Call for Papers

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Charlottesville, VA
April 12-14, 2009

SECOL 76 will be hosted by the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, VA, from April 12th through April 14th, 2009. The conference theme is “Languages and Dialects of the American South”. Papers and panels relating to this theme are especially requested, but research findings in all areas of language and linguistics are also welcome.

In addition to standard 20-minute papers presented in English, SECOL 76 invites submissions of two additional types of program material:

• Twenty-minute papers presented in French to form a session or sessions of French-language papers
• Panels of four or five participants speaking on a unified topic (submitted as a single abstract by the panel organizer (100 minute panels)

Abstracts must arrive by January 7, 2009. Send abstracts to:

Dr. Megan E. Melancon
Department of English, Speech, and Journalism
Georgia College and State University
CBX 044
Milledgeville, GA 31061

megan.melancon@gcsu.edu
P: 478-445-5572
F: 478-445-5961

Attach your abstract as a Microsoft Word document (or, if this is not possible, use WordPerfect or cut and paste the document into the body of your e-mail). Do not include your name on the abstract itself, since all entries will be judged anonymously. In that same Word file, under separate cover, please enter the following information: name; affiliation; e-mail; mailing address; phone number; title of paper; and special equipment/technology needs. Electronic submissions sent to the above e-mail address are strongly preferred, but hard-copy abstracts will certainly also be considered and should be sent to the above street address.

Guidelines for Abstracts for 20 Minute Papers
I)  Give the title of the paper at the top of the page. Do not give your name or other identifying information. Abstracts will be judged by the Program Committee without knowledge of the identity of the authors.
II)  Limit the abstracts to about 300 words.
III)  Include a statement of the topic or purpose of the paper, preferably as the first paragraph.
IV)  If your paper involves the analysis of linguistic materials, give appropriate examples, along with a brief indication of why they are important to your argument.
V)  If your paper is to present the results of experiments and you do not yet have those results, indicate the nature of the experiments and why the results will be significant.
VI)  State the relevance of your ideas to past work or to the future development of the field.
VII)  State your conclusions (however tentative); avoid saying things like "A solution to this problem will be presented." If you are taking a stand on a controversial issue, summarize the arguments that lead you to take this position.
VIII)  These guidelines should provide authors with sufficient flexibility so that if their ideas change somewhat or if their experimental results are not what they expect, they can still feel that their paper is adequately reflected by their abstract. If, however, you find that you cannot in good conscience read your paper within the framework of the abstract as accepted by the program committee, you may withdraw the paper by notifying Dr. Megan E. Melancon at the above addresses prior to the meeting. SECOL strongly discourages sending substitute readers if you are unable to read your own paper as this adversely affects the paper presentation.

Guidelines for Abstracts for 100 Minute Panels

I) Give the title of the paper at the top of the page. Do not give your name or other identifying information. Abstracts will be judged by the Program Committee without knowledge of the identity of the authors.
II) Limit the panel description to 1000 words or less.
III) Describe in detail similar to III above. Indicate the proposed contribution of each participant, listed as Participant I, Participant II, etc. If a give-and-take discussion is envisioned, justify the worth of this departure from separate presentations on the Panel topic.
IV) As above, if a Participant must withdraw, the Panel organizer(s) will alert SECOL and will in good faith attempt to find a replacement, sending in a description of the new Participant’s participation on the Panel.

Reza Ordoubadian Award

Students are reminded of the annual Reza Ordoubadian Award. This is a cash award for the paper presented by a student at the spring SECOL meeting deemed best by a selection committee. To be considered, three copies of the paper should be sent along with a cover letter requesting consideration. THE DEADLINE FOR THE 2008 ROA COMPETITION (for papers presented in April, 2008 in Knoxville, TN) IS 04 JANUARY 2008. The deadline for the 2009 conference will be January, 2009.

NOTE: Presenters must be members of SECOL and must register for the conference.