From Thursday, January 7, 2010, through Saturday, January 9, the American Dialect Society will hold its next annual meeting, hosted as usual by the Linguistic Society of America, at the new Hilton Baltimore, 401 West Pratt Street in Baltimore, Maryland.

Monday, August 10 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 .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). Presenters must be current members of the American Dialect Society. Audio-visual equipment: Two items of equipment will be available for all presentations: an LCD projector, and, new this year, a direct audio connection to the speaker system so that sound files on computers may be played. If you will need other equipment such as an overhead projector, please say so when you send your proposal. Scheduling: If you have a preference for day or time of your presentation, please indicate that too. We cannot guarantee the time you prefer, but the program committee will try to accommodate you. The meeting will follow our customary schedule: Thursday, January 7: Executive Council and annual business meeting in the afternoon. Program session in late afternoon, followed by Words of the Year nominations. Friday, January 8: Programs sessions in morning and afternoon. Words of the Year vote and Bring-Your-Own-Book reception in the early evening. Saturday, January 9: Program sessions in morning and afternoon; Annual Luncheon in between. Proposals will be judged anonymously by a committee chaired by Luanne von Schneidemesser, 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. Session chairs: If you’re interested in chairing a session, let the Executive Secretary know at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). Tell him any preference you have for time or topic. Special sessions: If you’re interested in proposing an entire session rather than an individual paper, don’t wait till August, but send a proposal now to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). You don’t need to wait till you have a full formal proposal. Teaching panel: The ADS Committee on Teaching may sponsor a panel at the annual meeting. If you would like to propose a 20-minute talk for that panel, send your proposal directly to the chair of the Committee on Teaching, Anne Curzan, at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). Her deadline is also August 10. Specially 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, whether or not they are presenting papers, 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 http://www.lsadc.org. Future LSA-ADS meetings: 2011 Pittsburgh, Jan. 6–9; 2012 Portland, Jan. 5–8; 2013 place to be determined, Jan. 3–6; 2014 Minneapolis, Jan. 2–5. All meetings will be at Hiltons. Word of the Year: At this meeting, in addition to choosing Words of the Year just past, that is, words of 2009, we will also have the solemn responsibility of choosing a Word of the Decade 2000–2009. See the ADS website for details: https://americandialect.org.