From Thursday, January 2, 2014, through Sunday, January 5, the American Dialect Society will hold its next annual meeting at the Hilton Minneapolis, hosted as usual by the Linguistic Society of America.
Monday, August 12, is the deadline for proposals for 20-minute presentations. All you need is a title and an abstract of 150 to 300 words. Send it via e-mail to Executive Secretary Allan Metcalf at americandialect@mac.edu.
This year a poster session will be available. If you prefer to present at a poster session, please say so with your proposal.
This year LSA begins its program right after New Year’s Day. (See below.) That may be too early for some travelers, so the schedule for the meeting has been extended. With your proposal, please state the days you would be available. This will not be a consideration for acceptance.
Presenters must be current members of the American Dialect Society.
Audio-visual equipment: An LCD projector with sound will be available for all presentations, along with a microphone. If you will need other equipment, please say so when you send your proposal.
Scheduling: The meeting will follow this schedule:
Thursday, January 2: Program session in late afternoon, followed by Words of the Year nominations.
Friday, January 3: Programs sessions in morning. Executive Council and annual business meeting in late morning. Program sessions in afternoon. Words of the Year vote and Bring-Your-Own-Book reception in early evening.
Saturday, January 4: Program sessions in morning and afternoon; Annual Luncheon in between.
Sunday, January 5: Possible program sessions.
Proposals will be judged anonymously by a committee chaired by Robert Bayley, ADS president-elect. If your proposal is accepted, you’ll be asked for an abstract of no more than 200 words for the LSA program.
Teaching panel: As usual, the ADS Committee on Teaching will sponsor a panel at the annual meeting. If you would like to propose a 20-minute talk, send your proposal directly to the chair of the Committee on Teaching, Anne Curzan, at acurzan@umich.edu. Her deadline is also August 12.
Session chairs: If you’re interested in chairing a session, let the Executive Secretary know at americandialect@mac.edu. Tell him any preference you have for time or topic.
Travel grant for ADS member: The third annual Audrey Duckert Memorial Travel Award of $500 to attend the Annual Meeting will be given to an ADS member. The recipient will be chosen by ADS President Jesse Sheidlower. Applications in the form of a letter to President Sheidlower will be due after the program for the Annual Meeting has been determined. Audrey Duckert was a long-time member of ADS and co-founder of the Dictionary of American Regional English.
Travel grants for students: Four travel grants of $500 each will be awarded to students whose papers have been chosen for the program. Furthermore, all students who are members of ADS are invited to attend the Annual Luncheon for free.
Hotel and registration: ADS members will be eligible to reserve rooms and register for the meeting at LSA member rates. For details see the website www.lsadc.org.
Future LSA-ADS meetings: Hilton San Francisco Union Square, Jan. 8-11, 2015; Washington (D.C.) Marriott Marquis, Jan. 7-10, 2016.
Words of the Year: As we have done for two decades now, we will choose candidates for Word of the Year on Thursday and vote for our WOTY the next day, with our Bring Your Own Book exhibit and reception immediately following. If you have a nominee for WOTY 2011, you can send it to our New Words Committee chair, Benjamin Zimmer, at bzimmer@thinkmap.com.