ATU Holds the 9th Iranian Conference on Linguistics

Thanks to the efforts of the Department of Linguistics of Allameh Tabataba’i University (ATU), the Academy of Persian Literature, the Linguistics Society of Iran (LSI) and the Saadi Foundation (SF), the ninth Iranian conference on linguistics was held on 24 and 25 February 2015. At the beginning of the conference, Dr Mohammad Dabir-Moghadam, head of the ATU Department of Linguistics and permanent member of the Academy of Persian Language and Literature, welcomed the participants and addressed the audience about the long history of linguistics in Iran and dated it back to the days of Sibawayh (8^th century AD). Confessing that we are mostly using the theories received from the West, he pointed to the weak position of Iranian theorists in the field. He then concluded his speech, presenting a number of national research priorities, such as (1) Strengthening and developing Persian as the language of science; (2) Planning to reach a better comprehension of the state of the Persian language and script in virtual environments, hence planning to apply the scientific content produced in virtual environments; (3) Scientific study of the, linguistically and non-linguistically, Persian language and dialects, as the national, cultural, literary, and historical capitals common to all Iranians.

Then, Dr Aliasghar Mosleh, Dean of ATU Faculty of Persian Literature and Foreign Languages, after giving the audience and guests his welcome speech, pointed to the importance of such conferences on linguistics and suggested that language should continuously be monitored. He then offered some historical facts concerning the importance of linguistics among various world philosophers, from Plato to Heidegger, implying the necessity of paying attention to this field.

The conference was continued with a speech addressed by Dr Hossein Salimi, ATU President, who, having welcomed the participants, appreciated the efforts of Dr Gholamali Haddad-Adel in enhancing ATU, as well as Dr Dabir-Moghadam for his efforts in organizing the conference, pointed to the outstanding national position of ATU in the field of Linguistics. He then reminded the audience of the fact that most of the academic disciplines have disposed towards linguistic studies, implying that human beings have come up with the fact that “part of human’s humanity is language-dependent”. In other words, the socio-cultural phenomena manifest themselves in the form of linguistic structures.

Then, Dr Gholamali Haddad-Adel thanked ATU for continuing to hold such conferences on linguistics. He then, tracing the history of the field in Iran back to such classic works as Sibawayh’s Al Kitab and before, pointed to the special position of linguistics in Iran, as well as other nations. According to Haddad-Adel, the 50-year history of Linguistics in Iran has played a leading role in the development of the third Academy of Persian Language and Literature, compared with its first and second ones.

The conference opening session was concluded with a speech delivered by Dr Bernard Comrie, the outstanding British Linguist and Typologist, on the unique characteristics of Persian. Comrie believes, in Persian, there is much room for doing linguistic research.

The conference lasted for two days, and researchers presented their papers in Persian and/or English.