The Language Documentation and Linguistic Theory biennial conference aims to bring together researchers working on linguistic theory and language documentation and description, with a particular focus on innovative work on under-described or endangered languages. This year the event includes an additional Workshop on Language Documentation and Archiving.

The Workshop will be held on 18 November 2011.

The main Conference session is held from 19 to 20 November 2011.

Plenary speakers

The plenary speakers for the main Conference session are:

• Professor Balthasar Bickel, University of Leipzig
  
• Professor Anju Saxena, Uppsala University
  

The plenary speaker for the Archiving Workshop is:

• Professor Anthony Woodbury, University of Texas at Austin
  

Conference themes

The theme of the LDLT3 conference is 'Empirical methodologies that drive forward theory building'.

For 2011, we especially welcome submissions addressing this theme in relation to languages of Asia.

We invite contributions relating to any aspect of the study of language and linguistics from any perspective, including:

• formal theoretical issues;
• typology;
• documentary linguistics and responses to language endangerment;
• new techniques and opportunities for documenting and describing languages;
• historical linguistics;
• discourse, and narrative structure.

The best contributions will use empirical data to examine the relationship between language documentation and description and linguistic theory.

The main Conference session takes place on Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 November 2011.

Workshop themes

The ELAR Workshop on Language Documentation and Archiving brings together language documenters and archivists to discuss the latest developments in their areas of research in an attempt to create a new common ground.

Abstracts are invited from anyone involved in language documentation and/or archiving, addressing questions such as:

• What is the relationship between documentation and archiving, and where (if anywhere) is the boundary between them?
• What contributions can archives make to language revitalisation?
• What other fields (e.g. corpus creation) can we look to for models and techniques?
• What should the outcomes of language documentation be like, how should
  they be presented in archives, and how can they be used?
• What roles can archives play in the evaluation and valorisation of documentation?
• What roles should archives play in the delivery of resources to communities?
• How can archives connect to a wider range of people about issues of language endangerment?

The Workshop takes place on Friday 18 November 2011.

Abstracts

Abstracts are invited for both the main Conference session, and the Workshop on Language Documentation and Archiving. Each presentation has 20 minutes followed by 10 minutes of discussion. Each individual may present up to one single authored paper and one joint paper throughout the whole conference.

Abstracts should be anonymous, a minimum of 11pt font and one page in length, including references and examples. They should be in .doc or .pdf format (but not .docx format) and the filename should start with LDLT3, followed by an underscore and then first authors' surname, e.g. LDLT3_ashmore.pdf. If you have a common surname, please also include initials, e.g. LDLT3_jjones.pdf.

You should make clear in the body of your abstract whether it is intended for the main Conference session or the Workshop.

Abstracts should be submitted using the LDLT3 EasyAbs site, which is now open.

The deadline for the submission of all abstracts is Monday 16 May 2011.

Applicants will be notified of abstract acceptance by Monday 13 June 2011.

All contributors will be asked to submit a short version of their paper to be published in the conference proceedings. Further details will be made available once abstracts have been selected.

Papers from the first LDLT conference in 2007, and papers from LDLT2 in 2009, are now available online.

Important dates

• Deadline for abstract submission: Monday 16 May 2011
• Applicants notified of abstract acceptance: Monday 13 June 2011
• 'Short papers' due date for publication in Conference/Workshop proceedings: Monday 19 September 2011
• Deadline for 'early bird' conference registration at reduced cost: Friday 21 October 2011
• Registration ends: Tuesday 15 November 2011 (Note: on-site registration at the event is not possible)
• Workshop: Friday 18 November 2011
• Main Conference session: Saturday 19 - Sunday 20 November 2011

Organisation

The local organising committee consists of:

• Peter Austin
• Oliver Bond
• Lutz Marten
• David Nathan

Enquiries

All enquiries should be directed to Teresa Poeta at:
ldlt3.conference@gmail.com