Ruth Kramer (Georgetown University)
NACAL 38 Convener |
NACAL 38 - Important Update
Albuquerque, NM -- At the Business Meeting of the 37th annual meeting of the North American Conference on Afroasiatic Linguistics (NACAL), the assembled participants decided that future meetings of NACAL will meet independently of the annual meeting of the American Oriental Society (AOS). The decision to move the time and place of NACAL 38 was placed to a vote, and the participants voted unanimously in favor of the motion.
Since NACAL 5 (Ithaca, 1977), NACAL has met concurrently with AOS and the two meetings have shared a joint session session, hosted by AOS but open to NACAL members for a reduced admission fee. In October of 2008, AOS informed the past conveners of NACAL that it had unilaterally decided to terminate the joint session after three decades of collaboration, "due to the unwieldy logistics of organizing it and too many unfortunate misunderstandings with regard to registration". The AOS pointedly did not invite NACAL to participate in future AOS meetings, but noted in closing that "if NACAL affiliates plan to attend the AOS meeting, they will do so as AOS members and will have registered". |
We, the conveners of previous NACAL annual meetings, brought the AOS's action to the attention of the participants in this year's annual meetings, and the assembled body resolved the following:
- NACAL will no longer convene concurrently with AOS.
- NACAL will henceforth convene on university campuses under the direction of a faculty member;
- NACAL will convene for two days (rather than three) on the weekend preceding President’s Day (the third Monday in February).
These changes will drastically reduce the cost of organizing the annual meeting and keep our registration fees low. Convening on a university campus will give NACAL organizers and participants access to meeting facilities and resources such as audio-visual equipment which have proven to be prohibitively expensive in the past. Please note that as NACAL will henceforth occur in February rather than March, the annual call for papers and deadline for the submission of your abstracts will also arrive earlier than previous years.
In 2010, NACAL 38 will fall on Saturday, February 13th and Sunday, February 14th. The participants voted to confer responsibility for NACAL 38 upon Ruth Kramer (Georgetown University), who will organize the meeting and keep you informed of further developments. We hope to see you at our future meetings. Please check this website regularly for updates.
Cordially,
Rebecca Hasselbach and Na'ama Pat-El, Co-Conveners, NACAL 37
Charles Häberl, NACAL Webmaster and Past Convener |
About NACAL
The North American Conference on Afroasiatic Linguistics (NACAL) provides
scholars from North America and around the world with a venue to discuss
the Afroasiatic language phylum. Now in its 37th year, NACAL has held annual
meetings since 1973. Meetings are held in tandem with the annual meeting
of the American Oriental Society,
which shares a joint session with NACAL. Previous meetings have been held
in Ann Arbor, Austin, Baltimore, Boston, Cambridge, Chicago, Los Angeles,
Nashville, New Haven, San Diego, Seattle, Toronto, and several other cities
in the United States and Canada.
A list of previous conferences, organizers, and (since 1984) conference
reminiscers is available here. This list is updated
annually. The keynote speaker for NACAL 37 will be John Huehnergard
(Harvard), who will discuss "Trees and Waves: On the Classification
of the Semitic Languages."
A partial bibliography of papers given at previous conferences is available
here. If you have offered a paper at NACAL in
the past and cannot find your paper among those mentioned in the bibliography,
please contact us at afroasiatic@gmail.com.
Wolf Leslau, 1906-2006
Wolf Leslau, one of the greatest Semiticist linguists of the post-war generation,
passed away on Nov. 18, at age 100 + four days. Wolf Leslau was a frequent
participant in NACAL's annual meetings, and had the unique distinction of
serving as NACAL reminiscer not once but twice, first at NACAL 12 (1984)
and then again, two decades later, at NACAL 32 (2004). Grover Hudson's obituary
for Leslau can be found here.
Alan S. Kaye, 1944-2007
Alan S. Kaye, California State University (Fullerton) Professor of English,
Comparative Literature and Linguistics, died at the age of 63 on May 31,
2007. Alan Kaye, who was on scholarly leave from Fullerton and residing
at the United Arab Emirates University from 2006 until his death, was one
of NACAL's most active participants, having organized two annual meetings,
NACAL 9 (1981) and NACAL 18 (1990), and having served as reminiscer at NACAL
23 (1995). An obituary for Alan Kaye can be found here.
M. Lionel Bender, 1934-2008
M. Lionel Bender, Professor emeritus at Southern Illinois University
(Carbondale), died at the age of 73 on February 19, 2008. Like Alan Kaye,
Lionel Bender was one of NACAL's most active participants, having organized
two annual meetings, NACAL 26 (1998) and NACAL 30 (2002), and having served
as reminiscer at NACAL 27 (1999). Grover Hudson's obituary for Lionel Bender
can be found here.
