LANGUAGE CONTACTS IN THE VOLGA REGION

[Johanna Laakso]

From: Jorma Luutonen <luutonen at utu.fi>
Subject: Symposium in Turku 16-18 Aug. 2001

*************************************************
***** LANGUAGE CONTACTS IN THE VOLGA REGION *****
*************************************************

The Role of Foreign Languages in the Development of the
Finno-Ugric Languages in the Volga-Kama Region

SYMPOSIUM AT THE UNIVERSITY OF TURKU, AUGUST 16-18, 2001

              - First circular -

ORGANIZERS: The Research Unit for Volgaic Languages and the
Dept. of  Finno-Ugric Languages at the University of Turku.
ORGANIZING COMMITTEE: Prof. Sirkka Saarinen (Chair), Docent Jorma
Luutonen (Leader of the symposium), M.A. Arja Hamari, Eeva Herrala
(Secretary).
WORKING LANGUAGES: mainly Russian and Finnish; English and German
will be used in connection with papers read in these languages.
CONTACT INFORMATION:
Postal address: Symposium on the Language Contacts in the Volga
Region, Fennicum, FIN-20014 University of Turku, Finland.
E-mail: volgsymp at utu.fi
Fax: +358 2 333 5312
Tel.: +358 2 333 5302 (Luutonen), +358 2 333 5304 (Herrala)
Web-address: http://www.utu.fi/hum/sgr/

RECOMMENDED THEMES FOR PAPERS:
- description of the areal relations of the languages
- historical processes leading to the present areal distribution
of languages
-  substrates, superstrates, adstrates
-  interference on various levels of language: phonetics, vocabulary,
morphology, syntax, semantics, pragmatics
- trends of typological convergence and divergence
- mixed dialects at the borders between languages
- interference in spoken and written language
- foreign models in the development of literary languages
- distribution of  bilingualism and multilingualism
- ideological and political dimensions of bilingualism and
multilingualism
- trends in connection with  the influence of Russian at
different periods
- differences between languages in the puristic efforts
-  differences between Finno-Ugric and Turkic languages in the
adaptation to the multilingual environment
- language contacts of the Volga-Kama region in the field of general
contact linguistics
- language contacts in  the Volga-Kama region and the latest theoretical
trends in contact linguistics
- the history of the study of language contacts in the Volga-Kama region
- the future challenges of the study of the language contacts in
the Volga-Kama region
- computer corpora containing material for areal linguistics
- the role of Internet in the study of the Volga-Kama languages

REGISTRATION FOR THE SYMPOSIUM
Those willing to read a paper should send an abstract to the organizing
committee before March 30, 2001. They will be notified of acceptance by
May 15, 2001. More detailed information concerning the registration of
all participants will be given in the next circular, spring 2001.

TYPES OF PAPERS. The time reserved for an ordinary paper is 20 minutes
plus 10 minutes for discussion. It is also possible to give shorter
reports that last 10 minutes plus 5 minutes for discussion.

NOTES CONCERNING THE SUBJECT. It is recommended that in every paper at
least two different languages are dealt with. Language-internal
interference phenomena, e.g. mixed dialects, are considered relevant
for the general theme only if they are somehow connected to contacts
between different languages.

ABSTRACTS  will be delivered to all participants in the beginning of the
symposium. The length of the abstract should not exceed  two pages, and
the abstract should,  if possible, be written on the main working
languages of the symposium.

SYMPOSIUM PUBLICATION. The papers written for publication can be given to
the organizers during the symposium or sent to the organizing committee
latest September 15, 2001.  The recommended length of articles is 8 pages.