The group of Italian University lecturers and researchers working in the area of History of the English Language (Storia della Lingua Inglese) was created informally in 1988 at the first National Conference (CNSLIN), a travelling event that started in Bari and continued in Naples. The organisation of this Conference was the work of Thomas Frank (Naples University) helped by Nicola Pantaleo (Bari University). About a dozen lecturers and researchers met on that occasion and decided to continue the informal (and, for many years, nameless) association, united as they were by their common interest in meeting regularly in order to exchange opinions and debate questions of English historical linguistics. Another motive was to give greater visibility to an academic discipline that risked a certain marginalisation. The group gained a more defined existence at the end of the 1990 Conference by the addition of a business meeting (which we traditionally call Workshop) as a permanent conclusion to that and all future Conferences.

– Prof. Nicola Pantaleo “The SLIN group: A brief history” –