LINGUISTICS ASSOCIATION OF GREAT BRITAIN

The Autumn Meeting of the Linguistics Association of Great Britain will be held from Thursday 7 to Saturday 9 September in St. John's College, University of Durham, where we will be the guests of the Department of Linguistics.

The local organisers are S.J. Hannahs <s.j.hannahs@durham.ac.uk> and Maggie Tallerman <Maggie.Tallerman@durham.ac.uk>.

St. John's College where the meeting will be held, is one of the peninsula colleges of Durham, and forms part of the World Heritage Site containing the magnificent Norman cathedral (which dates from 1093) and castle (dating from 1072). Both are a three minute walk from the meeting venue. The castle was formerly the seat of the Prince Bishops, who ruled the County Palatine as a virtually independent state with its own army, courts and coinage. In 1832 the castle became the foundation college of the University, and can be viewed by the public in excellent guided tours. St. John's is also a few minutes' walk from the thickly wooded banks of the river Wear, and attractive footpaths meander round the entire peninsula. Durham is a tiny but spectacular city with all its historic attractions within walking distance; it also has several good museums and a large number of traditional public houses selling a wide variety of real ales!

Accommodation: The accommodation for conference participants is in St. John's College, where all talks will be held. There are twin bedded rooms in the college, which should be booked in advance. Other rooms are single, and all have washbasins and are in easy reach of bathrooms, toilets and utility rooms.

Registration: will take place from 11-00 in the Reception at St. John's College. During the conference there will be someone on duty in the College office from 8.45 am till 11.45 pm for late arrivals.

Bar: a bar will be available from 5-30pm till 11pm, and the college is within a two minute walk of several good pubs.

Food: please indicate vegetarian and any other dietary requirements on the booking form below.

Childcare: If you require childcare during the conference, please contact the Local Organisers for further details.

Travel : By train: at least a dozen trains a day travel between London and Edinburgh to Durham. The journey takes less than 3 hours from London, 1 hour 30 minutes from Edinburgh and 45 minutes from York. From the station the easiest way to reach the college is by taxi (less than 2 pounds) or on foot (less than 15 minutes walk). There are no buses from the station. By car: Principal routes are from the north or south via the A1(M), from the west via the A66 and the A1(M). Exit the A1(M) to follow the A690 signs to Durham City Centre. Follow signs for the cathedral, which lead into the North then the South Bailey, where the college is sited. By air: the nearest airports are Newcastle upon Tyne and Teeside; Newcastle airport is linked to Durham by rail, and travel from either airport takes around one hour by public transport.

Parking A limited number of car parking places are available opposite the college and along the Bailey (the street where the college is sited). Car parks are available in town, approximately a 5 minute walk from the college. However, participants are advised not to bring a car if possible.

Events: The Henry Sweet Lecture 2000 on the Thursday evening will be delivered by Professor Peter Sells (Stanford University), who will give a talk entitled "The Morphological Expression of Syntactic Information in Optimality Theoretic Syntax".

There will also be a Workshop on OT syntax, organised by Ad Neeleman (UCL) and Vieri Samek-Lodovici (UCL). Contributors are Jane Grimshaw (Rutgers) and Peter Sells (Stanford).

There will be a Language Tutorial on Akkadian, given by Dr Guy Deutscher (Cambridge University).

On Friday there will be a special session on Linguistics at School: "Grammar teaching and the development of writing skills". Contributors are Rafael Salkie (Brighton), Jim Crinson (Collingwood Primary School, North Shields) and Geoff Barton (Thurston Community College, Suffolk).

On Friday evening there will be a Wine Reception hosted by Oxford University Press.

N.B. Special event for PhD students (Message from Siobhan Casson)

PhD LAGB members at Durham are hoping to encourage other PhD members and non-members to atttend the autumn conference by hosting an informal gathering on Thursday 7th September. We believe that, despite the welcoming atmosphere of LAGB conferences, it is very daunting to attend such events as a PhD, especially if you attend on your own. We also feel it is very hard to identify colleagues among the crowd. Hopefully, getting to know other PhDs will make the conference more enjoyable, and may lead to future contact. We will meet at 6.00 pm. (room to be announced). The Durham students will give a (very) brief welcome talk, and also get some ideas from you on developing future PhD gatherings. We will then organise ourselves to go to dinner together in St John's College at 6.30 pm. I look forward to seeing you all there!

Siobhan Casson <s.k.casson@dur.ac.uk>

Bookings: should be sent to Ms. Sara Hallowell (LAGB), Department of Linguistics, University of Durham, Elvet Riverside, DURHAM DH1 3JT.

Cheques should be made payable to "University of Durham" (they can't be processed otherwise).

There is a 10% discount on bookings received by Friday 18 August.

Guests: members may invite any number of guests to meetings of the association, upon payment of a guest invitation fee of 5 pounds in addition to the standard fees. Members wishing to invite guests should photocopy the enclosed booking form.

Abstracts: are available to members who are unable to attend the meeting. Please order using the booking form below.

Business Meeting: This is to be held on the afternoon of Friday 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.

President

Professor Andrew Spencer

Department of Language and Linguistics, University of Essex, Wivenhoe Park, COLCHESTER CO4 3SQ. spena@essex.ac.uk

Honorary Secretary

Professor Anna Siewierska

Department of Linguistics, University of Lancaster, LANCASTER LA1 4YW A.Siewierska@lancaster.ac.uk

Membership Secretary

Dr. David Willis

Dept. of Linguistics, University of Cambridge, Sidgwick Avenue, Cambridge CB3 9DA dwew2@cam.ac.uk

Meetings Secretary

Dr. Marjolein Groefsema

Dept. of Linguistics, University of Hertfordshire, Watford Campus, ALDENHAM, Herts. WD2 8AT. m.groefsema@herts.ac.uk

Treasurer

Dr Wiebke Brockhaus

Dept. of German, University of Manchester, MANCHESTER M13 9PL. Wiebke.Brockhaus@man.ac.uk

Assistant Secretary

Dr. Gillian Ramchand

Linacre College, Oxford University, OXFORD OX1 3JA. gillian.ramchand@linguistics-philology.oxford.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.

5-7 April 2001 University of Leeds.

4-6 September 2001 University of Reading.

Spring 2002 (provisional) Edge Hill College of Higher Education.

Immediately after the LAGB, the University of York is hosting a conference

on Peripheral Positions (partially funded by the LAGB). York is within easy

travelling distance from Durham (an hour's train journey or so). There will

be a Plenary lecture on the evening of the 9th, followed by a wine

reception. The conference will run until the 12th. Please see

http://www-users.york.ac.uk/~lang7 for details.

Members of the LAGB organising conferences on linguistics in the UK are invited to apply for grants of up to 300 pounds; conference publicity will in return have to state that the event is sponsored by the LAGB, and membership application forms should be enclosed in conference packs. Applications should be made to the President, ideally by e-mail to allow a quick response.

N.B. Anna Siewierska’s term as Honorary Secretary is reaching its end, and she has indicated that she does not want to stand again. Therefore, the LAGB would like to receive nominations for a new Honorary Secretary. If you are interested, please contact Andrew Spencer at the above address.

The term of office of the Meetings Secretary also expires at the Spring Meeting; Marjolein Groefsema has indicated a willingness to stand for a second term, and is the nomination of the

LAGB Committee.

BOOKING FORM

Please return this form, with your remittance, to: Ms. Sara Hallowell (LAGB), Department of Linguistics, University of Durham, Elvet Riverside, DURHAM DH1 3JT.

Cheques should be made payable to "University of Durham" (they can't be processed otherwise). There is a 10% discount on bookings received by Friday 18 August. _____________________________________________________________________

NAME: INSTITUTION:

ADDRESS FOR THIS MAILING:

E-MAIL ADDRESS:

I enclose remittance as indicated (select appropriate package):

1. Complete conference package:

(a) including Tuesday lunch preceding workshop

(i) if sent to arrive by 18 August £90.45 ..........

(ii) if sent to arrive after 18 August £100.50 ..........

(b) excluding Tuesday lunch

(i) if sent to arrive by 18 August £83.70 ..........

(ii) if sent to arrive after 18 August £93.00 ..........

(c) Surcharge for non-members, £5.00 ..........

TOTAL: ..........

2. Selected items:

(a) conference fee (OBLIGATORY) to cover cost of

abstracts, tea and coffee, room bookings,

speakers' expenses etc. £25.00 £25.00

(b) Thursday lunch £7.50 ..........

(c) Thursday dinner £8.00 ..........

(d) B&B Thursday/Friday £18.50 ..........

(e) Friday lunch £7.50 ..........

(f) Friday dinner £8.00 ..........

(g) B&B Friday/Saturday £18.50 ..........

(h) Saturday lunch £7.50 ..........

SUB-TOTAL: ..........

Deduct 10% if sent to arrive by 18 August ..........

(i) Surcharge for non-members, £5.00 ..........

TOTAL: ..........

4. Abstracts only, for those not attending: £5.00 UK.............. £6.00 overseas...............

• TICK TO RECEIVE ABSTRACTS WITH YOUR BOOKING RECEIPT: ...............

• TICK IF YOU WOULD LIKE VEGETARIAN FOOD: ......................

• OTHER SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS (e.g. DIET, ACCOMMODATION): .............