Call for Organized Sessions

The Society for the Study of the Indigenous Languages of the Americas (SSILA) is planning to hold its next annual winter meeting jointly with the Linguistic Society of America (LSA) New Orleans, Louisiana (January 8 to 11, 2026) and Online (January 17 to 18, 2026). SSILA meetings encourage scholars to present on a wide range of topics centered on any aspect of Indigenous languages in the Americas.

Call for Organized Session Proposals

The deadline for receipt of organized session proposals was 4 May 2025 at 11:59 pm (Hawaii-Aleutian time).

SSILA welcomes proposals for organized sessions. This is an opportunity for scholars to present and/or discuss contributions that revolve around a single theme, including (but not restricted to) shared typological, methodological, historical, genetic or areal perspectives. These sessions may be in the form of a symposium (several presentations focused on a specific topic), a workshop (presentations with invited discussants), a tutorial (intensive instruction on a specific topic), a datablitz (a session composed of many very short presentations), and other types of sessions with a clear, specific, and coherent rationale. The presentations must be based on original research focusing on the linguistic study of the Indigenous languages of the Americas. 

Organized sessions involve more than one scholar and are expected to make a distinctive and creative contribution to the meeting. Proposals for organized sessions are reviewed by the members of the SSILA Program Committee and they are not reviewed anonymously.

Given that the annual meeting will be held in New Orleans, LA, contributions by scholars, language practitioners and/or Indigenous community members whose language work is based in Louisiana and the surrounding areas are particularly welcome.

Submission Instructions  

  1. A session title;

  2. A statement clarifying whether the session is intended as a SSILA session only or as a joint SSILA/LSA session;

  3. The type of session (e.g. a symposium with a series of invited talks, a collaborative workshop, a discussion panel, a tutorial aimed at skill training, a datablitz session with many short presentations, etc.);

  4. The name, affiliation, and e-mail addresses of the organizers;

  5. The session length: either 1.5 hours or 3 hours (the SSILA PC is also open to accepting sessions that are longer than 3 hours but if this is your intent, please consult in advance with the SSILA Program Committee Administrator John W. W. Powell (conferences@ssila.org));

  6. A session abstract of up to 1000 words outlining the purpose and motivation for the session, as well as the social impacts/outcomes/implications, whether positive or negative (https://www.ssila.org/social-impact-and-outcomes);

  7. The names and affiliations of all participants, their role (paper presenter, introducer, moderator, discussant, etc.), and the titles of their contributions;

  8. A complete timetable (note that organized sessions do not have to follow the 20-minute paper + 10-minute discussion format, but the presentation format should be clearly described);

  9. Abstracts of 200 to 500 words for each paper or poster presentation.

All organizers and presenters must be members of SSILA (https://www.ssila.org/en/membership-information) in order for their proposal to be accepted. The membership requirement may be waived for Indigenous community scholars and language practitioners. It may also be waived for co-authors or for participants in organized sessions who are from disciplines other than those ordinarily represented by SSILA (linguistics and linguistic anthropology), or for undergraduate research assistants. Waivers can be requested by contacting the SSILA Secretary, Amy Fountain (secretary@ssila.org).