The Department of Africa at the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Russian
Academy of Sciences) announces
The 2nd International Conference
on
MANDE LANGUAGES AND LINGUISTICS
which is scheduled to take place on September 15 to 17, 2008 in St. Petersburg
(Russia).
Since the first conference that took place in 1989 in Paris, the field of Mande
language studies has changed enormously. The amount of knowledge about the
languages of the family has increased considerably. A shift of interest to small
languages can be observed. For example, research on small and hitherto little known
Southern Mande languages in Ivory Coast, was realized as a Russian/Swiss joint
research project financed by the Swiss National Science Foundation over two periods
(2000-2004, 2005-2008). Great progress has been achieved in every branch of linguistic
theory in relation to the languages of the family… It is time for the Mandeist linguists to
meet and to strike the balance of two decades of hard work.
We invite specialists in all Mande languages, of any generation, from any country,
of any theoretical persuasion, to participate in the Conference. We invite also specialists
in the languages of other families with long-established contacts with Mande languages
to take part in the Conference in order to discuss external links of the Mande language
family.
The work of the Conference will proceed in the form of both regular panel sessions
and round table discussions. The panel sessions can be organized according to
“traditional” lines (“Phonology”, “Morphology”, “Syntax”, “Discourse study”,
“Lexicology and lexicography”, “Comparative historical studies”, “Sociolinguistics”,
etc.). However, initiatives to organize panels on more special topics are also welcome.
The final list of panels will be established on account of the initiatives of the
participants.
Round tables will deal with topics on open questions, both theoretical and practical.
Very preliminarily, we could suggest the following subjects as round table topics:
- internal and external classification of the Mande languages
- the areal and the genetic in Mande languages
- grammatical and lexical tones
– insights on/from South Mande languages phonology/tonology and their relevance
to Mande comparative studies
- perspectives of “Mandenkan”, currently sole periodical of the community of
Mande linguists
All participants are invited to express their opinion on the relevance of the topics
suggested for the round-table discussion, and to suggest other topics. The final list of
round-table subjects will be established in accordance with this informal “vote” of the
participants.
The working languages of the Conference will be English and French.
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It is intended to publish a volume of the proceedings of the Conference (either a
special issue of Mandenkan or a separate publication).
The following deadlines are proposed:
March 31: Proposal of panels.
April 30: Submission of paper proposals to the panel chairs and to the organizers.
May 31: Proposal of topics for round-tables.
Everybody is invited to express as early as possible one’s willingness (or
unwillingness) to participate in the Conference.
To visit Russia, non-Russian nationals will need to obtain a visa. We can send you
an official invitation that will serve you a ground for obtaining the visa. For the citizens
of the Schengen states, the procedure is now rather easy (and a visa for those who travel
for academic purposes must be free of charge). Anyway, please, inform us in advance if
you need an invitation for your visa; we’ll give further instructions.
Finances: An application for sponsorship was submitted to the “Russian
Foundation for Human Studies” (RGNF), the result will be known by March-April
2008. Unfortunately, according to the regulations of the RGNF, its grants cannot be
spent for the travel costs and accommodation of foreign participants, but it will relieve
us of the necessity to establish a participation fee.
The organizers will do their best to find good and relatively inexpensive
accommodation facilities (St. Petersburg is not a cheap city, so, one should count on the
fares of the range of 50 Euro per night).
As for the cheap travels, one should take into account a possibility to fly to
Helsinki with Finnair (this Summer, there were tickets to most European capitals for
about 200 Euro to and fro, if bought in advance), then a mini-bus for 20 to 30 Euro to
St. Petersburg (about 6 hours ride).
Please, for any question concerning the Second International Conference on Mande
Languages and Linguistics, address Maria Konoshenko, eleiteria@gmail.com.
You may also write to Valentin Vydrin (vydrine@yandex.ru or
vydrine@hotmail.com).
If you do not receive any answer in 3-4 days, it means that your message or our
answer has been lost by the server; in this case, please, repeat the message.
We are looking forward for your reaction to this call and we hope to see you all in
September 2008 in St. Petersburg.
Valentin Vydrin
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