Call for proposals

The Texts in the Indigenous Languages of the Americas series is an annual supplement to the International Journal of American Linguistics dedicated to the presentation of analyzed oral texts from the indigenous languages of the Americas. TILA volumes are guest-edited, thematically-organized collections of texts published as a supplement to the April issue of IJAL and online on the IJAL website.

Issues in the series may be single-authored or edited multi-contributor collections, and will have a print component of 200 journal-format (6″ x 9″) pages, approximately 1,200 lines of analyzed text, as well as online PDF and HTML versions accompanied by audio recordings. Texts will be presented in four-line interlinear glossing following IJAL format, and must follow a uniform style throughout, including the use of a consistent set of abbreviations. Preference will be given to texts for which recordings with time-aligned transcripts can be provided. There is no restriction as to subject matter, and texts from a variety of genres including myths, legends, rituals, and personal narratives are welcome.

Proposals should include:

  • a detailed table of contents
  • short (50–100 word) bios of the contributors
  • a short excerpt (5–10 pages) of analyzed text laid out in TILA page format and style
  • an assessment of how much work has been done on the project and what remains to be done
  • confirmation that any necessary agreements about use of materials are in place

Page formatting and other instructions can be found here.

Where appropriate, contributors will be required to demonstrate that appropriate permissions for the publication of these materials have been obtained.

We are currently seeking proposals for issues to be published with the April 2025 and April 2026 issues:

  • September 1, 2022: submission of proposals
  • September 15, 2022: notification of decisions
  • December 1, 2022: receipt of manuscript for review
  • February 1, 2023: receipt of reviews/notification of acceptance
  • May 2023: revised manuscript due
  • July 2023: deadline for final revision

Address proposals and inquiries to ijal@press.uchicago.edu. Please include “TILA” in the subject line.

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