Keynote speakers

Karen De Clercq 

CNRS researcher, Laboratoire de Linguistique Formelle, Université de Paris, France

Karen De Clercq obtained her PhD in 2013 at Ghent University (Belgium). Since 2020 she has been working as a CNRS researcher at the Laboratoire de Linguistique Formelle at Université de Paris. She is the author of The Morphosyntax of Negative Markers (Mouton de Gruyter 2020), and a co-editor of Exploring Nanosyntax (OUP). Her main research interest is the morpho-syntax of negation from a typological perspective, but she has also worked extensively on degree morphology, as well as negative concord, Q-words and word order patterns in Flemish Dutch.

CONFERENCE

The importance of focus

The array of theoretical and methodological options in the current linguistic landscape is vast and often confusing for PhD students/ junior researchers. In addition, the pressure to publish, to go abroad, and to be innovative is immense. The current scientific (linguistic) landscape can thus lead to feelings of insecurity and to a sense of being overwhelmed. In this talk I will argue that focus, both in one’s work and in one’s profile, is a key ingredient in a scientific career. I will highlight - by means of concrete examples from my own life as a PhD student and postdoc - what I perceived as obstacles, both in practical terms and in psychological terms, and how I tried to deal with them and turn them into opportunities that can boost one’s career. 

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Jean-Michel Adam

Honorary Professor, Lausanne Uniersity, Swizerland

Jean-Michel Adam is an honorary professor of French linguistics at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland. He is the author of some fifteen books, translated into several languages, on textual linguistics, narrative, description, literary discourse analysis and the argumentation of advertising. His latest publications include : Le Paragraphe (A. Colin 2018), Souvent textes varient (Classiques Garnier 2018), the 4th edition of Les Textes : Types et prototypes (A. Colin 2017) and the 4th edition of La linguistique textuelle. Introduction à l’analyse textuelle des discours (A. Colin 2020).

CONFERENCE 

Theoretical models of the past and language sciences today : heritage and dynamics of knowledge in the fields of text and discourse

Focusing his talk on discourse linguistics (textual linguistics and discourse analysis), Jean-Michel Adam will situate this field of language sciences in its relatively recent history (1950-2021). From theoretical problems as concrete as the definition of the concept of text, to the issues of textual and discursive genres, he will examine the following: “From the theoretical models of the past to current research trends in language sciences: conservation or evolution?”