On October 25th, 2019, ‘Changing Boundaries’: First International Workshop on the Development of Linguistics Department was held in Yifu Lecture Hall of BLCU. Dozens of scholars from 14 countries and regions, including Europe, Asia, North America, mainland China, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, attended the conference. The conference was divided into three parts: Opening Ceremony, Keynote Speech and Round Table Discussions.

Freshman Representatives Tiancheng Cao and Mengxi Jia

The opening ceremony was presided over by Tiancheng Cao and Mengxi Jia, representatives of the first batch of freshmen of the Department of Linguistics of BLCU. After watching the wonderful folk music performance, the experts and scholars reviewed the founding of the Department of Linguistics via video.

                                         Professor Li Liu, President of BLCU, delivered a speech

Professor Li Liu, President of BLCU, delivered a speech, extending his warm welcome to experts from home and abroad, and looking forward to receiving their support and suggestions for the development of linguistics major and the department. Subsequently, the conference carried out Awarding Ceremony of International Professors’ Committee Fellowship. On behalf of the International Professors’ Committee, renowned linguist David Lightfoot expressed his expectations for the conference and said that “Changing Boundaries” would not only change the boundaries between China and the world, but also to change the current pattern of linguistics.

           Linguist David Lightfoot as a member of International Professors’ Committeed delivered a speech

During the keynote speech session, Professor David Lightfoot gave a presentation on the theme of “Getting off on the Right Foot”; Professor Andrew Moro, Professor Anna Maria Di Sciullo, Professor Chunyan Ning, professor Gang Gu and Professor Johan Rooryck also gave excellent presentations during this session.

                                                                                Round Table Discussions

In the third session, the experts went to the first meeting room of Yifu Lecture Hall to participate in the Round Table Discussions. Professor Fuzhen Si, Dean of the Department of Linguistics, and Young Teachers Dr. Giuseppe Samo and Dr. Xiaochen Sun gave a presentation on the specialty construction of “linguistics and Human Brain Science”. They also gave a detailed introduction on the situation of the newly established Department of Linguistics from different aspects. Afterwards, the experts discussed the latest topics in the field of new trends of development of linguistics and offered many useful suggestions on developing a new Department of Linguistics. At the end of the discussions, the participating experts visited the laboratory which is under construction.

                               Awarding Ceremony of International Professors’ Committee Fellowship