UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State University Libraries’ Open Publishing has launched Continua, an open access, peer-reviewed journal exploring interdisciplinary linguistics research.
Continua is founded by Michael Putnam, professor of German and linguistics at Penn State and visiting professor of linguistics at University of Greenwich, United Kingdom; and David Natvig, associate professor in the Department of Cultural Studies and Languages at University of Stavanger, Norway, who also serve as co–editors in chief.
The central focus of Continua is to be a home for research dedicated to issues related to words and, more generally, the “mental lexicon,” said Putnam. The journal will focus on research that explores how people understand words and how word structures relate to sounds, meanings, sentence rules and their use in different situations. The journal team is especially interested in research that looks at how different language systems interact — such as how word forms connect to grammar, sounds and meanings — and studies on bilingual and multilingual speakers.
“We felt that a publication focused on issues related to words, morphology and the mental lexicon more generally was lacking among linguistics open access journals,” said Putnam. “After consulting with colleagues over the past few years and receiving an overwhelming positive endorsement from various research traditions and backgrounds, we decided to move forward with founding Continua. The name of the journal clarifies our position on this research program, too. We view words as being continuous and the result of intersecting information.”
Putnam’s and Natvig’s goal is for Continua to serve as an arena for discussing and advancing research on wordlike units and furthering understanding of the human language. The journal’s editorial team, all from Penn State, includes associate editor Tran Truong, assistant teaching professor of linguistics; and managing editors Andrew Hoffman, postdoctoral fellow in German linguistics and language science, Ashley Pahis, assistant teaching professor of Spanish, Dylan Rose, a doctoral candidate in German literature and culture, and Emmeline Wilson, a graduate student in German linguistics.
The editorial board is composed of world-renowned experts from a variety of perspectives and approaches with an eye toward attracting cutting-edge research from diverse theoretical backgrounds and traditions. The 27-member board can be found on the journal’s Editorial Team page.
“There are many different assumptions about what a ‘word’ is, and that can often have profound consequences for how different theories explain particular phenomena,” said Natvig, who sees the diverse editorial board as an important step forward. “We want to offer a space to debate a multitude of perspectives and hash out these differences.”
Continua is currently accepting submissions on a rolling basis with plans to publish one issue per year. Prospective authors should consider becoming familiar with the typesetting system LaTeX, which the journal uses for production.
Penn State Libraries Open Publishing, Penn State University Libraries’ Open Access imprint, is a unit within the Research Informatics and Publishing department. Open Publishing provides tools and support for Penn State–affiliated authors and groups to publish full-featured electronic scholarly journals, searchable annotated bibliographies, and monographs using a variety of digital platforms. All publications are free to view online and download. Copyright is retained by the individual authors where possible, or by the journals or sponsoring entity. Almost all are licensed for use under a Creative Commons license.
For more information about the program, visit the Open Publishing website or contact the Open Publishing team at openpublishing@psu.edu.