ASG News
REPORT
The 1stInternational Symposium on Geolinguistic Ethnography
(1 December 2018)
Surendra POKHREL
This is a report for the benefit of all interested persons concerning an international symposium organized by this organization on the topic of geolinguistic ethnography at Daito Bunka Kaikan (Tokyo) on 1 December 2018 by The American Society of Geolinguistics in Tokyo (ASGT). As such, it will be sent to all individuals participating in the conference as either speakers, moderators or as organizers; and, additionally, will be included on the geolinguistics.info website for public access.
The Embassy of Nepal acted as a supporting body as did the English Division of the Graduate School of Foreign Languages of Daito Bunka University. The organizing committee was chaired by Surendra POKHREL (Executive (Student) Vice President of The ASGT), consisted of Akriti GHARTI MAGAR (Master's second year student, Tokyo International University), Ravi MAHARJAN (Lecturer: Reitaku University), and Kalusingh MEHTA (Master's first year student, Daito Bunka University).
Professor Hikaru KITABAYASHI, ASGT Executive President, was the organizing committee's advisor. He was also moderator for the first morning session of the Syposium.
The symposium was opened in the presence of Professor Wayne FINKE (City University of New York), the senior co-president of The ASGT, by Prof. Minoru OHTSUKI, Dean of the Graduate School of Foreign Languages of Daito Bunka University, gave a short address congratulating The ASGT on opening its symposium and wishing it well. He highlighted the need for research in geolinguistics.
The patron of the symposium, Her Excellency, Mrs. Prativa RANA, Ambassador of Nepal to Japan, addressed the symposium at 10 a.m., focusing on the need for academic societies of this type and their potential benefits to students. Her Excellency also discussed briefly recent positive developments in relations between Nepal and Japan relation and stressed the need for widening this relationship through a multidimensional process that would involve academic organization playing an important role. Her Excellency stated her desire for the successful completion of the symposium and the gave her best wishes for the upcoming conference to be held in Kathmandu on March 15-16, 2019. Speaking after Her Excellency, the Deputy Chief of Mission of the Embassay of Nepal, the Honorable Mr. Krishna Chandra ARYAL, gave a talk on relations between Nepal and Japan through cultural perspectives. The Deputy Chief of Mission, the Hon. Mr. ARYAL encouraged graduate students, in particular, but also others in the audience to focus their research on the cultural aspects of the relationship between Nepal and Japan and he promised that Embassy of Nepal would always do its best to help in the realization of that kind of research.
At 10: 30 a.m., Associate Professor Erina OGAWA made her talk and encouraged students to also do their paper presentations outside of the ASG(T) conferences and symposiums. She also talked about the need for the management of time and other things things that are easily overlooked but that have great importance for conference talks.
At about 10:50 a.m., Her Excellency Ambassador Mrs Prativa RANA and the Deputy Chief of Mission, the Hon. Mr. Krishna Chandra ARYAL were each presented with a bouquet of flowers by Ms Akriti GHARTI MAGAR, a member of the Symposium's ASGT organizing committee. As Her Excellency was leaving, she took a quick look at an art exhibition called “Faces of Nepal”, which was created by Nepali ARJUN, a second year master's student of Daito Bunka University. Due to an afternoon engagement at Tokyo University, Her Excellency, the Ambassador, and the Hon. Mr. ARYAL left the symposium at 11:00 a.m.
At 11 a.m., Mr. Masahiro YAMANE, a lecturer of Soka University, presented a paper called “On the Techniques of Translating 17th century Prose into Japanese: with a Focus on George HERBERT'S The Country Parson.” His research paper focused on the issues of translating the English of previous centuries into modern languages, considering the linguistic environment of the 21st century.
The moderator for the second morning session, lasting from 11:30-12:15, was Igor TARAKANOV. At 11:30, Mr. Rabin KARKI, a first year master's student of Daito Bunka University, presented a paper entitled “Importance of Multilingualism in Identity Building with Reference to Movie Spanish Apartment”, in which he focused on the issues of preserving one's self-identity as one tries to come to an understanding of it through life in another country as a student.
Following this, presentation was made by Kalu Singh MEHTA, a graduate student of Daito Bunka University and also the member of executive committee of the symposium, his title was “English language policy of Japanese and Nepalese elementary school”, where he highlighted on the policy of Nepal and Japan and gave some astonishing pieces of evidence about the level of the English Test in Japan and Nepal. At 12:00 o’clock Ms. Yafei ZHANG, a PhD student at Daito Bunka University who read a paper about “The relationship between colour and culture through a song from Les Miserables”.
The lunch break started at 12:15 o’clock and some of the guests were taken to a nearby Italian restaurant by Mr. Kalu Singh MEHTA.
The second leg of the symposium started at 13:15 o’clock, with Mr. Yongsheng ZHANG being the moderator of the first afternoon session. The first presentation of this session was done by Mr. Nayan Jyoti SUBEDI, a first-year PhD student at Daito Bunka University. His title was “The Relationship between Humans and the Natural World in Gary SNYDER’s Poetry”. His presentation highlighted nature and human relations in the poetry of Gary SNYDER. Mr. Arjun NEPALI followed with a talk on the topic of “Influences of Norman ROCKWELL on cinema director Steven SPIELBERG”. He focused on some of the artworks of Norman ROCKWELL and their influence as paintings. The next presentation was that by Mr. Igor TARAKANOV, who is a PhD 2ndyear student at Daito Bunka University and who discussed sign language and its history in modern Japan as a minority language. The paper he read was entitled “Sign language in Japan and its modern history".
The next session was moderated by Mr. Ravi MAHARJAN, a member of the symposium's organizing committee. At 14:00 Mr. Suraj Raj SHRESTHA, a PhD 2ndyear student at Daito Bunka University gave his presentation on the topic of “Language activism in Nepal after 2015 in relation to Nepal Bhasa in the Kathmandu Valley”. He spoke of efforts being made in a very difficult situation by language minority activists to promote the various mother tongues of the various ethnic groups of Nepal. He was followed by Mr. Subhasu BUDHATHOKI, a first year master's student of Daito Bunka University whose talk's title was “Everestian”. As one would suspect, he focused on how the term Everestian was evolved and how it has come into use as an English adjective. Mr. Surendra POKHREL, a second year PhD student at Daito Bunka University read a paper on the “The situation of Nepalese in Japan with special reference to that of Nepalese students in the Tokyo Metropolitan area”, in which he focused on the problems faced by Nepalese students in Japan and suggested ways of mitigating the problems. At 15:00 there was a short coffee and interaction break was taken so that the attendees could interact with each other over coffee, tea and rice crackers.
The next session started at 15:15 o’clock. The moderator was Ms Akriti GHARTI MAGAR, a graduate student at Tokyo International University. At 15:15, Mr. Ravi MAHARJAN, a lecturer at Reitaku University and symposium organizing committee member, gave his presentation on the topic of “How do Nepalese Immigrants/Migrants in Japan Maintain Ethnic and Linguistic Identities”. He focused on the challenges to maintain identity and suggested some ways Nepalese immigrants can better keep their identity in foreign countries. The next presentation was made by Mr. Yongsheng ZHANG on the interesting topic of “Margaret Cavendish's use of the be +past participleconstruction in Her 1662 plays”. His paper focused on the sometimes striking differences in usage in this grammatical structure in the 17thcentury as opposed to current usages. At the end of student session, Ms. Chiaki SOMA, a PhD student of Daito Bunka University talked on the topic of “The Sister-City Relationship between Koriyama City and Brummen City Expressed in Figures”. She provided an overview of the development of the relationship between Koriyama City in Japan and Brummen City in the Netherlands.
The important, last, session of the symposium started at 16:00 with moderator being Associate Professor Michio TAJIMA of Nihon University. The first presenter of this session was Mr. Yusuke NAGASHIMA from the TOEIC organization, who talked on the topic of “How TOEIC Tests are evaluated in our society (with some history of TOEIC Tests)”. He gave insights upon how TOEIC test are evaluated in the Japanese corporate world and discussed the vast scope of use of TOEIC as the most important test in Japan for examining English ability. In addition, he clarified various points raised in questions from the audience.
The next speech was given by Elliot MILTON, a senior director at SMBC Aviation Capital and Chairman of the Japan Ireland Chamber of Commerce as well as being a former diplomat of the Ireland to Japan. He gave a stimulating talk on the topic of the “Use of Language in the World of Diplomacy and Business”. He focused on the importance of language choice during negotiations, illustrating his points with reflections on certain important world events, including incidents in the South China Sea, the Donald TRUMP presidency, and the peace process in Irish conflict.
A short break of 15 minutes was taken from 17:00-17:15.
The next leg of the session started with Professor Jeffrey JOHNSON of Daito Bunka University being the moderator for a presentation given by Mr. Mike GALBRAITH, a senior journalist and international exchange facilitator of rugby. His topic was “The Early History of Baseball and Rugby in Japan”. He showed how his research of 19thand early 20thcentury documents showed, not only how rugby evolved, but also showed that much of what people think they know about that evolution is wrong.
Professor Wayne FINKE, the senior co-president of the ASGT, delivered his keynote speech on the topic of “The Languages of New York: A Historical Overview”. The focus of his talk was on the linguistics variety of New York City and how the recognition of that variety has helped to bring to create community identities that allow the various language communities to exist in harmony with one another and creating a synergetic effect for New York City as a whole.
Due to a technical glitch, a break of around of 15 minutes was taken at 18:30, followed by a thrilling lecture by Dr. Mark Lee FORD, Vice-Dean of GLOBIS University and President of the Moneo Company, whose topic was “Of Language and Leaders”. His manner of presentation proved to be a strong stimulation to the audience to also express their own ideas concerning leadership and its exercise.
The closing address was given by Professor Francis ROUSSELL, the faculty coordinator of the Linguistic Ethnography Subdivision of the English Division of the of the Graduate School of Foreign Languages of Daito Bunka University. He thanked the Embassy of Nepal and the Graduate School's English Divison for acting as supporting bodies. He also expressed gratitude to the guest speakers and the symposium's organizing committee.
A party was then held at an Italian restaurant nearby to Daito Bunka Kaikan. The entire management of the Party had been undertaken by Mr. Kalu Singh MEHTA, a member of the symposium's organizing committee. Out of the 50 symposium attendees, 31 attended the party, which proved to be an enjoyable ending to an exciting academic event.
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2 December 2017
Recent Research in Geolinguistic Ethnography
地域言語文化学における最新の研究
(Contact Hikaru Kitabayashi at hkitabayashi@gmail.com for participation details.)
Sponsorship:
Daito Bunka University Graduate School of Foreign Languages English Division Linguistic Ethnography Research Group (2017 Workshop)
主催：
大東文化大学大学院 外国語学研究科 英語学専攻 言語文化学研究分野
(2017年度ワークショップ)
Co-sponsorship:
The American Society of Geolinguistics
(Office: City University of New York―Baruch College (established in 1965))
共催：
アメリカ地理言語学学会
（事務局City University of New York―Baruch College（1965年設立））
Publication information:
The proceedings of this workshop will be published in the early Spring of 2018 as a hardcover book by the American Society of Geolinguistics under the title of Recent Research in Geolinguistic Ethnography.
出版物情報
本ワークショップで発表された論文は、American Society of Geolinguistics学会名（アメリカ地理言語学学会）でRecent Research in Geolinguistic Ethnography（地域言語文化学における最新の研究）のタイトルでハードカバーの論文集として2018年春に出版予定。
Date:
2 December 2017 10:00～10:30
日時:
2017年12月2日 10:00～19:30
Venue:
Daito Bunka Kaikan
(2-4-21 Tokumaru, Itabashi-ku, Tokyo-to 175-0083)
開催場所：
大東文化会館(〒175-0083 東京都板橋区徳丸2-4-21)
Workshop Schedule
ワークショップスケジュール
Registration: 9:30
受付：9:30
Opening Ceremony
Professor Hironori Suzuki, Chair of the English Division, Graduate School of Foreign Languages, Daito Bunka University:10:00～10:15
開会挨拶
大東文化大学院英語学専攻主任 鈴木敬了教授：10:00～10:15
Daito Bunka University Graduate Student Papers: 10:15～12:30
大東文化大学院生による発表：10:15～12:30
Lunch：12:30～13:30
昼休憩：12:30～13:30
Other University Graduate Student Papers：13:30～15:30
他大学院生による発表：13:30～15:30
Address of the President of the American Society of Geolinguistics：15:30～15:45
American Society of Geolinguistics会長による講演：15:30～15:45
Papers read by University Faculty and Others (Moderator: Professor Kiyoko Yoneyama)：15:45～17:00
大学教員などによる発表(司会、米山聖子教授)：15:45～17:00
Welcoming Ceremony for Diplomats and Others (Moderator: Professor Shunji Yamazaki)：17:00～17:30
外交官などの歓迎式(司会、山崎俊次教授)：17:00～17:30
Concert (Mr T. M. Hoffman)：17:30～18:00
コンサート(ホフマン先生)：17:30～18:00
Panel Discussion (Moderator: Professor Minoru Ohtsuki)：18:00～19:00
(Title: The Role of Embassies and Other Institutions in Building Cultural Relations between Nations)
パネルディスカッション(司会：大月教授)：18:00～19:00
(タイトル：国家間の文化関係構築における大使館およびその他の機関の役割)
Closing Addresses：19:00～19:30
閉会挨拶：19:00～19:30
Post-Workshop Dinner：19:30～21:00
ワークショップ後の夕食会：19:30～21:00
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