The 2nd International Conference
on
MANDE LANGUAGES AND LINGUISTICS
Second circular letter
Dear Colleagues,
Your reaction to the first letter has been positive, and we have good chances to have a meeting where main trends in the studies of Mande languages will be well represented. But there are still colleagues actively working in this field from whom I have not yet received any answer; I hope very much that they will join us too.
We are in the second half of April, and it is time for those who have not yet given their topics of communications to do it. So far, no new panel has been proposed; therefore, I assume that everybody is happy with the “traditional” scheme (“Phonology”, “Morphology”, “Syntax”, “Discourse study”, “Lexicology and lexicography”, “Comparative historical studies”, “Sociolinguistics”, etc.).
There are some good news. First, the African Chair of the Oriental Department of the St. PetersburgStateUniversity has expressed its eagerness to participate in the organization efforts for our Conference. Second, the Russian Foundation of Human Studies (RGNF) has supported our Conference, which will facilitate the whole process.
The grant of RGNF gives us a possibility to make a pre-publication of the materials for the Conference. I am sure that such a publication will make a discussion more vivid, and also, it will allow those who cannot come to St. Petersburg (for various reasons) to participate in this discussion in absentia.
So, I address all those who are planning to participate in the 2nd Conference on Mande Languages and Linguistics (but also to those who cannot come, but would like to take part in it virtually) to send their materials for publication. The size of the text should be of the range of 2-3 pages; for discussion materials a larger size is admissible. The papers should be in English of French. For non-standard characters, Unicode fonts should be used (for example, Doulos SIL, downloadable from the SIL site). The deadline for the submissions is July 20, 2008.
Visa matters
I guess, all the foreign participants of the Conference will need Russian visas. In order to obtain Russian visa, you will normally need an official invitation. Please, send me:
– a scanned copy of the pages of your passport with your photo and your personal information (name, date of birth, etc.);
– the exact name of your institution and of your position in the institution;
– the city where you are going to apply for the visa (if you do not know, ask me; I have a list of Russian consulates all over the world).
I would like to have this information before the end of April; in this case, the invitations will be ready before the end of May, and you’ll have time to apply for visas before the summer vacation.
Accomodation: I am going to start looking for the possibilities in this field in May. I’ll keep you informed. You are welcome to express your preferences even before that date.
Mandenkan: I would like to attract you attention to the fact that several old issues of Mandenkan have appeared in electronic version on the site of LLACAN (in addition to the issues which are there since long ago), Today, more than 50% of the issues are available on the site. We shall do our best to have all the issues posted before the 2nd Conference of Mande Languages and Linguistics.
Warmest regards,
Valentin Vydrin