Linguist List Fund Drive

[Mary Bucholtz]

Dear all,

The following message is forwarded from the Linguist List, which has
generously hosted DISCOURS since its inception. We urge all of you to
contribute what you can to the fund drive to help support this valuable
resource.

Thanks,

Chris, James, Laura, Mary
The DISCOURS Co-owners
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Dear Linguists,

Spring is in the air, and our annual LINGUIST Fund Drive is now
officially under way. With more than 13,500 subscribers in 102
countries worldwide, LINGUIST is probably the most widely read
linguistic publication in the world. In the final days of 1999 we were
proud to have posted a record 2000th issue for the year. As the year
2000 ended, however, we found we had posted a staggering 2,797 issues!
Moreover, LINGUIST receives over two million hits per week on the
World Wide Web, has over 2,000 pages of data (most of which are linked
to hundreds of other linguistic and linguistics-related websites), and
we archive 80 linguistic and language related lists! As you can see,
we are growing at an enormous pace; and of course, all of this takes
money. As a non-profit academic list, LINGUIST depends on your help to
support the nine student editors and one student programmer who work
to deliver the services you've become accustomed to--and also to
develop the new services you suggest.

In an attempt to make this year's Fund Drive more fun (i.e. less
annoying), we've introduced three new features:

	1. Virtual entertainment! Check out the slide show entitled
	"The LINGUIST Fund Drive Experience" to see and hear the entire
	LINGUIST crew (and more) singing the Fund Drive Anthem. Just go
	to the LINGUIST Home Page, find the "Singing Pig", and click for
	this sophisticated production!

	2. "Baby LINGUIST" t-shirts! In addition to the snazzy adult tees,
	we now have toddler sizes 2-4 for your budding linguist! See them at:

	http://linguistlist.org/baby.html

	3. You have the power to end the Fund Drive! Yes, as soon as
	we hit our goal of $40,000, there will be no more Fund Drive messages!
	See how we're doing at:

	http://linguistlist.org/funddrive.html

On a more serious note--Why donate to LINGUIST? As a subscriber, you
enjoy the convenience of having announcements of New Books and
Journals, Conferences, and Calls for Papers sent to your own email
account. We also provide you with Book Reviews, The Notice Board, and
access to stimulating linguistics Discussions. When you need
information for your research, you can ask 13,000 of your colleagues
for help through the Queries issues. You can also search our Directory
of 475 Dissertation Abstracts, the Directory of Undergraduate and
Graduate Linguistics Programs, and the Directory of Linguists. You can
refer your students and non-linguist friends to Ask-A-Linguist for
answers to their language-related questions. And with what has
arguably become our most popular topic of all, you can receive
announcements of hundreds of linguistics jobs in your personal mail.

We hope you feel that these services have already contributed
significantly to your teaching and research. But we have also been
hard at work this year implementing innovations and improvements. Last
year we told you about our initiative to archive multiple linguistics
and language-related mailing lists on our site. We now archive 80
linguistics lists, which you can see at:

http://linguistlist.org/list-archives.html

We have also implemented a "one-click" search command so that you can
search all 80 lists, or a subset thereof, with a single search
command, tracking down in one operation all mailing list postings
relevant to your research:

http://listserv.linguistlist.org/multilist/searchall.html

And we plan to unveil, within a month or two, the newly designed
and user-friendly LINGUIST home page.

Many of these developments are a result of suggestions from you,
our subscribers. We asked for your input and you graciously
responded. And now we ask for your support. If you agree that
LINGUIST is as useful to the profession as we like to think, please
respond with a donation. It is only through your support that we can
pay our student editors and programmers; and the students are
what keep us in operation.

Eastern Michigan University and Wayne State University support
us generously with machine maintenance, office space and
equipment, Internet connections, administrative help, and 2 student
assistantships.  But we'll have 10 students to fund; and we need
$40,000 in all to fund them.  We have already collected $12,976
thanks to the generosity of the persons and organizations listed at
the end of this message.  But we must raise the remaining amount
during this week's fund drive.

Last year 290 individual subscribers gave us a total of $16,551. This
year, we hope to persuade many more of our 13,500 subscribers to add
their personal contributions to the donations and support we get from
organizations, to help us collect $27,024. We also hope to do it in a
week (or less), so that we do not need to disturb you again and again
throughout the year with calls for donations.

You can donate by credit card at
http://linguistlist.org/donation.html

or you can send a check made out to "The Linguist Editorial
Support Fund" to:

	The LINGUIST Editorial Support Fund
	c/o Helen Aristar-Dry
	Dept. of English Language and Linguistic
	Eastern Michigan University
	Ypsilanti, MI 48197

Or you can simply hit "Reply" to this message, make a pledge by
email, and send your check later. Then we will be able to list you
immediately as one of our donors; and we may be able to reach our goal
(and halt these Fund Drive messages) a bit earlier.

In return for a donation of $25 or more, we would like to send you a
snazzy, dark blue LINGUIST T-shirt or sweatshirt. These were a big
hit at the Linguistic Society of America convention, and many of
you asked us where you could get one.  So go to:

http://linguistlist.org/funddrive.html

for styles and prices, as well as photos of our fashion-conscious
staff modeling this oh-so-elegant casual attire!  Remember, if you
want a shirt, be sure to include your size, style preference, and a
snail-mail address with your check or email pledge.

Before closing we would like to express our sincere gratitude to those
who have already sent in a 2001 donation, as well as to those who
stopped by our "office" at the LSA convention and made a
donation. Their names are listed on our website at:

http://linguistlist.org/contributors.html.

It was truly heartening to meet you and hear your encouraging words
about LINGUIST.


Thank you in advance for your 2001 donation.

The LINGUIST Staff:  Anthony, Andrew, Helen, John, Terry, Simin,
Karen, Lydia, Naomi, James, Michael, Ljuba, Jody, Marie, Gayathri,
and Heather