More than 1,000 linguistic scholars and students are headed to the Big Apple in the new year to discuss cutting-edge research focused on the scientific study of language, get to know colleagues, and honor leaders in the field.

Organization: Linguistic Society of America

Conference: LSA 2019 Annual Meeting

Venue: Sheraton New York Times Square

City: New York City

LSA 2019 begins on the afternoon of January 3 with a full slate of sessions. In a plenary address that evening, University of Connecticut linguistics professor Diane C. Lillo-Martin will discuss her ongoing research on bimodal bilingualism—the acquisition of both a sign language and a spoken language. Also on the agenda:

Linguistics for dummies. The Five-Minute Linguist is the conference’s popular contest where speakers are judged on their ability to adapt their research into a lively five-minute presentation for a lay audience. While notes aren’t allowed on stage, audiovisual effects are encouraged.

Next-gen linguists. The conference will include a special session for high school teachers. Experts will discuss the benefits of incorporating linguistics content into course curricula.

Pair up. The Pop-Up Mentoring program will be available at the meeting. The initiative, launched by a subset of LSA’s Committee on the Status of Women in Linguistics, pairs people up so they can have a brief meeting with a mentor outside of their official support system.

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