Oxford-Kobe Seminar: History and Structure of Japanese (retry!)

Tue Mar 30 16:54:05 UTC 2004

Dear colleagues,
This message from John Charles Smith arrived garbled in many peoples'
mailboxes last week. I'm resending in a different format with the hope
that it arrives in intelligible form.

Dorothy Disterheft_________________________________________
HISTLING moderator

SECOND OXFORD-KOBE LINGUISTICS SEMINAR

INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM
ON THE HISTORY AND STRUCTURE OF JAPANESE

KOBE, JAPAN, 26-29 SEPTEMBER 2004

INTRODUCTION:

The Second Oxford-Kobe Linguistics Seminar, an International
Symposium on the History and Structure of Japanese, is being organized
at the Kobe Institute (Kobe, Japan) by Bjarke Frellesvig (University of
Oxford), Masayoshi Shibatani (Rice University), and John Charles Smith
(University of Oxford) between 26 and 29 September 2004.

The First Oxford-Kobe Linguistics Seminar, entitled 'Language Change
and Historical Linguistics', was held in April 2002.  Following the
enormous success of this event, the Kobe Institute of St Catherine's
College (University of Oxford) has agreed to sponsor a Second
Linguistics Seminar, in September 2004, and feels that the most felicitous
focus for this meeting is the history and structure of the Japanese
language.  Once again, the aim of the Seminar is to bring together leading
authorities in the field and invite them to summarize their position in 'state
of the art' papers, and simultaneously to promote collaboration and
scholarly exchange between academic colleagues from Japan and other
countries in a relaxed and convivial environment.  We invite everyone with
an interest in the history and structure of Japanese to join us on this
occasion.  A special welcome is extended to younger scholars and to
graduate students.

THE KOBE INSTITUTE:

The Kobe Institute of St. Catherine's College (University of Oxford), in
Kobe, Japan, is an independent non-profit-making organization.  It was
established in September 1991 by donations from Kobe City, Hyogo
Prefecture and more than 100 companies all over Japan.  The Institute
was established with the objectives of stimulating and facilitating intellectual
exchange between Japan and other nations, and is maintained with
financial support from corporate sources.  1997 saw the establishment, as
part of this programme, of the Oxford-Kobe seminars, which aim to bring
together researchers in a particular discipline to discuss the 'state of the
art' in their area of expertise.  The seminar programme is sustained in part
with income from external sponsors.

The Seminar will be held in the Institute's buildings, a purpose-built
independent academic complex at the foot of Rokko Mountain, with
outstanding views over the city of Kobe and Osaka Bay.  The Institute has
a library, a computing room with e-mail facilities, a lecture theatre, seminar
rooms, common rooms, dining rooms and bar facilities.  There is also a
television room with satellite television.

Information on the Kobe Institute, including access maps, photographs,
and an account of its history, can be found at: http://www.kobeinst.org

SEMINAR TIMETABLE:

The Seminar will begin in the late afternoon/early evening on Sunday, 26
September 2004, with Registration and a Welcome Reception.  The three
days from Monday, 27 September to Wednesday 29 September, inclusive,
will be devoted to papers and discussion.  It is suggested that participants
should arrive during the morning or early afternoon of Sunday, 26
September, and leave on Thursday, 30 September.  All papers will be
invited plenary lectures and will last 50-55 minutes.  The language of the
Seminar will be English.

SEMINAR PROGRAMME:

The following scholars have agreed to give papers at the Seminar:

Bjarke Frellesvig (University of Oxford)
Taro Kageyama (Kwansei Gakuin University)
Satoshi Kinsui (Osaka University)
Susumu Kuno (Harvard University)
S.-Y. Kuroda (University of California San Diego)
Wesley Jacobsen (Harvard University)
Vera Podlesskaya (Russian State University for Humanities in Moscow)
Leon Serafim (University of Hawai'i)
Masayoshi Shibatani (Rice University)
Shoko Hamano (George Washington University)
Lone Takeuchi (SOAS, University of London)
Yukinori Takubo (Kyoto University)
James Unger (Ohio State University)
Timothy Vance (University of Arizona)
Alexander Vovin (University of Hawai'i)
John Whitman (Cornell University)

A detailed programme, including titles and abstracts of papers, will be
available in the Spring.

PARTICIPATION -- PAPERS AND POSTER SESSION:

The working language of the Seminar will be English.  All papers will be
plenary, and will be followed by discussion.

Although the papers at the Seminar will be by invitation only, a period will
be set aside for poster presentations.  This session is intended primarily as
an opportunity for younger scholars, including graduate students, to
present their work.  We welcome proposals for poster presentations,
abstracts of which (not exceeding 250 words) should be emailed
(preferably as .pdf attachments, or, failing that, as .rtf files; .doc format
should be avoided) to BOTH Bjarke Frellesvig AND Masayoshi Shibatani
at the following addresses by 1 May 2004:

bjarke.frellesvig at hertford.ox.ac.uk
matt at rice.edu

Any queries about the organization and content of the Seminar should
also be emailed to the same addresses, or to John Charles Smith, at:

johncharles.smith at stcatz.ox.ac.uk

REGISTRATION:

There will be a registration fee of JPY10,000 (approx. GBP50, EUR75, or
USD90). Coffee and tea and buffet lunches and dinners will be provided at
the Institute, and are included in the registration fee.

Drinks will be provided at the bar before and after dinner, and are also
included in the registration fee. Meals for vegetarians will be prepared on
request.

To register for the Seminar, please contact the Bursar of the Kobe
Institute, Dr Kaizaburo Saito, as follows:

email:  kaizas at kobeinst.org

postal address:  St. Catherine's College (University of Oxford) Kobe
Institute, 53-1 Maruyama, Gomo-Aza, Nada-ku, KOBE 657-0801 Japan

telephone:  +81-78-881-2277     fax:  +81-78-881-2552

A downloadable registration form will be available shortly.

The deadline for registration will be 31 August 2004.

--
John Charles Smith
Official Fellow and Tutor
St Catherine's College, Oxford, OX1 3UJ, UK
tel. +44 1865 271700 (College) / 271748 (direct) / 271768 (fax)