LINGUISTICS ASSOCIATION OF GREAT BRITAIN Autumn Meeting 1999: University of York First Circular and Call for Papers The 1999 Autumn Meeting will be held from Tuesday 7 to Thursday 9 September at the University of York. The Local Organiser is Siobhan Cottell (msc4@york.ac.uk). Situated in North Yorkshire, York is one of the most beautiful cities in Britain and has been an important political, cultural, religious and trading centre since Roman times. It boasts the largest medieval cathedral in Europe, well-preserved city walls and many museums and galleries. There are a wide range of restaurants and pubs, and excellent shopping facilities. The campus of the University of York is situated a couple of miles south-east of the city centre, on the edge of Heslington village. Accommodation: The accommodation for conference participants is on the campus of the University of York in Heslington. It will consist of single rooms with hand-basin and shared bathroom facilities in Alcuin College, very close to the Chemistry Building where the conference sessions take place. Travel: York is a major railway junction, with good connections from most cities in Britain. Trains take two hours from London King's Cross Station; two hours from Manchester Airport, an hour and ten minutes from Hull. Long distance buses stop at Rougier Street close to the railway station and/or at Exhibition Square in the centre of the city. The easiest route is to fly to Manchester Airport, which has direct connections to many European and North American cities, or you can fly to Leeds/Bradford Airport, which is about 30 miles from York. Events: The Henry Sweet Lecture 1999 on the Tuesday evening will be delivered by Professor Bernard Comrie (Max Planck Institute, Leipzig), and is entitled 'The typology of reference tracking: form and function'. There will also be a Workshop on reference tracking, organized by Professor Anna Siewierska (University of Lancaster), speakers to be announced in the second circular. There will be a Language Tutorial on Lesgian, given by Professor Martin Haspelmath (Max Planck Institute, Leipzig). There will be a Wine Party on the Tuesday evening, following Professor Comrie's talk. Enquiries about the LAGB meeting should be sent to the Meetings Secretary (address below). Full details of the programme and a booking form will be included in the Second Circular, to be sent out in June. Call for Papers: Members and potential guests are invited to offer papers for the Meeting; abstracts are also accepted from non-members. The LAGB welcomes submissions on any linguistics or linguistics-related topic. Abstracts may also be submitted now for the Spring 2000 Meeting. Applicants who would like their abstract to be considered for this Meeting should mark their abstract 'Spring Meeting 2000'. Note however that a circular and call for papers for the Spring Meeting will be sent out next autumn as usual. Abstracts may now be submitted by email to Professor Hudson at , in the format outlined below. Authors of accepted email abstracts will have to supply a paper copy of their abstract, which includes name and affiliation, i.e. which is CAMERA-READY. Alternatively, abstracts can be submitted on paper. In this case, SEVEN anonymous copies of the abstract, plus ONE with name and affiliation, i.e. CAMERA-READY, should be submitted, and should be sent in the format outlined below to the following address: Professor R. Hudson, Department of Phonetics and Linguistics, University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT. Papers for the programme are selected anonymously - only the President knows the name of the authors. Where possible, authors should supply an email address where the committee's decision may be sent. Abstracts, in paper or email form, must arrive by 1 June 1999. Abstracts must be presented as follows: The complete abstract (i.e. the one containing your title and your name) must be no longer than ONE A4 page (21cm x 29.5cm/8.27" x 11.69") with margins of at least 2.5cm (1") on all sides. You may use single spacing and type must be no smaller than 12 point. If submitting your abstract on paper, type uniformly in black and make any additions in black. Use the best quality printer you can, since if the paper is accepted the abstract will be photocopied and inserted directly into the collection of abstracts sent out to participants. WRITE YOUR NAME AND ADDRESS FOR CORRESPONDENCE ON THE BACK OF THE ABSTRACT WHICH HAS YOUR NAME ON. The following layout should be considered as standard: (title) Optimality and the Klingon vowel shift (speaker) Clark Kent (institution) Department of Astrology, Eastern Mars University The following guidelines may be useful: 1. Briefly state the topic of your paper. 2. If your paper is to involve an analysis of linguistic material, give critical examples, along with a brief indication of their critical nature. 3. State the relevance of your ideas to past work or to the future development of the field. If you are taking a stand on a controversial issue, summarise the arguments which lead you to take up this position. The normal length for papers delivered at LAGB meetings is 25 minutes (plus 15 minutes discussion). Offers of squibs (10 minutes) or longer papers (40 minutes) will also be considered: please explain why your paper requires less or more time than usual. N.B. ABSTRACTS SUBMISSION DATES: These are always announced in the First Circular for the Meeting in question. Any member who fears that they may receive the First Circular too late to be able to submit an abstract before the deadline specified can be assured that an abstract received by the President by JANUARY 1 or JUNE 1 will always be considered for the next meeting. Conference Bursaries: There will be a maximum of 10 bursaries available to unsalaried members of the Association (e.g. PhD students) with preference given to those who are presenting a paper. Applications should be sent to the President, and must be received by 1 June 1999. Please state on your application: (a) date of joining the LAGB; (b) whether or not you are an undergraduate or postgraduate student; (c) if a student, whether you receive a normal grant; (d) if not a student, your employment situation. STUDENTS WHO ARE SUBMITTING AN ABSTRACT and wish to apply for funding should include all the above details WITH THEIR ABSTRACT. Nominations for speakers: Nominations are requested for future guest speakers; all suggestions should be sent to the Honorary Secretary. Changes of address: Members are reminded to notify the Membership Secretary (address below) of changes of address. An institutional address is preferred; bulk mailing saves postage. Committee members: President Professor Richard Hudson, Department of Phonetics and Linguistics, University College London, Gower Street, LONDON WC1E 6BT. E-mail: dick@ling.ucl.ac.uk Honorary Secretary Professor Anna Siewierska, Department of Linguistics, University of Lancaster, LANCASTER LA1 4YW, E-mail: A.Siewierska@lancaster.ac.uk Membership Secretary Dr. David Willis, Dept. of Linguistics, University of Manchester, MANCHESTER M13 9PL. E-mail: david.willis@man.ac.uk Meetings Secretary Dr. Marjolein Groefsema, Dept. of Linguistics, University of Hertfordshire, Watford Campus, ALDENHAM, Herts. WD2 8AT. E-mail: m.groefsema@herts.ac.uk Treasurer Dr. Paul Rowlett, Dept. of Modern Languages, University of Salford, SALFORD M5 4WT. E-mail: p.a.rowlett@mod-lang.salford.ac.uk Assistant Secretary Dr. April McMahon, Dept. of Linguistics, University of Cambridge, Sidgwick Avenue, CAMBRIDGE CB3 9DQ. E-mail: AMM11@hermes.cam.ac.uk Internet home page: The LAGB internet home page is now active at the following address: http://clwww.essex.ac.uk/LAGB. Electronic network: Please join the LAGB electronic network which is used for disseminating LAGB information and for consulting members quickly. It can be subscribed to by sending the message "add lagb" to: listserv@postman.essex.ac.uk. Future Meetings: 6-8 April 2000 University College London. 7-9 September 2000 University of Durham. Spring 2001 (provisional) University of Leeds. Autumn 2001(provisional) University of Reading. Spring 2002 (provisional) University of Leicester. The Meetings Secretary would very much like to receive offers of future venues, particularly from institutions which the LAGB has not previously visited.