Dear SCL member:

I bet you weren’t expecting any gifts today. Well, you will find one by going to the Members' Space (see main menu bar in red above) — OP 38 “A Sketch of the Linguistic Geography of Signed Languages in the Caribbean” by Ben Braithwaite.

Many years ago, we took the decision to discontinue publishing our Occasional Papers (OP) series in print format. This decision came as a result of the increasing costs and administrative work associated with printing and distributing the OP to all members of the Society. We could have raised subscription fees to meet the rising expenses, but your Exec knew that you would have loved us too much for that move. Going electronic was the obvious solution to keeping our expenses at a minimum and constraining your love for us. 

The first thing to be said about this OP, is that it's been a long time coming. Sam Cook(e) was prophetic! This is the very first OP to look at Sign Languages used in the Caribbean, and being the first on the topic, it aptly attempts a survey of the whole region. SCL would like to thank Ben Braithwaite for his contribution, and for his patience and understanding. I would also like to take the opportunity to thank the anonymous reviewers and the proofreaders who worked to ensure that we deliver the usual high quality you have come to expect. 

You might notice that the publication says June 2017. It’s not a typo. I did say, it's been a long time coming, but here I think I can join Sam in the closing line of the refrain, "a change gonna come". We have another OP that is soon to appear, and another getting to the final stage of the review process. After the conference in Costa Rica, we hope to be able to bring out issues of the OP at more regular intervals. We will be aiming for one per quarter, and all hands will be required on deck. 

Do enjoy!

Joseph T. Farquharson

Publications Officer