LINGUISTICS ASSOCIATION OF GREAT BRITAIN Autumn Meeting 1997: University of Hertfordshire First Circular and Call for Papers The 1997 Autumn Meeting will be held from Thursday 4 to Saturday 6 September at the University of Hertfordshire, on its Watford campus. The Local Organiser is Marjolein Groefsema (m.groefsema@herts.ac.uk). The county of Hertfordshire is roughly 20 miles northwest of London and, in administrative terms, dates back to Saxon times. It has some unrivalled countryside dotted with small towns, villages and places of archaeological interest. Some of these have their roots in the period in which Britain was part of the Roman Empire. Hertfordshire also has an interesting modern history, due to its proximity to London. It has been home to many famous people, including: Charles Dickens, E.M.Forster, Charles Lamb, David Livingstone, George Orwell and George Bernard Shaw. The Watford Campus is built around an 18th century manor house and gardens. There are outdoor hockey, rugby and football pitches. There are six tennis and four netball courts and an attractive open air swimming pool. Accommodation: will be on campus in rooms and adjacent to the building where the conference presentations will take place. Travel: The Watford Campus is a short walk from the village of Aldenham and 3 miles away from the towns of Radlett and Watford, both of which provide frequent train connections to central London (aprox. 20 mins). It is also conveniently located near several major motorways (M25, M1 and A1). Events: The Henry Sweet Lecture 1997 on the Thursday evening will be delivered by Professor Jim McCloskey (University of California at Santa Cruz). There will be a Workshop on Celtic syntax organised by Maggie Tallerman (University of Durham). There will be a Language Tutorial on Welsh, given by Gwen Awbrey (University of Wales Cardiff) and Bob Morris Jones (University of Wales Aberystwyth). There will be a Wine Party on the Thursday evening, following Professor McCloskey's lecture, sponsored by the Department of Linguistics. 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 2 June 1997 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. 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 2 June 1997. 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. Guests: Members may invite any number of guests to meetings of the association, upon payment of a 5 pounds sterling 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 Friday 5 September. Items for the agenda should be sent to the Honorary Secretary. Election of Meetings Secretary: Nominations are sought for the position of Meetings Secretary, which becomes vacant with the retirement of Billy Clark. All names should be sent to the Honorary Secretary by 2 June 1997; nominations should be proposed and seconded, and proposers should make sure that their nominee is willing to stand for election. 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 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 Borjars, 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 4YZ. E-mail: b.clark@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 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: 14-16 April 1998 University of Lancaster. 10-13 September 1998 University of Luton. 8-10 April 1999 (dates provisional) University of Manchester. Autumn 1999 (provisional) University of York. Spring 2000 (provisional) University College London. 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.