An event organized by BYU humanities faculty in the spring of 2026 became a family reunion for scholars and Germanic languages alike.
Germanic languages like Dutch, English, and Danish are all linked, sharing basic vocabulary, grammar structures, and even stress patterns. These languages and those who study them are scattered around the world. In late April and early May of 2026, almost one hundred Germanic language scholars came together in the historic Provo Library for a four-day event that combined the German Linguistics Annual Conference (GLAC) and Studies for the History of the English Language (SHEL).
Conference organizers and BYU professors Laura Catharine Smith (Historical and Theoretical Phonology, Second Language Acquisition) and Don Chapman (History of the English Language) combined the two conferences, as had been done a few times before. The organizations have more in common than many may realize—an entire linguistic family history, in fact. Conference attendees embraced this shared history, making the GLAC/SHEL conference a special success fostering friendship, mentorship, and scholarly connections between linguists from around the globe.
The Where and the Y
Visible through the library windows, a snow-powdered Y Mountain impressed conference visitors who came from as far as Japan, Lithuania, England, and Canada and from top universities like Indiana State, University of Wisconsin, and Cambridge. The conference featured a variety of events, including a session on Afrikaans studies and presentations on language change, syntax, and pedagogy. Conference participants also heard from speakers like BYU alumna Amy Schulz Johnson (Linguistics MA ’25), who spoke on wordplay in the Peanuts comic strips created by her father, Charles Shulz. While GLAC and SHEL sessions happened simultaneously, attendees from each academic area visited the other in what Smith calls a “cross-pollination” of interests and support.
To celebrate camaraderie as much as research successes, Smith and Chapman also organized visits to some local attractions. Small groups ate at a highly rated Sundance restaurant, some hiked the Y, and others even visited red-rock Moab following the conference. Smith describes the atmosphere they created as one of Gemütlichkeit—a German word that can mean comfort, friendliness, and even a sense of home. Chapman adds, “It’s really fun to be host for so many colleagues, to invite them into your home.” After meeting fellow scholars at research panels and group activities alike, Smith says, “You were also able to call them friends.”
Lasting Mentors
The GLAC/SHEL conference also offered opportunities for seasoned scholars to mentor students. Smith says, “Mentorship becomes so important. Nobody gets to any position without other people having their back.”
BYU undergraduate Hallie Davidson (Applied English Linguistics ’27) presented a paper that Chapman describes as “the most publishable paper I’ve seen an undergraduate write.” In her paper, Davidson quoted Donka Minkova—a distinguished linguist whom Davidson was able to meet and converse with at the conference.
BYU graduate student Ellie Nelson (Second Language Teaching MA ’26), another presenter, describes the conference and its atmosphere as confidence-boosting. To her, it was “a cool place to exchange ideas and, especially as a student, to network” with scholars in a variety of fields.
Conference attendees offered mentorship and support across their related linguistic disciplines. Chapman explains that because “we study the same things about the languages, and because we ask the same questions about the languages, it’s just fun to see the family reunion, as it were—all the cousins getting together.”
Read more articles from the Humanities website to learn more about student research in German & Russian and Linguistics.