IJAL Editors’ annual report for 2015

IJAL Editors’ annual report for 2015

  

The current make up of editorial boards:

Associate EditorsJohn Alderete (Simon Fraser University)Amy Dahlstrom (University of Chicago)Caleb Everett (University of Miami)Rodrigo Gutiérrez Bravo (Colegio de México)Lisa Matthewson (University of British Columbia)Enrique Palancar (University of Surrey)Siri Tuttle (University of Alaska)Leo Wetzels (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)Alan C. L. Yu (University of Chicago)Editorial Advisory BoardWillem Adelaar (University of Leiden)Matthew Gordon (University of California—Santa Barbara)Eric Hamp (University of Chicago)Harriet Klein (State University of New York—Stony Brook)Paulette Levy (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México)Steve Marlett (SIL International)Monica Macaulay (University of Wisconsin—Madison)Keren Rice (University of Toronto)David Rood (University of Colorado)We appreciate the hard work of the Associate Editors, and thank everyone for their efforts. Since the work is quite intense, we will generally be asking people to serve three-year terms. This means that we will regularly be seeking new volunteers to take on this role. People who think they might be interested down the road are encouraged to let us know—if not, stand-by to be button-holed.

Our Book Review Editor continues to be Willem de Reuse, and Adam Werle is the Editorial Assistant. Alma Dean Kolb continues as the Managing Editor and keeps the operation afloat.

Submissions and editorial policy:

This year we handled a total of 72 new papers. We have accepted 18 papers this year and rejected 17 (not including papers rejected for being outside the scope of the journal), for a rate of 51% acceptance. There are currently 42 active papers (including 5 from last year) under revision/review.

We continue to be concerned about the length of the production queue, which is still currently around one year from acceptance to publication.

The transition to the Editorial Manager (EM) electronic submission system is complete, though there continue to be a few hiccups from time to time.

State of the journal:

The journal continues to be in good financial shape and goes well from a business perspective. The publisher is happy with us.

The journal now offers on-line purchase of individual articles, and is available for subscribers in HTML format, which is more-or-less readable on mobile devices, and in eBook format for those who want to purchase individual issues. Subscriptions are available at a 50% discount to SSILA members, who can opt to include the subscription in their membership.

The the citation-rates for articles (impact factor) has improved slightly over last year, though we are still well below our highs of a few years back. This might be a concern for contributors from institutions that use these measures in performance evaluations, so please cite our articles as often as you can.

NATS/TILA:

The first volume of the new TILA series was scheduled for production this January, but has been delayed. We hope to release it in July. Because the original publication cycle we set up for this project (approximately 8 months from acceptance to final submission) was short, we slected another volume from the original call for the second issue of TILA. This should be ready to for release in January 2017, with subsequent volumes of TILA appearing regularly along with the first IJAL issue of the year. A call for proposals for TILA went out in late September and we are currently in the process of selecting from among the five submissions received.

The original 12 volumes of the initial NATS. UCPress is are now available in electronic and e-book format. Links to these can be found on the IJAL website (www.americanlinguistics.org).

IJAL Texts On-Line:

We have have now published the first issue of our short texts series, IJAL Texts On-Line. We encourage people to submit shorter texts with audio files for this series. A call for submissions was sent out in late September and another should follow shortly.

IJAL centenary issue:

IJAL will be 100 years old in January, and to mark this event we are planning a special centenary issue. We have invited papers on the past, present, and future of several of the key areas in Americanist linguistics identified by Franz Boas in his inaugural article. We hope this issue will kick off a successful second century.

Revised Call for SSILA Prize and Award Nominations

Revised Call for SSILA Prize and Award Nominations

Revised Deadline, July 15

 The SSILA Executive Committee has recently realized that the Call for SSILA Prize and Award Nominations may not have reached all of you.  As a result, we are extending the deadline for nominations until July 15, 2016.  Details are provided below.  You can also go to our website www.ssila.org for further information.SSILA is pleased to announce a revised call for nominations for the  Ken Hale Prize, the Victor Golla Prize, and the Mary R Haas Book Award.   These awards will be presented at the 2017 SSILA meeting in Austin, Texas.The new deadline for receipt of Nominations for the Hale and Golla Prizes and submissions for the Haas Award is July 15, 2016.  See below for details about these awards:

  1.  Ken Hale Prize

The Ken Hale Prize is presented in recognition of outstanding community language work and a deep commitment to the documentation, maintenance, promotion, and revitalization of indigenous languages in the Americas. The Prize, which carries a $500 stipend, honors those who strive to link the academic and community spheres in the spirit of Ken Hale. Recipients can range from native speakers and community-based linguists to academic specialists, and may include groups or organizations. No academic affiliation is necessary. Nominations may be made by anyone; however, either the recipient or the nominee must be a member of SSILA.Nominations should include:

  1. Letter of nomination, including:

– position and affiliation, if appropriate, of nominee or nominated group (tribal, organizational, or academic)– summary of the nominee’s background and contributions to specific language communities.

  1. Brief portfolio of relevant supporting materials, including for instance:

– nominee’s curriculum vitae– description of completed or on-going activities of the nominee– letters from at least 2 of those who are most familiar with the work of the nominee (e.g. language program staff, community people, academic associates)-other material that would support the nomination.Submission of manuscript-length work is discouraged.The new deadline for receipt of nominations is July 15, 2016.

  1.    Victor Golla Prize

The Victor Golla Prize is presented in recognition of a significant history of both linguistic scholarship and service to the scholarly community.  The linguistic scholarship can take the form of either the documentation or philology of one or more indigenous languages of the Americas, such that the scholarly community knows significantly more about the language or languages of study as a result of that work. The service to the scholarly community can take the form of providing opportunities for others to communicate their work on indigenous languages, primarily through editorial work, conference organization, or responsibility for a major archive. The Prize, which bestows a life membership in SSILA on the recipient, seeks especially to honor those who strive to carry out interdisciplinary scholarship in the spirit of Victor Golla, combining excellent linguistic documentation or philology with scholarship in one or more other allied fields, such as anthropology, education, history, or literature. Nominations must be made by a member of SSILA for a member of SSILA.The nominating package includes the following:

  1. Letter of nomination
  2. A version of the nominee’s CV
  3. two letters of support reflecting the nominee’s scholarship and service.

The new deadline for receipt of nominations is July 15, 2016.

  1.   Mary R Haas Book Award

The Mary R. Haas Award is presented to a junior scholar for an unpublished manuscript that makes a significant substantive contribution to our knowledge of Native American languages. Nominations may be made by anyone; however, the recipient must be a member of SSILA.To submit a manuscript for the Haas Award, send it in PDF format by email to the Executive Secretary so as to arrive no later than June 15th each year. Please verify that it has in fact been received.Manuscripts may be submitted in English, French, German, Portuguese or Spanish.Winning manuscripts in English will be considered by the University of Nebraska Press for its series, “Studies in the Native Languages of the Americas.”For winning manuscripts in languages other than English, the Society will provide letters requesting special consideration by any potential publisher in light of the manuscript’s award-winning status. The new deadline for receipt of submissions is July 15, 2016.Please email ExecutiveSecretary@SSILA.org if you have any questions about the nomination process.Carolyn MacKay, SSILA Executive SecretaryExecutiveSecretary@SSILA.orgSSILA.orgIf you have received this email and are not a current SSILA member, please join the Society at SSILA.org.  SSILA has moved to a rolling membership year.  You may join at any time, and may subscribe to the International Journal of American Linguistics at a substantial discount with your paid membership.  

Submitting Abstracts Using EasyChair for SSILA 2017

Submitting Abstracts Using EasyChair

 The Society for the Study of the Indigenous Languages of the Americas

SSILA 2017

Call for Papers, Posters, and Organized Sessions

 

Deadline for Organized Session Proposals: July 1, 2016

Deadline for abstracts: August 1, 2016

 

Annual Meeting, Austin, Texas

January 5-8, 2017

Abstracts

Submissions for the SSILA Annual Meeting require two abstracts:Short Abstract This abstract should be no more than 100 words, and will be used for publication in the meeting handbook. In EasyChair, you will paste this abstract into the “Abstract” box under the Title and Abstract heading.Long Abstract This abstract is the one that will be evaluated for inclusion in the meeting program. The long abstract should be a pdf file. In EasyChair, you will select the pdf file containing your abstract to upload at the “Long Abstract” prompt under the “Other Information and Uploads” heading.Submissions are limited to one page per abstract (11pt or 12pt, single spaced, with 1-inch margins). References should appear on a second page.

Detailed instructions for using EasyChair

The submission process requires two stages:

  1.  Get your own EasyChair account

2.  Submit your abstract(s) 

Creating an account in EasyChair:

  • Click “sign up” at the top right corner of the page and follow the instructions for entry into the system.
  • Enter your name and e-mail address and click “continue”
  • Check your e-mail: You will receive a message from EasyChair. Follow the instructions there.
  • Make a note of your user name and password for future reference.

Submitting your abstracts:

Go to the SSILA 2017 submission page:https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=ssila2017Log in using the username and password you just established.Click "New Submission". On the page that appears, you will need to identify the author(s), title, keywords, topics, and submission groups of the proposed paper, and submit your short abstract and long abstract (see clarification at the top of this file).

Authors:

Enter the information requested about the author(s):

  • For yourself, you can click the link at the top of the author box to enter the information from your account profile into the form.
  • For co-authors, type in their information.
  • If there are more than three authors, select Click here to add more authors.
  • Use the ‘corresponding author’ checkboxes to select which author(s) will get e-mail from the EasyChair system and the Program Committee.

Title and Abstract and Other Information:

  • Enter the Title of the paper; this must be not more than one 7-inch typed line.
  • Enter the prepublication (short) Abstract. If your paper is accepted, this short abstract will appear in the Meeting Handbook. Cut and paste the abstract into the text box provided. Maximum length is 100 words.
    • [If your short abstract requires special characters, please also send it as a PDF file to the SSILA Executive Secretary at ExecutiveSecretary@SSILA.org.]
  • Enter the keywords (at least 3, up to 5) that apply to your paper. Please include the subareas to which your paper belongs. If your paper is to be considered part of an organized session, include the name of that session as Keyword 1 and check the submission group box for organized session (see submission group below).
  • Under Topics, select the main field of the paper (to be used by the program committee to group papers).
  • Enter the submission group of your application, if appropriate:
    • If you are applying for Travel Assistance, click the box, then go to www.ssila.org and follow instructions for the Travel Assistance Awards
    • If your paper is part of an organized session, click the box, then enter the name of the session as the first Keyword (see above)
    • Submissions will be considered for presentation as papers or posters as scheduling permits. Choose "poster only" if you do not wish to present your research as a paper.

Upload Long Abstract:

  • The long abstract, written according to the guidelines described in the Call for Papers, must be uploaded here.
  • Use PDF format.
  • Use the browse button to select your abstract document.
  • Click Submit

Logout by selecting “Sign out” in the top menu bar.Questions? Please contact conferences@ssila.org if you have any questions about or difficulty with your abstract submission.

Call for Papers -- SSILA 2017 -- Austin, Texas

THE SOCIETY FOR THE STUDY OF THE INDIGENOUS LANGUAGES OF THE AMERICAS

 

Annual Meeting, Austin, Texas

January 5-8, 2017

Call for Papers, Posters, and Organized Sessions

 

Deadline for Organized Session Proposals: July 1, 2016

Deadline for abstracts: August 1, 2016

The annual winter meeting of SSILA will be held jointly with the annual meeting of the Linguistic Society of America in Austin, Texas, at the JW Marriot Austin, January 5-8, 2017. Information about the hotel and location can be found at the LSA website (www.lsadc.org). Participants will be able to register for the meeting and reserve hotel rooms on-line at the LSA site between 09/01/2016 and 12/18/2016.

Call for Papers

 SSILA welcomes abstracts for papers, posters, and organized sessions that present original research focusing on the linguistic study of the indigenous languages of the Americas.  To download the Call for Papers, please click on http://www.ssila.orghttps://cdn.ssila.org/posts/2016/05/SSILA-2017-CFP.pdf

Abstract Submission

[emember_protected]The deadline for receipt of all abstracts and session proposals is midnight (the end of the day) August 1st. (The program chair should be notified of intent to submit an organized session proposal by July 1: see Organized Sessions, below.)Abstracts should be submitted electronically, using the electronic submission website EasyChair. Consult the SSILA website for detailed instructions.  To download the EasyChair submission instructions, please click on http://www.ssila.orghttps://cdn.ssila.org/posts/2016/05/EasyChair-Instructions.pdf.  Also, e-mail or hard-copy submissions will be accepted if arrangements are made in advance with the SSILA Executive Secretary (executivesecretary@ssila.org). Abstracts may be submitted in either English, Spanish, or Portuguese.The EasyChair submission page address is https://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=ssila2017[/emember_protected]Abstracts must conform to the guidelines below.

General Requirements

  1. All authors must be members of SSILA. See the SSILA website for information about membership and renewal. The membership requirement may be waived for co-authors, or for participants in organized sessions, who are from disciplines other than those ordinarily represented by SSILA (linguistics and linguistic anthropology). Requests for waivers of membership must be made by a member of the Society to the SSILA Executive Secretary. (Note: Membership in LSA is not required for participation in SSILA sessions.)
  1. Any member may submit one single-author abstract and one multi-author abstract OR two multi-author abstracts.
  1. After an abstract has been submitted, no changes of author, title, or wording of the abstract, other than those due to typographical errors, are permitted.
  1. Papers or posters must be delivered as projected in the abstract or represent bona fide developments of the same research.
  1. Papers must not appear in print before the meeting.
  1. Handouts, if any, are not to be submitted with abstracts but should be available at the meeting for those listening to the presentation.
  1. All presenters of individual papers or posters and all participants in organized sessions must register for the meeting through LSA.
  1. Authors who must withdraw from the program should inform the SSILA Executive Secretary as soon as possible.
  1. Authors may not submit identical abstracts for presentation at the SSILA meeting and the LSA meeting or a meeting of one of the Sister Societies (ADS, ANS, NAAHoLS, SPCL, TALE). Authors who are discovered to have done so will have these abstracts removed from consideration. Authors may submit substantially different abstracts for presentation at the SSILA meeting and an LSA or Sister Society meeting.
  1. Late abstracts will not be considered, whatever the reason for the delay.

Abstract Format

Please see the accompanying document, “Instructions for submitting abstracts using EasyChair,” for important information about long and short abstracts.

  1. Abstracts should be uploaded as a file in PDF format to the abstract submittal form on the EasyChair website.
  1. The abstract, including examples if needed, should be no more than one typed page (11pt or 12pt font, single spaced, with 1-inch margins); a second page may be used for references. Abstracts longer than one page will be rejected without being evaluated.
  1. At the top of the abstract, give a title that is not more than one 7-inch typed line and that clearly indicates the topic of the paper.
  1. Abstracts will be reviewed anonymously. Do not include your name on the abstract. If you identify yourself in any way in the abstract (e.g. “In Smith (1992)...I”), the abstract will be rejected without being evaluated. Of course, it may be necessary to refer to your own work in the third person in order to appropriately situate the research.
  1. Abstracts which do not conform to these format guidelines will not be considered.

Abstract Contents

Papers or posters whose main topic does not focus on the indigenous languages of the Americas will be rejected without further consideration by the Program Committee. The Program Committee requires further that the subject matter be related to linguistics and language revitalization, that the research presented include new findings or developments not published before the meeting, that the papers not be submitted with malicious or scurrilous intent, and that the abstract be coherent and in accord with these guidelines.Abstracts are more often rejected because they omit crucial information rather than because of errors in what they include. The most important criterion is relevance to the understanding of indigenous languages of the Americas, but other factors are important, too. It is important to present results so that they will be of interest to the whole SSILA (and larger) linguistic community, not just to those who work on the same language or language family that you do.A suggested outline for abstracts is as follows:

  1. State the problem or research question raised by prior work, with specific reference to relevant prior research.
  1. Give a clear indication of the nature and source of your data (primary fieldwork, archival research, secondary sources).
  1. State the main point or argument of the proposed presentation.
  1. Regardless of the subfield, cite sufficient data, and explain why and how they support the main point or argument. For examples in languages other than English, provide word-by-word glosses and underline or boldface the portions of the examples which are critical to the argument.
  1. State the relevance of your ideas to past work or to the future development of the field. Describe analyses in as much detail as possible. Avoid saying in effect "a solution to this problem will be presented". If you are taking a stand on a controversial issue, summarize the arguments that led you to your position.
  1. State the contribution to linguistic research made by the analysis.
  1. Please include a list of references for any work cited in the abstract.

Categories of Presentation

Authors are required to indicate the preferred category of their presentation at the time of submitting the abstract. The program committee will try to accommodate this preference as space and time allow. The categories to choose from are:Phonetics, Phonology, Morphology, Syntax, Semantics, Historical Linguistics, Sociolinguistics, Lexicography, Applied Linguistics, Language Revitalization, Other.20-Minute Papers. The bulk of the program will consist of 20-minute papers, with 10 additional minutes for discussion. Guidelines for preparing abstracts for these papers appear above.Posters. Depending on subject and/or content, it may be more appropriate to submit an abstract to the poster session for visual presentation rather than to a 20-minute paper session. In general, the sorts of papers which are most effective as posters are those in which the major conclusions become evident from the thoughtful examination of charts and graphs, rather than those which require the audience to follow a sustained chain of verbal argumentation. Therefore, authors will want to make points in narrative form as brief as possible. A poster should be able to stand alone—that is, be understandable even if the author is not present. Abstracts for posters should follow the same guidelines as those for papers. SSILA poster sessions share space with LSA posters.Organized Sessions. SSILA welcomes submission of organized session proposals. Organized sessions typically involve more than one scholar and are expected to make a distinctive and creative contribution to the meeting. Proposals for organized sessions are NOT reviewed anonymously. These sessions may be: (1) symposia which include several presentations on a single topic; (2) workshops focused on a specific theme or issue; (3) colloquia which include a major presentation with one or more invited discussants; or (4) sessions of any other kind with a clear, specific, and coherent rationale.The organizer(s) of such sessions should notify the program chair (Keren Rice: rice@chass.utoronto.ca) of their intent to submit a proposal at the earliest possible date, but no later than July 1st, including a general statement of the purpose and structure of the session. A full proposal must be submitted to the program chair by August 1st and must include: (1) a session abstract outlining the purpose, motivation, length (maximum: 3 hours), and justification for the session; (2) names of all participants, including discussants, and titles of papers; and (3) a complete account, including timetable, of what each participant will do. Note that organized sessions, even when structured as symposia, do not have to follow the 20-minute paper + 10-minute discussion format.All participants in organized sessions should submit an abstract of their paper following the submission instructions. Should the organized session not be accepted, the abstracts will be considered instead for the general session.

Reminder: Call for SSILA Prize and Award Nominations

A friendly reminder that the Nominations for the Hale and Golla Prizes are due on May 1, 2016. We encourage you to nominate a colleague for one of these awards.  Please read on for more information.
 SSILA is pleased to announce the call for nominations for the  Ken Hale Prize, the Victor Golla Prize, and the Mary R Haas Book Award.   These awards will be presented at the 2017 SSILA meeting in Austin, Texas.

Nominations for the Hale and Golla Prizes are due on May 1, 2016, and submissions for consideration for the Haas Award are due June 15, 2016.  

See below for details about these awards:

1. The Ken Hale Prize

The Ken Hale Prize is presented in recognition of outstanding community language work and a deep commitment to the documentation, maintenance, promotion, and revitalization of indigenous languages in the Americas. The Prize, which carries a $500 stipend, honors those who strive to link the academic and community spheres in the spirit of Ken Hale. Recipients can range from native speakers and community-based linguists to academic specialists, and may include groups or organizations. No academic affiliation is necessary. Nominations may be made by anyone; however, either the recipient or the nominee must be a member of SSILA.
Nominations should include:
  1. Letter of nomination, including:
– position and affiliation, if appropriate, of nominee or nominated group (tribal, organizational, or academic)
– summary of the nominee’s background and contributions to specific language communities.
  1.  Brief portfolio of relevant supporting materials, including for instance:
– nominee’s curriculum vitae
– description of completed or on-going activities of the nominee
– letters from at least 2 of those who are most familiar with the work of the nominee (e.g. language program staff, community people, academic associates)
-other material that would support the nomination.
Submission of manuscript-length work is discouraged.
The deadline for receipt of nominations is May 1, 2016.

 

2. The Victor Golla Prize

The Victor Golla Prize is presented in recognition of a significant history of both linguistic scholarship and service to the scholarly community.  The linguistic scholarship can take the form of either the documentation or philology of one or more indigenous languages of the Americas, such that the scholarly community knows significantly more about the language or languages of study as a result of that work. The service to the scholarly community can take the form of providing opportunities for others to communicate their work on indigenous languages, primarily through editorial work, conference organization, or responsibility for a major archive. The Prize, which bestows a life membership in SSILA on the recipient, seeks especially to honor those who strive to carry out interdisciplinary scholarship in the spirit of Victor Golla, combining excellent linguistic documentation or philology with scholarship in one or more other allied fields, such as anthropology, education, history, or literature. Nominations must be made by a member of SSILA for a member of SSILA.
The nominating package includes the following:
  1. Letter of nomination
  2. A version of the nominee’s CV
  3. two letters of support reflecting the nominee’s scholarship and service.
The deadline for receipt of nominations is May 1, 2016.

3. The  Mary R Haas Book Award

The Mary R. Haas Award is presented to a junior scholar for an unpublished manuscript that makes a significant substantive contribution to our knowledge of Native American languages. Nominations may be made by anyone; however, the recipient must be a member of SSILA.
         To submit a manuscript for the Haas Award, send it in PDF format by email to the Executive Secretary so as to arrive no later than June 15th each year. Please verify that it has in fact been received.
          Manuscripts may be submitted in English, French, German, Portuguese or Spanish.
Winning manuscripts in English will be considered by the University of Nebraska Press for its series, “Studies in the Native Languages of the Americas.”
        For winning manuscripts in languages other than English, the Society will provide letters requesting special consideration by any potential publisher in light of the manuscript’s award-winning status.
 The deadline for receipt of submissions is June 15, 2016.
Please email the Executive Secretary if you have any questions about the nomination process.
Carolyn MacKay, SSILA Executive Secretary

ExecutiveSecretary@SSILA.orgSSILA.org

If you have received this email and are not a current SSILA member, please join the Society at SSILA.org.  SSILA has moved to a rolling membership year.  You may join at any time, and may subscribe to the International Journal of American Linguistics at a substantial discount with your paid membership.  

NSF's Tribal Colleges and Universities Program

Funding Opportunity: NSF’s Tribal Colleges & Universities Program

Shobhana ChelliahThis post is about a new funding opportunity for language documentation.The US National Science Foundation’s Directorate for Education and Human Resources includes the Tribal Colleges and Universities Program (TCUP). TCUP promotes education, research, and outreach to eligible Tribal Colleges and Universities. A quick visit to the NSF Awards Database (search for TCUP) will give you an idea of the institutions receiving TCUP funds and the kinds of projects that receive awards.There are few TCUs with NSF funded Computer Science, Computational Linguistics, or Linguistics projects, but TCUP would like to support awards in those area. Towards that goal, TCUP is now partnering with NSFs Documenting Endangered Languages Program (DEL) to fund proposals in language documentation especially if the proposed projects improve research infrastructure at TCUs and support the overall research profile of a TCU by increasing awards made to that TCU. A major interest is to ensure a smooth transition of TCU students to research universities, so projects encouraging student academic proficiency and research experience are a strong desideratum.And the connection with language documentation? By Executive Order 13592, TCUs must “maintain, preserve, and restore Native languages and cultural traditions…”. So, there is already federal-level commitment to supporting native languages at TCUs – training students in documenting their own languages is a natural extension of these intentions.Consider partnering with a Native American, Alaska Native or Native Hawaiian TCU-eligible institution when undertaking your next language documentation project. If you are a community member working to create a lasting record of your language, you could partner with researchers or staff at a local TCU.   If you are TCU faculty or staff interested in documentary work, you might seek out documentary linguists at local universities for consultation or guidance regarding particular parts of the language documentation process. If you are a linguist with an existing or emerging relationship with a TCU, you might submit a proposal to the DEL program along with faculty or staff at the TCU.There are many practical benefits of partnering with TCUs. Independent scholars and cultural organizations can have trouble receiving funding from NSF if they do not have a proven history of handling federal funds. Without such a history, even a highly ranked proposal can be declined for funding by the NSF grants office.   A TCU can also provide infrastructure to get a project reviewed for IRB clearance, a budget office to manage awards, archival assistance, meeting space, and function as liaison with tribal authorities.There are also benefits for TCUs when partnering with language documenters, be they linguists from research universities or community members. TCU students could receive training in computational linguistics, language analysis, corpora creation, or digital records curation and archiving. Note that this training is not related to the language programs at TCUs per se. Rather, TCUs could receive benefits in curriculum development at the TCU, summer courses, summer internships, and the like. All these would be the “Broader Impacts” of the projects carried out with funding from NSF and in conjunction with linguists.Successful partnerships take time and effort. They require trust and patience. They require some luck and a lot of planning. One does not expect partnerships to spring up overnight. If there are linguists out there who know of TCUs in their area and if there are faculty and staff at TCUs who know of linguists working with native communities in their area, this would be a great time to start a conversation on future collaborations. If such collaboration is possible, then the NSF TCUP/DEL funding opportunity may be just what is needed to make that a reality.The funding models can vary depending on circumstances. For example, a one- to three-year senior research grant may be submitted by the TCU with linguists brought on as consultants or a collaborative proposal may be submitted, i.e one proposal submitted by the TCU and a companion proposal by the linguist. EAGERs and Conference proposals are also funded by DEL under the TCUP/DEL partnership. Details can be found on the DEL website.This annoucement was first Posted on November 29, 2015, on the LSA Committe on Endangered Languages and their Preservation (CELP) website.

Posting SSILA 2016 Materials

Attention SSILA 2016 presenters!
Thanks to all of you for your participation in the SSILA 2016 meeting.  Now, if you wish to do so, you may choose to post your conference talks on the SSILA website.   Once all of the talks have been gathered, they will be made publicly available online at http://www.ssila.org/meetings/ssila-2016/.
Here is what we need from you:
  1. Content:  You may choose to post a handout, slides, a paper, or any combination of these.
  2. Format:  Please provide every document in PDF format.  Slide presentations with embedded media may be accepted as slides, but please provide a PDF copy as well.
  3. Size:  Please limit your combined contributions to 50MB.  (Contact me if this is an issue.)
  4. Recipients:  Please email your PDFs to lclawyer@ucdavis.edu and cc webmaster@ssila.org
  5. Opting out:  If you do not wish to post materials online, please let us know by email at your convenience.  (That way I won't send you reminder emails.)
If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me (Lewis) at lclawyer@ucdavis.edu.

Call for SSILA Prize and Award Nominations

A friendly reminder that the Nominations for the Hale and Golla Prizes are due on May 1, 2016.
 
SSILA is pleased to announce the call for nominations for the  Ken Hale Prize, the Victor Golla Prize, and the Mary R Haas Book Award.   These awards will be presented at the 2017 SSILA meeting in Austin, Texas.

Nominations for the Hale and Golla Prizes are due on May 1, 2016, and submissions for consideration for the Haas Award are due June 15, 2016.  

See below for details about these awards:

1. The Ken Hale Prize

The Ken Hale Prize is presented in recognition of outstanding community language work and a deep commitment to the documentation, maintenance, promotion, and revitalization of indigenous languages in the Americas. The Prize, which carries a $500 stipend, honors those who strive to link the academic and community spheres in the spirit of Ken Hale. Recipients can range from native speakers and community-based linguists to academic specialists, and may include groups or organizations. No academic affiliation is necessary. Nominations may be made by anyone; however, either the recipient or the nominee must be a member of SSILA.
Nominations should include:
  1. Letter of nomination, including:
– position and affiliation, if appropriate, of nominee or nominated group (tribal, organizational, or academic)
– summary of the nominee’s background and contributions to specific language communities.
  1.  Brief portfolio of relevant supporting materials, including for instance:
– nominee’s curriculum vitae
– description of completed or on-going activities of the nominee
– letters from at least 2 of those who are most familiar with the work of the nominee (e.g. language program staff, community people, academic associates)
-other material that would support the nomination.
Submission of manuscript-length work is discouraged.
The deadline for receipt of nominations is May 1, 2016.

 

2. The Victor Golla Prize

The Victor Golla Prize is presented in recognition of a significant history of both linguistic scholarship and service to the scholarly community.  The linguistic scholarship can take the form of either the documentation or philology of one or more indigenous languages of the Americas, such that the scholarly community knows significantly more about the language or languages of study as a result of that work. The service to the scholarly community can take the form of providing opportunities for others to communicate their work on indigenous languages, primarily through editorial work, conference organization, or responsibility for a major archive. The Prize, which bestows a life membership in SSILA on the recipient, seeks especially to honor those who strive to carry out interdisciplinary scholarship in the spirit of Victor Golla, combining excellent linguistic documentation or philology with scholarship in one or more other allied fields, such as anthropology, education, history, or literature. Nominations must be made by a member of SSILA for a member of SSILA.
The nominating package includes the following:
  1. Letter of nomination
  2. A version of the nominee’s CV
  3. two letters of support reflecting the nominee’s scholarship and service.
The deadline for receipt of nominations is May 1, 2016.

3. The  Mary R Haas Book Award

The Mary R. Haas Award is presented to a junior scholar for an unpublished manuscript that makes a significant substantive contribution to our knowledge of Native American languages. Nominations may be made by anyone; however, the recipient must be a member of SSILA.
         To submit a manuscript for the Haas Award, send it in PDF format by email to the Executive Secretary so as to arrive no later than June 15th each year. Please verify that it has in fact been received.
          Manuscripts may be submitted in English, French, German, Portuguese or Spanish.
Winning manuscripts in English will be considered by the University of Nebraska Press for its series, “Studies in the Native Languages of the Americas.”
        For winning manuscripts in languages other than English, the Society will provide letters requesting special consideration by any potential publisher in light of the manuscript’s award-winning status.
 The deadline for receipt of submissions is June 15, 2016.
Please email the Executive Secretary if you have any questions about the nomination process.
Carolyn MacKay, SSILA Executive Secretary

ExecutiveSecretary@SSILA.orgSSILA.org

If you have received this email and are not a current SSILA member, please join the Society at SSILA.org.  SSILA has moved to a rolling membership year.  You may join at any time, and may subscribe to the International Journal of American Linguistics at a substantial discount with your paid membership.  

SSILA 2016 Awards

At the SSILA 2016 business meeting in Washington, D.C., the Executive Committee was pleased to present the following awards:20160109_224029736_iOS

The Mary R. Haas Award: Jorge Emilio Rosés Labrada

The Mary R. Haas award was presented to Jorge Emilio Rosés Labrada for his dissertation, The Mako language: Vitality, grammar, and classification. The award was presented by Rich Rhodes, the Haas Award Committee Chair, and Alice Taff, President of SSILA.20160109_224148560_iOS

Student Abstract Award: Adriana Molina Muñoz & Rolando Coto Solano

The Student Abstract Award for the SSILA 2016 meeting went to Adriana Molina Muñoz & Rolando Coto Solano for their abstract, 'Ergative and relativization in Bribri'.  The award was presented by Alice Taff, President of SSILA.20160109_232334749_iOS

Outgoing Executive Secretary: Ivy Doak

On behalf of the Executive Committee, Alice Taff presented Ivy Doak with a gift of appreciation for her dedication and hard work over eight years as Executive Secretary of SSILA.

Alice Anderton (1949–2016)

SSILA mourns the loss of an important scholar and activist, Alice Anderton. Alice received her Ph.D. in Linguistics from UCLA in 1988, and her dissertation was entitled The language of the Kitanemuks of California. She published primarily on Uto-Aztecan languages (Kitanemuk, Comanche), but was active in advocacy for native languages in general, and Oklahoma languages in particular.

Alice's dissertation is a synthesis of J. P. Harrington's notes on the Takic (Uto-Aztecan) language Kitanemuk, formerly spoken north of Los Angeles. Working with Harrington's often chaotic notes, Alice's analysis includes a full grammar and dictionary which have proven to be a vital resource for recent language revitalization work by the Kitanemuk people.

Alice taught at Oklahoma State University, the University of Oklahoma, Cameron College, and the Red Earth Museum. She was the founder of the Intertribal Wordpath Society, a group which advocated for the preservation, teaching, and legal status of Oklahoma native languages. The Intertribal Wordpath Society was responsible for producing more than 200 episodes of a television series about native languages, which interviewed many elders and helped to raise awareness of linguistic rights in Oklahoma.

Alice was also instrumental in writing and lobbying for the Oklahoma Indian Language Heritage Protection Act, which countered a potential "English Only" law in the state by ensuring the legal status of native languages.

Alice was a rare combination of scholar, teacher, and activist, and she will be deeply missed by her friends and colleagues.

A full obituary can be found in The Daily Oklahoman.

Putting fieldwork on Indigenous Languages to New Uses

School on Advanced Sciences focusing on indigenous languages, phylogenetics, digital corpora development and experimentation. It will be held at the University of Campinas, Brazil, from March 21st to April 6th, 2016. Flight tickets will be paid to 50 PhD/Postdoc students from abroad and 50 from Brazil, funded by São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP). In order to apply for attendance, an abstract for a poster presentation is required. Please check our website!https://sites.google.com/site/pfilnu/

The antonyms questionnaire

Maria Koptjevskaja Tamm (Stockholm University) and Matti Miestamo (University of Helsinki) are conducting research on "property expressions that can be considered as opposites, or antonyms (in the broadest sense) to each other", and are requesting data from languages SSILA members are familiar with.  Their work and the data they are seeking are described in this questionnaire:  AntonymsQuestionnaire 2016.