Events Archive

Friday March 30 - 3pm ::: Linguistics Lecture Series

Language contact and bilingualism effects in Vimeu, France: the influence of Picard on French

The Department of Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics
invites you to attend a talk by

Anne-José Villeneuve
University of Toronto

Date: Friday, 30 March, 3:00 PM
Location: Ross Building S562

It is well known that regional languages – Breton, Flemish and Corsican among others – are losing ground to French, due to lack of generational transmission (Héran, Filhon & Deprez 2002). Among the Gallo-Romance languages of northern France, traditionally referred to as langues d'oïl, Picard is no exception to this trend.

Based on a recent corpus of French interviews collected in Vimeu, an area of northwestern France where the Picard language still enjoys a relative vitality, I demonstrate that linguistic features of Picard have seeped into French as it is spoken in the area, by both Picard-French bilinguals and French monolinguals.

In this talk, I focus on two phonological variables: word-final consonant cluster simplification in words like autre [ot] 'other', a feature well-attested in most colloquial varieties of French and in Picard, and vowel epenthesis (cf. 1-2), noted in Picardie (Emrik 1958, Lefebvre 1988).

A reception will be held after the lecture in the DLLL Lounge. All are welcome.

For more information please contact Prof. Philipp Sebastian Angermeyer, Department of Languages, Literatures and Linguistics at (416) 736-2100 extension 66288.

Friday March 23 - 10am-4pm ::: Persian Program's Bake Sale

Join our bake sale event at Vari Hall from 10am-4pm, March 23rd.

Make our Haft-Sin more beautiful by your presence!

This is to celebrate the Iranian New Year with a presentation and bake sale. The event is offered by the Persian students in PERS 2700, PERS 2000, and PERS 1000.

Thursday March 22 - 1:30pm ::: Info-session for study abroad program in ITALY

Programs are available in Florence and Rome.

Time: 1:30 -2:30pm
Location: Ross S562 (Audio Visual Room)

More details.

Wednesday March 7 - 5:30pm ::: Entre Voc/zes Magazine Launch

Join us for the the extravaganza launch party of Entre Voc/zes student literary magazine's 5th edition, on March 7th 2012 at 5:30 in Founders Assembly Hall, Founders College. All are welcome to attend to enjoy art, music and literature created by students of York University, and to receive complimentary copies of the magazine featuring a focus on the Hispanic and Lusophone worlds (in English translation). Refreshments will also be served.

The theme for this year's edition is "Raíces al cielo/Raízes ao Céu": a call to embrace our roots, challenge ourselves to break free from all limits while ultimately inspiring others to reach for the sky to pursue their hopes and dreams. Please circulate the information to all who may be interested.

For more information, flyer.

Thursday March 1 - 5:00 pm ::: Discourse level polarity items

The Department of Languages, Literatures and Linguistics

invites you to attend a talk by

Dana Isac
Concordia University

"Discourse level polarity items"

Thursday, 1 March, 5:00 PM
Ross Building S562
York University, Keele Campus

This talk investigates the properties of the discourse, rather than of a single sentence.

A reception will be held after the lecture in the DLLL Lounge. All are welcome.

For more information please contact: Philipp Sebastian Angermeyer

Thursday Feb.16 - 4:00pm ::: Spanish Lecture Series

Please join us for the second installment of the 2011-12 Spanish Lecture Series, on Thursday, February 16 (4:00-5:30pm) in the Founders College Senior Common Room.

We are happy to welcome Dr. Goretti Ramírez from Concordia University for a talk titled: "Autobiography, Time and Exile in María Zambrano". Refreshments will be served.

This lecture will explore María Zambrano's challenge to the modern conceptualization of time. Drawing on theoretical approaches to exile writing and subjectivity by Mari Paz Balibrea and others, it will focus on how exile's time both highlights and dims the role of the Spanish Republic in our understanding of Spanish modernity, with some implications to the contemporary memoria histórica. Examples from Zambrano's autobiography Delirio y destino will be examined.

Biography

Goretti Ramírez is Associate Professor of Spanish at Concordia University (Montreal), where she teaches literary and cultural studies of modern Spain. Her research focuses on twentieth-century Spanish poetry and intellectual history, with particular emphasis on María Zambrano (1904-1991) and the Republican exile under Franco's dictatorship (1939-1975). She is the author of the book María Zambrano, crítica literaria (2004) and approximately forty publications in collective volumes and journals.

She is currently finishing two books: a monograph on the representation of space in the poetry of the Spanish Republican exile, and the edition of Zambrano's autobiographical writings, including her unpublished journals and Delirio y destino (forthcoming as a volume of her Complete Works in Galaxia Gutenberg-Círculo de Lectores). She is a member of the Advisory Board of Antígona. Revista de la Fundación María Zambrano.

Date: Thursday, February 16, 2012
Time: 4:00 to 5:30pm
Location: 305 Founders College (Senior Common Room)
Sponsors: LA&PS, Founders College, DLLL

Friday Feb. 10 - 10am ::: 2012 Languages and Literatures Colloquium

"We are very happy to report that we had a successful 2012 Languages and Literatures Colloquium (our third) on Friday, February 10. Pietro Giordan (Chair of DLLL) and Mauro Buccheri (Italian Studies and Master of Founders College) gave the opening remarks.

Our four papers showcased the varied research of our LL colleagues and generated much animated and fruitful discussion. Jana Vizmuller-Zocco spoke on her research in the area of transhumanism and language; Noriko Yabuki-Soh spoke on her research on the usage of relative clauses in Japanese; Laura Wiseman spoke on her research on the Hebrew poetry of Dahlia Ravikovitch; and Khatereh Sheibani spoke on her research on Iranian film and women in Iran.

Thanks to the generous financial support of Founders College (who also permitted us to use the newly renovated Room 303 Founders), DLLL, and the Office of the Dean of LA&PS, we enjoyed a lovely lunch where we were able to continue our discussion of the papers and catch up with colleagues.

Thanks to Josie Sansonetti, Kasia Mastek, and the staff of Founders College for their assistance. And thanks again to our speakers for their stimulating papers and to the DLLL members who came to the colloquium -- your participation and support for this LL event is much appreciated, and we look forward to arranging our fourth LL Colloquium next year.

Roberta Sinyor and Anne-Marie Lewis
Co-Organizers, LL Colloquia"

Thursday Feb 9 - 5pm ::: Linguistics Lecture Series

Reflections on the Policy Impact of 40 Years of Applied Linguistics Research in Canada

The Department of Languages, Literatures and Linguistics invites you to attend a talk by Jim Cummins OISE, University of Toronto

Thursday, 9 February, 5:00 PM
Ross Building S562
York University, Keele Campus

The presentation will address the intersections between research, theory, ideology, and educational policies focusing on two major areas: (a) core and immersion programs for the teaching of French to Anglophone students, (b) policies concerning the learning of English and French to immigrant-background students.

With respect to the teaching of French, policy-makers at both federal and provincial levels have ignored the fact that core French programs (typically 30-40 minutes per day) produce very meagre results for the vast majority of students despite 5+ years of learning. French immersion and Intensive French (typically about 5-6 months teaching of French and through French starting in grade 6) have far greater research credibility but only a relatively small proportion of students across Canada are enrolled in these courses (<10%). Policy-makers and some researchers are also subject to ideological blind-spots in the area of French immersion, specifically their adherence to the "two solitudes" assumption that French and English should be kept rigidly separate, an assumption for which there is no empirical evidence.

In the area of immigrant-background students (including students born in Canada to immigrant parents), researchers and ESL educators are well-aware of the different trajectories typically required for students to acquire L2 conversational skills (c. 1-2 years) compared to catching up academically to their native English or French peers (c. 5-7 years). However, the implications of these research findings have not been taken into account in mainstream educational policies concerning instruction and assessment (e.g., EQAO assessment policies, pre-service and professional development policies focusing on mainstream content instruction, and psycho-educational assessment).

Similarly, there are large gaps in knowledge and awareness with respect to the positive relationships between students' L1 and L2. It is still common to hear accounts from parents that they have been advised by psychologists (e.g., in medical agencies or hospitals) to switch to English in the home if they want their children to succeed in school.

Another area of wilful blindness on the part of many policy-makers concerns the unwillingness to implement genuine bilingual (or trilingual) programs involving languages other than English or French. The evidence (e.g., from Alberta programs in place since the 1970s) is clear that such programs can succeed just as well as French-English programs and yet there are only a handful in operation across the country (with Alberta standing out as a notable exception).

Thus, the claim by federal and provincial agencies that they pursue evidence-based policies has limited credibility. Evidence-based policies are much more likely to be pursued when the evidence conforms to ideological presuppositions.

A reception will be held after the lecture in the DLLL Lounge. All are welcome.

Friday Jan. 27, 3pm ::: "Why isn't there a South African French variety?"

Cécile B. Vigouroux
Simon Fraser University
Location: Ross South 562

Although South Africa is usually not associated with French and Francophone matters, its modern history is marked by a strong relation with the French and the Francophones, from the Huguenots in the 17th century, followed by French Mauritians two centuries later, to more recent waves of Africans coming from former French and Belgium colonies since the late 1980's. Unlike its German counterpart, which was introduced to the Cape colony around the same time and under the same conditions, French has never indigenized nor, least of all, is it still spoken as a native or ethnic language by descendants of former settlers. On the contrary, it has lost grounds despite significant and constant migrations of Francophones to major South African urban centers.

Through a socio-historical analysis of the three migrations, I explore the factors that triggered the loss of French as a vernacular in favor, earlier, of Dutch, which would become Afrikaans, and, later, of English. I also examine how, in some social settings, it is now losing its ethnographic importance to African vehicular languages such as Lingala and Swahili among the more recent Francophone African migrants. In this comparative analysis, I wish to articulate some specific ways in which language vitality can be sustained and language speciation can develop in a given political and economic ecology.

A reception will be held after the lecture in the DLLL Lounge. All are welcome.

The lecture series program is also announced on the following website: www.yorku.ca/laps/dlll/linguistics/events.html

For more information, please contact:
Philipp Sebastian Angermeyer
Associate Professor
Department of Languages, Literatures and Linguistics
tel: (416) 736-2100 extension 66288
pangerme@yorku.ca

Nov. 30 ::: Information Session : Italian Studies Abroad

The first information session will take place on WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 2012 from 2:30-3:30 in ROSS 562 SOUTH.

For any additional information, please contact: Professor Picchione johnp@yorku.ca, or Professor Ricci aricci@yorku.ca

View Brochure

Nov. 30 ::: "Integrating language and content: Focus on form in a content-based language program"

The Department of Languages, Literatures and Linguistics

invites you to attend a talk by

Antonella Valeo
York University (DLLL, ESL)

"Integrating language and content: Focus on form in a content-based language program"

Wednesday, 30 November, 5:00 PM
Ross Building S562
York University, Keele Campus

Teaching that integrates attention to content and language has gained widespread acceptance as good pedagogy in a variety of settings and draws support form both classroom practice and research (Brinton, Snow, & Wesche, 2003; Lyster, 2007; Snow & Brinton, 1997). It is premised on the belief that language and content are inseparable in communication and that learning is enhanced by integrating the two. Yet the nature of the relationship between content and language and how integration is achieved continue to be points of divergence for both researchers and practitioners. One approach to the question draws from theory and research related to learner attention and language awareness.

This line of inquiry has provided support for the development of form-focused instruction (FFI), which describes various instructional options that draw learners' attention to form in primarily meaning and content-based classrooms (Spada, 1997, 2011). In this presentation, I will report on a recent study exploring learner attention to form in a content-based language program preparing adults for employment in a specific occupational sector.

This quasi-experimental study investigated the effect and effectiveness of FFI on content and language learning outcomes as well as the degree to which learners were aware of a focus on language and content in their instruction. Outcomes were compared for two groups of learners, one receiving instruction entirely focused on content and the other receiving instruction with an additional focus on form.

The results showed no advantage on language outcomes for the participants receiving the focus on form but a significant advantage on content learning. The findings are discussed in terms of their pedagogical implications for language and content teaching, as well as future directions in research and theory related to learner attention and awareness in content and language integrated contexts.

Antonella Valeo is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Languages, Literatures and Linguistics at York University. Her research interests include instructed second language acquisition and language teacher education and development, with a focus on content and language integrated teaching and learning.

A reception will be held after the lecture in the DLLL Lounge. All are welcome.

For more information, please contact Professor Philipp Sebastian Angermeyer at: pangerme@yorku.ca

Nov. 23 ::: "Metalinguistic Negation from a Developmental Standpoint"

The Department of Languages, Literatures and Linguistics

invites you to attend a talk by

Kelly Nedwick
Yale University

"Metalinguistic Negation from a Developmental Standpoint"

Wednesday, 23 November, 5:00 PM
Ross Building S562
York University, Keele Campus

Rescheduled from September 29. Please note that this talk will be held on a WEDNESDAY, not in our usual Thursday time slot.

Metalinguistic negation (MN) is a specific use of negation first noted by Horn (1989) in which the negative marker is used to object on any grounds whatever rather than merely the truth value of a previous utterance. MN has several grammatical correlates including the licensing of NPIs, X and Z. MN is a robust pragmatic phenomenon which has been examined in several languages (e.g, Mustafa, 2003; Lee, 2005). MN requires a variety of pragmatic processing including types of implicatures and presupposition This talk looks at MN and reports on a developmental study conducted with 43 American English speakers aged (3-14, mean 8.26, sd 3.45) in order to develop a linguistically formed baseline for clinical work in pragmatic disorder and other conditions which feature severe pragmatic deficits.

A reception will be held after the lecture in the DLLL Lounge. All are welcome.

For more information, please contact Professor Philipp Sebastian Angermeyer at: pangerme@yorku.ca

Nov. 22 ::: Hot Chocolate Night

"Entre Voc/zes student club in Spanish and Portuguese Studies invites you to a Hot Chocolate Night on November 22, 2011, in the DLLL Lounge."

Join us for a conversation on literature and enjoy hot drinks and treats! EV also offers free tutoring: check their web page for more details.

Nov. 16, ::: Lusophone Coffee Hour - Speaker: Margarita Correia

Margarita Correia
(Universidad de Lisboa)
Time: 2:30-4:00pm
Location: Ross South 537 (Café Lusófono)
(language: Portguese)

Nov. 12, ::: York University FALL CAMPUS DAY

Faculty and student representatives of the Department of Languages, Literatures and Linguistics welcomed visitors to Fall Campus Day 2011 and shared information about DLLL courses and programs. Check out photos of the event!... For more information about DLLL, please write to langlit@yorku.ca or lapsling@yorku.ca

Nov 10, ::: "The state's instrumentalisation of linguistic diversity: Swiss multilingualism as a national profit?"

The Department of Languages, Literatures and Linguistics invites you to attend a talk by Alexandre Duchêne Université de Fribourg/Universität Freiburg

"The state's instrumentalisation of linguistic diversity: Swiss multilingualism as a national profit?"

Thursday, 10 November, 5:00 PM
Ross Building S562
York University, Keele Campus

Ways of constructing national identity have changed significantly in the globalized world. States are more and more involved in competition on international markets, obliging them to find new ways to promote the economic attractiveness of the nation itself, as a kind of market "brand".

In this talk, I will look at how Switzerland is branding itself, focusing in particular on its use of a discourse of "multilingualism" in its attempts to attract international investors. Swiss institutions argue that its national multilingualism and migrant languages make Switzerland a natural springboard for reaching major European markets in, for example, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal and Spain, and so is the place to be for international investors interested in Europe.

By showing the ways in which the "multilingualism" argument is strategically used in promotional activities and marketing materials, I will first argue that this argument strongly relies on an imagined and iconicized multilingual community which totally erases current inequalities and tensions among Swiss linguistic communities.

Second, I will show that these discourses and practices concerning Swiss multilingualism are a manifestation of a discursive shift in the ideological self-construction of the nation in which two discourses are present at the same time.

The first is a traditional discourse of pride, mostly based on the celebration of (French-German-Italian-Romantsch) multilingualism as a constitutive identity component of the Swiss nation, as well as on the Swiss territorial model of the management of multilingualism.

But alongside this traditional discourse, we see emerging a discourse of profit, which constructs multilingualism as an instrument of economic distinction within a competitive market, and as an economic asset for the nation. These analyses will lead to a consideration of the consequences of the economicisation of the discourse of multilingualism for current sociolinguistic research and advocacy.

Dr. Alexandre Duchêne is Professor of sociology of language and Director of the Institute of Multilingualism of the University/HEP Fribourg (Switzerland). His recent publications include "Ideologies across Nations" (2008, Mounton de Gruyter), "Langage, genre et sexualité (with Claudine Moöse, Nota Bene) and Language in Late Capitalism: Pride and Profit (with Monica Heller, Routledge).

A reception will be held after the lecture in the DLLL Lounge. All are welcome.

Nov 4, 2011::: "Romance cotidiano" -- A talk by Dr. Gustavo Martín (UNAM) -- Hosted by Maria Figueredo - Spanish Lecture Series, part I

Dr. Gustavo Martín, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
Friday, November 4, 2011 (1:00-2:30pm)
Accolade East, Room 011 (small reception provided)

Synopsis:
This talk encompasses a general review of the history of bolero in Mexico from the 19th Century to the present day. It comprises various readings of the significance of bolero in the daily lives of Mexicans and considers the melodic qualities of bolero songs as well as the various ways in which they have been interpreted in that country.

Biography:
Mexican cellist Gustavo Martín is a chamber musician and educator. He has played in the main Mexican concert halls, as well as in auditoriums in the United States, Canada, Germany, Bulgaria, Italy and Japan. Among his ten albums that focus on Mexican concert repertoire, are Canto de Estío, comprising music for cello, guitar and piano, and Muy cerca, with music for cello from Mexico and Brazil. He has also recorded Mexican music for string quartet (with the String Quartet of Mexico City) for Deutsche Welle (Germany), is member of Croma ensemble, and has played with members of La Fontegara. He was a founding member of the Coghlan string trio and Ensamble Acústico Arcana.

Gustavo Martín studied at the National School of Music (UNAM) with Enrique Marmissolle and Ignacio Mariscal. He completed his postgraduate studies at the Carnegie Mellon University with Anne Martindale-Williams and David Premo. He obtained his PhD in interpretation from the UNAM with a research focused on Mexican music from the 20th Century for cello and piano.

Gustavo Martín has composed scores for two plays and his catalogue of compositions includes works for various chamber ensembles and vocal productions. In 2005, he was granted the National University Award for Young Academicians (DUNJA) in Arts Teaching. He is exclusive artist of Urtext Digital Classics and is full-time career professor at the National School of Music, UNAM, teaching cello and chamber music.

Nov 3, 2011 ::: Phonological variation in English loanwords in Korean

The Department of Languages, Literatures and Linguistics invites you to attend a talk by

Ahrong Lee
York University, DLLL

"Phonological variation in English loanwords in Korean"

Thursday, 3 November, 5:00 PM
Ross Building S562
York University, Keele Campus

When words are borrowed from a foreign language, they typically undergo pronunciation adjustments due to differences in phonological structure between the source and recipient languages. The way that borrowers adapt the sounds of foreign words often provides crucial evidence bearing on the analysis of data that otherwise would remain inconclusive from the standpoint of the native language system.

For this reason, the study of loanword phonology has received focused attention in recent years, not only as an interesting phenomenon on its own but as a topic of theoretical importance in the field. At the same time, the borrowing of foreign words is a complex process in that extra-linguistic factors, such as prescriptivism, awareness of orthographic conventions, or considerations of euphony also play a role, along with phonological transformation per se, during the adaptation process.

In this talk, I will examine a variety of sound adjustments affecting English loanwords in Korean, with particular focus on how Korean speakers deal with English liquids (/l/ and /r/), as in radio, lobby, center, Hilton, English initial /p, t, k/ following /s/, as in spy, style, and sky, etc.

A reception will be held after the lecture in the DLLL Lounge. All are welcome.

For more information, contact Professor Philipp Angermeyer at pangerme@yorku.ca.