4th North American Conference on Iranian Linguistics (NACIL4)

The Department of Language Studies was pleased to host the 4th North American Conference on Iranian Linguistics (NACIL4) this year! This was the first time that the conference has been hosted in Canada. From Friday, May 23 through Sunday, May 25, we welcomed linguists from across North America and from international universities to the University of Toronto Mississauga to give talks on topics including the analysis of the syntax/morphosyntax, linguistic mapping, computational and psycholinguistics, semantics, sociolinguistics, and historical/typological morphosyntax of Iranian languages.

The conference featured a special session to celebrate the career of Prof. Simin Karimi (Department of Linguistics, University of Arizona). Prof. Heidi Harley (Department of Linguistics, University of Arizona), President of the Linguistic Society of America (LSA), attended the event to share remarks and pay tribute to Prof. Karimi, in recognition of her vast contributions to the research on morphological, syntactic, and semantic phenomena in Persian and other Iranian languages. Following the session, Prof. Karimi delivered a keynote lecture on "What's going on with wh-constructions in Iron-Ossetian?"

Prof. Faruk Akkuş (Department of Linguistics, University of Massachusetts Amherst) and Prof. Naomi Nagy (Department of Linguistics, University of Toronto) also gave keynote lectures on "The case for case features in syntax and morphology" and "Heritage Languages: Extending Variationist Approaches", respectively.

Conference participants enjoyed a reception at the Principal's Residence on Friday, and a dinner banquet in the Kaneff Rotunda, which featured Persian food and time for dancing!

We are grateful for the generous support of the Roshan Cultural Heritage Institute, Canadian Linguistic Association, Office of the Vice-Principal, Research & Innovation (UTM), Elahé Omidyar Mir-Djalali Institute of Iranian Studies (UTSG), Department of Linguistics (UTSG), Department of Language Studies (UTSC), Department of Near & Middle Eastern Civilizations (UTSG), and the Department of Spanish & Portuguese (UTSG) for making this conference possible.

Thank you also to the faculty conveners of the conference, Prof. Arsalan Kahnemuyipour and Prof. Azita Taleghani, and the organizing committee, Koorosh Ariyaee, Dr. Mojgan Osmani, and Dr. Sahar Taghipour.