American Dialect Society

The Newsletter of the American Dialect Society (NADS) cannot be sustained: postage costs have increased, editorial material has been scarce, and ADS members increasingly look for news on the Web rather than in their mailboxes. So, the ADS Executive Committee has decided to discontinue NADS, in both print and PDF formats; yet there is still a need for something like NADS.

Although the ADS Web site serves many of the same purposes as NADS, it is useful only if members think to check it at the right times for certain information (calls for papers and other deadlines, for instance). Forgetful as we all are, many ADS members would appreciate timely announcements or reminders of ADS-related business and activities. The best way to disseminate these nowadays is via an e-mail list.

A new e-mail list, called ADS-M, has been established in order to serve this purpose. Unlike ADS-L, it is not a discussion list: ADS-M is moderated and distributes mail to list subscribers only from ADS or ADS members who submit material to the list moderator (as though to NADS) at . Only the moderator can post messages to the list, and messages will be posted only if they pertain specifically and clearly to the interests of ADS and its members. Messages will be relatively infrequent, on the order of one per week.

Also unlike ADS-L, ADS-M is available to ADS members only: the list of subscribers will be checked regularly against the list of current ADS members. You can join the society at http://dukeupress.edu/ads/.

To sign up for ADS-M, visit

http://www.americandialect.org/adsm

Signing up will require that you verify your e-mail address, after which the moderator will verify that you are an ADS member before approving your subscription to the list.

Currently, 59% of ADS members have provided the Society and Duke University Press with their e-mail address. We suspect that many more (perhaps all) members use e-mail, and we hope that all members will soon subscribe to ADS-M so that important ADS news can be distributed to members efficiently.

With the help of Anthony Aristar and Susan Smith, Linguist List has agreed to host ADS-M--many thanks to them and also to Allan Metcalf, Executive Secretary, who edited NADS to the Socity’s great benefit for so many years.

Sincerely,

Grant Barrett
Vice President of Communications and Technology
American Dialect Society

From Thursday, January 8, 2009, through Saturday, January 10, ADS will hold its next annual meeting at the Hilton San Francisco, 333 O’Farrell St., hosted as usual by the Linguistic Society of America. Rooms will be available at the special rates of $99 single or double, $129 triple or quad. For details, see the LSA website, http://www.lsadc.org.

Monday, August 11 is the deadline for proposals for 20-minute presentations. All you need is a title and an abstract of 150 to 300 words. Send it via e-mail to Executive Secretary Allan Metcalf at .

Presenters must be current members of the American Dialect Society. Join here. Subscribing to the journal is the same thing as becoming a member.

Audio-visual equipment: An LCD projector will be available for all presentations. If you will need other equipment such as an overhead projector, a tape player, or a CD player, please say so when you send your proposal.

Scheduling: If you have a preference for day or time of your presentation, please indicate that too. We cannot guarantee the time you prefer, but the program committee will try to accommodate you. The meeting will follow our customary schedule:

Thursday, January 8: Executive Council and annual business meeting in the afternoon. Program session in late afternoon, followed by Words of the Year nominations.

Friday, January 9: Programs sessions in morning and afternoon. Words of the Year vote and Bring-Your-Own-Book reception in the early evening.

Saturday, January 10: Program sessions in morning and afternoon; Annual Luncheon in between.

Proposals will be judged anonymously by a committee chaired by Connie Eble, ADS president-elect. If your proposal is accepted, you’ll be asked for an abstract of no more than 200 words for the LSA program.

Session chairs: If you’re interested in chairing a session, let the Executive Secretary know at . Tell him any preference you have for time or topic.

Special sessions: If you’re interested in proposing an entire session rather than an individual paper, don’t wait till August. Get in touch with the program chair now at .

Teaching panel: As usual, the ADS Committee on Teaching will sponsor a panel at the annual meeting. If you would like to propose a 20-minute talk, send your proposal directly to the chair of the Committee on Teaching, Anne Curzan, at . Her deadline is also August 11.

Specially for students: Four travel grants of $500 each will be awarded to students whose papers have been chosen for the program. Furthermore, all students who are members of ADS are invited to attend the Annual Luncheon for free.

Hotel and registration: ADS members will be eligible to reserve rooms and register for the meeting at LSA member rates. For details see the website www.lsadc.org.

Future LSA-ADS meeting: 2010 January 7–9 Baltimore.