BUCLD 31 - Call for papers

[BUCLD]

CALL FOR PAPERS

THE 31st ANNUAL BOSTON UNIVERSITY CONFERENCE ON LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT
NOVEMBER 3-5, 2006

Keynote Speakers:
Roberta Golinkoff, University of Delaware
Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, Temple University
"Breaking the Language Barrier: The View from the Radical Middle"

Plenary Speaker:
Jürgen M. Meisel, University of Hamburg & University of Calgary
“Multiple First Language Acquisition:
A Case for Autonomous Syntactic Development in the Simultaneous 
Acquisition of More Than One Language”

Lunch Symposium:
“Future Directions in Search of Genes that Influence Language:
Phenotypes, Molecules, Brains, and Growth”
Mabel Rice, University of Kansas
Helen Tager-Flusberg, Boston University
Simon Fisher, University of Oxford
Discussant: Gary Marcus, New York University 


All topics in the fields of first and second language acquisition from 
all theoretical perspectives will be fully considered, including:

* Bilingualism
* Cognition & Language
* Creoles & Pidgins
* Dialects
* Discourse
* Exceptional Language
* Gesture
* Hearing Impairment and Deafness
* Input & Interaction
* Language Disorders
* Linguistic Theory (Syntax, Semantics, Phonology, Morphology, Lexicon)
* Literacy & Narrative
* Neurolinguistics
* Pragmatics
* Pre-linguistic Development
* Signed Languages
* Sociolinguistics
* Speech Perception & Production
Presentations will be 20 minutes long followed by a 10 minute question 
period. Posters will be on display for a full day with two attended 
sessions during the day.

ABSTRACT FORMAT AND CONTENT

Abstracts submitted must represent original, unpublished research.
Abstracts should be anonymous, clearly titled and no more than 450 
words in length. They should also fit on one page, with an optional 
second page for references or figures if required. Abstracts longer 
than 450 words will be rejected without being evaluated. Please note 
the word count at the bottom of the abstract. Note that words counts 
need not include the abstract title or the list of references.

A suggested format and style for abstracts is available at:
http://www.bu.edu/linguistics/APPLIED/BUCLD/template.html

An excellent example of how to formulate the content of the abstract 
can be found on the LSA website at:
http://www.lsadc.org/info/dec02bulletin/model.html

The criteria used by the reviewers to evaluate abstracts can be found 
at:
  http://www.bu.edu/linguistics/APPLIED/BUCLD/reviewprocess.html#rate


All abstracts must be submitted as PDF documents. Specific instructions 
for how to create PDF documents are available at:
http://www.bu.edu/linguistics/APPLIED/BUCLD/pdfinfo.html.
If you encounter a problem creating a PDF file, please contact us for 
further assistance.
Please use the first author's last name as the file name (eg. 
Smith.pdf). No author information should appear anywhere in the 
contents of the PDF file itself.

SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS

Electronic submission: To facilitate the abstract submission process, 
abstracts will be submitted using the form available at the conference 
website at http://www.bu.edu/linguistics/APPLIED/BUCLD/abstract.htm.
Specific instructions for abstract submission are available on this 
website.
Abstracts will be accepted between April 1 and May 15.
Contact information for each author must be submitted via webform. No 
author information should appear anywhere in the abstract PDF.
At the time of submission you will be asked whether you would like your 
abstract to be considered for a poster, a paper, or both.
Although each author may submit as many abstracts as desired, we will 
accept for presentation by each author: (a) a maximum of 1 first 
authored paper/poster, and (b) a maximum of 2 papers/posters in any 
authorship status. Note that no changes in authorship (including 
deleting an author or changing author order) will be possible after the 
review process is completed or for publication in the conference 
proceedings.

DEADLINE

All submissions must be received by 8:00 PM EST, May 15, 2006.
Late abstracts will not be considered, whatever the reason for the 
delay.
We regret that we cannot accept abstract submissions by fax or email.
Submissions via surface mail will only be accepted in special 
circumstances, on a case by case basis. Please contact us well in 
advance of the submission deadline (May 15, 2006) to make these 
arrangements.

ABSTRACT SELECTION

Each abstract is blind reviewed by 5 reviewers from a panel of 
approximately 100 international scholars. Further information about the 
review process is available  at 
http://www.bu.edu/linguistics/APPLIED/BUCLD/reviewprocess.html.
Acknowledgment of receipt of the abstract will be sent by email as soon 
as possible after receipt. Notice of acceptance or rejection will be 
sent to first authors only, in early August, by email. Pre-registration 
materials and preliminary schedule will be available in late August, 
2006.
If your abstract is accepted, you will need to submit a 150-word 
abstract including title, author(s) and affiliation(s) for inclusion in 
the conference handbook. Guidelines will be provided along with 
notification of acceptance.
Abstracts accepted as papers will be invited for publication in the 
BUCLD Proceedings. Abstracts accepted as posters will be invited for 
publication online only, but not in the printed version.
All conference papers will be selected on the basis of abstracts 
submitted. Although each abstract will be evaluated individually, we 
will attempt to honor requests to schedule accepted papers together in 
group sessions. No schedule changes will be possible once the schedule 
is set. Scheduling requests for religious reasons only must be made 
before the review process is complete (i.e. at the time of submission). 
A space is provided on the abstract submission webform to specify such 
requests.

FURTHER INFORMATION

Information regarding the conference may be accessed on the BUCLD 
website:
http://www.bu.edu/linguistics/APPLIED/BUCLD/
Boston University Conference on Language Development
96 Cummington Street, Room 244
Boston, MA 02215
U.S.A.
Telephone: (617) 353-3085
e-mail: langconf at bu.edu