Conferences

Conferences of the SCL welcome and encourage the participation of scholars, students, educators, writers, and the general public.  Sessions include presentations, workshops, colloquia, poster sessions, and plenary addresses. The conferences provide many informal and meaningful opportunities for linguistic discussion. Conferences are held every two years, and have been held in all the UWI campus territories (Barbados, Jamaica and Trinidad & Tobago), as well as in Aruba, the Bahamas, Belize, Curaçao, Guyana, St. Lucia, St. Maarten and Suriname.  The next conference is planned for Dominica in 2006.

See below for details on past SCL Conferences.

Past Conferences:

1976: 1^st SCL Conference held in Guyana under the theme "New Directions in Creole Studies"

1978: 2^nd Biennial Conference held in Barbados under the theme "Semantics, Lexicography and Creole Studies"

1980: 3^rd Biennial Conference held in Aruba (themes included "Redefining Creole Studies," "the Social History of Caribbean Languages," "Non-creole Caribbean Languages," and "Extending the Use of Vernacular Languages in the Caribbean")

1982: 4^th Biennial Conference held in Suriname under the theme "New and Old Languages in the Caribbean"

1984: 5^th Biennial Conference held in Jamaica under the theme "Synchronic and Diachronic Aspects of Language"

1986: 6^th Biennial Conference held in Trinidad & Tobago, jointly with the American Dialect Society, under the theme "Approaches to Syntactic and Semantic Description in Creole Languages and Similar Situations"

1988: 7^th Biennial Conference held in the Bahamas

1990: 8^th Biennial Conference held in Belize

1992: 9^th Biennial Conference held in Barbados under the theme "Caribbean Linguistics at the Crossroads"

1994: 10^th Biennial Conference held in Guyana, jointly with the Society for Pidgin and Creole Linguistics, under the theme "Continuity and Change in the Study of Creole Languages and Society"

1996: 11^th Biennial Conference held in St. Maarten

1998: 12^th Biennial Conference held in St. Lucia under the theme "Expanding the Horizons of Caribbean Language Research"

2000: 13^th Biennial Conference held in Jamaica under the theme "Caribbean Linguistics: Past, Present and Future"

2002: 14^th Biennial Conference held in Trinidad & Tobago under the theme "Caribbean Linguistics: Theory and Application"

2004: The 15^th Biennial Conference was held in Curaçao from 11 to 15 August 2004 as a joint meeting with the SPCL (Society for Pidgin and Creole Linguistics - publisher of the JPCL, Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages), and the ACBLPE (Associação de Crioulos de Base Lexical Portuguesa e Espanhola/Asociación de Criollos de Base Lexical Portuguesa e Española). The focus of the conference was on Papiamentu, and the conference was held in the World Trade Center in Willemstad. Special tribute was paid to SCL Past President and Honorary Member Dennis R. Craig (d. 2004). Follow this link to the official Conference website, or click here for the pdf version of the conference programme. Click here for thumbnail photos of the conference. See also these pages for more information in English, in het Nederlands, en français, and en español.

2006: The 16^th biennial conference will be held in Dominica, D.V. The theme of the conference is "Caribbean Language Studies and Educational Development".