Information about SLS

The Slavic Linguistics Society (SLS) was born in Philadelphia in December, 2004 at a roundtable meeting organized by Prof. Steven Franks (Indiana University) at the annual meeting of the American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages (AATSEEL). The purpose of the Society is to create a community of students and scholars interested in Slavic linguistics, that is, the systematic and scholarly study of the Slavic languages. The Society aspires to be as open and inclusive as possible; no school, framework, approach, or theory is presupposed, nor is there any restriction in terms of geography, academic affiliation, or academic status. As Roman Jakobson declared (paraphrasing Terence), Linguista sum; linguistici nihil a me alienum puto `I am a linguist; I consider nothing linguistic foreign to me'. Grammar, lexicology, pragmatics, sociolinguistics, cognition, teaching ... we hope to create a community interested in developments and research in all these areas and more.

Please see what we have so far; suggestions are always welcome, from details to concepts, involving any aspect of our activities.

MINUTES from the business meeting, 11 June 2008, at the Third SLS conference, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH (USA).

The meeting convened at 5:30 with approximately 45 members in attendance. It was conducted by Steven Franks.
The Ohio State organizers were thanked for putting together an excellent meeting and general satisfaction with the way SLS has taken off was expressed.
The question was then raised of where to hold next year's meeting. Franks presented an offer to host SLS 2009 from the University of Zadar, with cosponsorship by the Insitute of Croatian Language and Linguistics in Zagreb. It was voted to accept this offer. Likely dates for the meeting are 3-6 September 2009 (Labor Day being 7 September).
- An offer from the University of Chicago to host SLS 2010 was also presented and it was similarly voted to accept this proposal.
- Given the high level of participation by Europeans and the international nature of SLS, support was expressed for the emerging pattern of alternating between the United States and Europe.
Franks made appeal to members to support JSL by submitting papers or reviews, as well as Reflections or In Memoriam pieces. He has a graduate assistant to manage new JSL and/or SLS projects and asked for proposals. E-mail along these lines will be sent to the general society membership.
Gilbert Rappaport made a presentation about the status of the web site, explained the password system for using the list, and requested suggestions for sprucing the site up, adding new links, and updating information about the society.
Daniel Collins expressed a concern for involving undergraduates in our activities and there was general agreement that this is a valuable goal.
Financial issues of various sorts were discussed. George Fowler said there were about 100 paid memberships, but this includes the approximately 30 new members generated by SLS 2008 as well as institutional JSL subscriptions. Since Rappaport reported approximately 450 subscribers to the electronic list, this means only about 15% of interested individuals are actually paying the $20-$40 for membership. An appeal to electronic list subscribers will go out soon.
It was decided that an "SLS Fund" would be established, so that individuals and institutions could make donations that could be used to help organize SLS meetings, assist individuals in need to become members and/or attend the meetings, and eventually to support more creative enterprises, such as awarding small grants for research and other SLS-related projects. Franks will look into setting this up through the Indiana University Foundation in such a way that donations to it will be deductible from taxes, at least for donors in the U.S. Initial donations will be actively sought.
The need for some kind of "executive board" was raised, in order to manage this fund and, in general, deal with SLS matters as the society defines itself over the next few years. A board was approved with the following membership:
- Daniel Collins (OSU)
- Steven Franks (IU)
- Frank Gladney (Illinois, emeritus)
- Lenore Grenoble (Chicago)
- Gilbert Rappaport (Texas).
Franks and Rappaport will have two year terms; Collins, Gladney, and Grenoble will have three year terms. At the SLS 2010 business meeting two new individuals will then be elected to serve three year terms (and in all likelihood its structure will be revisited at that point). Chairmanship of the board would rotate annually, with Franks chairing until SLS 2009, at which point Rappaport would take this responsibility over.
Also discussed at the meeting more broadly was the desire of SLS to cooperate (and not compete) with such sister organizations as AATSEEL and LSA, as well as regular conference series such as FASL, FDSL, FASSBL, SCLA, GLiP and so forth, not to mention various ad hoc conferences. We actively solicit ideas in this area.

The meeting adjourned at approximately 6:30.

Our next meeting (SLS-IV) will be held in September 2009 at the University of Zadar, with cosponsorship by the Insitute of Croatian Language and Linguistics in Zagreb. Likely dates for the meeting are 3-6 September 2009

Tentative plans are being made to have the following meeting (SLS-V) at the University of Chicago (USA) in 2010, probably in the late spring.