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SGL Newsletter
Society for Germanic Linguistics
Vol. 27, No. 1, Spring 2015
SGL News and Reports
SGL Elections
This past December elections were held for
SGL Vice President and two Executive
Committee positions. Jeannette Marsh was
elected to serve a three-year term as Vice
President, and Dorian Roehrs and John
Sundquist were each reelected to three-year
terms on the EC.
The SGL Elections Committee thanks all
those who nominated candidates and
participated in the balloting. (Mark L.
Louden, on behalf of the Elections
Committee; Carrie Jackson, Mark Louden,
Laura Catharine Smith)
Journal of Germanic
Linguistics
The Journal of Germanic Linguistics
remains on schedule. JGL 27(1), soon to be
available, contains two articles: “Cesi n’est
pas une tussentaal: Evoking standard and
vernacular language through mixed Dutch in
Flemish telecinematic discourse,”
by
Jürgen Jaspers
(Université libre de
Bruxelles) and Sarah Van Hoof (University
of Oslo) and “Thematic asymmetries do
matter! A corpus study of German word
order,” by Elisabeth Verhoeven (HumboldtUniversity, Berlin). Future contributions
include “The reduced definite article th’ in
Late Middle English and beyond: An insight
from the definiteness cycle,” by Jerzy
Nykiel
(University
of
Silesia);
“Grammatical gender in Norwegian:
Language acquisition and language change,”
by Yulia Rodina (University of Oslo) and
Marit Westergaard (The Arctic University of
Norway); “Type frequency influences
phonological generalizations: Eliminating
stressed open syllables with short vowels in
West Germanic,” by Robert Mailhammer
(University of Western Sydney), William
W. Kruger and Alexander Makiyama (both
from Arizona State University); and “Gothic
possessives, adjectives, and other modifiers
in -ata,” by Artūras Ratkus (University of
Vilnius). (Tracy Alan Hall)
Update: GLAC 21
We are delighted to report that preparations
are underway for GLAC 21, to be held May
8-9, 2015 at the Downtown Provo (Utah)
Marriott. We are pleased to welcome our
plenary speakers, Rolf Bremmer (Leiden)
and Johanna Watzinger-Tharp (Utah). This
year we will offer pre-conference workshops
on Proficiency-Based Teaching as well as on
Statistics on Thursday May 7. To help
promote and enhance our teaching of
German, we have also included a Teaching
Expo on Saturday, May 9, which will help
graduate students as well as newly hired
faculty. Post-conference festivities continue
with an optional trip to Moab on Sunday
May 10 (a minimum number of participants
will be needed).
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This year’s Call for Papers (including a new poster option) was met with an outstanding
response. The Organizing Team will send out notifications by February 13 to those who
submitted abstracts. Stay tuned for additional information to be sent out via the listserv and
GLAC-21 mailings. Participants at this year’s GLAC 21 are invited to contact BYU Travel to
make flight arrangements. They are often able to find very good flight prices not available to the
general public. The website will continue to be updated with conference-related information and
links in the coming weeks. http://glac2015.weebly.com/
On behalf of the GLAC-21 Team, we look forward to welcoming many of you to Provo, Utah in
May! (Laura Catharine Smith)
Calls for Papers
World Conference on Pluricentric Languages and
their Non-Dominant Varieties
The 4th International Congress on pluricentric languages and their non-dominant varieties will be
held from the 8th to the 11th of July, 2015 in Graz, Austria. The organizing committee is happy to
receive proposals for papers relating to the theory of the pluricentricity of languages and the
situation and features of non-dominant varieties. The deadline for abstracts is the 30th of March,
2015. Please see the conference website (http://www.pluricentriclanguages.org/ndv-conf-graz2015/) for more details.
Historical Linguistics and Typology: Assessing a Partnership
The University of Texas at Austin will host this conference from the 12th to the 13th of
September, 2015. The organizers invite proposals for 20-minute presentations (plus 10 minutes
for questions) on topics dealing with the relationship between historical linguistics and typology.
The deadline for submission is the 1st of May, 2015. More information can be found at the
following link: http://www.utexas.edu/cola/depts/mes/events/conferences/historical-linguisticsand-typology-assessing-a-partnership/call-for-papers.php.
Upcoming Conferences
9th HiSoN Summer School in Historical Sociolinguistics
Registration is now open for the 9th Summer School organized by the Historical Sociolinguistics
Network (HiSoN), which takes place from the 1st to the 8th of August, 2015, and will offer
classes by leading experts on modern and historical sociolinguists. The venue is the University of
Agder’s Metochi study center, a former monastery on the Greek island of Lesbos. Book early
(http://hum.leiden.edu/lucl/hison-summer-school-2015/) to secure your spot!
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Book Notices
The Phonology of Swedish
Tomas Riad
This book presents a comprehensive, contrastive account of the phonological structures and
characteristics of Swedish. After an introduction on the history of the language and its relation to
other Scandinavian languages, the book is divided into parts dealing with segmental phonology,
lower prosodic phonology, stress and tone, morphology-phonology interactions, higher prosodic
phonology, and intonation. The book concludes with concise accounts of phonotactics and the
relationship between phonology and orthography. The author’s approach is data-oriented and,
insofar as possible, theory-neutral. As well as making an important contribution to its subject,
this book provides new insights into how morphology largely determines the distribution of
stress in a Germanic language, and how tonal accent may signal wellformedness in word
formation. For more information, see http://ukcatalogue.oup.com/product/9780199543571.do.
Studies in the History of the English Language VI:
Evidence and Method in Histories of English
Edited by Michael Adams, Laurel J. Brinton, and R.D. Fulk
The relationships among data, evidence, and methodology in English historical linguistics are
perennially vexed. This volume—which ranges chronologically from Old to Present-Day English
and from manuscripts to corpora—challenges a wide variety of assumptions and practices and
illustrates how diverse methods and approaches construct evidence for historical linguistic
arguments from an increasingly large and diverse body of linguistic data. For more information,
see http://www.degruyter.com/view/product/248018?rskey=KT66rd&result=1.
LCL 21:A Structural History of the German Language
Joseph Voyles and Charles Barrack
This book originated as the result of almost fifty years of teaching the history of the German
language dating from the PIE (Proto-Indo-European) of about 3000 BC until the present era. The
students were German language learners, native speakers, and linguistics students unfamiliar
with the language. The book was written with a similar audience in mind. It consists of eleven
chapters in four major sections: Preliminaries, Historical Phonology, Historical Morphology, and
Historical Syntax and Semantics. Each chapter contains a section of exercises based on that
chapter; an answer key provides answers to these exercises. See http://www.lincomshop.eu/shop/article_11310b%2520ISBN%25209783862885251/LCL-21%3AA-StructuralHistory-of-the-German-Language.html for more information.
In Prayer and Laughter. Essays on Medieval Scandinavian and Germanic
Mythology, Literature, and Culture
Anatoly Liberman
In Prayer and Laughter: The Religion and Culture of Medieval Scandinavia and Beyond is the
culmination of a lifelong study of the Middle Ages by the author. It contains an introduction, 21
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chapters of different length, a bibliography, and indexes. The book opens with a bird’s-eye view
of the state of comparative mythology and proceeds with an analysis of the most important
questions confronting a student of Germanic and Scandinavian religion. In the course of this
analysis, the book devotes considerable prose to linguistic matters, especially historical
semantics and etymology. It also includes a discussion of the origin of the runic alphabet. For
more information, see http://paleog.com/northerngods.html.
Message from the Editors
We are thankful for everyone’s assistance with the Newsletter. We hope that you will consider
sharing information about newly published books with us for inclusion in our “Book Notices”
section. Please also consider sending us news and other information that may prove valuable to
Germanic linguists including, but not limited to, job postings, conference announcements, and
departmental news. We would also like you to consider writing a short piece about your program
for our “Program Profile” section or about a conference you attended for our “Conference
Report” section. Please send your information to John Sundquist ([email protected]) or
Katerina Somers ([email protected]). The deadline for the next Newsletter is September 1,
2015.
To join the SGL or report a change of address, fill out the form below and send it with a check,
money order, or transfer receipt to:
Robert Howell
German Department
818 Van Hise Hall
1220 Linden Drive
University of Wisconsin
MADISON, WI 53706-1558
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SGL Newsletter Editorial Addresses
Co-editors:
Katerina Somers ([email protected])
John Sundquist ([email protected])