Conference call: State Linguistic Profile Conference, Columbus, O H, May 2001 (explicit reference to panels on "importance of heritage lang uage study")

[Scott McGinnis]

ANNOUNCING:

State Linguistic Profile Conference
May 11-13, 2001
Columbus, Ohio

Organized by Brian D. Joseph, Ohio State University
     and     Dennis Preston, Michigan State University

Sponsored by The State Linguistic Profiles Conference is sponsored by
the Institute for Collaborative Research and Public Humanities (Ohio
State University) and the Centerfor Great Lakes Culture (Michigan
State University), with the support of Heritage Language Studies (Ohio
State University)

Purpose/Goals of the Conference To date, despite the fact that several
states in the Midwest present rather striking linguistic diversity in
the face of the obvious and overwhelming dominance of English, there
have been no serious studies documenting the range of languages found
in these states or the uses to which these languages are typically put
by their speakers.  The questions asked in the US Census, for
instance, barely scratch the surface, and leave numerous important
sociolinguistic and ethnolinguistic issues unaddressed.  As part of a
larger project to develop a series of "State Linguistic Profiles", a
conference is being convened at the Ohio State University, jointly
sponsored by Michigan State University, to explore the richness of the
linguistic diversity in Ohio and in Michigan, as models of what a
"state linguistic profile" might involve and reveal.  Accordingly,
there will be status reports on a select number of languages in these
states, papers presenting research findings concerning the stru!
cture and use of various languages in Ohio and Michigan, presentations
addressing methodological issues confronting researchers in these
areas, and panel discussions on the importance of heritage language
study and on varieties of English found here.

Speakers include Beverly Flanigan, Neil Jacobs, Miklos Kontra, Jaap
van Marle, Norma Mendoza-Denton, Terrell Morgan, John Nichols, Amy
Shuman, and others

For fuller details regarding the venue and the program, please contact
the organizers (joseph.1 at osu.edu // preston at pilot.msu.edu) or visit
the conference website
(http://www.allmidwest.org/beta/eventpromo/slpc/index.html).