cfp.english.upenn.edu

The theme of the conference will be Methods Past and Current.

Recent studies in corpus linguistics, varieties and typologies, dialects and Standard English, as well as pragmatics prompt examination of methods found conducive to promising results. The choice of the conference’s theme stems from the widely shared view that methods of analysis involve at least the following related questions:

* How do methods of investigation take into account the data under study?
* In what ways do linguistic premises, perspectives, and models shape the methods to use?
* Which methods and models, developed in such disciplines as anthropology, cultural and demographic history, economics, psychology, and textual editing enhance linguistic analysis?
Do current methods depart in significant ways from those typical of research in the past.

More particular subthemes might include:

* For studies in corpus linguistics, diverse methods for investigating and analyzing regional, social, and cultural patterns in dialects, varieties, and Standard English.
* Under the topic typology, analyses of metrics from Old to Modern English, dialects and varieties, written and oral registers, and optimality theory as applied to sound change.
* From the perspective of reception, methodological designs for perceptual dialectology.
* For the topic pragmatics, discussion of current methods that are used to determine and explain patterns and changes in the linguistic features of spoken and written English.

The theme and topics presented here outline but by no means exhaust the scope of proposals for talks, poster sessions, and workshops that the New England Committee invites for ISLE 2011. Although this outline of theme and topic is central to the Boston meeting, ISLE will accommodate, as much as possible, outstanding abstracts directed toward other issues. The conference in Boston aims to provide an ample forum for members’ presentations and exchanges, formal and informal, on a wide range of topics.