Student Participation

At the SECOL XXXII held March 28-30, 1985, the Executive committee established the Reza Ordoubadian Award, a cash prize presented annually, recognizing the best student paper presented at the spring conference. Ann Pember was the first to receive this prestigious award.

SECOL members wishing to make anonymous contributions may do so by using the check off box on the annual membership form. Friends of SECOL may make their contributions to the current Conference Chair or SECOL Secretary.

Attention student presenters at SECOL 90 (March 9-11, 2022): Student members of SECOL can apply for the Reza Ordoubadian Award, a prize presented annually, recognizing the best student paper presented at the spring conference. Winners will receive a cash award, complimentary membership in SECOL, and the possibility to publish their papers in the Southern Journal of Linguistics. To be considered, please send an electronic copy of the paper (Word or PDF formats) to the Vice President, Felice Coles (fcoles@olemiss.edu) no later than September 1, 2023. Winners will be announced at the 2024 meeting hosted by the University of Georgia, Atlanta, GA.

Award Year Title Winner/Affiliation
2023   The submission is now open!
2020-22   No award was given in these pandemic-derailed years
2019 “The Presidents’ God in the Inaugural Address” Zack Dukic/ North Carolina State University
2018 “Trip the freaking light fantastic: Syntactic structure in English verbal idioms” Anissa Neal/ University of Massachusetts, Amherst
2017 “A perceptual dialectology approach to evaluating language attitudes towards South-perceived speech in the United States” Marie Bissell/ Washington University in St. Louis, North Carolina State University
2016 “Acoustic measurement of voiced implosives: Evidence of voiced implosives in a U.S. dialect” Razia A. Husain, Taha M. Husain/ North Carolina State University, University of Kentucky
2009   No award was given in this year
2008 “The Evolution of /l/ Across Three Generations of African Americans” Janneke Van Hofwegen/ N. Carolina State U
2007 No award was given in this year
2006 “A Sociolinguistic Analysis of Pause in North Carolina” Tyler Kendall/ Duke U/N. Carolina State U
2005 No award was given in this year
2004 First Place: “A Crosslinguistic Comparison of Rhythm in Spanish & English by Raleigh Bilinguals” Phillip M. Carter/ N. Carolina State U
Second Place: “Vocalic Alignment on Roanoke ‘Oi’land” Sarah Hilliard/ Duke U & Jeannine Carpenter/N Carolina State U
2003 “Multimedia Projects in Community-based Fieldwork” Ben Torbert/ Duke U
2000 “Native American Language History Traced through Consonant Cluster Reduction” Ben Torbert / N Carolina State U
1999   Glenda Lynn Rose /Old Dominion U
1998 “Pronominal Clitic Stress in Rio de la Plata Spanish: An Optimality of Florida” Maria I. Moyna /U of Florida)
1997 “Distinctiveness in the face of dialect death: The case of Smith Island English” Natalie Schilling-Estes/ N Carolina State U
1994   Adrianne Cheek /
1995 “The significance of subject-verb concord in vernacular varieties” Kirk Hazen/N Carolina State U
1991 “Dissimilation of Noncontiguous Consonants in English” Sally Green/U N Carolina, Chapel Hill
1989   Vivian Brown, Texas A & M U
1987   No award was given in this year

Contact wilbur@louisiana.edu if you can provide missing information.

The following SECOL members have generously contributed to the Reza Ordoubadian Award

  • Dr. Mary Zeigler (2010)
  • Dr. Connie Eble (2009, 2010)
  • Dr. Bettie Rose Horn (2009, 2010)
  • Drs. Sara Sanders and Steve Nagel (2009, 2010)
  • Dr. Connie Eble (2008)
  • Dr. Steven Gross (2008)
  • Dr. Lynn K Varn (2008)
  • Dr. Connie Eble (2007)
  • Dr. Clai Rice (2007)
  • Dr. Mary Zeigler (2007)
  • Dr. Carol Myers-Scotton (2006)
  • Dr. Mary Zeigler (2006)