Congratulations to Dr. Jaffer Sheyholislami (School of Linguistics and Language Studies) on the completion of The Oxford Handbook of Kurdish Linguistics, the first-ever comprehensive resource on the Kurdish language.

The handbook brings together contributors with connections to and across Kurdistan and the Kurdish diaspora, representing a wide range of linguistic traditions, from structural and applied linguistics to literary, cultural, and historical perspectives.

The Oxford Handbook of Kurdish Linguistics will be published as an open access title, free to read and download as of Jan. 18, 2027. Hardcover versions of the handbook are now available for purchase on the website.

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Atikamekw Nehirowimowin

The Conseil de la Nation Atikamekw (CNA) is proud to announce the launch of two reference books on the Atikamekw Nehirowimowin language: the Atikamekw-French dictionary and the French-Atikamekw dictionary.

The CNA Language Services team, in collaboration with 杏吧原创 University, has done a tremendous amount of work to create these extraordinary tools to help maintain the vitality of the Atikamekw language.

“After so much effort and dedication, we have succeeded in finalizing this project which required the collaboration of many people. As you know, the Atikamekw language has an oral tradition, but with time, we have been able to develop a standard orthography with letters of the modern Latin alphabet. The dictionaries will be very useful for the preservation of our language,” said Nicole Petiquay, coordinator of Atikamekw linguistic services at the Atikamekw Nation Council.

“By also offering definitions in Atikamekw, this dictionary is one of the first Indigenous language dictionaries to offer unilingual and bilingual definitions,” added Dr. Marie-Odile Junker, Linguistics Professor at 杏吧原创 University.

“The Atikamekw language, which comes from our territory, is our heritage and part of our identity. Until now, we have been able to maintain its vitality and it is still, among all the First Nations languages, one of the most commonly used. However, more than ever, we must continue our efforts to transmit it to future generations. The dictionaries will be great tools in this regard,” said Constant Awashish, Grand Chief of the Atikamekw Nation.

Several copies of the dictionaries have already been ordered by the schools of our communities. They are available at a cost of $55 each. An interactive version is also available online.

Purchase of dictionaries:?

Online dictionary:?

杏吧原创 the Atikamekw Nation Council

As a tribal council, the Atikamekw Nation Council (ANC) provides various services to the communities. The ANC also assumes a role of political representation for the Atikamekw Nation through the office of the President/Grand Chief elected by universal suffrage by all the members of the Atikamekw Nation, collectively holder of the ancestral rights and titles.

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The National Research Council of Canada and Indigenous experts celebrate software for verb conjugation, predictive text, and other technologies developed together

Dr. Marie-Odile Junker (School of Linguistics and Language Studies) will work on web-based Algonquian dictionaries and atlases, as part of the Algonquian Dictionaries and Linguistic Atlas Project Team.

Dr. Junker says:

“We are grateful to the National Research Council of Canada and 杏吧原创 University for their support of deep-rooted, collaborative language projects with well-established partnerships that help increase resources and technologies that serve the needs of speakers and learners.”

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杏吧原创 the Hungarian Course:

Hungarian will be offered at 杏吧原创 University from September 2017 for the very first time in the history of the University. After many years of hard work, 杏吧原创 has reached an agreement with the Government of Hungary through the vital support of the Embassy of Hungary. As a result, the course will be co-sponsored by the Government of Hungary.

Hungarian is a credit language course for complete beginners, no previous knowledge is necessary. It will run 2 x 2 hours per week in the fall and winter terms (from September 2017 until April 2018) that will take students to a solid beginner level (level A1 according to the Common European Framework of Languages). The course will run in the “Less Commonly Taught Languages” program category with the course code LANG 1010B – Hungarian.

The official registration has already begun at the School of Linguistics and Language Studies at 杏吧原创 University.  More information about Hungarian.

Inquiries about the course can be sent to the following email address: hungarian@carleton.ca

The course can be found on social media platforms as well. Feel free to check out the (run by Dr. Emese Bukor, the instructor of the Hungarian course at 杏吧原创): and the SLALS Language Resource Room’s  to find more information (videos) over the summer about Hungarian and Hungarian culture.

Students discussing learning Hungarian

Learning Hungarian

Famous Hungarian inventions (part 1):

Famous Hungarian inventions (part 2):

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Watch highlights from the Linguavision Song Contest and learn more about this year’s event.

Congratulations to the more than 20 performers who participated in last Thursday’s Linguavision Song Contest in Kailash Mital Theatre.

Now into its 3^rd year, Linguavision provides a venue for students in the university’s many language classes (including French and ESL) to take their language learning out of the classroom and onto the stage.

This year’s event featured a wide variety of music including:

• an aria from the German opera “Diomedes”
• a gospel rendition of Adele’s “Hello”
• a rock tune from the soundtrack of the award-winning anime series “Bleach”
• a bittersweet love song by Lebanese singer Fairuz
• a dance-dance revolution version of ヒカリノメロディ (The Melody of Light) with the unforgettable line “An exciting story where pink rabbits dance”
• and more

As well there were original songs written by students in Chinese, Italian, German, and French:

• 对不起 (Sorry) by Kelsey Hayes
• Spero (I hope) by Anick Taverna
• Spülen Spülen Wieder (Rinse Rinse Repeat) by Liam Hoselton
• 28 Heures (28 Hours) by Quinn French

Learn more about the performers, by clicking here.

Photo Credits: Aylin Ilkmen & Abdullah Mohammed

Prize winners for the night include:

Open Category

• Brittany Greier (1^st Prize – $350)
• Mariana Franco (2^nd Prize – $250)
• Riley Cooper (3^rd Prize – $150)
• Yi “Charlotte” Liu (Honourable Mention – $100)
• April Jereza (Honourable Mention – $100)

Original Song Category

• Kelsey Hayes (1^st Prize – $350)
• Anick Taverna (2^nd Prize – $250)
• Liam Hoselton (3^rd Prize – $150)

Judges’ Choice ($100 each)

• Tereza Cerqueira
• Brendan Davey
• Jesse Lam

Audience Choice

• Luo-de-Haizi ($200)
• KKT ($100)

Thanks so much to ALL the performers for such a great night of music. You really put your hearts and souls into your performances. Fantastic and memorable!

And thanks to our emcee, the saxophone-toting , for keeping the evening moving along with poise and to our panel of judges for contributing their time, energy, and linguistic/musical input to the daunting challenge of choosing between the many deserving performances:

• Mohamed Matboully (Arabic)
• (English)
• Toni Collette (French)
• (German)
• Angela Maria Pirozzi & Cecilia Cozzi (Italian)
• Shunichiro Nakao (Japanese)
• (Korean)
• Yunbo (Evie) Zuo (Mandarin Chinese)
• Bruno Fonseca (Portuguese)
• (Spanish)

And to the many language instructors who came out to watch, thanks for being there to support and encourage our students as they put themselves (and their language skills) into the limelight…literally.

Appreciation too to our dynamic volunteer squad for: handing out programs at the front of the house, moving equipment behind the scenes, keeping performers flowing, collecting/tabulating the audience choice awards, taking pictures, and any one of a thousand other duties required to keep the evening running smoothly.   Oh, and special thanks to Jesse Laprade for his classy promotional poster and Josée-Anna Tanner and Miriam Sanfillipo for coming up with many musical trivia questions designed to flummox and delight.

And finally, thanks to our 杏吧原创 sponsors.  Your support makes this event possible: , the Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences, the Department of , and the .

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Kumiko Murasugi, Associate Professor in the School of Linguistics and Language Studies and the Institute of Cognitive Science, is assisting ‘s (ITK)  (AIT) in partnership with  by providing linguistic support for a research tour of the United Kingdom.

The Task Group is composed of three Inuit people from each of the four Inuit regions in Canada, plus the president of the and the National Inuit Language Coordinator. All members come recommended by the Inuit land claim organization of their region.

On tour, Murasugi will assist AIT as they pursue a deeper understanding of the cultural, social, institutional and other factors that supported the revitalization of the Welsh and Maori languages in the UK. They will explore how the ‘best practices’ used to revivify Welsh and Maori languages could be implemented to the development of a unified writing system for Inuktut. This will include an analysis of how Welsh was established in local education systems, engaging in meaningful conversations with the Welsh and Maori people on language rollout, and investigating how a pipeline of fluent speakers was developed to teach, write and publish in the two Indigenous languages. Through these consultations and experiences, Murasugi and AIT plan to apply what they will learn to Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami’s official educational plans and recommendations.

Murasugi has been working with ITK on their standardization project for about three years. She had previously collaborated with ITK’s National Inuit Language Coordinator and was thrilled to be asked to lend her skillset to this project. “Right now the Task Group is at the stage of choosing the symbols for the new, unified writing system,” she explained. “In my role providing linguistic support, I can discuss with them the linguistic implications of their choices or suggest alternatives that they might not have thought of. I also help to inform the academic community about the imperative work that they’re doing.”

ITK believes that a unified writing system will strengthen Inuit unity and culture in Canada and one of the primary objectives of the group is for Inuktut to be the language of operation for organizations, government, and institutions in Inuit Nunangat.

“Ultimately, I am there to aid the team in a support position as they make the crucial decisions. This is truly a project by Inuit for Inuit.”

Since the 1970s, the discussion around promoting and supporting the continued use of the Inuit language in schools across Canada’s four Inuit regions has included a deeply rooted debate regarding introducing a unified Inuit writing system to promote communication across dialects and the development of standardized learning materials. ITK believes that the key to a new era in bilingual education is the ability to produce, publish and distribute common Inuit language materials.

The Itinerary… Which includes tea with the Prince of Wales

The visit to Wales will occur over a five-day period starting with a meeting at . This will provide an opportunity to learn from the individuals responsible for the terminology standardization projects and also to converge with those responsible for developing the IT tools for the Welsh language.

A session will also be held with the  providing the team a chance to learn and discuss the various aspects of the publishing industry and how it was developed in Wales. Following this, the group will visit the  to explore the archives and pursue a conversation on the development of the dictionary and the new technologies being used.

Other functions include a meeting at the and with  (an organization providing assessment, training and educational resources in England, Wales, Northern Ireland and elsewhere) to look at a range of assessments and resources through the medium of Welsh. A subsequent meeting will be held at to hear from the Maori regarding their experience with language revitalization.

Spectacularly, on the group’s final day, they will be part of a roundtable session with , on language revitalization at his Welsh residence Llwynywermod (TBC).

“I look forward to sharing with them the diversity of research at , from linguistics and applied linguistic in SLaLS to the Indigenous knowledge atlases developed at the ,” said Murasugi. “I’m very excited to see first-hand the efforts and successes of the Welsh people to revitalize and promote their language, particularly through education and technology.”

“And, of course, we’re all looking forward to our meeting and tea with Prince Charles!”

Banner Photo Credit & Caption: a building on the campus of the University of Bangor, from .

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The School of Linguistics and Language Studies 2nd annual singing competition for language students hits the stage in Kailash Mital Theatre on Wednesday, 30 March (6:00-9:00).  Students (both individuals and groups) will be singing in the languages they are learning in front of a panel of judges and a live studio audience…you!  Prizes will be awarded for songs in both cover song and original song categories.  Performers may sing with a backing track or use their own instruments.  Visit our  to let us know you’re coming and our  to learn more about the singers.  Admission is free!  The event is co-sponsored by SLaLS, FASS & French.  We hope to see you there!

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