Call for Papers: Lexicography in the Digital World, ASIALEX2018, Krabi, Thailand, June 8-10 2018

The theme of this year’s ASIALEX2018 is ”Lexicography in the Digital World”. The event will be held from the 8th to the 10th of June 2018 in Krabi, Thailand. Lexicography is much more than simply compiling a dictionary. The field brings together computational linguists, translators, educators, software developers, technical companies, and publishers whose knowledge and experience enrich our understanding of the intricate relationship between dictionary and digitalization. The 12th International Conference of the Asian Association for Lexicography aims to expand the horizons and encourage discussion and cooperation among the many specialists who take different approaches to this field of studies. Researchers working within the area of lexicography are encouraged to send in their abstracts (max. 250-300 words) by the 1st of April 2018. Details on abstract submission can be found at the website.

This year’s guest speakers include:

  • Pedro A. Fuertes-Olivera (University of Valladolid, Spain)
  • John Simpson (University of Oxford, United Kingdom)
  •  Pam Peters (Macquarie University, Australia)
  • Virach Sornlertlamvanich (Thammasat University, Thailand)

Call for Papers: 53rd Linguistics Colloquium, Odense, Denmark, Sept. 24-27 2018

From the 24th to the 27th of September 2018, the 53rd Linguistics Colloquium will be held at the University of Southern Denmark in Odense, Denmark. The theme of this year’s conference is “Linguistic Variation and Diversity”. The colloquium is open to any theoretical approaches.Abstracts for papers (20 minutes presentation plus 10 minutes discussion) or posters should be written in English or German and have a length of 300-500 words including references. The deadline for abstracts is the 12th of March 2018. The website for the colloquium can be found here.

Relevant topic areas of the conference include, but are not limited to:

  • intra- and inter-linguistic variation
  • cross-linguistic comparison – typological, contrastive, historical
  • language contact
  • multilingualism – individual, institutional, societal
  • language policies and minority languages
  • linguistic variation and diversity in the media
  • linguistic variation and diversity in language teaching
  • translation of linguistic variation

TransOnym: The self-naming of transgender people in Germany

This website presents the project “Onymic Border Marking: The Self-Designation of Transgender People in Germany”. In this project, they examine the self-categorization of people from an onomastic (i,e., naming) perspective. The subject is the name choice and self-naming of trans people in the course of their gender change. The central issue is the extent to which names can be used to construct and visualize gender identity.

Read the detailed project presentation , find out about the employees or write to them.

Note: the website is in German.

The Problem With Putting Your Name on a Restaurant

Famous chefs often use their names as the names of their restaurants – but, like fashion designers, those chefs can lose control of that name in court. That’s what happened to Alon Shaya, who, with partner John Besh, started opened several restaurants in New Orleans, including one called Shaya. But since his split with Besh, Shaya has been embroiled in a legal battle with his former partner, and a court has ruled that the restaurant doesn’t have to change its name.

This article at Eater takes a look at this phenomenon. Here’s a sample:

The reality is that chefs and owners want to use the reputation and recognition of a chef’s name and brand to lure in customers. If that’s the case, the best way for a chef to protect herself is with a series of well-written, well-vetted legal documents — an operating agreement that gives her either a controlling interest or controlling vote in the operating company, and/or a very good license agreement.

 

 

Kitchen Vocabulary: Care for What You Say

In this fascinating essay at Life & Thyme, Katie Bell writes about the importance of language in the professional kitchens of restaurants. She points out that the special terms and names used between chefs and staff serve multiple purposes – building camaraderie, to reinforce philosophy, to teach, and for so much more. Here’s a small sample:

For the majority of us, picking up that language is a rite of passage. On my first job as a host in a nice restaurant in Colorado, I entered the kitchen to a host of words I knew, but in a context that made no sense. I had so many questions. What is this four top? Why do they keep saying deuce? Who is taking a turn? What is this girl calling a double seating? Why does this guy keep screaming corner every time I walk around one? Why is that cook telling me there are eighty-six chickens? What does it all mean, and why is everyone getting so excited about it?

Click on over to read the rest of it!

Walmart introduces new clothing labels

Walmart is introducing low-cost clothing brands for women, kids and plus-size customers. The store brands include Time and Tru in ladies’ wear—which will replace the retired DanskinNow label—along with Terra & Sky in plus-size apparel and Wonder Nation for kids. The George apparel brand, which Walmart brought over from its British unit Asda, will be refocused for men only. The new brands will replace older ones such as Faded Glory, White Stag, and Just My Size.

The moves are part of Walmart’s push to make its apparel business more streamlined and stylish—a response to consumers shifting more of their budgets to experiences such as travel and eating out, rather than clothing. To find out more about Walmart’s branding strategy, click through to this article at AdAge.