We invite researchers working in sociolinguistics to participate in Community Histories, Social Change and Dialect Variation, a one-day workshop at The University of Sheffield on 1 June 2012. This event will feature talks and activities led by Dr Lauren Hall-Lew (University of Edinburgh) and Dr Devyani Sharma (Queen Mary University of London), as well as a poster session highlighting current research in sociolinguistics and language variation and change.

This event follows on from the success of the Problems and Possibilities in Sociophonetics workshop organised at Sheffield in March 2011. This workshop will provide an opportunity for postgraduates and early career researchers to explore the relationship between language change and social change in contemporary sociolinguistic research. We will cover issues such as the influence of community histories on language change, community members' representations of community histories, the relationship between social history and the social meaning of linguistic variables, language variation and ethnicity, and the role of bilingualism in dialect change.

We would like to invite abstract submissions for the poster session. We particularly welcome work-in-progress and posters that discuss language variation and change with reference to social change and community dynamics. Postgraduate students should feel particularly encouraged to submit a poster abstract. If you would like to present a poster, please fill in the relevant sections of the registration form.

• Registration form: [download]
• Registration fee: £15 (includes refreshments and lunch) to be payable by cheque [see registration form]
• Please email completed registration forms to s.kirkham@sheffield.ac.uk by Tuesday 15th May 2012.

You can download a PDF of the programme here.

The workshop will take place in Room G.03, Jessop West Building at the University of Sheffield. The venue is numbered 184 (grid coordinate F3) on the University campus map. To get there you can catch the Supertram from Sheffield Railway Station to the University of Sheffield tram stop.

For further travel information please see this link.

Please visit this link for accommodation information. Please be aware that this information may be out of date, so be sure to check the individual accommodation websites for more up-to-date information.

Sociobrunch members (Isabelle van der Bom, Kate Burland, Sonia Chib, Sam Kirkham, Emma Moore).