Dene (Athabaskan) Language Conference, Fairbanks, Alaska, June 6-7, 2016

10272486256_0643237267_mThe University of Alaska Fairbanks will be holding the Dene (Athabaskan) Language Conference from the 6th to the 7th of June 2016. The event will take place at the Explorer Hotel, in downtown Yellowknife. Bringing together linguists, language learners, educators, and language activists, this conference is one of the world’s most important for the student of Athabaskan languages. The theme for this year’s conference is “Language and History” with a special session on “Standardization and Variation”. The deadline for abstract submission is March 14, 2016.

W.F.H. “Bill” Nicolaisen (1927-2016)

source: https://www.abdn.ac.uk/elphinstone/news/7471/

source: https://www.abdn.ac.uk/elphinstone/news/7471/

The American Name Society mourns the death of one of its leading lights. W.F.H (Bill) Nicolaisen died on February 15, 2016 in Aberdeen, Scotland.

Bill was born on June 13, 1927 in Halle/Salle, in east-central Germany, near Leipzig. A prolific author in all areas of onomastics, he also published extensively in folklore studies. In fact, in addition to having served as the president of the American Name Society, he is the only folklorist to have been president of both the American Folklore Society and the Folklore Society (Great Britain). The author of over 600 journal articles, perhaps Bill’s most widely-known onomastic works are the 1976 Scottish Place-Names (London: B.T. Batsford), The Names of Towns and Cities in Britain (with M. Gelling and M. Richards) (London: B.T. Batsford), and “Place Names in Bilingual Communities” (Names 23: 167-74).

Bill is survived by his wife, four daughters, many grandchildren and one great-granddaughter. He will be greatly missed.

The Weird Science of Naming New Products

6355351769_766503f534_mWhat do the names SoyJoy, Lytro, Kixx, Scribe, Spontania, and Yum! all have in common? They are all the brainchild of naming guru, Anthony Shore.

Read this New York Times Magazine article about the legendary man behind these brand names as well as the other companies that participate in this quirky (and lucrative!!) world of product naming.

UND changes team name to “the Fighting Hawks:

10791370375_19cb460d9e_mThe University of North Dakota (UND) has joined a growing number of American institutions deciding to end their use of potentially disparaging Native American names. According to university officials, the team once known as “the Fighting Sioux” will now be called “the Fighting Hawks”. In an interview with the local news, UND President Robert Kelley explained that the change in name policy expresses “our state spirit and the fact that UND continues to ascend to newer heights.”