NWAV 44

Our department is co-hosting NWAV (New Ways of Analyzing Variation) this year with York University! This prestigious conference is the world's largest annual event in variationist sociolinguistics. It is taking place at Hart House from October 22-25. Department members have been planning this for several years, and the list of participants/volunteers is immense (including the entire blog committee). Traditionally, a theme for each year is chosen that reflects something about the subfield and the particular host-city. This year's (originally devised by Ph.D student Matt Hunt Gardner) is 'Intersections'; the conference explores the crossroads between variationist sociolinguistics and overlapping subfields of linguistics, anchored by two plenary speakers and five invited speakers whose work bridges variationist work and other research in linguistics.

On top of making arrangements with Hart House, contacting publishers, inviting speakers, ordering merchandise and freebies, creating a logo/website/schedule, overseeing abstract reception and reviews, sending out countless emails, making the abstract booklet, providing travel information, and more, present and past members of our department are also presenting lots of talks and posters:

Jack Chambers (faculty) is giving the opening plenary talk:
"Ways of analyzing variation (NWAV) in Canada."

Darcie Blainey (postdoc):
"Intersecting words, intersecting languages: Liaison in Cajun French between 1940 and 2010."

Marisa Brook (Ph.D.) and Emily Blamire (Ph.D.):
"Ness-less-ness: Zero-derived adjectival nominals in Internet forum data."

Heather Burnett (postdoc) is presenting a poster:
"Probabilistic minimalist grammars for the analysis of syntactic variation."

Julien Carrier (Ph.D.):
"The High Arctic relocation: A case of new-dialect formation in Inuktitut."

Aaron Dinkin (faculty) with colleagues Nathan Severance (Dartmouth College) and Keelan Evanini (Educational Testing Service):
"Examining the performance of FAVE for automated sociophonetic vowel analyses."

Shayna Gardiner (Ph.D.):
"What's mine is yours: Stable variation and language change in Ancient Egyptian possessive constructions."

Matt Hunt Gardner (Ph.D.):

"I got a story for you: The rapid convergence of stative possessives in Cape Breton English."

Bridget Jankowski (Ph.D 2013) and Sali A. Tagliamonte (faculty):

"Nobody knows everyone: Longitudinal change in cross-community perspective."

Yoonjung Kang (faculty) and Tae-Jin Yoon (McMaster University):
"Chain shift and initial syllable prominence in Seoul Korean."

Paulina Lyskawa (MA 2015, now at the University of Maryland), Emilia Melara (Ph.D.), and Ruth Maddeaux (Ph.D.):

"Heritage speakers abide by all the rules: Evidence of language-contact effects in Heritage Polish word-final devoicing."

Ruth Maddeaux (Ph.D.) and Aaron Dinkin (faculty)
"Is like like like?: Evaluating the same variant across multiple variables."

Sali A. Tagliamonte (faculty) is hosting a workshop: "Contrast and comparison in linguistic analysis: Cross-disciplinarity in practise", and one of the presenters is Diane Massam (faculty).

Katherine Rehner (faculty) is part of a presentation with Raymond Mougeon (York University):

"Variation sociolinguistique dans le discours des enseignants en salle de classe."

Derek Denis (Ph.D. 2015, now at the University of Victoria):

"Leaders and laggards: the intersection of sex and gregariousness in change."

Michael Iannozzi (BA 2014, now at the University of Western Ontario) is presenting a poster:

"Heritage Faetar's verbs are good to the last (pro-)drop."

Emilie LeBlanc (MA 2014, now at York University):

"Vraiment vraiment intense: The use of intensifiers in Acadian French adolescent speech."

Emilie LeBlanc (MA 2014, now at York University) and Selena Phillips-Boyle (York University):

"A diachronic shift: The status of well and ben in Chiac."

Shannon Mooney (MA 2012, now at Georgetown University) is presenting a poster:

"A corpus study of the influence of input on child acquisition of African American English aspectual markers."

Madeline Shellgren (MA 2011, now at Michigan State University):

"Individual differences in listener perceptions: personality or cognitive processing?"

Alexandra D'Arcy (Ph.D. 2005, now at the University of Victoria) with Rebecca Roeder (postdoc 2007-2009, now at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte) and Sky Onosson (University of Victoria):

"Simultaneous innovation and conservation: Unpacking Victoria’s vowels."

Nicole Rosen (Ph.D. 2007, now at the University of Manitoba), Sky Onosson (University of Victoria) and Lanlan Li (University of Manitoba) are also presenting a poster:
"There's a new ethnolect in town: Vowel patterning of Filipino English in Winnipeg."

Alexandra D'Arcy (Ph.D. 2005, now at the University of Victoria) with Martina Wiltschko (University of British Columbia):
"Deriving variation in function: A case study of Canadian eh and its kin."

Former visiting student Claire Childs:

"Looks like change, dunnit? Negative polarity tags in three varieties of British English."

Former visiting student Holman Tse:

"Is heritage language phonology conservative? Evidence from variation and change in Toronto heritage Cantonese vowels."

Former faculty member Anne-José Villeneuve (now at the University of Alberta), with Julie Auger (Indiana University):
"Looking at contemporary Picard from different angles: The relevance of variationist methods for European language policy."

Former visiting scholar Véronique Lacoste (Universität Freiburg):
"'What do Haitians sound like'? Sociophonetic variation in Haitians' English in Toronto."

The conference is set to be stellar. Kudos to everyone involved on their hard work!