the initial mailing of the abstracts to members via
air mail, all other communication was by e-mail or fax. All but
one member were on e-mail.
D. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FUTURE ALT PROGRAM COMMITTEES
In the course of discussions among PC members after the meeting,
the following recommendations emerged:
1/ SCORING ABSTRACTS
In the course of the abstract evaluation process preceding ALT
1, PC members were told to refrain from scoring the abstracts
that they authored themselves and simply leave the score slot
blank. As a result, in the summary chart presenting all scores
by all referees it was immediately clear which abstracts came
from PC members. Thus, one PC member proposed that, in the
future, referees should be asked to score their own abstracts at
"3" (or whatever the optimal score would be). In this way, the
composite chart would fully protect the identity of the scorers
and thus PC members could carry out the final selection of the
papers without any sense of discomfort. A consequence--perhaps
a minor disadvantage--would be that a referee who is out of line
would not be identifiable.
2/ TIME PERIOD BETWEEN ABSTRACT DEADLINE AND CONFERENCE DATE
One PC member suggested that it would be better to allow more
than three months between the abstract deadline and the time of
the conference for the selection of the abstracts and the
construction and distribution of the program.
3/ HANDOUT DISTRIBUTION
All speakers of a single session should be asked to put out their
handouts by the time the session begins. This should reduce
turmoil in the beginning of each paper: since people will not
have to scurry to pick up handouts at the door or reach for
handouts distributed by hand. (And, by the way, we apparently
failed to let know alternates who stepped into the program late
how many handouts to bring. Those accepted directly were told to
bring about a 100.)
4/ INVITED SPEAKER
One PC member proposed it would be useful for each meeting to
feature an outstanding typologist who would present a longer
paper. This would have the triple advantage of providing for a
central theme for the meeting, rendering the meetings more
distinct from each other, and attracting additional audience.
Although this would involve some expense, it is likely that, at
least for the first few years, linguists devoted to the cause of
typology would come on their own money.
5/ CHAIR'S DUTIES
One PC member remarked that there were some questions and
comments offered at ALT 1 which were inconsequential. In such
cases, chairs should be encouraged to stop the person commenting
at length. It nonetheless needs to be weighed whether such
forceful interventions would be worth the possible tension that
may result and the erosion of the otherwise friendly and
egalitarian spirit of the meeting.
6/ MORE FOCUS TO THE SESSIONS
The idea was raised of focussing the thematic sessions. At ALT
1, even though the papers within sessions did have a topical
link, their common denominator was sometimes less than obvious.
Papers rarely referred to each other and no effort was made to
draw final conclusions from the talks of a given session. To make
sure that papers provide a cumulative, rather than disjoint,
experience, and that sessions exhibit a more purposeful
progression, future PCs could do the following:
-- CIRCULATE PAPERS IN ADVANCE
The abstracts of the papers scheduled for a single topical
session--and, preferably, the handouts and/or papers
themselves--could be circulated in advance among the speakers in
that session. Speakers could be encouraged to relate their own
results to those of the others.
-- HIGHLIGHT GENERALIZATIONS
Speakers could also be encouraged to highlight typological
generalizations in their handouts, perhaps by listing them all
at the end.
-- INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY
At the outset of each topical session, the session chair (or
perhaps another designated person) could briefly outline the
issues associated with the topic and in particular those to be
addressed in the papers. At the end of the session, the same
person could summarize the results that emerged from the papers
highlighting agreements and conflicts and noting issues left
open.
There are certain considerations that militate against the idea
of tightening the thematic sessions in this manner. These are the
following: =20
a/ It is not really necessary to have somebody draw conclusions.
Converging or contrasting points of the papers are better left
to emerge in subsequent informal discussions among participants
or to be drawn by individuals on their own.
b/ One reason why it is not even desirable to have a summary
after each session is that the person to provide the summary is
likely to introduce some bias.=20
c/ Another factor that distracts from the desirability of
introductions and summaries for the sessions is that this would
take time away from the papers.
d/ If there is to be someone to introduce and summarize each
thematic session, that person should be someone other than the
chair. Chairs, as was the case at ALT 1, should be selected from
the host institution and the selection may take place late; the
person in charge of the session, however, should be selected
early and should be an expert in the topic.
7/ THEMATIC DAY
One PC member suggested that the idea of more tightly structured
paper sets may be more appropriately applied to a portion of the
conference only rather than to each thematic session. While every
ALT meeting is already planned to devote one day to a/the local
language, it was suggested that each should have also a thematic
day taking up topics such as "typology and the lexicon" or "the
limits of typological diversity within the diasystem" (these two
specifically proposed for the next two ALT meetings). The papers
scheduled for the thematic day would be circulated among the
speakers of the day. Presentations would be prefaced by a brief
introductory talk outlining the issues and also by a summary. The
pre-circulation of papers that this schema would require may be
more easily implemented if meetings were to be biennial rather
than held yearly. The remaining days of the conference could then
be more loosely structured, possibly even without thematic
sessions, so that papers that do not fit in with each other but
are nonetheless interesting could be properly accommodated.
11. Possible ALT Workshops
As previously announced, to inconsiderable acclaim (but then
there was ALT 1 to look forward to), there are plans for the
following workshops:
--Kartvelian Workshop (Jena, 14-18 December 1995);
--Typology and Naturalness' (Graz, mid-August 1996);
--European Regional Languages: Typological Profiles (Antwerpen,
winter 1996-97).
If interested, soon contact Frans Plank
(frans.plank at uni-konstanz.de), Bernhard Hurch
(hurch at bkfug.kfunigraz.ac.at), and Johan van der Auwera
(auwera at uia.ua.ac.be), respectively.
When you plan events that bear on typology, let ALT know and we'd
certainly help you publicize them.
12. Prizes
At the Business Meeting straw votes were held about prize-giving
priorities since it was felt that awarding as many as two prizes
each year, as suggested in the Charter, might be overdoing it,
for one reason or another. There was a clear majority concerning
the desirability of a junior award (yes: 18; no: 2; don't care:
10), while the prevailing attitude towards the senior award was
indifference (yes: 3; no: 4; don't care: 23).
13. Logo
The search for an ALT logo is still on. Rack your brains for
something (a) less trite and ideological than the Tower of Babel,
(b) less logical than the universal quantifier, (c) more bucolic
than the ALT-key on your computer keyboard, and (d) more
recherch=E9 and less epic than the word "typology" in 375
typologically representative languages.
Frans Plank Johan van der Auwera
Sprachwissenschaft Linguistiek (GER)
Universitaet Konstanz Universiteit Antwerpen (UIA)
Postfach 5560
D-78434 Konstanz B-2610 Antwerpen
Germany Belgium
frans.plank at uni-konstanz.de auwera at uia.ua.ac.be [NEW!]
fax: +49-7531-882741 fax: +32-3-8202762 [NEW!]
-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-
APPENDIX
PART 1. MANAGEMENT STRUCTURE AND OFFICERS
A. MANAGEMENT STRUCTURE
I APPROVE / DISAPPROVE of the management stucture of ALT as
suggested in the ALT News No. 9, =A77.1.
Especially for disapprovers:
I suggest the following changes:=20
B. Officers
I APPROVE / DISAPPROVE of the entire slate of ALT officers
nominated, as listed in the ALT News No. 9, =A77.2.=20
Especially for disapprovers:
I suggest the following changes:
PART 2. PREFERRED RHYTHM, VENUES, AND DATES OF MEETINGS
A. How Often?
I am in favour of holding ALT meetings aNNUALLY /BIANNUALLY /
ANNUALLY OR BIANNUALLY, DEPENDING ON CIRCUMSTANCES / WHENEVER.
B. Which Continent Next?
I would prefer the next, i.e. 1996 or 1997 ALT meeting to be held
in EUROPE / ELSEWHERE / ANYWHERE.
C. Where Elsewhere?
My preferred venue for the next ALT meeting outside Europe is
INDONESIA / MILWAUKEE / WHEREVER ALT GETS THE BEST DEAL.
D. When?
It would be (next to) impossible for me to attend ALT meetings=20
IN LATE SEPTEMBER / IN EARLY SEPTEMBER / IN LATE AUGUST /=20
IN EARLY OCTOBER.
Cross out what is inappropriate and return the two pages of the
Appendix by 19 November 1995 to Johan van der Auwera, Linguistiek
(GER), Universiteit Antwerpen (UIA), B-2610 Antwerpen, Belgium;
Fax: +32-3-8202762; E-mail: auwera at uia.ua.ac.be.
=0CMEMBERSHIP FORM - I would like to join the Association for
Linguistic Typology (ALT), with my membership beginning in 1995.
I pay my membership dues with=20
Eurocheque / US cheque / bank transfer.
Date: Signature:
Surname, first name(s): ...................................
Office address: ......................................
=20
............................................................
Office phone: .........................................
Office fax: ..........................................
E-mail: ................................................
Position: ................................................
Salaried: yes / no
Home address: ..........................................
..........................................................
Home phone: ..........................................
Home fax: ..........................................
Language expertise: ................................
=20
Special interests: ...................................
...........................................................
Return this form (with cheque) to: Johan van der Auwera,
Linguistiek (GER), Universiteit Antwerpen (UIA), B-2610 Wilrijk,
Belgium=20
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