2009 Athabaskan Languages Conference

[James Crippen]

Posted on the Linguist List. Note that this is concurrent with the LSA
Summer Institute at Berkeley, where Keren Rice will be teaching a
class titled "Athabaskan Linguistic Structures".

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Date: 10-Jul-2009 - 12-Jul-2009
Location: Berkeley, CA, USA
Contact Person: Justin Spence
Meeting Email: alc09berkeley.edu
Web Site: http://www.uaf.edu/anlc/alc/

Athabaskan Languages Conference
July 10-12, 2009
University of California, Berkeley

Call for Papers

Deadline: April 1, 2009

Abstracts are invited for 30-minute presentations in all areas of
Dene/Athabaskan linguistics, language documentation, language teaching, language
policy, and language revitalization. Presentations addressing the themes of the
conference are particularly welcome.

General Session
Papers submitted for the general session may address any topic related to
Dene/Athabaskan languages and linguistics. Especially encouraged are
presentations focusing on the theme "Information Technology and Language
Documentation," which will explore how emerging digital tools and methodologies
can be used to further the goals of community language programs. The meeting
will include a workshop on digital archiving geared towards community language
documenters.

In addition to individual presentations, proposals for group or panel
discussions are also welcome.

Special Session A: Athabaskan Origins
Recent scholarship has found evidence suggesting that Dene languages may be
related to the Yeniseian languages of Siberia. The primary aim of this session
is to stimulate critical discussion of these proposals. Papers addressing other
topics in the history and development of the Dene languages are invited as well,
including those drawing on evidence from fields such as archaeology, genetics,
and demography.

Invited Speakers
- Yuri Berezkin (Kunstkamera, St. Petersburg)
- Bernard Comrie (Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig)
- John Ives (University of Alberta)
- James Kari (Alaska Native Language Center)
- Jeff Leer (Alaska Native Language Center)
- Johanna Nichols (University of California, Berkeley)
- Edward Vajda (Western Washington University)

Special Session B: Toponyms
A second special session will focus on the structure, history, and cultural
significance of placenames in Dene languages. This session seeks to broaden the
empirical scope of comparative work in this area and to foster discussion among
researchers and community groups interested in documenting toponymic knowledge.

Submission Guidelines

Deadline
Abstracts must be received electronically by 5:00 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time,
Wednesday, April 1, 2009.

No late submissions can be accepted. Authors will be notified of (non-)
acceptance by Friday, May 1, 2009.

Formatting
Abstracts must fit on one page in 12-point font with 1" margins. So that the
review process can remain anonymous, authors should not include their names or
otherwise reveal their identity on this page, and instead include identifying
information in the body of an email accompanying the submission. References may
be included on a separate page if necessary.

Submissions
All abstracts must be submitted electronically as PDF or Word documents (PDF is
required if the submission contains special fonts). Abstracts should be sent to
alc09 at berkeley.edu. The body of the accompanying email should include the title
of the paper and the names and contact information (phone and email) for all
authors of the presentation.

Presentation and Publication
Presentations are allotted 20 minutes plus 10 minutes for questions. Presented
papers will be published as a volume of the Alaska Native Language Center
Working Papers.