Conference on globalization and language

[Harold F. Schiffman]

Forwarded from Linguist-List

Globalization and Communication: Enrichment and Threat: A 3 days
international linguistic conference to be held at the university of Gdansk
(Faculty of Romance Philology)14th-16th June 2007.

University of Gdansk
Faculty of Romance Philology
Section of Linguistics & Glottodidactics
Bielanska 5
80-851 Gdansk
tel: +48 058 301 36 51

Globalization and Communication: Enrichment and Threat

A 3 days international conference
14-16 June 2007 - Gdansk

The inexorable progress of globalization in the sphere of communication
warrants their inevitable confrontation. Languages (their paradigms,
particularly the lexical-syntactic ones) are getting to be more and more
effective tools of unification under the influence of English which
nowadays functions as a Lingua Franca. This is especially the case if we
take into consideration new mass media (internet, etc).

However, as Roland Breton rightly pointed out, ''considering a language as
no more than a means of communication is dangerous reductionism''. In
fact, the majority of linguists and experts in other relevant fields of
knowledge ask themselves the questions of crucial importance: does the
integration of communicative techniques determined by mass media bring to
the fore pragmatic and economic aspects of languages at the expense of
semantic subtleties and aesthetic aspect? Do these tendencies, by any
chance, lead to the fading of traditional ethnocultural functions of
languages, which could eventually threaten their identity?

>>From this standpoint globalization can be viewed as an extremely complex
phenomenon that requires a multidimensional and multidisciplinary
description. A few topics for discussion and analysis are presented below:

A new hierarchy of language functions? (particularly in the informational,
expressive, connotative, or ethno-cultural aspect).

The dynamics of changes in the internal structure of the system (lexical
creativity, morpho-syntax).

The whole range of technolects and professiolects (especially the language
of media and the new ''eurolect'').

Discourse and linguistic pragmatics: the function of persuasive discourse,
political correctness, neutralization of official formulas, aesthetic
standardization.

Language policy and normative tendencies in the era of linguistic
integration.

Challenges of language instruction and translation in the era of
linguistic globalization Functions of the media in the language
acquisition process, the role of cultural factors in foreign language
instruction, pragmatic aspect of translation, machine translation, etc.

The advent and expansion of new areas of linguistic exploration or
communicative and informational strategies corpus linguistics,
computational linguistics, urban dialectology, internet, language
technology (Acktil, E-globalcom.net), electronic corpora,
telecommunicational codes, etc.

- Submission is limited to one abstract authored by an individual or a
group of co-authors.
- The deadline is December 31st 2006. Abstracts can be submitted either by
post, addressed to the Faculty of Romance Languages at the University of
Gdansk or by e-mail at the following address: filgq at univ.gda.pl
- Presentations can be made in French, English and Polish.
- The fee is 75 ?. Accommodation costs vary within the range from . 35 zl.
(9) to 170zl. (42?) a night.
- We intend to publish the proceedings of the conference. Further details
will be provided in the next circular.

Scientific Committee: Jan Kortas, Joanna Jereczek-Lipinska, Gilles Quentel

http://linguistlist.org/issues/17/17-2916.html

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