LINGUISTICS ASSOCIATION OF GREAT BRITAIN

	Autumn Meeting 1996: University of Wales Institute Cardiff

	First Circular and Call for Papers

The 1996 Autumn Meeting will be held from Saturday 7 to Monday 9
September  at the University of Wales Institute Cardiff on the Cyncoed
Campus, Cyncoed Road, Cardiff. The Local Organisers are Janig Stephens
(jstephens@cihe.ac.uk) and Helen Pandeli (hpandeli@cihe.ac.uk).

Cardiff is a young, vibrant city and the capital city of Wales. It offers a
mixture of ancient and modern features (a Norman castle, museums, shopping
arcades) and is surrounded by  beautiful countryside and a picturesque
coastline. The city offers lively entertainment in its theatres and cinemas and
on the streets. The Cyncoed Campus is situated in a pleasant residential area,
close to Roath Lake.

Accommodation: will be on campus in en suite individual bedrooms.

Travel: Cardiff is easily reached by train, coach, car and plane. The main rail
and bus stations are right in the city centre. By car, Cardiff is easily accessible 
via the M4 Motorway which passes North of the city if travelling from London 
and the South East and via the M5 from the Midlands, the North and the 
South West.

Events: The Henry Sweet Lecture 1996 on the Saturday evening will be
delivered by Professor Janet Fodor (CUNY) and is entitled "Setting 
parameters: fewer but better triggers."

There will be a Workshop on "Learnability and language acquisition for
linguists", organised by Stefano Bertolo (MIT). Language Acquisition is
regarded by many as one of the most fundamental problems in Linguistics:
how do children acquire, effortlessly and swiftly, systems of rules as
complicated as those that are necessary to characterise a natural language?
This question has a methodological counterpart in the related question: are
there any descriptively sound linguistic theories that must be abandoned
because they rely on systems of rules that are provably impossible for a
human to learn? This introductory mini-course addresses this second 
methodological question: how should linguistic research be shaped by the
formal and empirical requirements of learnability and language acquisition
respectively? The course is tutorial in nature and presupposes no previous
knowledge of these topics. This session of the meeting will be chaired by
Robert Borsley and  will be divided in two parts. In the first part Stefano
Bertolo will introduce fundamental concepts and results from formal learning
theory (criteria of successful learning, classes of hypotheses, modes of
presentation and properties of learning functions) and assess the psychological
plausibility of some of the available alternatives. The second part will discuss
the learnability consequences of the Principles and Parameters Hypothesis with
respect to descriptively and empirically motivated problems in Syntax (Martin 
Atkinson), Phonology (Jonathan Kaye) and Diachronic Syntax.

There will be a Language Tutorial on Mohawk, given by Professor Marianne 
Mithun (University of California, Santa Barbara). Mohawk is a language of the 
Iroquoian family, which also includes Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca, 
Huron, Tuscarora, Cherokee, and several other lesser known languages. It is 
spoken primarily in six communities in Quebec, Ontario, and New York State.  
There are several thousand speakers, and some children are now learning 
the language again as a mother tongue. The language is of special interest
typologically for a number of reasons. The match between morphological 
and syntactic categories is not always as might be expected. There are three 
quite distinct morphological categories: nouns, verbs, and particles. 
Morphological nouns are generally used as nominals syntactically, but 
morphological verbs may be used as predicates, as nominals, or as full 
clauses in themselves. The language is also of special interest for its high 
degree of productive polysynthesis. All verbs are finite and contain obligatory 
pronominal prefixes referring to their core arguments. They show an agent-patient 
pattern, which interacts with aspect in interesting ways. There is highly productive 
noun incorporation, which speakers use skillfully for both lexical and discourse 
purposes. Overall, the language provides an interesting look at the way functions 
may be spread over morphological and syntactic patterns, and the consequences 
of certain cross-linguistic differences.

There will be a Wine Party on the Saturday evening, following Professor Fodor's lecture.

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 
must arrive by 4 June 1996 and should be sent in the format outlined below to the 
following address: Professor G. Corbett, Linguistic and International Studies, 
University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey, GU2 5XH. Papers for the programme 
are selected anonymously - only the President knows the name of the authors.

Abstracts must be presented as follows: submit SEVEN anonymous copies
of the abstract, plus ONE with name and affiliation, i.e. CAMERA-READY. 
The complete abstract containing your title and your name must be no longer 
than ONE A4 page (8.27" x 11.69") with margins of at least 1" on all sides. You 
may use single spacing (not more than six lines to the inch) and type must be 
no smaller than 12 characters per inch. Type uniformly in black (near-letter quality 
on a word processor) and make any additions in black. It is preferable to print 
out the abstracts using a laser printer, 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  4 June 1996. 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.

For the last (Sussex) meeting, all ten bursaries were offered:  each applicant
presenting a paper received 50 pounds (half the cost of the full conference
package of meals and accommodation) plus their return rail fare.  So, if you
are thinking of submitting an abstract, are a student on a normal grant or
unwaged, and have been an LAGB member for at least six months, it is well
worth while applying for a bursary too!

Guests:  Members may invite any number of guests to meetings of the
association, upon payment of a stlg5 guest invitation fee. Members wishing to
invite guests should photocopy the booking form enclosed in the Second
Circular.

Business Meeting:  This is to be held on the afternoon of Sunday 8 September.
Items for the agenda should be sent to the Honorary Secretary.

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 Greville Corbett, Linguistic and International Studies,
University of Surrey, GUILDFORD, Surrey, GU2 5XH.
e-mail: g.corbett@surrey.ac.uk

Honorary Secretary
Dr. David Adger, Dept. of Language and Linguistic Science, 
University of York, Heslington, York.  YO1 5DD. 
e-mail: da4@tower.york.ac.uk.

Membership Secretary
Dr. Kersti Boerjars, Department of Linguistics, University of 
Manchester, MANCHESTER M13 9PL.
e-mail: k.e.borjars@manchester.ac.uk

Meetings Secretary
Dr. Billy  Clark, Communication Studies, Middlesex University, Trent
Park, Bramley Road, LONDON N14 4XS. e-mail: billy1@mdx.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

BLN Editor
Dr. Siew-Yue Killingley, Grevatt and Grevatt, 9 Rectory Drive,
NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE NE13 1XT.

British Linguistic Newsletter: Members are reminded that they can subscribe
to BLN (ISBN 0964-6574) by contacting the Editor, Dr. S-Y. Killingley.
Subscriptions for BLN are not to be sent to the LAGB Treasurer.

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:

7-9 April 1997 			University of Edinburgh.
(N.B. adjacent to GALA '97, also in Edinburgh 4th-6th April,
further information, including abstracts deadline, on:
http://www.cogsci.ed.ac.uk/gala/)
9-11 September 1997 (dates provisional) 	University of Hertfordshire.
14-16 April 1998			University of Lancaster.
10-12 September 1998 (dates provisional)	University of Luton.
Spring 1999 (provisional)		University of Manchester.
Autumn 1999 (provisional)		University of York.

The Meetings Secretary would very much like to receive offers of future
venues, particularly from institutions which the LAGB has not previously
visited or from places with newly established linguistics programmes.