Held November 3-6, 2016, NWAV 45 brought over 300 scholars and students to SFU Vancouver, Harbour Centre. The NWAV organizers were pleased to honour Dr. Bill Labov (University of Pennsylvania), widely regarded as the founder of the discipline of variationist sociolinguistics, for his 50 years of scholarship since his seminal work in New York City was published in 1966. Additional top scholars in attendance included Dr. Gillian Sankoff (University of Pennsylvania), Dr. Gregory Guy (New York University), Dr. JK Chambers (University of Toronto), Dr. Charles Boberg (McGill University), and Dr. Penelope Eckert (Stanford University).

Plenary lectures included the examination of language, migration and identity within speech communities (Dr. Karen Corrigan, Newcastle University), multilingualism, vernacularization and standardization (Dr. Anthony J. Naro, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro), and Dr. Marta Scherre, Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo and Universidade de Brasília), and how to support communities as they deal with issues of maintenance and change of their linguistic identity (Dr. Walt Wolfram, North Carolina State University).

A roundtable on indigenous languages focused on the efforts to maintain and revive BC Indigenous Languages. Utilizing Coast Salish ceremonial practices, the roundtable featured contributions from Dr. Donna Gerdts (SFU), Patricia Hart Blundon (University of Victoria), Dr. Marianne Ignace (SFU), Dr. Peter Jacobs (University of Victoria), and Khelsilem Tł’akwasik’an, SFU language instructor and programming director of the Kwi Awt Stelmexw Society.

Over 100 graduate students attended the conference and a well-attended poster session saw over 60 posters. The venue was filled with fascinating conversations that spilled out of the talks and into the social spaces and events.

NWAV 45 organizers extend their gratitude to the speakers, attendees, and numerous volunteers for an energizing and stimulating four days of discovery. NWAV 46 will be held in Madison, Wisconsin, November 2-5 2017.