*** NARNiHS 2026 *** North American Research Network in Historical Sociolinguistics *** Eighth Annual Meeting
*** 100% IN PERSON *** Co-Located with the Linguistic Society of America (LSA) Annual Meeting *** New Orleans, Louisiana USA *** 8-11 January 2026
This event offers an opportunity for historical sociolinguistics scholars from all over the world to gather and share leading research. We encourage our fellow historical sociolinguists and scholars in related fields from our global scholarly community to **join us in New Orleans** for our Eighth Annual Meeting.
Consult this Call for Abstracts on the web: https://narnihs.org/?page_id=3135%C2%A0.
--------------- Call for Abstracts ---------------.
Abstract submission online: https://easyabs.linguistlist.org/conference/NARNiHS_26/%C2%A0.
Deadline: Friday, 15 August 2025, 11:59 PM US Eastern Time. Late abstracts will not be considered.
The North American Research Network in Historical Sociolinguistics (NARNiHS) is accepting abstracts for its Eighth Annual Meeting in New Orleans, Thursday, January 8 -- Sunday, January 11, 2026. The 8th edition of this inclusive NARNiHS event seeks to provide a collaborative environment where presenters bring fully developed work for presentation and enrichment. We see the NARNiHS Annual Meeting as a place for showcasing excellent projects in historical sociolinguistics, seeking feedback from peers, and engaging in productive development of the field’s enduring questions.
NARNiHS welcomes papers in all areas of historical sociolinguistics, which is understood as the application and/or development of sociolinguistic theories, methods, and models for the study of historical language variation and change over time, or more broadly, the study of the interaction of language and society in historical periods and from historical perspectives. Thus, a wide range of linguistic areas, subdisciplines, methodologies, and adjacent disciplines easily find their place within historical sociolinguistics, and we encourage submission of abstracts that reflect this broad scope.
Abstracts will be accepted for both 20-minute papers and posters. Please note that, at the NARNiHS annual meeting, poster presentations are an integral part of the conference (not second-tier presentations). Abstracts will be assigned a paper or a poster presentation based on determinations in the review process about the most effective format for the submission. However, if you prefer that your submission be considered primarily for poster presentation, please specify this in your abstract.
Successful abstracts will demonstrate *thorough grounding* in historical sociolinguistics, *scientific rigor* in the formulation of research questions, and promise for rich discussion of ideas. Successful abstracts will be explicit about which *theoretical frameworks*, *methodological protocols*, and *analytical strategies* are being applied or critiqued. *Data sources and examples* should be sufficiently presented, so as to allow reviewers a full understanding of the scope and claims of the research. Please note that the *connection of your research to the field of historical sociolinguistics* should be explicitly outlined in your abstract. Failure to adhere to these criteria will likely result in rejection.
*** Abstract Format Guidelines***.
- Abstracts must be submitted in PDF format.
- Abstracts must fit on one 8.5x11 inch page, with margins no smaller than 1 inch and a font style and size no smaller than Times New Roman 12 point. You are encouraged to use the entire page, providing a full and robust description of the research. All additional supporting content (visualizations, trees, tables, figures, captions, examples, and references) must fit on a single (1) additional page. No exceptions to these requirements are allowed; abstracts longer than one page or with more than one additional page of supporting content will be rejected without review.
- Specify if you prefer your submission be considered primarily for a poster presentation.
- Anonymize your abstract. We realize that sometimes complete anonymity is not attainable, but there is a difference between the nature of the research creating an inability to anonymize and careless non-anonymizing (in citations, references, file names, etc.). Be sure to anonymize your PDF file (you may do so in Adobe Acrobat Reader by clicking on "File", then "Properties", removing your name if it appears in the "Author" line of the "Description" tab, and re-saving the file before submission). Do not use your name when saving your PDF (e.g. Smith_Abstract.pdf); file names will not be automatically anonymized by the EasyAbs system. Rather, use non-identifying information in your file name (e.g. HistSoc4Lyfe.pdf). Your name should only appear in the online form accompanying your abstract submission. Papers that are not sufficiently anonymized wherever possible will be rejected without review.
*** General Requirements ***.
- Abstracts must be submitted electronically using the following link: https://easyabs.linguistlist.org/conference/NARNiHS_26/%C2%A0.
- Authors may submit a maximum of two abstracts: One single-author abstract and one co-authored abstract.
- Authors may not submit identical abstracts for presentation at the NARNiHS annual meeting and the LSA annual meeting or another LSA sister society meeting (ADS, ANS, NAHoLS, SCiL, SPCL, or SSILA).
- After submission, no changes of author, title, or wording of the abstract may occur. If your abstract is accepted, adjustment of typographical errors is permitted before a final version of the abstract is printed in the conference booklet.
- Papers and posters must be delivered as projected in the abstract or represent bona fide developments of the same research.
- Authors are expected to attend the conference in-person and present their own papers and posters. This will not be a hybrid event.
Contact us at NARNiHistSoc@gmail.com with any questions.