Balkan and South Slavic Conference Report

The 19th Biennial Balkan and South Slavic Conference in Linguistics, Literature, and Folklore was held at the University of Chicago April 25-27 2014.  The meeting was a rousing success.  Some 80 participants were in attendance, from a dozen countries (including China and Japan as well as European and North American universities).  As usual, the presentations addressed a wide variety of issues in many Balkan and South Slavic languages and cultures: the list this year included Albanian, Aromanian, Arvanitic, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Greek, Macedonian, Moldovan, Montenegrin, Rom, Serbian, and Slovenian, plus a large number of comparative or cross-Balkan papers dealing with more than one language.  The full program is available at the conference web site.

The conference was topped off by a buffet dinner and dance party, with local Macedonian musicians, at which organizer Victor Friedman was honored by a series of toasts, each in a different language.