Full Title: North American Research Network in Historical Sociolinguistics – special sessions at NWAV 49
Short Title: NARNiHS NWAV 49

Date: 19-Oct-2021 – 24-Oct-2021
Location: ONLINE (via University of Texas at Austin), USA
Contact Person: NARNiHS Steering Group
Meeting Email: < click here to access email >
Web Site: https://www.nwav49.org/

Linguistic Field(s): Historical Linguistics; Sociolinguistics; Text/Corpus Linguistics

Call Deadline: 11-Apr-2021

Meeting Description:

We are soliciting abstracts for NARNiHS-sponsored special session(s) in historical sociolinguistics at the New Ways of Analyzing Variation (NWAV) Conference, which is fully virtual for its 49th edition. We welcome 20-minute papers that study the interaction of language and society in historical periods and from historical perspectives. A wide range of linguistic areas, subdisciplines, and methodologies easily find their place within the field of historical sociolinguistics, including, but not limited to:
– the study of language usage in historical context(s);
– the application/development of sociolinguistic theories to historical data;
– the use of contemporary sociolinguistic models to explain historical linguistic variation;
– methods for the study of historical language variation and change over time.

Papers analyzing data in a quantitative way as well as those with an explicit focus on this year’s NWAV special topic areas are particularly welcome:
– Variation in less studied communities;
– Computational sociolinguistics;
– Methodological innovation;
– Combination of multiple methods.

North American Research Network in Historical Sociolinguistics
NARNiHS special sessions at NWAV 49
Online (via the University of Texas at Austin), 19-24 October 2021

Call for Papers:

Deadline for submission of abstracts to NARNiHS: Sunday, 11 April 2021, 11:59 PM US Eastern Time.

Late abstracts will not be considered. Contact NARNiHistSocgmail.com with questions.

Abstracts will be evaluated on the following criteria:
– explicit discussion of which theoretical frameworks, methodological protocols, and analytical strategies are being applied or critiqued;
– sufficient (if brief) presentation of data sources and examples to allow reviewers a clear understanding of the scope and claims of the research;
– clear articulation of how the research advances knowledge in the field of historical sociolinguistics.

See the shortened ”program abstracts” from our special session at NWAV 48 for an idea of work in historical sociolinguistics that has been accepted to NWAV in the past:
Allen et al.: https://cpb-us-e1.wpmucdn.com/blogs.uoregon.edu/dist/a/17125/files/2019/10/NWAV48_Program_Booklet_Oct07.pdf#page=75 .
Verheyden: https://cpb-us-e1.wpmucdn.com/blogs.uoregon.edu/dist/a/17125/files/2019/10/NWAV48_Program_Booklet_Oct07.pdf#page=77 .
Pappas & Tsolakidis: https://cpb-us-e1.wpmucdn.com/blogs.uoregon.edu/dist/a/17125/files/2019/10/NWAV48_Program_Booklet_Oct07.pdf#page=78 .
Raynor: https://cpb-us-e1.wpmucdn.com/blogs.uoregon.edu/dist/a/17125/files/2019/10/NWAV48_Program_Booklet_Oct07.pdf#page=80 .
Mufwene: https://cpb-us-e1.wpmucdn.com/blogs.uoregon.edu/dist/a/17125/files/2019/10/NWAV48_Program_Booklet_Oct07.pdf#page=81 .
See also NWAV 49’s webpage for further details on the conference and this year’s special topics (https://www.nwav49.org/)

Authors will be notified with a decision about acceptance for inclusion in the NARNiHS NWAV special session proposal(s) by Friday, 30 April 2021. Authors whose abstracts are not accepted are encouraged to submit their abstracts for inclusion in the NWAV general sessions by NWAV’s 15 May 2021 deadline. Note that acceptance into the NARNiHS-sponsored special session proposal(s) does not guarantee acceptance into NWAV 49, as all special session proposals are further reviewed by NWAV reviewers for final acceptance into the conference.

General Requirements:
1. Abstracts for 20-minute papers must be submitted to NARNiHS electronically, using the following link: http://linguistlist.org/easyabs/NARNiHSatNWAV49
2. Authors may submit a maximum of two abstracts, one single-authored abstract and one co-authored abstract.
3. Authors are expected to attend the online conference and present their own papers.
4. After an abstract has been submitted, no changes of author, title, or wording of the abstract, other than those due to typographical error, are permitted. If accepted, authors will be contacted for a final version for the conference program.
5. Papers must be delivered as projected in the abstract or represent bona fide developments of the same research.
6. If accepted, authors may not submit identical abstracts for presentation in the NARNiHS-sponsored panel(s) and in the NWAV general sessions.

NWAV Abstract Guidelines (from https://www.nwav49.org/call-for-papers):
[Please follow these NWAV guidelines in preparing your abstract (as a PDF file, US Letter format)]
”Abstracts should be anonymous, a maximum of one single-spaced page in length, and be written in a standard 12-point font. Bibliography, glossed and/or transcribed examples, and images may appear on a second page and do not count towards the word limit.”

For your submission to NARNiHS, please note that your name should only appear in the online form accompanying your abstract submission. If you identify yourself in any way on the abstract itself (including indirect identification, e.g. ”In Bly (1992)…I”), the abstract will be rejected without being evaluated. In addition, be sure to anonymize your PDF document (you may do so in Adobe Acrobat Reader by clicking on ”File”, then ”Properties”, removing your name if it appears in the ”Author” line of the ”Description” tab, and re-saving before submitting it).