This year’s Symposium about Language and Society — Austin (SALSA) may be of special interest to those working on the language-culture nexus in indigenous Latin America, as it is organized in honor of Joel Sherzer, whose work has focused on a number of themes on language and culture in various parts of Central and South America, including the archiving of indigenous discourse materials. I include an abbreviated version of the CFP below (more information can be via the SALSA website, here). A number of Joel’s Amazonianist colleagues and students will be keynote speakers, including Greg Urban, who has carried out fieldwork on Shokleng, and Laura Graham, who continues to work with Xavante communities. SALSA is always a fun conference, and I think this year will be especially enjoyable.
S A L S A 2010
SPEECH PLAY AND VERBAL ART:
A CONFERENCE IN HONOR OF JOEL SHERZERThe Symposium About Language and Society Austin is pleased to announce its 18th Annual Meeting to be held March 26, 27, and 28 at the University of Texas at Austin. This year the conference will be held in honor of Dr. Joel Sherzer in order to mark his significant contributions to the study of language and culture. SALSA is now accepting proposals for papers focusing on the theme of speech play and verbal art as outlined in one of Dr. Sherzer’s most recent works, Speech Play and Verbal Art (2002). As Sherzer has noted, speech play consists of “The manipulation of elements and components of language in relation to one another, in relation to the social and cultural contexts of language use, and against the backdrop of other verbal possibilities in which it is foregrounded.”
SPECIAL PARASESSION: POETICS AT THE THRESHOLD OF CONTEXT
In addition to the general session, we are accepting proposals for contributions to a para-session on potential trajectories for further work in linguistic anthropology based on Sherzer’s legacy. In particular, we see a janus faced threshold for research on the interface of language and culture – the formal properties of language cannot be fully understood without understanding how language is used socially, and social action cannot be understood without understanding how people are making use of the formal properties of language. Such approaches would take seriously both recent work in linguistics and social anthropology.
Please send submissions to SALSA 2010 through the online submission form on the SALSA web site.
http://www.utexas.edu/students/salsa
All submissions must include TWO abstracts: An extended abstract not to exceed 4,100 characters and spaces (approximately 600 words), including references and examples; and a shorter abstract not to exceed 1,100 spaces and characters (approximately 150 words). Please note that the online submission form does not accept special formatting or text such as IPA. Only electronic submissions sent through our online form will be accepted. Each person is limited to ONE submission as the primary author; multiple submissions by the same first author will not be accepted.
Deadline for receipt of abstracts is JANUARY 20, 2010. Late submissions will not be accepted, and we cannot accept papers that are to be published elsewhere. Notification of acceptance will be sent in the first week of February 2010.
Amazonian Linguistics 