ICLA newsletter, May 2014

1. In memoriam Charles Fillmore

The ICLA Board has asked Eve Sweetser to write a memorial for Charles Fillmore who died on February 13, 2014. The Board would like to express her thanks to Eve for having written a very nice testimony which is now available on the ICLA website.

2. Planning ICLC 13

Conference website

The next ICLC, to be held at Northumbria University, Newcastle, UK, July 20-25 is taking (good) form. An announcement was sent out early March and the Call for Papers will be sent out shortly. The theme of the conference is "Bringing together theory and method" and the plenary speakers are: Adele Goldberg, Martin Haspelmath, Mirjam Fried, Hans-Jörg Schmid, Ronald Langacker, and Gabriella Vigliocco.

Incidentally, the IPrA conference, which takes place in Antwerp, Belgium starts on July 26; given the (relative) geographical proximity, it is possible for people to participate in the two conferences. The ICLC and IPrA organizers have agreed to provide special travel information on this.

The Board has taken an important decision with regard to conference participation: ICLA membership (at reduced rate of maximally 30€, cf. below) will be required for participation in the ICLC. Membership is not required for submission of abstracts. This information will be specified in the call for papers.

ADDITION: post-poned till Jan. 1, 2016

The rationale for this decision is not to simply increase the number of members, but to strengthen the link between the ICLA and the conference as well as to ensure a stronger financial basis for the ICLA, which will be needed for the maintenance of the new website (cf. below) but which will also make it easier to sponsor different event (the major one being the ICLC of course).

3. New membership formula

The Board has decided for the possibility to be ICLA membership without a subscription to Cognitive Linguistics. Many people have now access to the journal via their institutions, which makes ICLA membership redundant and expensive. The rate of this member fee has not yet been fixed but will be around 25€ to 30€ (maximum), with a lower fee for student members. It is this "basic" membership that will be required for participation at the ICLC.

Maarten Lemmens and Ad Foolen are still negotiating with Mouton about the practical aspects as well as the special subscription that will be offered to members who want to have the journal (paper or electronic); we will of course encourage members (both old and new) to subscribe to the journal. Maarten also hopes that in the long run, Pattern Driven Acquisition (PDA) will be possible, which means that members can buy individual articles. Mouton has informed us that for technical reasons, this would not be feasible on an individual basis at this moment.

This decision has important practical repercussion, notably that the ICLA will have to manage membership subscriptions and payments, which now is still done via Mouton. The new website will incorporate administrative tools which will make this quite easy (cf. below).

4. New ICLA website

As has been announced, we are in the process of building a new website which aspires to be the pivot of the ICLA community.

Given the complexity of the project, a contract has been signed (or will be signed shortly) with a professional company specialised in web development. Statik is a group of (young) professionals who each have their own specialty; they do many websites for commercial organisations but also for non-profit organisations, (e.g., the University of Leuven, the Flemish government, etc.). There will be a one-time expense for building the website and subsequently a (modest) annual fee for hosting the website and keeping it running. The plan is to have the website up and running by September – October.

In the collaboration with Statik we are now at the stage that we need to clearly specify what information we want on the site, how we want to structure it (depends on our priorities), what functionalities we want, etc. In the enclosed document ("Website ICLA summary") you will find an overview of the technical properties of the website as well as the list of functionalities that we have drawn up, following discussions with Statik.

This is where we would like to ask for your participation, as we would like to hear from you what you think our website should be like, with respect to contents, functionality, and design. This is why I have set up a questionnaire (link below) where you can indicate your preferences and priorities as well as make suggestions of your own. Before filling out the questionnaire (which should not take you all too long), please be sure to have read the summary descriptions, as otherwise you might not understand what some of the elements refer to.

If we want our website up and running by September – October, as we plan, we need to get all this information to Statik early June at the latest. This is why I would like to ask you to respond before May 31. I realise the short notice and apologise, but I hope you understand the need for this. Participation is, obviously, not compulsory, but I do hope that you cease the opportunity to make your voice heard.

Click here fot the questionnaire

5. Design contest (website)

Once the architecture of the website is in place, the company Statik will also build a design for the website on the basis of the preferences that we indicate. However, we do not want to deprive members to make suggestions for a design themselves, with may include the lay-out of the website, the colours and letter types to be use, a new logo, etc. Proposals need not be in "computerized form" (e.g., developed in PhotoShop, Illustrator, or some such), but can be scanned versions of drawings on paper.

To encourage you all to go to your drawing boards: should your design be chosen (or be inspirational) for our website, you will get one year membership (with electronic access to the journal) for free.