SHEL-1

[Robert Stockwell]

Studies in the History of the English Language: SHEL-1
http://www.humnet.ucla.edu/SHEL/

        Place:  UCLA
        Date:   May 26-28, 2000
First Session: Friday Evening Inauguration Lecture

Second and Third Sessions: Saturday Morning and Afternoon

Conference Banquet and Second Plenary: Saturday Evening

Fourth Session: Sunday Morning

Purpose and Objectives:
        In Europe the biennial conferences known as ICEHL (International
Conference on English Historical Linguistics) have served the field of
English Language Studies well, giving the field both focus and recognition
that it almost certainly would not have achieved otherwise. These
conferences have taken place at leading English Language research centers
over the past twenty years, each conference organized and managed by the
faculty of the conference site: Durham, Odense, Sheffield, Amsterdam,
Cambridge, Helsinki, Valencia, Edinburgh, Poznan, Manchester.
        In North America, despite the presence of many major scholars in
the field, Historical English Linguistics -- the History of the English
Language told in the light of contemporary linguistic sophistication -- has
not emerged with the same kind of recognizable personality. Many scholars
who do this kind of work are to a significant extent servants also of other
fields such as general linguistics, medieval studies, dialectology, applied
linguistics, and teacher training.
        What we hope to do by organizing SHEL is begin to provide the same
kind of focus for English Historical Linguistics in North America as the
focus achieved in Europe by the ICEHL series, in North America for Germanic
Linguistics by GLAC (Germanic Linguistics Annual Conference), for American
Dialectology by the American Dialect Society, for Social Dialectology by
NWAVE, and of course for General Linguistics by the LSA. We are not in
competition with any of these series or organizations; we believe, however,
that a weekend meeting dedicated entirely to linguistic issues in the
History of English will be an energizing and useful academic experience. We
begin modestly: a non-existent budget, no organization, just a conference.
Anne Curzan is organizing a pedagogical worshop at SHEL-1, parallel with
the research-oriented sessions, and will host SHEL-2 in Seattle. A SHEL-3
offer has already emerged; a brief organizational meeting may be necessary
to plan future events.

Featured Speakers: Richard Bailey (Michigan), Thomas Cable (Texas), Anthony
Kroch (Penn), Elizabeth Traugott (Stanford)

Featured Topic: The year 2000 is a good time to take stock: in additional
to the general historical English language topics addressed at the meeting,
we have asked our featured speakers, and we hereby ask all our
participants, to focus on the accomplishments and failures in their areas
in the past hundred years, and also to direct their attention toward
problems the field has failed to solve and that therefore remain for the
21st century. In that sense, we are convening a "millennium" event in the
hope that it will energize and possibly redirect the course of historical
English language research in America.

Abstract Deadline: December 15, 1999. Our preliminary plan is to allow all
participants twenty minutes for presentation, with an additional ten
minutes of discussion. Please send one page abstracts in three copies,
single-spaced Times Roman, 6-inch lines, one-inch margins top and bottom
(these will be included in the conference Handbook) to:
                        Professor Donka Minkova
                        Department of English, UCLA
                        405 Hilgard Avenue
                        Los Angeles, CA 90095

Advisory Committee: Noriko Akatsuka, Henning Andersen, Anne Curzan, Ed
Keenan, Henry Ansgar Kelly, Christopher Stevens

Workshop: While we wish to keep the focus of the conference clearly on the
research aspects of this field, we recognize that most of the likely
participants are engaged professionally in the teaching of courses on the
history of English. Anne Curzan is therefore organizing a workshop focused
on an area of particular pedagogical concern to the participants.
Prospective participants should contact: ACurzan at u.washington.edu.
Social Events: On Friday Evening, May 26, the UCLA Linguistics Department
will host a reception for all participants as a retirement occasion in
honor of Robert Stockwell, whose lecture that evening will also inaugurate
the Conference. A Saturday evening Banquet option will be included in the
registration package. Reservations for the new J. Paul Getty Museum near
UCLA for those interested will be made for Friday, May 26 at 11 a.m.
Travel and Accommodation: All major airlines fly into Los Angeles. The area
airport closest to UCLA is Los Angeles International (LAX). We are
exploring accommodation options, but we don't expect to be able to offer
single occupancy en-suite rooms at less than $80 per night. Further travel
and hotel details will be provided in January 2000.

We are looking forward to welcoming you at UCLA.
Registration form available on http://www.humnet.ucla.edu/SHEL/