University of Arizona Native American Languages and Linguistics M.A. accepting applications

The M.A. in Native American Languages and Linguistics (NAMA) program at the University of Arizona is accepting applications for the fall 2017 cohort. The NAMA program is an accelerated M.A. focusing on helping students learn to work on language revitalization in their communities.Areas of focus include:

  • Increasing how often the language is spoken or how many people speak the language
  • Planning and policy development for language programs
  • Developing language teaching materials/making archival materials accessible to the community

The NAMA program prepares students to work with their language communities or to continue on for a PhD in Linguistics or another field. For more information, please visit https://linguistics.arizona.edu/NAMA or contact Dr. Elizabeth Kickham, Visiting Assistant Professor, (lizkickham@email.arizona.edu) or Dr. Ofelia Zepeda, Regents Professor, (ofelia@email.arizona.edu).Applications are officially accepted until the admissions committee meets in mid-February, but may late applications may still be reviewed. To apply, please visit: https://grad.arizona.edu/admissions/procedures/apply-now.​

Global Survey of Language Revitalization

The Recovering Voices initiative of the Smithsonian Institution and the Linguistics Department at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa are carrying out a survey of language revitalization initiatives worldwide. We are asking practitioners such as yourself to share their experience with us so that we may all learn from each other.This survey has 30 questions about revitalization activities and we estimate it will take about a half hour of your time. The questions will be presented to you in 8 consecutive pages, so please make sure to navigate through all 8 pages.
All responses are optional to give you the flexibility to provide us the information that is available to you and that you are comfortable sharing. All information requested in this survey is about revitalization initiatives and not about individuals. The information you provide will allow us to do a comparative analysis of the factors that may improve the outcomes of revitalization efforts.
The survey is available in English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, and Russian at the following link:
http://recoveringvoices.si.edu/research/associatedresearch.htmlIf you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me at PerezBaezG@si.edu.
Many thanks in advance!
Gabriela Pérez Báez, PhD.
Curator of Linguistics
Director, Recovering Voices
National Museum of Natural History
Smithsonian Institution

Sister Society Meet & Greet Tonight @ 8:30, Lobby Bar

SSILA members are invited to attend the Sister Society Meet & Greet tonight from 8:30 - 10:00 in the Lobby Bar - a great opportunity to meet both other SSILA members, as well as members from the American Dialect Society, the American Name Society, the North American Association for the History of the Language Sciences, and the Society for Pidgin and Creole Linguistics.

Changes to SSILA Program

The following changes have been made to the SSILA 2017 program. Any additional changes will also be posted on this page, and you can always view the most up-to-date program here, and download the latest PDF version here.

  • Cancelled: First thoughts about the prehistory of Tlacolulita Zapotec - Rosemary Beam De Azcoma (Escuela Nacional de Antropología e Historia), originally at 3:00 Friday.
  • Change of Time: Jeffrey Davis' (University of Tennessee) talk titled 'Historical and contemporary evidenve for a signed lingua franca among American Indian Nations' is now Friday @ 3:00 rather than 3:30.
  • Change of Time: The session on Ideophones now begins Friday @ 3:30 rather than 4:00. This session includes the following talks:
    • Rethinking mono-sensory, implicational approaches to ideophones in Pastaza Quichua - Janis Nuckolls (Brigham Young University), Sydney Jensen (Brigham Young University), Emily Peterson (Brigham Young University), & Matthew Millar (Brigham Young University)
    • The onomatopoeic ideophone-gesture relationship in Pastaza Quichua - Sarah Hatton (Brigham Young University)
  • Cancelled: Rosetta Stone Chickasaw - Juliet Morgan (University of Oklahoma) & Joshua Hinson (Chickasaw Nation), originally at 4:00 Friday.
  • Cancelled: Copular Clauses in Cherokee and Baker’s Theory of Agreement - Faruk Akkus (University of Pennsylvania), originally at 4:00 Friday.
  • Cancelled: Non-Topical Pragmatic Functions of Bribri Intermittent Ergative Marking - Rolando Coto-Solano (University of Arizona) & Adriana Molina-Muñoz (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign), originally at 11:00 Saturday.
  • Cancelled: Phonetics or phonology: The interaction between pitch and Dorsey’s Law vowels in Mandan - Ryan Kasak (Yale University) & Jonnia Torres (University of Colorado, Boulder), originally at 11:30 Saturday.
  • Cancelled: A reinterpretation of "independent" transitive clauses in Tsimshianic - Marie-Lucie Tarpent (Dalhousie University), originally at 11:00 Friday.
  • Change of Title: Eladio (B'alam) Mateo Toledo's (CIESAS - Sureste) talk title has been updated to, 'The status of prenominal adjectives in Q’anjob’al / La ausencia de adjetivos modificadores en q’anjob’al y otras lenguas mayas'. His talk is Saturday @ 4:30.
  • Typo: Timothy Henry's talk (Friday @ 8:30 a.m.) should be titled, 'Typological contributions of Ventureño Chumash possessive constructions'.
  • Typo: The special session on the Terrence Kaufman archival collection should be titled, 'The relevance of language documentation to the field of linguistics: Case studies based on the Terrence Kaufman Collection at the Archive of the Indigenous Languages of Latin America'.

Celebrating 100 years of IJAL

The International Journal of American Linguistics is celebrating the hundredth anniversary of its founding with a special issue (Volume 83, Number 1 | January 2017), available online here.Join us at SSILA 2017, Friday, January 6th, 4:30–5:30, for a plenary session “One Hundred Years of IJAL: Balancing Tradition & Innovation in a Changing Field”. A panel of current and former editors and board members will share some remarks and then open up the discussion to the audience. The University of Chicago Press, in appreciation of the contribution of SSILA members to IJAL, is providing coffee and dessert.

Update: Change in SSILA fee structure

The SSILA fee structure has been updated to include retired and emerita/emeritus faculty. Starting January 1, 2017, these members will receive the reduced rate of $40. See the full announcment below for more details.(This post may also be viewed as a PDF by clicking here.)Esteemed SSILA members,The SSILA Executive Committee has agreed to change the structure of our membership fees as follows:Beginning Jan. 1, 2017 an annual SSILA membership will be:

  • $60 Regular
  • $40 Under-employed, independent, under-represented, or retired scholars, as well as members of indigenous language communities of the Americas
  • $30 Student

This decision was made in light of the fact that SSILA dues have not changed since 2009, when they were raised from $16 to the current $20 annually for regular members. However, all of our costs have risen in that time, and the society is currently operating at a deficit.Despite this increase in dues, we hope that you will maintain your membership with SSILA and continue contributing to the important task of better understanding the Indigenous languages of the Americas. It is only thanks to your continued support and membership that SSILA and its regular meetings are possible. Remember that your SSILA membership comes with many benefits as well:Benefits of a SSILA Membership

  • reduced-cost subscription to the International Journal of American Linguistics (IJAL)
  • the privilege of presentation at SSILA meetings
  • ability to publish your conference presentation materials on the SSILA website for wide distribution
  • access to SSILA conference presentation materials from prior years on the SSILA website
  • timely notice of issues pertinent to the Society through:
  • the ability to run for SSILA office and shape the direction of the Society and of Linguistics as a whole
  • tax-deductible dues and donations (for U.S. members)
  • access to the membership contact list, with information about areas of specialty
  • the opportunity to review conference presentation proposals and contribute to ensuring the quality of SSILA scholarly events
  • the opportunity to contribute towards the advancement of linguistics students by serving as a reviewer of student awards (non-student members only)
  • the opportunity, as a group, to assist linguists working with the Indigenous languages of our entire hemisphere through:
    • recognition awards (Hale, Haas, Golla, Best Student Presentation)
    • travel support (5 students to Austin in 2017)
  • the collegiality of a network of like-minded people

Charitable donations to SSILA (now a US 501(c)(3) non-profit organization) can be designated for any purpose such as travel support, awards, etc. To join or renew, go to http://www.ssila.org/members/join-or-renew/Or write to the Executive SecretaryMy thanks to all of you for your valuable work,Alice TaffSSILA President

Reminder: Registration for Annual Meeting

Registration for the SSILA 2017 meeting is now open! Registration should be completed through the LSA website by going to the LSA meeting page and clicking the Register for Meeting button at the top of the page.For attendees who are not LSA members but would like to register at member rates, the following coupon codes can be used during checkout:[emember_protected]

  • 2017AMSSREG (regular members)
  • 2017AMSSSTUDENT (student members)

[/emember_protected]These codes will allow you to register as a nonmember, while receiving member rates.If you are already an LSA member, you should login to the LSA website and register as an LSA member - do not use the above coupon codes if you are already an LSA member.The LSA's annual meeting page also has links to hotel reservations, which are available through December 14.Part of the Annual Meeting schedule - the posters and 20-minute papers - is viewable by clicking the Schedule tab on the Annual Meeting page. The rest - the organized sessions, plenaries, one-off events, etc. - will be available by early October.

Change in SSILA fee structure

(This post may also be viewed as a PDF by clicking here.)Esteemed SSILA members,The SSILA Executive Committee has agreed to change the structure of our membership fees as follows:Beginning Jan. 1, 2017 an annual SSILA membership will be:

  • $60 Regular
  • $40 Under-employed, independent, under-represented, or retired scholars, as well as members of indigenous language communities of the Americas
  • $30 Student

This decision was made in light of the fact that SSILA dues have not changed since 2009, when they were raised from $16 to the current $20 annually for regular members. However, all of our costs have risen in that time, and the society is currently operating at a deficit.Despite this increase in dues, we hope that you will maintain your membership with SSILA and continue contributing to the important task of better understanding the Indigenous languages of the Americas. It is only thanks to your continued support and membership that SSILA and its regular meetings are possible. Remember that your SSILA membership comes with many benefits as well:Benefits of a SSILA Membership

  • reduced-cost subscription to the International Journal of American Linguistics (IJAL)
  • the privilege of presentation at SSILA meetings
  • ability to publish your conference presentation materials on the SSILA website for wide distribution
  • access to SSILA conference presentation materials from prior years on the SSILA website
  • timely notice of issues pertinent to the Society through:
  • the ability to run for SSILA office and shape the direction of the Society and of Linguistics as a whole
  • tax-deductible dues and donations (for U.S. members)
  • access to the membership contact list, with information about areas of specialty
  • the opportunity to review conference presentation proposals and contribute to ensuring the quality of SSILA scholarly events
  • the opportunity to contribute towards the advancement of linguistics students by serving as a reviewer of student awards (non-student members only)
  • the opportunity, as a group, to assist linguists working with the Indigenous languages of our entire hemisphere through:
    • recognition awards (Hale, Haas, Golla, Best Student Presentation)
    • travel support (5 students to Austin in 2017)
  • the collegiality of a network of like-minded people

Charitable donations to SSILA (now a US 501(c)(3) non-profit organization) can be designated for any purpose such as travel support, awards, etc. To join or renew, go to http://www.ssila.org/members/join-or-renew/My thanks to all of you for your valuable work,Alice TaffSSILA President

Global Survey on Language Revitalization

Dear SSILA colleague,The Recovering Voices Initiative at the Smithsonian Institution’s Museum of Natural History is carrying out a survey of language revitalization programs worldwide. As part of our efforts, we are asking revitalization practitioners to please share their experience with us. This research is the first of its kind, and we expect that it will yield insights that are of value to practitioners involved in language revitalization around the world.We would be most grateful if you would be willing to take a moment to tell us about the language you are working to revitalize, and about your efforts to do so. You can access the survey in various language versions:

Chinese, Arabic, and Russian versions are coming soon and will be accessible through the Recovering Voices website at http://recoveringvoices.si.edu/research/associatedresearch.html.Please also share this call and relevant links with other language revitalization practitioners.  Should you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact Gabriela Pérez Báez at perezbaezg@si.edu.

Is your SSILA membership expired? Here's how to check and renew!

Is your SSILA membership expired? Are you not sure? Here's how to check, and renew your membership if needed!

  1. Go to http://www.ssila.org/members/member-login/.
  2. Login if you haven't already.
  3. Click on Manage Membership.
  4. Under the section titled Your Member Status, it states the date your membership expires.
  5. Has your membership expired? Click the link that says Renew Your Membership or IJAL Subscription here. (Or go to the Members option in the menu, and click Join or Renew.)
  6. Choose which items you'd like to purchase, and click the button that says Add to Cart.
  7. In your cart (on the right side of the page), click the yellow Checkout with Paypal button to complete your purchase.

If you have any questions, feel free to email the webmaster at webmaster@ssila.org.